<p>Brant239, you’re not being very useful either by leaving snarky comments. :)</p>
<p>Montegut, I’m a bioengineering sophomore/junior (I’m on co-op, so I don’t have a typical schedule, but I’m a junior by credits), so I can try to help some.</p>
<p>I don’t plan on going to medical school either and I plan to get my masters in BioE. I also want to get my PhD (I hope to enter a MS/PhD program). It is highly recommended that BioEs get their masters anyway, so it’s good that your son is already planning to get one.</p>
<p>In Bioengineering, we essentially touch on all aspects of engineering (mechanical, electrical, chemical…) and put a biology spin on it. We take mechanics courses, circuits courses, and chemistry courses. Your junior year, you must pick a concentration of BioE to enter. They are biomechanics, cellular engineering (aka cellular & medical product engineering), and biosignals & imaging. Biomechanics has more of a mechanical engineering focus, cellular engineering involves a lot of regenerative medicine/stem cells/etc, and biosignals and imaging has more of an electrical engineering focus. But these are generalized statements; once your son gets into his sophomore year, he’ll have a better idea of which concentration to choose for his junior year.</p>
<p>Bioengineering already encompasses the pre-med track (we already take the required math, physics, biology, and chemistry courses). The only extra classes you will have to take if you are interested in pre med are Organic Chemistry II (lecture + lab) and the Biology I lab. Also, like any pre-med student, people will volunteer at hospitals, shadow doctors, and other activities that make them look good in their medical school applications. </p>
<p>If you are interested in industry, it’s hiiiighly recommended to do co-op! Bioengineering is a newer type of major so the industry doesn’t quite know what to “do with us” yet. Essentially, we have to prove ourselves in the industry to show that we can do the same work as any other major, if not better :). Most people co-op with medical device/machine companies (like where I work) but there are a few who go into biotechnology companies such as Genentech or Cook Myosite (they deal with more “cellular” stuff).</p>
<p>Bioengineering is pretty broad- we cover a lot of different things. Some people would say that if you want to do industry, do biomechanics; if you want to do med school, do medical product; if you want to double major or are interested in neuroscience (it’s a pretty popular major here), do biosignals. I say do whatever interests you!</p>
<p>I am “in” the Honors College, but I have never taken Honors Courses, nor do I really recommend taking them UNLESS for some reason, the course reeeeeally interests you. The reason I say that is because BioE is a very rigorous major. It takes over 100 credits for the major, and these classes are not easy. Personally, I did not want to further weigh down my schedule with Honors courses when I already have high level math and science courses to take! Most of the Honors courses that are available are through your humanities/social sciences electives, and your freshmen courses are available in honors forms as well. Generally, it’s rare that people take honors courses after freshmen year.</p>
<p>I hope this covers the basics, but I could really go on and on, and this message is getting pretty lengthy. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask or shoot me a message!</p>