<p>What are the pros and cons to this?</p>
<p>I was thinking about a major in Business… But Bio Engineering is like a hands-on type job… Which I would really like.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well – some people like bio-e and some like business. Without knowing more about you, the answers “both,” “neither,” “business,” and “bio-e” are all equally valid.</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>And maybe you skipped over the actual question I was asking.</p>
<p>Yes, I know you wanted a list of pros and cons. However, what one person may list as a con - working long hours in a lab (bioE) - someone else may list as a pro. Likewise, what someone might list as a con - working on presentations and proposals all day (bus.) - someone else might list as a pro.</p>
<p>Again, without knowing anything about you, we can’t give you a list.</p>
<p>^ owned</p>
<p>you might want to do some research on BME and find out for yourself. I was really into it before I did actual research and talked to students majoring in it.</p>
<p>if you want to go into BioMedical Engineering field, its better or safer to major in a traditional engineering major like
Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or Electrical Engineering.</p>
<p>Thats the advice I got from many people.
I am also planning to go into BME field.
As of now I am majoring in Chemical Engineering.(freshman)</p>
<p>you might also want to go here to see what a BME graduate thinks of a BME degree.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=26963[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=26963</a></p>
<p>Its a bunch of BS that you need to go into another major first. You can do BME at the right schools and get a job EASILY. At my school 100% of people who wanted a job got one the rest went to grad school.
The major is very hard requires lots of hours, and you don’t touch much of the lab until second semester junior year/senior year. For most of the time what you are doing is not fun. Other times it is, but not usually. Theres only so much fun you can have in mechanics, differential equations etc.</p>
<p>what is your school bigndude? My daughter is also interested in BME and has been advised (not only from CC members) that a traditional engineering degree is much more desirable; i.e, biomed firms LOOk for chemE’s and MechE’s to work in the field, not biomedE’s.</p>
<p>I do agree that the program/school makes a big difference, but I am curious what school you attend that 100% get jobs.</p>
<p>I go to uconn. The people who are probably doing the advising are non-bmes who are losing out big on the bme majors. Lots of people are going into BME and the other majors are losing students so naturally they will say things like that. Even at my school they say that, but they don’t have much to back it up with 100% placement from BME. Phizer, and start up biotechs look for BMEs around New England. We have one graduate from last year who went to work for NASA.</p>
<p>*** by calkidd</p>
<p>" Bioengineering is an awesome field. I definately don’t regret getting my BS in it or deciding to go for a PhD. That said, there are an awful lot of misconceptions about this major and the colleges aren’t doing anyone a favor when they don’t point these things out. While it is an interesting field to study, there are some major problems associated with it. And these problems lead to Bioengineers having a terribly hard time finding jobs relative to other engineers (this refers to people with a BS; for a PhD, bioengineering is often better because there tends to be a lot more money for translational research in biotech and medicine than just about any other field).</p>
<p>Problem 1: “Engineering Lite” - Bioengineering is not ABET accredited at most schools. So BioEs don’t have a list of thirty requirements like the chemEs or EEs do. That sounds great right? The problem is that even if you were to work your tail off and do all those hardcore engineering classes, employers wouldn’t know from looking at your degree whether you just did the lower division engineering courses and then did two years of integrated biology or avoided any theory classes like thermo, etc. </p>
<p>Problem 2: “Bio”… - Within the hard sciences and engineering, the prefix “bio” or the suffix “for biologists” is often understood as a euphemism for the phrase “for idiots.” So that class you took on “biomechanics?” employers are going to look at that and wonder why you didn’t take “real mechanics.” </p>
<p>Problem 3: You don’t have 8 years - Bioengineering is nice to do for grad school, in part because by the time you finish undergrad and your 2 or so years of grad course work, you’ve had time to acquire depth and breadth. It’s pretty tough to acquire both in just four years of undergraduate work, especially considering that the real “engineering” courses are the ones people take in their junior year. </p>
<p>Problem 4: Math, math, math: this really is an extension of problems 1 and 3, but its probably the most important one: although it’s true that mechEs, EEs and chemEs study different applications of the math they learn, during their junior year, they’re all going to acquire the following skill set: 1) Signal/system analysis and a little (or a lot) of control theory. 2) Ordinary and Partial differential equations (fluid mechanics or E&M) 3) Some form of modeling. BioEs can do this, but usually only if they take classes outside their department. It’s cool learning about all the developing technologies out there, but it’s better if you learn the set of technical skills that will help you develop them.</p>
<p>Some of you will say that you know someone who was a bioE and has a great job. Yes, there are exceptions, particularly for the flagship undergraduate bioE programs (Johns Hopkins, Duke, UCSD; I expect MIT’s biological engineering program will be also); all these programs have in common the required “real engineering” courses that allow them to escape problem 4 above. Some of you will also say that anything medically related is going to have great job security; to that I would reply that if you want job security in the medical industry, go get yourself an AS or a BS in nursing. There’s a national shortage. Within biomedical engineering, most of the (engineering BS) jobs in medical devices go to people with a BS in EECs. In biotechnology and pharma, most of the jobs go chemEs. Most of the jobs that bioengineers get are technician jobs within the manufacturing of division of companies like Genentech; now, there’s nothing wrong with being a technician. But why do the BS in engineering for that when your chances of getting the job are just as good as the chances of someone who did a BA in biology, which has a much slimmer set of lower division requirements. </p>
<p>Since I’ve posed this problem, I’ll also offer a solution: Bioengineering departments are going to have to make up their minds about what “bioengineering” is. Is it applied biology? Is it medical device engineering? If they want, they can be broad but assign tracks within their department (UCSD does this) to make sure that people get enough depth in a given area. Second, they have to weave the technical math and physics into the curriculum. Companies like the fact that engineers can apply math and physics to solve problems. It’s often cheaper to model something on a computer; it’s always useful to be able to look at a problem in quantitative terms. These companies need to know that a “bioengineer” will have the same level of theory in their background as a chem/mech/EE. And they need to know it just from seeing the words “BS in Bioengineering.” </p>
<p>For those of you in your junior year who don’t want to do gradschool or medical school, I would highly recommend that if you do major in BioE you minor in something else to augment your technical skills. Otherwise, if you still have time to choose your major, ask yourself “am I absolutely sure I want to go to gradschool/medschool after I finish my BS? Am I alright with the prospect of graduating to a job that will pay a lot less than the jobs that people in other engineering disciplines get paid?” If your answer is yes to either question, BioE is a fine option for you. But if you’re doing engineering in part because you like the technical challenges and the prospect of a pretty good job when you graduate, you might want to think about another major. "</p>
<hr>
<p>"I mentioned in my original post that the strongest undergraduate bioE programs (JHU definately being the first) actually focus on engineering courses - incidently, JHU makes their BME students practically double major in another engineering discipline. Thus, not only is their degree firmly grounded, it’s going to be relatively easy to double (besides, at JHU, you will probably find the “regular” engineering courses to be EASIER than the ones in BME).</p>
<p>Look, I’m not advocating the belief that bioengineering isn’t “real” engineering or that BME/BEs don’t deserve to make just as much as other engineers. In fact, I think that 1) for this field to truly have the impact it needs in order to move biotech/pharma forward (after all, biotech is supposed to be the next big thing that drives the US economy) we will HAVE TO have solid undergraduate and professional MS programs and 2) research in “bioengineering” that doesn’t have a good biological/physiological foundation tends not to do very much in terms of moving the field forward. Hence, there is a need for this kind of training.</p>
<p>The problem is that only a handful of schools really take the undergraduate BME/BE program seriously enough that faculty put the time into formulating a coherent degree program. This is compounded by the general reluctance of industry to change. So, if you are interested in this field, I’m saying you really ought to consider majoring in something else or at least double majoring/minoring"</p>
<p>To temper Tom’s new testament in the anti-BME gospel…I’d like to say that if you’re determined to enter BME, you probably will need to go to grad school (this is what many in the field have told me). So why not take an interesting subject that you enjoy studying as an undergrad? However, if you are undecided or not 100% sure, its probably best to stick with a more traditional engineering major as an undergrad coupled with a few BME electives. Also, I’d stick with the traditional major if your school’s program is not ABET accredited.</p>
<p>This isnot “my testament”
rather its the testament I got from many others.</p>
<p>so don’t put it as my idea, I am only a freshman.</p>
<p>and yes, I’ve heard it too, to get a good position in the BME field one needs a graduate degree. Thats a must.</p>
<p>" Biomedical engineers, particularly those with only a bachelor’s degree, may face competition for jobs. Unlike the case for many other engineering specialties, a graduate degree is recommended or required for many entry-level jobs."</p>
<p>** from the US Dept. of labour.</p>
<p>and my school’s BME program isn’t accredited by ABET so I plan to major in:
Chemical Engineering: Bioprocess and Biomolecular option.</p>
<p>Tom, like we’ve said many, many times… ABET accreditation is not important for BME.</p>
<p>yes, I’ve heard it a thousand times.</p>
<p>but how do you think the employers will see an un-accredited BME school?</p>
<p>still I find Chem E more interesting, thats another reason too.</p>
<p>Employers will NOT CARE. You don’t need licensure. That’s all ABET does.</p>
<p>If you find chem E more interesting, then by all means, stick with it, but ABET accreditation isn’t worth anything in BME, and so it shouldn’t be a consideration, even.</p>
<p>My program isn’t accredited (yet) and we had 100% placement. Yes most of the time you will need to go to grad school after BME, but your employer will most likely pay for it. Most engineering disciplines have to do it.</p>
<p>i know bme undergrads getting job offers well before they graduate, as well as top notch internships while still in school. i think all of this “undergrad bme is bad” is a bunch of hype. thats why im doing undergrad bme after i graduate high school this year.</p>
<p>there is DEMAND in the BME field, no one said there isn’t.
people are suggesting to major in a traditional eng. major in the undergraduate level to enter the BME field…</p>
<p>but that depends also on the college one comes from.</p>
<p>Okay, I counted one… maybe two… people who said that you should major in a traditional engineering field before going into biomedical engineering. They all seemed to be pretty fresh out of the gate.</p>
<p>The reason why a lot of people are being hired into biomedical engineering from traditional engineering fields is presumably because the biomedical engineering field is rather new, in and of itself. I mean, people’ve been crafting a better steam engine for a couple of centuries now, and Hammurabi speaks of slaughtering the less-apt civil engineers of his time when they fouled up… Electrical engineers have been around since the days of Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison.</p>
<p>Robert Jarvik, on the other hand, is still around and kicking, alive enough to row his boat and do Lipitor ads. Dean Kamen invented both the portable infusion pump and the Segway. Biomedical engineering is ridiculously new.</p>
<p>The first biomedical engineers were, necessarily, NOT trained in biomedical engineering. This is because there WAS no biomedical engineering. So the companies that pioneered the field had to recruit from the more traditional engineering fields, like mechanical and chemical and electrical engineering. My dad got his ABD PhD in biomedical engineering from the SMU mechanical engineering department… they didn’t have a biomedical engineering department back then. I’m not sure they even do, now.</p>
<p>So, biomedical engineering companies were originally pretty used to having to recruit people from the other engineering fields, which is why they’re still pretty open to hiring folks from the more traditional fields. Does that mean that you shouldn’t find a good BME program and go through it in order to prepare yourself for a stellar career in biomedical engineering? Good lord, no. That’s goofy. Biomedical engineering is a perfectly good thing to major in as an undergrad, if that’s what floats your boat.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bmes.org/careers.asp[/url]”>http://www.bmes.org/careers.asp</a></p>
<p>The Biomedical Engineering Society has some good resources. Check 'em out.</p>
<p>*** FROM THE BME SOCIETY.</p>
<p>" High school preparation for biomedical engineering is the same as that for any other engineering discipline, except that life science course work should also be included. If possible, Advanced Placement courses in these areas would be helpful. At the college level, the student usually selects engineering as a field of study, then chooses a discipline concentration within engineering. Some students will major in biomedical engineering, while others may major in chemical, electrical, or mechanical engineering with a specialty in biomedical engineering. As career plans develop, the student should seek advice on the degree of specialization and the educational levels appropriate to his or her goals and interests. Information on sources of financial aid for education and training should also be sought. Many students continue their education in graduate school where they obtain valuable biomedical research experience at the Masters or Doctoral level. When entering the job market, the graduate should be able to point to well defined engineering skills for application to the biomedical field, with some project or in-the-field experience in biomedical engineering."</p>
<p>** " Some students will major in biomedical engineering, while others may major in chemical, electrical, or mechanical engineering with a specialty in biomedical engineering."</p>