Curious about strength of this program at WPI. I saw a comment on Rate My Prof that said biology majors had to really hunt down opportunities for research/internships. Does anyone has a feel for this? Greater Boston area is a mecca of biotech - does WPI have a good rep?
My wife and I worked at WPI for ten years many years ago. Linus Pauling and Jonas Salk were on the telephone weekly for discussions with James Danielli (the founder of the Journal of Theoretical Biology) regarding the refereeing of research papers submitted for publication. Dr. Danielli started the biology department at WPI about 1970.
For an update on today’s activities you might check out the current department at https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/biology-biotechnology and judge for yourself.
WPI has developed joint programs with the University of Massachusetts Medical School which is about three miles from WPI. Check out research at https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/biology-biotechnology/research. Biologists work extensively with bio-physicists and biomedical engineers.
As the WPI PLAN is an undergraduate research directed program for all majors, there would be no graduates without the required research. It is not an option for the few.
The latest report I could find on the WPI site (class of 2016) reported 39 BS graduates with 23 employed by 20 different companies, 7 went to graduated school (Brandeis, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Northeastern, University of Bremen, University of Connecticut and WPI) and 4 were unknown. Among the employers were Merck, Tufts, UMASS Medical School, University of California-Irvine, New York University. At an average of $46,884 employment does not pay nearly as well at the BS level as does Biomedical engineering. I believe this reflects the field at the BS level and not the college.
Biomedical is a WPI focus because of a biomedical research park in the city of Worcester. For a small school, there are a lot of biophysicists in the physics department.
Hello ChillDad! I’m currently a freshman Bio major and I personally love the program. I actually first came in as a CS major and decided to switch because I’ve loved my biology classes so much.
There are two career fairs hosted by the school in A and C term. One of my closest friends from high school (who’s currently a sophomore at WPI) was able to get an internship the summer after her freshman year at a biotech/biomed company.
If you’re looking for research through the school, it never hurts to ask your professors or upperclassmen who are doing research with WPI faculty.
Well, thank goodness for this forum… or I might never have known that my kid changed her major. LOL CameoKid, you got some ‘splainin’ to do! :-c
Well… education is suppose to involve discovery!!
With entertainment like this, who needs politics!
I hope @CameoKid and @cameo43 are not taking out a lot of debt to pay for college, since @CameoKid 's change of major will likely cut his/her post-graduation pay in half. WPI reports that 2017 CS graduates found average pay of $83,672, while 2017 biology and biotechnology graduates found average pay of $41,591.
https://www.wpi.edu/sites/default/files/CDC_StatReport_2017.pdf
CS is no guarantee of a good job, since the industry and overall economy have their ups and downs. But biology graduates do not seem to do that well even in good economic times, perhaps because the major is so popular compared to the number of available major-specific jobs.
Thankfully, no debt worries, @ucbalumnus 
I appreciate your concern! It’s early yet… though I know at tech schools, they tend to need to declare majors early rather than later. I have a feeling this is not going to be the last time she changes her major. I just want her to be happy… (even if that means going to culinary school and owning a food truck! Just a thought, @CameoKid…) 
I’m in BME and had several friends switch into BBT after freshman year. The program is pretty strong and if you’re a good student and are willing to be assertive there are volunteer opportunities in labs on campus. If you want research experience, I’d try volunteering in a lab rather than doing work study because you’ll be doing more research-y things instead of autoclaving everyone’s glassware. You can also apply to get funding and housing over the summer through the SURF program, which in my experience has been good to BBT people I know.
BME is the second largest major at WPI and though BBT is smaller it’s definitely really strong.
@GoatGirl19 - Daughter was just accepted to WPI - thanks for your input along the way!