Actions to decide a field in engineering

I will be entering Rice as a BME freshmen this August. Right now my future aspirations are grad school and a job in research and development (and hopefully a not a job where I have to sit behind a computer in my cubical or inspecting products)

In the past, I was sure that I would be an aeronautical engineer as I had a great passion for planes and wing design.

Only recently have I been inspired by the advances in Biomedical Engineering and the impact that the work has in improving lives. The field seemed to have a more meaningful impact than aeronautical engineering.

However, I am not yet over my love for planes and wings and I feel conflicted between the two. What are some ways that I can gain experience between the two and decide?

Thank you

I would say getting hands on training or trying to develop models of an airplane or a prosthetic leg or something like that. Those are some examples

Get a Mech E degree and decide which to specialize in for grad school.

You have a couple of options

  1. Keep your BME degree, take an intro MechE class, and see if that’s what you want to pursue.
  2. Switch to MechE and decide whether or not you want to specialize in Aero or Biomechanics.

I’ve been told that an undergraduate in BME won’t normally get you a job because most BME jobs require a masters. I think it’d be safer to do an undergraduate in mechanical engineering (then you can do either aerospace or BME) and maybe minor in BME to see if you like it.
I have a friend who couldn’t get a job in the BME and had to do something totally different.

Thank you all for your advice. Morbidicus, what did your friend end up doing?