Which feild requires more intellectual strength? Medicine or Engineering?

[weaverthebeaver]

I would say they are both very different skill sets which require different kind of 'wiring' in the brains.

I don't think if you can do one, you will necessarily be able to do the other.

Science type of degrees require good imagination and memory, whilst engineering requires more numerate skillset.

I find sometimes the whole IQ testing score system can be quiet flawed. You can have a low IQ, but yet be a genius musician, or sportsman. Many examples of this.

As Mark Twain once said. 'we are all as ignorant as each other, just in different fields'

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[Bwana1]

I'm an Electrical Engineer, pretty smart :), but sure glad I had good doctors when I had health issues :)

2 different fields, mind sets, skills, temperament, work place politics....not a good comparison IMHO

[LittleTim]

I am a EE, I would say the doctor requires more dedication. IQ is not a factor since dedication can trump IQ, if the person have the minimal intelligence.. I would also say both field is extremely broad. I don't always consider some engineering fields to be real engineer also.

[Chronopolis]

I don't always consider some engineering fields to be real engineer also.

Like, sanitation engineering?
Or, "planet" seeding (Prometheus)? :)

[Bwana1]

I don't always consider some engineering fields to be real engineer also.

I agree, for some reason Industrial Engineers seem to be the bottom dwellers...not sure why, my Dad was an IE.....smart as a whip :)

[Janne]

In medicine, several sub fieldsrequire a high level of manual skills, like surgery, Oftalmology. Others - you can be a total manual Invalid.
My dads first Specialist competence was in Abdominal and Trauma Surgery ( he was a Czechoslovak Army doctor), but after practicing as one he realised he could never be top, so he did another Specialty, this time in Psychiatry, where he excelled.
I never understood why he wasted 8 years doing Surgery, as he is not even able to hit a nail on the head.

In Dentistry, you need a very good manual dexterity.

Both Medicine and Dentistry require that you can remember a huge number of facts etc. Call it high IQ or whatever, but you need to be able to memorise lots, also to understand what you learn.

To be able to go into those two fields you need to have excellent grades from the secondary school.

Engineering is kind of the same, but my understanding is that you do not have to memorise and learn such a vast number of facts.
My Father in Law is an Engineer, but he never did the Civil Engineering in Uni, just in the Secondary school.

Despite this, he has the largest number of Patents in his name with Alfa Laval ( a Swedish large company). Of course, his lack of a formal Uni education prevented him from advancing too highly in the company, he only became the head Constructor of his department, Alfa Laval Marine, never the head of the departement.

[LittleTim]

I agree engineering is not a lot of pure memorization, it is much more critical to understand the subject matter.

Sanitation (as in the garbage man), quality, and software engineers are definitely on the bottom of my list. IE definitely trumps them, but so many IE becomes quality engineer later in life.

These people are all smart individuals. Completing a university doesn't mean you are extremely smart, just mean you are dedicated.

[Formerguide]

Well, to the OP, since you misspelled the word "field" in your topic, whichever field you are in, I'll choose the other one !

Joking, joking...

Dan

[pCal]

I am a EE, I would say the doctor requires more dedication. IQ is not a factor since dedication can trump IQ, if the person have the minimal intelligence.. I would also say both field is extremely broad. I don't always consider some engineering fields to be real engineer also.

Pretty much this. Engineering is a very broad term, especially the way I see it used in the U.S. Electrical Engineering itself is very broad but is likely on par with most medicine degrees in terms of intelligence; However the focus is much less on memorization and more on creative solutions to very technical problems. Nothing trumps the dedication required for medicine as far as I know - they go to school much longer and they deal with higher pressure situations.

[Bolaberlim]

In medicine, several sub fieldsrequire a high level of manual skills, like surgery, Oftalmology. Others - you can be a total manual Invalid.
My dads first Specialist competence was in Abdominal and Trauma Surgery ( he was a Czechoslovak Army doctor), but after practicing as one he realised he could never be top, so he did another Specialty, this time in Psychiatry, where he excelled.
I never understood why he wasted 8 years doing Surgery, as he is not even able to hit a nail on the head.

In Dentistry, you need a very good manual dexterity.

Both Medicine and Dentistry require that you can remember a huge number of facts etc. Call it high IQ or whatever, but you need to be able to memorise lots, also to understand what you learn.

To be able to go into those two fields you need to have excellent grades from the secondary school.

Engineering is kind of the same, but my understanding is that you do not have to memorise and learn such a vast number of facts.
My Father in Law is an Engineer, but he never did the Civil Engineering in Uni, just in the Secondary school.

Despite this, he has the largest number of Patents in his name with Alfa Laval ( a Swedish large company). Of course, his lack of a formal Uni education prevented him from advancing too highly in the company, he only became the head Constructor of his department, Alfa Laval Marine, never the head of the departement.

Memory is not the same as intelligence. A person can be dumb as a door knob and have great memory. That's why I'd vote for anything related with complex math or physics. To the point, one can cheat on a test that demands memory, just by taking with him a "cheat sheet" but no amount of those is going to help you in doing complex math. If you don't understand the math, there's no way EVER you'd make it by cheating, unless someone did it for you. And something that is understood will last a lot longer than something that is memorized. So in engineering you do have to understand vast amounts of information, but memorizing it is pointless without understanding it. I can cram vast amounts of information for a test and ace it, and then forget all about it. Math/physics is a different story altogether. For pure brain power I'd vote for a physicist or mathematician any day.