Getting a BS in Electrical engineering this year, is going for an MD insane?

At the end of the year I'll have a BS in EE, while I enjoy engineering I really want to help people more directly and have been thinking about becoming a doctor for a few years now. I guess I should add that I was born with Group B strep in my lungs so I thought about going into respiratory problems or taking care of infants.

I actually have a few questions.

1. How useful will my engineering degree be and could it be applied to a research field if I got an MD? And how useful would it be if I got a job as a 鈥渘ormal鈥?doctor?

2. How hard would it be to prepare for a switch educationally? I took no life sciences at all and my chem. is lacking also. (Last biology class was Jr. High) Although I do have a minor in physics and I pretty much have the equivalent to a math minor. Could I get into med-school if I took some more prerequisites (A and P, chem. etc.) with just my engineering degree?

3. How could I pay for this? Could I get loans? I have financial aid right now but it鈥檚 going to be running out soon. Can I still get financial aid if I do this? I live in Washington State if that helps.

Any links or information anyone could add would be much appreciated.

1. Not useful at all unless you decide to go into a field like radiation oncology or perhaps electrophysiology. Most doctors know nothing about engineering and are not hampered by this lack of knowledge.

2. Very hard, you have almost none of the necessary background, you will need to go back for a postbac to take required courses to get into medical school - which may vary by school, but in most cases include introductory chemistry (college level), organic chemistry, introductory biology, molecular biology, and often some other higher-level courses, look at the prereques for a few medical schools to give you a good idea.

3. You can get loans, that's pretty much the way everybody pays for medical school. You should expect to leave with about $150k in debt from a private school and around $80-100k from a state school (depending). That's on top of whatever student debt you have now. Financial aid is generally not available except in the form of lower interest loans (which will not even come close to covering full tuition in most schools), it's expected that you will pay your own way and then pay your loans back once you start working.

You are obviously intelligent, and should have no trouble getting into medical school.

I worked with an anesthesiologist who had an engineering degree. Your undergraduate degree really doesn't play much of a role once you get to medical school. You DO have to take the pre-requisiste sciences, though. Biology (I'd recommend cell biology and genetics, at a minimum) and chemistry (1 year general, 1 year organic) are required. You obviously have the physics under control!

Payment is always the sticky point. There are loans and grants available, just like for undergraduate. There are also programs that pay if you promise to work in underserved areas for a certain time. The military may also be an option for you. They put you through school and pay a salary, but, of course, you owe them a chunk of time afterward.

Good luck. You'll find a way to make it happen.

There's nothing insane about it. One of my closest friends was an EE and worked for a major company which installed MR units in radiology departments and he had to ensure that the magnetic field was uniform, i.e. so that the images turned out well.

He got sick of it after about 6 years and went to med school. He wasn't sure if he wanted to do orthopaedics or interventional radiology but chose the latter. It wasn't an easy path, but he was a very hard worker and is now a highly successful vascular and interventional radiologist, and he knows MR physics like nobody's business.

In terms of money, he was married and had some assets which made life a bit easier. If you're going straight from your Bachelor's to med school, just take loans like the rest of us did. The government and private organizations are more than happy to provide loans to soon to be physicians because they know it's a wise investment, so you won't have much trouble getting sufficient loans to pay for your education and then some for your needs.

Clinical medicine is very different from research medicine. Before you make the jump, I strongly recommend you decide if you're more interested in clinical medicine or purely research medicine. Lots of physicians do both. Medical School is tough (for most people) so in terms of how much the EE degree will help you in a practical sense probably is a function of the diligence you needed to obtain the degree. Medical School ain't no party and it ain't no disco, you'll need to study most of the time you're not in class. You'll have time for other things, but it will be limited.

I wish you well.