I’m currently a freshman bioengineering student and would be happy to answer any questions about my admissions process, college life, my school, what it’s like being an engineering students, or really any questions you guys might have!
I would definitely second that! I’m a second year materials engineering student.
What made you choose your field of engineering? What made you choose your school (and what school is that)? Will it be more difficult to be a woman in engineering?
I study materials science and engineering at Georgia Tech. I chose materials after entering in civil and realizing a few things: 1) I don’t really want to build baseball stadiums or shopping centers or bridges 2) I was really interested in the material and architectural side of things in the first place 3) I didn’t like our advising system and 4) I was interested in working in manufacturing or in large, corporate R&D, which didn’t really jive with civil. Our materials program is really small and personal. It isn’t perfect, but I liked the coursework and it felt more like a home.
I chose Georgia Tech because it was one of the top 10 engineering schools I got into which had a standout study abroad program. Something like 55% of our students study abroad, which is way higher than either the national average or the national engineering average. With hindsight, Georgia Tech is farther from home than I really want to be - I would definitely suggest considering distance. I miss taking art and political science classes, which might have been a bigger part of my coursework at a school with more liberal arts requirements. All in all though, I do love Georgia Tech.
I think whether it’s more difficult to be a woman in engineering depends largely on where you work and less on where you go to school, although there might be some schools with mainly male engineering students who might get defensive. None of your top engineering schools should be like that. GT is approximately 35% female, and I have been the only girl in a class before, but we are a very pro-women school. Part is definitely due to our location in the South and subsequent sorority culture, but part is because we have a very well-defined women in engineering program including mentorship programs. Women have no difficulty performing well academically, getting involved in clubs, or finding internships/co-ops. I intern for a major engineering company and have seen no issues with respecting women there. I did ask many of the female engineers their thoughts on women in engineering and they seemed to think that a “boys club” attitude wasn’t the norm in our company. I imagine other, large engineering companies might have issues with that, but attitudes like that should be shifting. I don’t know if there is much of a wage gap in my company, but I would be quite surprised if there were.
I hope this helps!
This is probably a very obvious question, but I was wondering if to be an engineer(particularly interested in mechanical/biomedical) would you have to design things?
Secondly, is there anything else you would look for in a program if you had to do the search again, now that you know more information?
@elena3142
I’m currently studying bioengineering at University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) and I’m planning on pursuing a track in biomechanics (mostly implants and prosthetics). So the story of how and why I chose bioengineering has a few elements to it. I have always loved biology and anatomy and really anything that has to do with the body. When I started to really look into colleges and what I wanted to major in during my junior year of high school I had no idea bioengineering existed. So my plan was to just major in biology and possibly double major in education. While I was visiting the University of Iowa I was able to meet with a biology professor there to discuss what it takes to be a biology major and such. During the conversation I also mentioned that I’m very good at math and I like it. That professor was the one to suggest I look into bioengineering. As I actually started to google it and learn about what it is, I was hooked. I have also always loved making, building, and repairing things and I love a good challenge, which fueled my desire to become an engineer even more. Another element to me choosing bioengineering and my interest in my specific track is that my grandma had her hip replaces when I was young. Also, my mother had one hip and both knees replaced in a span of seven months during my junior year. I started to become really interested in implants and such and how they work with the body.
I chose the University of Illinois for several reasons. One is that it is in the top ten for engineering schools and the bioengineering program is ranked number 21 in the nation. The university also has plans to build a teaching hospital that will mainly be for bioengineering students and bioengineering related projects and such. Another factor was cost. I only applied to two (I applied to seven schools total) schools in my home state, University of Illinois and Northwestern University. Northwestern is private so tuition is much higher. In-state tuition for the University of Illinois was lower and the cost of tuition for almost all the other school I applied for. So, a great engineering school that I don’t have to pay out of state costs for was ideal for my family considering our financial situation. I was also being recruited by some small D2 and D3 schools for lacrosse. However, when I visited these schools I realized that I really, and I mean REALLY didn’t like the small school feel. I came from a high school that had 4,000 students so I was used to the feeling of a big school. I also wanted a campus that I felt I could have fun on and be social. Maybe I was biased towards the “college town feel” of the University of Illinois’ campus because my older brother also went here (for economics) so I grew up visiting this school a lot and so it molded my idea of what a college campus is normally like.
Okay. So the answer to your question about if it will be hard being a woman in engineering is yes, sometimes, and no. It’s a complicated answer. It really depends on the school and the specific major. Overall the College of Engineering is majority male; however, in the bioengineering department it is majority female. So in my bioengineering classes I am never the only girl. I am also not in many specific engineering courses yet, mostly general foundational classes like physics and math and chemistry. However, I was the only girl in my intro to engineering class my senior year of high school. You will face sexism as a female in engineering. I was once presenting a project at a fair type event and a male engineering student who was a junior kept interrupting me with unrelated comments, mostly about my appearance and looked very surprised when I told him I was the bioengineering major and not my partner for the project, who was male. I was complimented by many other students and professors on my ability to present, answer tough questions, and just how good the project was overall. That’s just one way I personally have experienced sexism in this field. So far I have never experienced any sort of sexism from professors, and if you do you should report it. The best thing you can do when facing sexism is not to dip down to their level. Remain professional and humble and just continue to prove that you deserve to be an engineer and you are a dang good one. Other than that, being a woman in engineering is not at all more difficult.
Hope that answers your questions! Feel free to ask any more.
@confused2016
Okay I’m reading your first question two different ways, so I’ll answer it in both ways, bear with me.
So if you are applying to be an engineer, at least for all the schools I applied to, you do not need to design and submit anything.
Okay, this is what I think you meant but I just wanted to be sure, in engineering programs in college you will have to design things. These projects tend to be group projects. For my intro to engineering class in college we had to design a prosthetic foot that could be used and made in a third world country and build a prototype (nothing too fancy, ours was literally paper mache and chicken wire). I also took an optional course where we had to come up with a product that is a solution to a modern problem. I can’t really talk about that project because we may actually pursue it further. But yes. You will design things in engineering. That’s pretty much what engineering is all about: design and innovation.
If I was looking into programs again I would definitely look into what courses I will have to take during college. I am not good at chemistry. I hate chemistry. Me and chemistry are not friends. At all. But I have to take quite a bit of chemistry as a bioengineering major. And to be quite honest, I failed my first semester of chemistry and now I have to retake it next semester. So definitely look into what classes you will have to be taking and take that into consideration.
@confused2016,
Yeah, you are going to probably have to design things. My major at Georgia Tech doesn’t require a design class (where you learn how to use CAD), but many majors do, including my major at other schools. Many engineers don’t work with designing things on a day-to-day basis. If you’re working in a plant, you’ll be responsible for making sure a machine or machines run, developing a new process/refining a current one (which is kind of design, but isn’t really what I think of when I think design), making sure the product line is running, etc. In general, there are process engineers, quality engineers, product development engineers (who do design things), packaging engineers (who also design things), among other things. This boils down to: regardless of your type of engineering, you’ll probably have to take a design class, but by no means do you need to work in a design-centric capacity.
As for looking into a program, with hindsight, I would learn more about industry relations. If you’re attending a top school, there are going to be lots of corporate research partnerships, industry days, and other events like that. If you’re at a smaller school, you should probably check if that school has industry mentorship programs or just really close ties with certain companies, and make sure you’re interested in those companies. I would also look into opportunities to change major, if you decide you want to switch from xyz engineering to abc engineering. Undergrad research is very worthwhile too, so I’d suggest seeing what percentage of students do research/if any professor’s research, in or out of your major, excites you. Internship/grad school/job placement are also really important. Finally, whether or not you go Greek is 100% up to you, and I wouldn’t recommend choosing a school based on whether or not it has Greek life, but I’d really suggest learning more about it if you do pick a Greek school.
I hope this helps!
As an engineering applicant you will not need to design anything. As an engineering student at an ABET-accredited institution you will need to design at least one thing - senior design is an engineering requirement nationwide. As a working engineer, you do not have to design anything, but the best paying jobs with the best advancement opportunities are generally in design. There are, however, many other options.
Design is one of the core parts of engineering, if we broaden the meaning beyond just mechanical drawing CAD type design and start thinking about how to improve a product or process … it’s design work.
@coon1997 - if you ever get a clueless person like this again, I would politely cut him off and tell him his comments are unwelcome and unprofessional. Thankfully, there is yearly sexual harassment training that basically tells guys in industry, this is unacceptable behavior.
I agree, if you act professional, your male colleagues will treat you as an equal.
I think engineering is a good field for women … especially those who have an interest in math and science and who are willing to work pretty hard in school.
I think it is unlikely that women engineers have avoided the wage gap that is basically present in every industry and in every level of achievement , up to women CEOs. People don’t tell you what they make, but many managers will sort of unthinkingly give bigger raises or starting salaries to men, sometimes because they prefer their personalities or because they support families or because the boss is actually sexist or because they think the young men are go getters who won’t quit to raise families or because women have taken gap years to raise families and can’t get back on the same salary track. Yes, I learned people made more than me … but see below.
The solution is to work hard, impress people, and ask for more money. Starting salaries and benefits are highly negotiable, and turning down a low offer is not seen as a weakness. Once the hiring paperwork is in, there is room to negotiate. Similarly at your annual reviews, if you have had a great year, ask for a good size raise and don’t take no for an answer (or at least get it deferred to next year semi-formally).
If you do plan to take time off for a family, keep it to yourself, just like the men do with their family business. If you work part-time, maybe you can stay in the game and keep current. Or you can go back to school a year or so before resuming work, at least for some computer classes … And, for some women, the flexibility of working part-time as professionals seems like a good deal even if they lose some life-time earnings potential.
@coon1997 just out of curiosity, do people who choose to do bioengineering at UIUC usually have the intent to work as an engineer, or do they just want to get into a health professional school?
Here at the University of Michigan (I’m a senior in EECS), only a small fraction of BME (we call it biomedical engineering instead of bioengineering) majors have the intention of working as an engineer. At least half of the department is pre-med, and another 25% or so is some other type of pre-health (e.g., dental).