<p>I’m a rising junior civil/env engineering major (environmental and water resources track) at Maryland. I was a bioengineering major for my 1st semester but then switched to civil/env because I didn’t want to enter a medical career and I was much more interested in environmental issues.</p>
<p>Bioengineering is very new at Maryland - I think it started a few years ago here. We used to have something called Biological Resources Engineering but then we received a huge endowment from Fischell and thus, the department was born. Since I only took two classes (BIOE120/BIOE121) in the bioengineering department, I can’t say much about my experience, but I do have a few friends in the major and they seem to like it. (However, quite a few have switched to civil/env or chemical engineering within the engineering school). It is known throughout the school that internships/work for bioengineering students are generally limited to medical research or a pre-med track and there are far fewer opportunities for internships because it is such a limited field, as opposed to those in civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, etc.</p>
<p>Montegut - I am in Gemstone and Honors. (If you’re in Gemstone, you’re by default in Honors too) and there’s not really a curriculum, per se, for Gemstone. Your first year, you take GEMS100 (1 credit) which is equivalent to UNIV100 and helps to get students acclimated to the university in general. Then after that, you take GEMS102 and GEMS104 in your second semester. You choose your research teams in 102 and then do a bit of work in 104 on the implications of science and technology. After that, it’s research with your team and your mentor. So yes, it is possible to do Gemstone and bioengineering. You shouldn’t worry at all about Gemstone bringing your GPA down if that’s what you’re wondering.</p>