<p>There have been a lot of posts about how one is better off doing straight engineering as an undergrad and then getting a graduate degree in BME to actually work in BME.</p>
<p>Since there are a lot of schools out there that do offer BS in BME, was wondering if there is any anecdoctal or real life experience of someone out there who actually got a job as a BME with just their BS in BME.</p>
<p>There are some BME schools in the Midwest, like Iowa and Marquette, that boast good co-op programs, which supposedly improve one's chances at employment right out of school, but wondering how many have actually been able to accomplish this.</p>
<p>I’m a recent BME grad and I can confirm that finding an engineering job or even internship with a BSBME is extremely difficult. The main reason is that at the undergrad level, BME lacks the depth that is provided by traditional engineering majors.</p>
<p>BME companies that showed up at my school’s career fairs made this clear. They specifically told us that it’s very rare for them to hire someone with only a B.S. in BME, they want an M.S. at the minimum.</p>
<p>Bottom line is this: If you want to go to work as an engineer, right after earning your B.S., then you should study one of the traditional engineering majors. On the other hand, if you are certain that you will be going to graduate school in BME, then doing your B.S. in BME is fine.</p>
<p>My son is doing his undergrad in mech eng, and hoping to minor in biology, but I’m concerned that he will not be able to get into a BME grad program that will lead to a job. I don’t know whether he’s interested in research or industry, and I know I’m preliving the crisis, but I’m unclear about how one gets a foot in the door at a company while doing graduate work. Are co-ops/internships offered to students pursuing a master’s/doctoral degree? My impression of grad school is that any “work” done is toward research to publish a thesis or dissertation, and that you are working with a professor, rather than a company. Am I wrong about that? And along that line, I notice some schools have non thesis master’s programs. If one wants to go into industry, would it be better to do a non thesis program and spend the time doing a co-op/internship outside of class? Thank you for any help with this.</p>
<p>Going from MechE to BME for grad shouldn’t be that hard. Most programs just require that you have completed certain math, physics, and chem courses.</p>
<p>In regards to what he should do during grad school, it all depends on his goals. If he’s going for a terminal masters programs to then enter the work force, he should focus on internships. If he’s interested in PhD programs, then he should focus on research. Of course, it is possible to do both with some good planning.</p>
<p>Finally, the thesis option is for those people who want to pursue a PhD after their masters, while non-thesis is for people who have no plan on pursuing the PhD. I don’t know if employers care about thesis or non-thesis, it would appear that they do not.</p>
<p>Unfortunately it seems that a B.S. in anything that includes the word Bio… on average will not get you a job in the field - masters degrees are overwhelming preferred. However the BME field is so new - who knows maybe industry will believe one day that a BME undergrad is worth it’s weight in gold. However for now at least with the research I’ve turned up an M.S. is required.</p>