<p>I have always been interested in engineering as a career path and within the past few years, narrowed down my interests and decided on biomedical engineering as the path I want to pursue. Most likely once in college I will choose to concentrate on biomechanics. However a new problem has risen…occupational therapy. By doing some research I have found that I have a great interest in occupational therapy but I don’t know if it is what I want to study in college or stick to biomedical engineering. My main question here is if I would be able to study both in college; double major in two barely related fields. Would the course work over lap enough or would I be doing more work than it is worth? Both occupational therapy and biomedical engineering are what I want to spend the rest of my life doing but I need help to know if I can study both or not.</p>
<p>Are there even any BS OT programs left? You might want to shadow the field of OT because I can tell you from experience that it just ends up being the same thing over, and over, and over agian…day in day out. I worked with PT/OTs for about 2 years. It was just so routine I was bored out of my mind. At least with BME you have some creativity and analytics involved. Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>Master’s is the minimum. [Occupational</a> Therapists : Occupational Outlook Handbook : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics<a href=“You%20Department%20of%20Labor%20is%20your%20friend,%20bookmark%20their%20website”>/url</a>.
Also see [url=<a href=“http://www.aota.org/default.aspx]The”>http://www.aota.org/default.aspx]The</a> American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.](<a href=“http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/occupational-therapists.htm#tab-4]Occupational”>http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/occupational-therapists.htm#tab-4)</p>
<p>You need to learn more about these career paths, I don’t think you can pursue both at the same time?</p>
<p>As an OT, without a strong understanding of biomedical engineering, I can tell you that there would be minimal overlap of coursework. Both require specific paths of study. OT is also now a masters degree field. In terms of the actual careers, I wouldn’t agree that OT is boring, however it does involve following a fairly rigid schedule/routine of patients/clients that you are locked in to. It does allow for creativity and analysis as you are presented with each case, disease, injury, etc., however I would say the career is much more people oriented than biomedical engineering would be, as that sounds more project oriented.</p>
<p>Working as an OT now requires an MS. A relatively small number of schools offer accelerated BS/MS OT programs. Otherwise, any undergrad degree can be earned before entering an MS OT program, but a number of prerequisite classes should preferably be taken during the undergrad, which typically include several psychology classes, statistics, and anatomy and physiology. </p>
<p>It would be easier to switch from BME to OT than to switch the other direction. BME is considered to be one of the toughest majors, since you have to take all of the math and physics that engineering requires, plus many of the biology and chem classes that pre-meds take. </p>
<p>The suggestion to shadow an OT is good. Unless you are confident that you are interested in OT, I wouldn’t suggest to do one of the accelerated BS/MS OT programs, since it really limits your choice of which college to attend, as relatively few colleges offer it.</p>