<p>I have been accepted to Irvine as biomedical engineering (pre med).
I'm not positive I want to go to med school at this point, but I might. I was also accepted to UCSD, but not to their bioengineering program, as it's impacted. Still waiting to see what I'd have to do to study bioengineering there.
I'm not sure about Irvine's program, they say it's not ABET-accredited.
Is this a bad thing? </p>
<p>If you're not sure, at least how is Irvine's biomedical engineering program?
I'm sorta confused at this point.</p>
<p>personally, i tihnk the BME program is stupid. (not irvine’s, just in general.) i’d rather do a EE or ME and take a few bio classes than be a bio major who took a few engr classes (which is how i view BMEs… particularly the BME pre-meds). i can post more info if ur interested later.</p>
<p>Irvine has two biomed programs, one is regular and one is pre-med, the regular biomed program IS abet accredited, while the pre-med program is not. The programs at la/Berkeley/Davis are not accredited either, but I’m sure the still hold merit…</p>
<p>want examples from uci’s various curriculums?
when civil and mechs learn statics/dynamics, they take classes on statics and dynamics. on the other hand, BMEs take biomechanics. (BME 110a-b-c vs. MAE 30 and 80)
EE learn signal processing over a year (1 quarter for math, 1 quarter for continuous, 1 quarter for discrete. (EECS 145, 150a-b) BME does it all in one quarter (BME 130)
BME covers transport phenom in one class (BME 150). Chemical engr do it in a year (CBEMS 125a-b-c).</p>
<p>also, i dont think BME’s learn thermodynamics anywhere in their courses (super weird)… i could be wrong though.</p>
<p>BME’s dont learn anywhere near enough of one topic. BME premeds are even worse.
I was BME premed coming in as a frosh (since dropped pre med, shooting for grad school). i talked to the dean of BME department during spop and he literally said:
personally, id rather be a science major… im not as sold on engineering…</p>
<p>EDIT: yes, i think the thread above does it very nicely. if you like the field, do physics or mech e or EE and take a few bio classes.</p>
<p>Haha, flemmyd, you really hate the BME program huh. Isn’t the major supposed to be the jack of all trades though? Taking light courses in so many fields opens up the disciplinary thought of applying these topics into biomedical engineering such as the applications you listed in your post. There is always the ability to talk to BME professors to do research and look better than other majors in a specific field like building pacemakers. EEs may have a lot of circuits knowledge, but it’s often best for integrated circuits ICs and such.</p>
<p>Honestly, if you want to do a BME field related to EE…you might end up hating EE because you have to take so many irrelevant courses to your BME field of interest. UCI has a 4 course series on integrated circuit design when you clearly don’t need it if you want to work in brain imaging (systems and signal processing stuff). </p>
<p>I never knew BME/bioengineering was so disadvantageous, haha. It sucks to be in a totally new field :|.</p>
<p>Employers are looking for engineers to have in-depth knowledge in their field and taking a bunch of broad overview courses isn’t going to help show employers you have the depth of knowledge they are looking for.</p>
<p>That’s definitely true. As a soon to graduate EE, I know the importance…especially with graduate school admissions. An MS in BME is definitely required, but if you think about it, it’s very difficult to build a BME program that can be accredited yet still hold true to the BME title. If you slack off in one area, it’ll make the program seem not as comprehensive. However, there are always research projects one can take on to further their knowledge in an area.</p>
<p>^ Your first year makes no difference. You still have the same basic science/math recruitments as the other engr majors. Yes, its easy to switch, but you don’t have to sweat it. </p>
<p>The part about the Dean talking the two BME programs is true, I remember him mentioning it during orientation. I guess BME will develop over time as its relatively new to other engr’ing majors.</p>
<p>yes jas0n, i strongly dislike the BME department, mostly at the undergraduate level. at the graduate level, the field itself is fine (i guess… ill elaborate)</p>
<p>the problem with BME (and this is showing in the undergraduate curriculum) is that it isn’t a real field. all its doing is applying previous engineering techniques to biological systems. do MEMS? you’re an EE. but put that same MEMS in a body and all the sudden you’re a BME?
work with materials? material scientist (chemist are better IMO though). but put that material in the body and you’re a BME. </p>
<p>if you’ll notice, a good deal of BME department people are cross-listed in other (traditional) departments. the fact of the matter is, there are dozens of scientists in their respective fields who are interested in biology (because biology is weird and complex and that attracts professors, because biology is a huge field thats bound to overlap, and because the NIH pumps loads of money into health-related research so professors follow the grant money).
it seems like you do you’re engineering field and toss “we work in biologically-relevant systems” and you can get a position in the BME department.
I guess at the graduate level, this does matter as much as these biological devices are complex and require various fields of knowledge to complete the thesis so the warrant for a BME is justified. but at the same time, graduate degree titles dont mean anything- what matters are the professors you work under and the work done.</p>
<p>in my opinion, the point of an undergraduate degree (even engineering) is more about training someone to think, not technical information or job training (we have JCs and certifications for that…) every different degree tries to teach its graduates how to look at a problem through its lens (ie how would an electrical engr look at a problem vs. how a biologist would…maybe the nervous system?). BME tries to tread every water and im curious as to how well it can teach that.</p>
<p>Hm, I still like the sound of BME, you all haven’t scared me away from it yet.
I’m curious though, does what you say apply mostly to UCI or to UCSD as well?</p>
<p>I’m interested in studying all different fields related to science, and the idea of a new field is sort of exciting. I will probably go for at least a masters.</p>
<p>what if i switch from BME: premed to just BME??</p>
<p>i dont know why uci doesnt have a straight BioE program… but the BME is abet accredited so i guess that would do… maybe. would it be hard for me to transfer to biochemsitry or molecular biology because they are in the science school and not engineering?</p>
