<p>First: my top three things about Hopkins BME. [ul]
[<em>]1. Amazing faculty that are world leaders in their fields who teach undergraduates - the BME faculty at Hopkins are among the most well-respected and known in their respective fields and all primary BME faculty at Hopkins teach undergrads, whether it’s in the general core courses or in upper-level elective courses. In addition, the core BME courses (Systems Bioengineering I and II) are taught the way a physiology course would be taught in medical school. Instead of having one or two professors give the entire semester of lectures, each lecture is given by faculty who are actively involved in research in that particular area. There are a few core faculty who coordinate the course and make sure the lectures jive together, but you often are taught concepts by the people who discovered them. I think this is a huge advantage over having a single professor teach your physiology course. Why? First, you are learning the material from the leaders in the field. They are the ones who know the most recent discoveries and who are really able to answer the in-depth questions students have. Second, you get to meet a lot of very interesting and very talented faculty members. Many of the professors who come give a lecture or two in the Systems Bioengineering course are not primary BME faculty, but they are interested in undergraduate education enough that they willingly come (often from the medical school to the undergrad campus) to teach us. These professors are also often very willing to have BME undergrads in their labs, which leads me to my second point
[</em>]2. Huge research opportunities - you mentioned that you were worried about finding research at Hopkins but I think that should be the least of your concerns. Hopkins has a large number of labs, both on the Homewood (undergrad) campus and the medical campus (20 mins away by bus) and most faculty members are very willing to accept undergrads in their labs. There’s a huge push across the university to get students involved in research, not only for students in the sciences but also for students in the humanities and social sciences. In addition, there’s also a push to get undergrads involved in research early in their college years. When I was visiting colleges, when I mentioned that I knew I wanted to get involved in research, I was told that I would not be allowed or would be “discouraged” from doing research as a freshman. On the other hand, at Hopkins, my advisor encouraged me to get into a lab and helped me find a lab that would fit my interests. I would probably have gotten involved in research as a freshman whereever I went, but I feel like the culture at Hopkins is very pro-student involvement in research
[li]3. Early exposure to BME - I would venture a guess that the vast majority of incoming BME students don’t really know exactly what BME is. They know it’s somewhere on the border between medicine and engineering, but beyond that, it’s all kinda of vague. At most colleges, as a first year engineering student, all your course would be intro science and math courses and you would have little exposure to your major. Many colleges are now adding “intro to X major” courses for first semester freshmen to expose them to research in the department, but Hopkins BME goes a step beyond that. All freshmen take BME Modeling and Design, and are divided into groups of 4-5ish students along with their faculty advisor (who will remain their advisor for all 4 years). In addition to attending lectures that give a brief intro to BME, students work with their advisor and their teams to complete a series of projects that really show you what BME is all about. In addition, freshman are strongly encouraged to join “Design Teams”, which are a huge part of the Hopkins BME experience. Design teams are composed of students of all years, led by seniors who are counting the experience as their senior design requiement, that tackle a project that’s been proposed by a faculty member, physician, community member, or company. This is where you, as a BME freshman, get to really get involved in what BME is all about and figure out if it’s really for you. [/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>As for BME as a pre-med: Yes, it’s very possible to be a BME major and go to medical school. In fact, about 1/3 of BME grads each year end up going to med school. However, that said, BME is far from the easiest route to medical school. If your only goal is to become a doctor, then I would advise you stay far away from BME. Unless you really love science (and really, really love math), BME may not be the right route for you. As another poster here on CC put it, “Studying BME for the sole purpose of going to med school is like climbing Mount Everest to get a breath of fresh air”. Keep in mind that it’s an accredited engineering major, so you’ll be taking as much math as all other engineering students. Now, stepping away from my boilerplate disclaimer on BME/pre-medness… If you do really enjoy math and science and you’re interested in how engineering and medicine intersect, then the BME program is a fantastic one, even if your end goal is to be a doctor. The program really teaches you how to approach complex biological and engineering problems and provides you with a huge range of opportunities and resources to enhance your experience. As an engineer, you’ll go into med school with a unique perspective on medicine that I think will serve you well in the long run. I’m a Hopkins BME grad now in med school, and I’m very happy with the route I took.</p>
<p>Hope that helps! Feel free to post or PM me if you have any other questions!</p>
But if BME is your passion, you’ll do fine and fair extremely well in med school admissions. </p>