Applying to ECE masters program from BME undergrad

Graduate School
1

Hello everyone. This my first post here. I was wondering how difficult it is get into a reputable ECE masters program (like MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgia Tech, U Mich, CMU, etc.) from a BME undergraduate background. I am interested mainly in signal processing and control systems.

I have taken a lot of ECE classes so far such as: digital system design with lab, DSP, intro circuits with lab for non-ECEs, biomedical instrumentation, bio signals/systems, and medical imaging systems. Over the next year I’m planning on taking engineering electromagnetics, magnetic resonance imaging, medical image processing, and intro embedded systems design. My undergrad institution unfortunately doesn’t offer a minor in ECE, but if it did, I would have more than a minor in ECE by now. My GPA is a 3.9, and I got A’s in all the ECE courses I listed above.

I’ve done a lot of research in biomedical signal processing and worked with so many cool techniques like wavelets, adaptive signal processing, machine learning, spectral statistics, etc. This is why I want to go into more depth on signal processing and control systems. I know that if I got into ECE grad school, I would do great.

My main concern is that I don’t want ECE grad programs to judge me based on my BME background. I know that it is easy to go from a primary engineering field like ME, EE, or ChemE to BME, but not the other way around. How true is this and would it apply in my case?

2

in general, you are correct. It is more difficult to move into ECE from BME than the other way around. In your case, however, you have a significant number of ECE courses and good grades, so you are in a good position to move into ECE. It is possible that you might be asked to take some additional courses but if you have more than a minor in ECE this is less likely.

My guess is that you would have a decent chance to get into the kind of program you list if your GRE scores are strong. You need to make sure to highlight your strength in ECE courses and make sure your letter writers know and mention that as well.