<p>I’m a current senior in Biomedical Engineering, and I’d like to offer my perspective on this. BME is a difficult major, but it’s manageable, especially for the type of student who is typically considering engineering to begin with. Yes, some premed students do transfer out of the major, but my friends that transferred did it because they weren’t actually interested in engineering, not because it was too hard. Of course, BME is probably harder than a major in Biology (or other common pre-med majors) because it has a lot more math and engineering classes, so students who do not care about these difficult classes may choose to switch. I personally don’t think it’s harder than other engineering disciplines, and I don’t know anybody who was interested in engineering and transferred out of the major because it was too hard (even if they didn’t plan on a career in engineering). Other people have transferred to other kinds of engineering because they simply find them more interesting or in line with their career goals. I also know people who transferred in to BME, so it goes both ways. Viterbi has a ton of academic resources, and taking advantage of those or holding study groups with your peers can get you through challenging classes. If you want to be an engineer, there is support here to allow you to reach that goal.</p>
<p>I don’t think adding a minor necessarily makes any semester harder, either, because you can’t take more than 18 units per semester anyway, so you’ll just squeeze the minor into any gaps in your major courses. Adding a minor will obviously add more classes to take during your four years, and engineering degrees require a lot of units so you will have to work with your adviser to fit in the minor and you might need to either have AP credits or take summer courses to fit it in, but your workload at any given moment shouldn’t be harder just because of a minor.</p>
<p>To your original question - I’d choose a minor based on pursuing additional interests or getting specific skills to add to your resume based on your career plan, because there really isn’t a “best” minor. If you want to have a BME startup, then an entrepreneurship minor or international business could be really useful. If you wanted to work on neural implants, you might want to take a neuroscience minor.</p>
<p>You also don’t really need to do an entire minor to get skills which will set you apart from other job candidates or grad school applicants. A single college course in finance can build competency in software and ideas that you can highlight in interviews and on your resume, and I think companies tend to care more about what you can actually do than the title of a minor.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Steve</p>