Engineering vs Medical School - Which is Harder?

I discuss the challenges I faced in the Chemical Engineering program at UC Berkeley, and I compare them to the difficulties I currently face as a first year medical student.

[joshuacharlery]

Wow!!! An engineer who went to med school! I’m thinking about doing the same thing. I lost a couple brain cells in my Mechanical Engineering degree, but it was fun!

[sgt.sargent]

My mindset is that the pure difficuly of engineering will prepare me for the *other* difficulty of medical school. The point is to get through 1 difficult thing to pursue another difficult thing. Plus critical thinking and problem solving are never bad skills to have.

[findev]

Medical school is memory base exams while engineering you need critical thinking skills for exams.

[isleidaalmonte]

I’m an electrical engineer pursuing a masters in electrical power systems and with almost three years of work experience, but lately I have been very interested in medicine (psychiatry). Thanks for the video!

[luciusandrellius]

Finally someone who has done both. Most everyone thinks medical school is harder but have never gone through engineering school or they went to into civil engineering and think engineering was easy. Chem E is no joke. I was in the dual degree program materials science and engineering with Chemical engineering and decided after one quarter to go back to just materials science and engineering. It was brutal. Just one engineering degree at a time is brutal especially if you have a part time job. The drop out rates speak for themselves. 40-50% drop out rate in engineering. That’s double the dropout rate of medical school. This is not by choice either. There are what are called the junior year weed out classes that will remove all but the smartest engineering students. If this guy says medical school is hard and went through Chem E then I believe him because Chem E is hard. I’ve heard elsewhere Medical school is more volume of work (which is hard to believe) but engineering school is harder material to learn. It would be interesting to find out what he thinks after he finishes medical school. I went to the University of Minnesota so don’t know how other engineering schools compare but our school had the slowest graduation rate in the country at the time. It took on average 5 years to complete a bachelors degree in engineering for the average student. We were ranked very high in the materials science and Chem E programs. I think in the top 3 for both in the country at that time.

[helveticaneptune]

Forget, engineering or medical school have you thought about going into modelling?

[manuelsteele]

I am an engineer with six master's degrees now working on a PhD - lol. I have a background in mechanical, electrical, biomedical and software engineering. I earned most of them while working full-time except the first one. I am very familiar with medical school and seriously considered going in the late 1990s when I was young. I have taken a summer orientation course for newly admitted medical students taught by advanced medical students and an MD/PhD. I did the lab work on gross anatomy with the medical students and dissected the head/neck and thorax. We used the classic "Netters" book. The MD/PhD came in to give lectures and evaluate student progress. I am well aware of the rigor.

My opinion is that it really depends on the individual student's aptitude. A good analogy is the long version of the triathlon. I watched one triathlon where an elite swimmer won the swim event. No one was even close. But as the race progressed, the swimmer fell far behind in the biking and marathon running events. As I understand it, the elite swimmer finished far from the winners at the end. As an analogy, some people are good at extreme rote memorization for anatomy and physiology. And medical school also requires biochemistry and genetics. The reactions and structures and flow of electrons, thermodynamics, etc. get rigorous. There are people who excel in biochemistry. Medical school also requires strong communication with a focus on EXTROVERTED PEOPLE SKILLS to treat people who come from many "walks of life". Given those skills are noted, the cold reality is that some engineers are just not a match. Medical students often excel in subjects that are outside the realm of engineering. There are some engineers who would not adapt successfully to the regimen of medical school given the excessive reading and memorization required.

But others can make the switch seamlessly. I met a board-certified surgeon in my medical device course. He told me he thought it was harder to earn a Master of Electrical Engineering than it was to complete medical school. My opinion is that it was true for him given his individual aptitudes. But I don't believe it's true for all engineers. It may be true for some. I can think of software engineers who would hate the massive reading that goes into rote memorization and dropout quickly. Similarly, I can think of medical students who would struggle badly with calculus of shape functions using Finite Element Analysis or data structures with binary search trees and prefix, postfix, etc. I knew a biochemistry major who had a phenomenally high MCAT score but couldn't handle calculus for Fourier Analysis and Laplacians using differential equations for electrical engineers. It's rare to find an individual who is genuinely good at all aspects of both medical school and rigorous upper-division engineering. I know a physician who struggled badly with calculus in HS and would not make it past the freshman year at elite engineering schools like MIT, UCLA, Michigan, Florida, Texas, etc. But she excelled in medical school and also had exceptionally good communication skills for patient interaction. A lot of engineers are not like that - built with personalities to interact with patients in crisis. There are exceptions though.

This goes back to my analogy with the Ironman Triathlon. It's rare to find an athlete who can do relatively well in all three events to finish in the top 5% of the race. Hence, it's a good example for medical school versus engineering. Another analogy is Michael Jordan. He was excellent in the NBA but struggled in minor league baseball. Similarly, I know medical students who excel in medical school but struggled with basic calculus. I also know software engineers who likely would hate the massive memorization and struggle on anatomy lab exams. From having seen both sides, I think medical school should be focused on primary care. Many medical students go into eROAD for professional status and salary. Those obsessed with status often get the MD/PhD. It's overkill in my opinion. MD should be mainly for primary care like family practice which usually gets overlooked by aspiring applicants for residents. It's finally starting to change, but primary care gives the "biggest bang for the buck" in terms of preventive medicine and health economics. The high-paying and "high status" specialties of decades past just drove up the cost of medicine from the purview of health economics. I also have an MPH - lol. So, I know this stuff. To be fair, there are medical students who are not doing it for the money but the dedication. They tend to go into primary care. But historically, the pattern has been a preference for eROAD for money and prestige. A good scene is in the film "Malice" when the lead surgeon brags about his accomplishments and work regimen while in discussion with malpractice lawyers. He clearly wanted the prestige and money of being a specialist rather than doing primary care. Albeit fictional, that scene reflected a common pattern of eROAD as a preferred choice for medical students in residential matching.

If an engineer really wants to switch to medical school, I recommend earning a quick associate's degree in allied health and taking the courses with those students. The lab work and review can prepare for medical school. Then work about a year in clinical health to see if you really like it. When I was in Denver, Red Rocks CC had a physician assistant program that could be done quickly. There are other allied health majors to get you prepared and exposed in a few short years to see if you really match with medical school. Patient interaction is a must. Can you handle the COVID-19 influx that recent clinicians had to deal with? Many physicians burned out and quit the profession. Some specialties like neurosurgery and OB/GYN are prone to malpractice lawsuits which can damage morale and reputations. So, use allied health to check ahead of time if you really match with an MD. If one wants status and high salary, a JD/PhD with patent litigation would make more sense for engineers rather than an MD. It wouldn't take as long, and the pay would be higher in that niche field. Just ask the engineering patent lawyers who litigated the "mobile phone patent wars" of the late 2000s and early 2010s - lol. Patent litigation is an ongoing need in the rapidly changing world of technology. Just look at how the Chatbot AI has evolved. There are now algorithms that can diagnose certain illnesses using AI with medical images which can replace some work for radiologists. Routine clinical diagnosis can be automated in some cases of radiology using python, C++, OpenCV, DICOM images, search algorithms of AI, etc.

If someone doesn't like my post, just know this is an informal opinion based on personal life experience. There are always going to be exceptions to patterns noted above. Please note I am an informal blogger - not an enemy on the internet. This is not a formal document with compliance to a certain rubric found in scientific journals, formal periodicals, or a college capstone project. It's just an informal post. I just wanted to inject realism into young students who are pondering medical school. I've written thousands of pages of engineering documents in college and industry with strong performance reviews. For strict formatting of submissions to conference proceedings or formal graduate work, I sometimes use Overleaf with Latex math typesetting. I have used IEEE, APA, MLA, Chicago Style, etc. I usually use Latex plug-ins for MS Word to write advanced math equations for topics like continuum mechanics, finite element analysis, artificial neural networks, etc. I don't need to prove myself on an informal blog.

The enemy of modern physicians would be the HMOs who dictate their practice. Worse yet would be the malpractice lawyers just waiting to destroy the physician's career to make money. One of the most infamous MD/JD malpractice attorneys was from my undergraduate Alma Mater, Notre Dame. That was Daniel Broderick, MD/JD of Harvard. After he accrued wealth as a malpractice attorney, he left his same-age wife for a much younger woman. Then his first ex-wife, Betty, murdered them both. There is an early 90s film called "The Betty Broderick Story" and a more recent crime series from a few years ago ("Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story"). As for enemies of engineers, there are plenty of layoffs going on right now. New engineering graduates are having a hard time getting jobs. The tech sector is currently struggling. It usually does that about every ten years going back to the 1970s. Read the blogs on "TheLayoff.com" to see horror stories of engineers who have gotten laid off by wealthy executives who see them as names on a spreadsheet - easy to get rid of to make a profit and please the "board". A common joke with experienced software engineers is the film "Office Space" - a comedy about corporate layoffs in 1999. Some joke it was actually a documentary with the layoffs shown in the film parallel to an irrational promotion of one engineer.

Best wishes on medical school if that is what one really wants to do. As for me, I opted for a career in biomedical engineering. I work at Medtronic. I am fascinated with technology of the future and focus on applications of AI/ML to healthcare. I often study while listening to the soundtrack of Blade Runner - one of my favorite films of science fiction about futuristic robots. Or I listed to Hackers soundtrack, Westworld soundtrack, the Social Network, or albums of Boston fronted by an MIT engineer. Technology has overwhelmed my life's passion.

[benjaminpostorino]

this upcoming year im going into my first year as a chemical engineering student and this video really helped me understand what kind of work I should expect

[lancercncs]

2:00 This is not my experience. The core engineering classes are much harder than the easy courses you take in the first year or two. Thermo was easy. 1st year - 1.5 years was a cakewalk. My GPA definitely took a big drop in the last 3 years (5 year program). Aerospace Engineering graduate.
Nevertheless, this is not a one-to-one comparison. You can't compare undergraduate engineering to med school (graduate school). A better comparison is pre-med vs. undergrad engineering. Or engineering grad school vs. med school.
Engineering graduate school is BOTH MUCH harder than undergrad and MORE time-consuming/draining between going to classes, studying, HWs, and RA (research)/TAing.

[joseaguilera]

Electrical engineering is probably the hardest

[Turnpost]

Honestly every doctor should know how to lift and appreciate each muscle and bodybuild to build muscle.

[nelson.broj]

Keep up the good work man. I have a question. I’m an industrial engineer working as a Consultant and I want to be a physician but I don’t want to quit my job yet. Are you working right now? How are you managing your time between med school and your current job?

Regards from Peru!

[marting]

Medical school material is not hard. The time management aspect of it and understanding that every minute of your day needs to be accounted for is what makes it difficult. The volume of material is just ridiculous.

[MasegoMolaole]

Basically he said med school is harder

[nann]

In medicine you need to be cram a shit ton of info to analyze and deduct a problem, while in engineering I think the info is more limited cuz you get to chose a certain of engineering and understand it rather than memorize to analyze it. I think this is the difference based on my humble opinion lol

[Turnpost]

Tbh engineering as a major is not difficult its the gettong the job part and keeping that is the hard part

[FelixTheForgotten]

It would be interesting to see an update on what med school is like 2-3 years in. You're saying that it's like you're constantly feeling like you are catching up. No wonder. You've studied a field that has very little in common with medicine. You are competing with people that have studied nursing or kinesiology or pre-med oriented undergraduate programs. Don't you think it is an unfair assesment or comparison?

Engineering is difficult when you are starting and slowly got easier. When you will pick your medical speciality I am sure it will get easier. Also first year is meant to discourage. 2 weeks in is not a fair assesment.

[anacervantes]

Chemcial engineering here too, trying to go into medicine 🙂

[szelokng]

Hi I am currently in biomedical engineering and was planning on applying to medical school. What would you say is the number one factor that made you succeed as an applicants?

[KarmaZeusBoi]

Your voice is so soothing. You could do ASMR