<p>I’m thinking of getting a dual degree, by getting an engineering degree and wharton degree. </p>
<p>As of now, I’m very interested in biomedical engineering since I love biology more than physics, and biomedical engineering seems to have the least physics needed in engineering. </p>
<p>I also heard that biomedical engineering is the easiest while mechanical/electrical is the hardest?</p>
<p>Is it true???</p>
<p>You’ve heard wrong. It doesn’t include less physics than any other engineering. It’s not an easier than electrical or mechanical. In some situations it’s harder because you take the same classes as electrical and mechanical engineers but then you take other classes that use what you learned in your engineering classes and apply them to the human body, which is rarely as nice, linear, or predictable as some traditional engineering fields. Of course some schools treat bioengineering as a glorified biology major so in that case it might be easier. I doubt that at upenn it’s an easier than mech-e or ee.</p>
<p>As far as the Physics is concerned, you don’t have to go quite as deep into fluids/thermo as an ME and you don’t have to go quite as deep into electromagnetism as a EE. However, whereas ME’s generally do not take an electromagnetics course beyond Physics II and EE’s generally don’t take a fluids course - you will take it all. This is in addition to your biology and chemistry courses (which generally neither ME’s or EE’s take beyond an introductory level, if that).</p>
<p>I would say the “hardest” engineering major greatly depends on the college (I do not know anything about UPenn Engineering). But I imagine, in most cases, Biomed is up there with ME and EE.</p>
<p>EDIT: By the way, Industrial Engineering (IE) is generally acknowledged as the easiest engineering major. It definitely involves the least amount of Physics and supposedly has synergy with a Business degree.</p>
<p>I also recommend the industrial engineering + business combination.</p>
<p>from what i’ve heard, bme is one of the hardest engineering degrees</p>
<p>Same here…BME is one of the toughest majors…especially if you didn’t take any Bio APs…</p>
<p>BME is one of the toughest, why? The shear amount of classes and type you need to take. Its A LOT of EE classes (at least at my school) throw in biomechanics, biochemical engineering, biomaterials all of which are taken in most programs. In general there is a very large amount of math, a lot of EE, and the physical aspects of a lot of things. In general at most schools with true BME programs there isn’t much biology focus to it as there is mathematical/physical.</p>
<p>Yeah I took AP Bio, got a 5, got 8 credits and they do nothing for the BME major. General Biology is just not a required course. </p>
<p>At JHU we get to specialize in one area of BME so we take a lot of courses in a specific area of engineering with traditional engineering students plus BME courses. (CS, EE, ME, ChemE, etc…)</p>
<p>there is not a civil engineering concentration… yet.</p>
<p>Hey…do people take up dual majors such as Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering ?</p>
<p>ipoder, I’m going to be in M&T at Penn next year and I plan on doing Bioengineering with my Wharton degree too. From what I’ve heard, BioE and Chemical Engineering are probably the two hardest engineering majors at penn (tho MechE and Electrical are not much easier). I’m pretty sure that bioengineering involves a lot of physics, and I chose the field because i like biology, chem and physics equally.</p>
<p>i’m also considering the Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) degree in Biomedical Science. it’s a “lighter” but still rigorous version of bioengineering if you don’t want to pursue a technical profession. Either way, bioengineering and biomedical science have the same class requirements for the first two years so it’s easy to switch. Penn has an awesome bioE program, and if you’re really interested in bioengineering you should def go for it.</p>
<p>see you next year!</p>
<p>Pyrotechnic, probably not since both majors have heavy and not very similar course loads. That said, YC Fung – the ‘father’ of bioengneering – used to teach aeronautics at Caltech before starting the BioE department at UCSD.</p>
<p>So…similar physics, different course loads –> no double majors.</p>
<p>bioe doesnt take near as much physics as mechanic, civil, or aerospace. i’m at umich and my bioe friend barely took above the required amount of physics for engineering</p>
<p>This question is almost impossible to answer because the answer is opinion based. Some may find Mechanical Engineering easier than Bio, or it could be the other way around. The same way some find physics more challenging than chemistry or vies versa.</p>
<p>yeah i think it’s really opinion based. some may say bioE is easier becuz bio/chem is more about memorization, if compared to physics (which mechanical engineers need a LOT of). i don’t think you can fairly say one degree is easier than another. either way, why does it matter that much? if you’re doing what u like that’s all that should matter</p>
<p>Obviously many of us here will try to defend our own majors, so I will try to give an honest and objective answer here. To start off, I live another flatement who is studying BioMedical Engineering and I am Aeronautical Engineering. We are all seniors and thus are taking advanced courses in our respected majors. I would say the amount of studying I needed to do is far beyond his. I’ve had this discussion with him before, and he says he generally feels BME being quite easy, given that most of the advanced courses in engineering aren’t too math bound and computational, and many other courses involve biology, chemistry and physiology. Although I believe some of the courses are fascinating. A word of advice he has given me is that BME is a dying major unless you decide to continue on with grad school. More and more companies realize that the focus of BME just isn’t what industry needs. Now I know many of you may think I am being foolish and am just trying to glorify my own major here. But take this for an example: GE Healthcare has stopped hiring BME graduates, and favour engineers with Mechanical Engineering degrees to work undertheir healthcare division. Why? It’s because a engineering job that’s with biomedical discipline can still be done better with an engineer who has taken more engineering courses, all the fundamentals are still required. The same analogy applies say if a zoo was hiring a zookeeper, who would the boss hire? An aerospace engineer or a biomedical engineer - obviously the BE as he had taken more biology courses. </p>
<p>I just recently graduated and I wish everyone could think wisely choosing a major in engineering. I think many colleges and universities do not stress just how important and almost life changing it is to choose a program in engineering. You see, unlike college of letters and science, where if you got a degree in say History, or Political Science, these majors would not define what your actual professions will be. This is the opposite for us engineers, the minute we start our major, we already have set foot in our professional career for at least a good number of years, if not for the rest of our lives. I have had so many friends telling me that after finishing their degrees with ME, they have finally realised they hate the degree but are now obliged to work as engineers. When you say you are studying engineering, although the general public views it to be all the same, it is completely and utterly different. If you believe you want to be an engineer, and pursue a degree solely in the field of engineering but yet to know exactly which direction you want to go into, I would recommend an engineering degree that’s extremely holistic and intensely disciplined for undergraduate, such as Mechanical Engineering, or Engineering Mechanics, or even aerospace engineering (i feel confident about this, as I have had many interviews applying for mechanical engineering jobs where I satisfied all the job expectations). Overall, these majors will aid you in finding jobs much quicker as these majors cover overall fundamentals of engineering disciplines. For example, I had another friend who studied civil engineering, who, when both of us were studying for the FE exam, admitted that his major did not require thermodynamics and heat transfer (which was a shock to me because I had thought that was a general engineering course). So he had to learn it himself, which obviously was difficult!</p>
<p>You may not be doing alot of physics in Industrial Engineering, but you do some of the hardest mathematics out there. Industrial Engineering is practically an applied math degree. And in addition, in my school IE still have to take two Physics classes (Cal 1 and Cal 2 based).</p>
<p>Wow! This thread is over two years old.</p>
<p>^^“A word of advice he has given me is that BME is a dying major unless you decide to continue on with grad school. More and more companies realize that the focus of BME just isn’t what industry needs.” </p>
<p>you gotta be kidding me man. the demand for biomedical engineers is greater than any other engineering discipline. you should go to grad school anyway because an undergraduate degree will not get you far in life in terms of a job and salary.</p>
<p>According to USNWR…</p>
<p>“For this year’s list, U.S. News examined the Labor Department’s brand-new job growth projections for 2008 to 2018. We looked for occupations that will add jobs at an above-average rate over the next decade or so and those that provide an above-average median income…In the end, we found a list of 50 jobs that present some of the best opportunities for workers in five categories. In the science and technology field, jobs range from network architect to meteorologist. This category includes the fastest-growing occupation—with a 72 percent growth rate that far outstrips the 10 percent average across careers—of biomedical engineer. Biomedical engineers help develop the equipment and devices that improve or enable the preservation of health. They’re working to grow cardiac tissue or develop tomorrow’s MRI machines, asthma inhalers, and artificial hearts. Computer software engineers, on the other hand, are working to develop tomorrow’s hottest video game—or missile system.” </p>
<p>[The</a> 50 Best Careers of 2010 - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2009/12/28/the-50-best-careers-of-2010.html?PageNr=1]The”>http://www.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2009/12/28/the-50-best-careers-of-2010.html?PageNr=1) </p>
<p>science and technology</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2009/12/28/americas-best-careers-2010-science-and-technology.html[/url]”>http://www.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2009/12/28/americas-best-careers-2010-science-and-technology.html</a></p>
<p>as for the question… no engineering discipline is ‘easy’ and i don’t really think you can compare disciplines because upper level classes are basically non comparable.</p>