More engineers accepted to med school

Students in the School of Engineering have been more successful at gaining acceptance to medical schools than those in the College during recent years, according to Career Services officials.

Seventy-nine percent of the students in the Engineering School who applied to medical school were accepted into M.D. programs in the United States in the fall of 2003, as opposed to the 76 percent who were accepted from the College.

In fact, Engineering pre-med candidates have had higher acceptance rates into medical school every year between 2000 to 2003, except for 2001, according to Pre-Health Adviser Christiana Fitzpatrick.

"If one has decided ... to become a doctor, bioengineering is the route toward that end. Engineering offers a technologically rich education for the pre-med candidate," Associate Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Norman Badler said.

The College leads the other four undergraduate schools in yearly medical school applicants. In 2003, 249 students applied to medical school from the College, while 28 applied from Engineering.

Although Wharton and the School of Nursing also have very high acceptance rates into medical school, only a handful of students apply each year.

Nine Wharton students applied to medical school in the fall of 2003 -- the most students to do so since 2000 -- as did one student from the Nursing School.

The data for the fall of 2004 is not yet available, but Badler guessed that there are approximately 40 pre-med students currently in the School of Engineering.

Despite the advantage Engineering students seem to have in getting into medical school, Fitzpatrick said that many other factors are at play.

"The best way to get into med-school is not to try to follow what you've heard other people ... do. ... It's to make sure that medicine is the career you want," Fitzpatrick said.

However, students who have decided to pursue medicine often strategize to increase their chances of acceptance to med school.

"As a pre-med student there are a lot of GPA requirements to get into medical school, and in Engineering your GPA takes a big hit," College sophomore Sanjay Chandrasekaran.

Chandrasekaran transferred into the College to improve his grades and to have more time for extracurricular activities and community service -- components medical school admissions officers like to see on a resume.

Other pre-med students, like Engineering sophomore Sam Bernard, believe that an Engineering education will better equip them in the medical field, as compared to a liberal arts education in the College.

Bernard, who is double-majoring in bioengineering and materials science, said that he will be more well-rounded in the sciences than his College pre-med counterparts because he won't have to spend time fulfilling humanities requirements. That, plus the problem-solving skills and the technical knowledge he said he is learning in the Engineering School, has convinced Bernard that he will be well-prepared for medical school.

"I think overall it will make me a better doctor," Bernard said. "If I can explain the type of stent I put in someone's heart valve, I think the patient will appreciate it more."

Medical school acceptance rates

Fall 2003 acceptance rates to medical schools nationwide for Penn undergraduates College: 249 applied, 76% admitted Engineering: 28 applied, 79% admitted Wharton: 9 applied, 89% admitted Nursing: 1 applied, 100% admitted

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