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Yes, they should hook up with a lab involved in biomedical resaerch. That should be one of the main selection criteria for the school.
MS or MEng are largely interchangeable degrees. MEng is generally a terminal degree for students seeking to work in industry while an MS is often a stepping stone to a PhD and may be more research oriented.
If your son is set on a BME degree he should really look into the employment outcomes and starting salaries for recent graduates in the various programs versus MEs at the same schools. In most cases, the disparity in opportunities and salaries are very large. In the US the average starting salary of an ME with just a BS is $60K as compared to $49K for a BME. With a Masters starting salaries for MEs are around $75K and can often exceed $100K with a degree from a top school. With a BME, you are a lucky to hit $55K.
The biggest problem with BME departments is that they have nowhere near the resources in personnel and labs of ME departments. BME is not a tenure track discipline for top professors. BME departments typically borrow their faculty from other engineering departments who also run the labs.
IMO, your son's best choice would be to get a graduate degree in ME and do research in a BME lab. At MIT for instance, over half of ALL engineers are involved in some type of life science related project but none of them are BMEs. They are all MEs, EEs, ChemE, materials science or CS majors. Most large engineering schools will offer plenty of opportunities to work on biomedical projects even if they don't offer BME degrees.
Last edited by cellardweller; 08-03-2012 at 12:42 AM.
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