Name: Lindsay Bundrick
Majors: BS in Mechanical Engineering with a Biomedical Specialization
Class of 2003
1) How and when did you first become interested in the medical field?
I always liked science classes when I was younger, especially in 9th grade when we started biology.
My group got assigned to "design" the urinary system out of crafts, and I thought it was so interesting.
I also gained a lot of respect for the human body because
I grew up doing athletics and continued to participate while at SMU.
2) How did your SMU Engineering education prepare you for your current studies and what you hope to do in the future?
I know that doing Engineering made me stand out as an applicant.
Most medical school interviews that I went on were impressed and said that they had seen really good results from
engineering students in medical school. Engineering combines a lot of math and science,
and I felt prepared for all the subjects I had in med school even though I hadn't taken many biology classes
that a lot of people took in undergrad. There is actually a lot of math (pharmacology and physiology) and physics (radiology).
Also a lot of organ systems are explained using models we used in mechanical engineering.
One other interesting thing is that in the 3rd year of medical school
they elect the top 5% of the class into an honor society (Alpha Omega Alpha) and 4 of the 10 were engineering majors.
3) What are your ultimate career goals?
I am applying to residency programs right now. I am going to do internal medicine
and then I will probably do a fellowship in gastroenterology, cardiology, or rheumatology.
4) What advice would you give to a high school student related to engineering and the medical field?
If you really like math and science in high school and don't know if you would like engineering or medicine better,
then doing engineering in undergrad with biomedical specialization is a great idea.
It gives you good exposure to both areas and if you do decide to go on to medical school
you will find that you stand out as an applicant and perform well as a student.
