Indecision at the Crossroads - Biomedical Engineering

Applying to College
21

This is something to think about - I didn’t know biomedical engineering has less opportunities then other engineering fields. She likes biology, chemistry and math comes somehow easy to her. For a while she bounced between pharmacy and engineering and decided to do engineering because pharmacy is too long and too expensive. Good thing first year is general engineering almost everywhere 


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22

Biomedical engineering could also lead to medical school, if your daughter is so inclined.

23

Thank you momofboiler1 - here are few questions:

  1. How difficult is to keep a 3.0 GPA at Purdue for her to keep the merit scholarship. My son has now a 3.6 GPA at UVA but after first exams he said the experience put him to the ground. He never studied so hard in his life and was completely burned out.

  2. Can she change her major after first year if she decides so

  3. How come opportunities for biomedical engineering are less but the program is more competitive ? Is this because of the med schools kids ? My D doesn’t want medical for sure, she cannot deal with human pain.

  4. What is happening with housing at Purdue and how are the dorms ? I’m hearing some of the dorms don’t have A/C and in August, when schools starts it’s very challenging.

  5. She will not have a car - is everything walkable at Purdue ?

24

Absolutely not. I tried to sell her nursing and she said she cannot deal with human pain and despair and as a nurse or doctor you have to be able to detach from the emotional drama.

25

What is the net price of each of the following, and what net price is affordable to you?

  • Georgia Tech
  • Purdue
  • Virginia Tech
  • Maryland
  • Ohio State
  • Rutgers
  • NJIT

Also, for all of the above, is she admitted to the major, admitted to the engineering division, or otherwise? If either of the latter two, what secondary admission process must she go through to be admitted to the biomedical engineering major?

Affordability and accessibility of the major should be the first two criteria to consider when sorting out the admission offers.

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26

I wouldn’t worry about this
if this is the interest, it’s the interest and the education will work in many fields.

I think many push toward a generalist degree for more flexibility - but truth is, my son as an example is a MechE but works in aero
doesn’t mean he’s an aerospace engineer.

If that’s your students desired path, I think it’s great
yes salaries are a bit lower (on average) and perhaps there’s less direct jobs - but there are jobs and she’ll find her path, even with the degree.

Also, I wouldn’t say UVA is not known for engineering. Yes, it’s B School and Social Sciences are well known and they have a state technical college - but the UVA name does carry weight.

I would look at career outcomes - or ask for them - if you have concerns - and let that help be a determinant.

UVA is super pricey OOS and some may not see the value - but as they meet need, it changes the dynamic (for you).

27

Good question - you are right, they are good kids, they put so much effort to be stellar in high school, I don’t want to say - don’t go there because I cannot pay. We will help, they will probably get some loans too and we will help paying them till we die.
The only thing I would panic about is to see them not being able to get a job after so much academic effort on their side and financial effort on our side.

28

I think UVA, Purdue and maybe GT will be close for price - counting on aid from UVA and GT and merit from Purdue.

Although first year at UVA is general engineering, it is easy to pick the major - I didn’t hear any concern from my son
Purdue seems to be based on GPA and very competitive
GT - I don’t know - I will ask when we visit or maybe somebody on this forum can provide this information.

29

That sounds exactly like my kid. He is interested in biomedicine – thought about MD, but decided it’s not a good fit for him socially. He loved chem, math, bio. Physics is fine. Coding is too tedious. He is loving ChemE, even though they don’t do all that much chemistry.

For someone who likes biomed, other popular engineering majors in the industry include: ChemE for pharma; MechE or EE or Software Eng for medical devices (depending on which aspect of devices you like best). Tissue engineering is truly BME interdisciplinary. But it’s pretty R&D heavy. And R&D positions in general draw more PhDs than other positions, and those PhDs are in a variety of fields.

A lot of places either make you or let you start off in generic FYE classes. That was important to my kid so he came in undeclared eng, but he enrolled in the ChemE section of the FYE course and settled on that major quickly.

Don’t be scared off by the UVA career fair stuff. It is really hard to get an internship as a freshman. A lot of companies won’t even look at your app. I think my kid only got a couple bites because he submitted a ton of apps. He is expecting not to get a position despite all that effort, but he wanted to try anyway.

Your daughter has amazing options and will be successful wherever she goes. There are no bad choices here (unless unaffordable). She is just down to choosing from a number of wonderful options!

30

I remember same conversation last year when my son wanted aerospace and many people (me included) tried to suggest mechanical. He is finishing first year and still wants aerospace, despite being a narrow filed. He is very confident with his choices (good or bad :grinning:) and that’s making our job easier. My D is not like that, she is not as confident as her brother.

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31

I have some reservations about chemical engineering - the work field seems very rough and man dominated. I think Materials Engineering is more close to chemistry and my D knows that.

If this is not to invasive - What school is your S going to ?

32

Will those three be affordable, and how do they compare in net price to Rutgers and NJIT?

33

Chemical engineering does have various subareas. Some are adjacent to petroleum engineering, while others are adjacent to biomedical engineering. It may not be too surprising if the work environments and demographics vary by subarea.

34

He goes to Syracuse, which is not known for engineering. He chose it over Purdue based on a bunch of factors (mostly $, vibes, and some intensive student supports). They do seem to have a pretty good gender balance as far as engineering programs go.

The diversity of ChemE careers is impressive! Oil & gas, food, makeup, pharma, etc. Every manufacturing plant has at least one ChemE on staff. Materials is also a great choice! There’s a lot of overlap with ChemE. I’m not suggesting she should major in ChemE, just trying to communicate that she can major in a variety of things and still scratch her biomed itch.

Your daughter will find TONS of women at these schools, no matter her major. And it sounds like she’ll have some time to investigate the different majors to see what will be the best fit for her. Other than BME and MechE, the majors she may be interested in are generally not the ones that are hard to get into.

She’s got such great options. You can sit down together to compare the pros and cons of each school. She can think about it for a while pick the one she likes the best. And she has plenty of time to decide! Even if you have to put down a deposit to secure housing, she can change her mind.

35

Apart from UVA, the public schools on your list usually don’t give any need-based aid to students who are from out-of-state, unless it’s federally-based aid. So if your family qualifies for a Pell Grant or a federally-subsidized loan, then it would still be eligible to receive that at the other state schools. Outside of that, however, you should not expect any need-based aid from them (whether OSU, GT, etc).

Both your kids sound incredible, and I think they will do well no matter where they land. Frankly, I don’t think there is a bad choice on the list. Thus, if your D has options that will not require any loans (for herself or for your family), then those are the ones that I would consider most strongly.

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36

  1. The average GPA for FYE honors engineering was reported as a 3.5 when my D was a freshman. Your D will work hard but it’s very doable.

  2. Students don’t transition until the end of 2nd semester so plenty of time to change major.

  3. Yes, BME is very popular with the pre med crowd at Purdue.

  4. Housing has greatly improved in the last few years - two new dorms and the university purchased a beautiful apartment complex adjacent to the dorms. The honors dorm has A/C.

  5. Everything is walkable at Purdue and there is good public transportation if your student opts to live further off campus as an upperclassman or works off campus.

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37

My D is a chem E. There was 50/50 gender balance in the major at Purdue.

As ColdWombat notes, there is a ton of diversity for careers.

Purdue offers optional chem E concentrations in biological engineering, energy and the environment, materials and polymers, pharmaceutical engineering, and data science.

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38

The job part will depend on two things:

  1. Their hustle

  2. The economy

None of us know about #2 in 3 and 4 years - but last year and I suspect this year, it will not be an issue.

Companies were so desperate - two offered my Alabama son the same day he interviewed (a turn off to him) - these are two we all know very well. When he turned one down, they offered $13K more and $5K more in bonus - almost on the spot.

We don’t know the future but if you’re a betting person, it will be fine.

The economy goes up (now) and down - but even when it’s down, having a great education can never hurt.

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39

GT will give $0.00 FA for OOS, even if you qualify by FAFSA. All FA goes to instate students. So unless your daughter qualified for merit (Stamps etc. -very little number of kids) do not expect anything.

40

She was also accepted to Rutgers with no merit. Waiting for prices although Rutgers is not on her list. I think Rutgers needs to wow us for her to go there. Last year, for my son, Rutgers gave us $28k - ridiculous in my opinion for an In state school.

NJIT was on the application list as a safety - if it will be an in-state school, will be Rutgers.