Overview
The electrical-interest pre-med focus area is designed to prepare students for admission to medical school while also providing a solid foundation in one of the electrical-oriented focus areas.
Completion of this FA will enable students to enter medical school with a solid foundation of an electrical-oriented focus area such as medical image processing or control systems. Given the increasing use of electrical concepts/devices in many areas of medicine (e.g., use/analysis of medical images, understanding heart arrhythmias, and use of medical instrumentation), students will be at an advantage over their peers in many areas.
After completing their undergraduate program, pre-med students often directly enter medical school. After medical school, students complete a residency program in a particular specialty (such as radiology, cardiology, internal medicine, or ophthalmology) before they are ready to practice medicine.
Students interested in the electrical-interest pre-med focus area are encouraged to consider the interest and focus area course selection suggestions listed below when completing their plan of study form.
| FA Requirements | Suggested Options |
|---|---|
| Track | Electrical |
| Breadth Elective (select one) | CS:1310 Discrete Structures* ECE:3330 Software Design** ECE:3350 Computer Architecture ECE:3540 Communication Networks |
| Depth Elective (select one) | ECE:3410 Advanced Circuit Techniques ll depth electives listed above (and it is recommended that electrical-interest pre-med students at least select one additional course from the list above) and |
| 5000-Level ECE Electives (select two) | ECE:5213 Introduction to Bioinformatics ECE:5220 Computational Genomics ECE:5450 Machine Learning ECE:5700 Advanced Electromagnetic Theory |
| ECE Elective (select one) | All breadth, depth and 5000-level ECE electives listed above |
| Technical Elective (select one) | All breadth, depth and 5000-level ECE electives listed above and BIOL:1402 Principles of Biology I BIOL:1502 Principles of Biology II BIOL:2512 Fundamental Genetics CHEM:1120 Principles of Chemistry II CHEM:2210 Organic Chemistry I CHEM:2220 Organic Chemistry II CHEM:2410 Organic Chemistry Laboratory BME:2210 Bioimaging and Bioinformatics An advanced biology course (e.g., biochemistry, molecular & cell biology, human physiology, genetics, or microbiology) |
| Additional Electives (Select one 3 s.h. & one ≥2 s.h.) | Any of the above OR courses selected in consultation with advisor. |
*Recommended if student likes math
**Recommended if interested in medical imaging
***Recommended if interested in control systems
Advising Notes
- The technical electives listed above are the current science requirements at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine that go beyond the standard engineering chemistry, physics, and math sequence. Other medical schools may have slightly different requirements.
- The choice of GEC electives is also important. For example, the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine requires an additional English course (including composition and literature) beyond rhetoric. They also require four courses in social and behavior sciences and humanities with a writing component. Recommended courses include behavioral psychology, foreign language and other courses that encourage a greater appreciation for diversity and cultural competency.
- It is recommended that students also look through other electrical-interest FA options for selecting their breadth, depth, and 100-level ECE electives. The electrical-interest pre-med option is essentially a hybrid of one of those FA options (with many of them being useful for future medical doctors) and the pre-med requirements. For example, some pre-med students may wish to focus on medical imaging (and thus should look at the signal/image processing FA), while others may wish to focus on control systems (and thus should look at the controls systems FA).
