<p>I'm a rising senior in HS this year and I'm interested in studying engineering in college, specifically biomed. </p>
<p>But, as to keep my options open, I was wondering if it is at all possible to mix an engineering major with premed? It seems like the classes required of a biomed major would be similar to a premed focus, wouldn't they? I'm not very clear on what exactly the requirements for "premed" are anyways. The point of this, of course, would be to have two paths I could follow after graduating. I'm a bit split between engineering and medicine, and it would be nice to have a practical fallback (engineering degree) if I am not admitted to med school.</p>
<p>I'm just curious to know if this is a possibility, because i would be very interested in doing something along these lines. </p>
<p>If you know anything about any of this, please contribute. I would really appreciate it.</p>
<p>its possible. lots of people do it. but really, you need to seriously just get into college first and get some time under your belt and then decide. right now you’re just in high school. once you hit college, its a whole new ballgame</p>
<p>I was looking into biomed/premed at one point. Usually, the biomedical engineering curriculum will have many of the premed prereq’s already in it. You would only have to add a few classes.</p>
<p>it would be nice to have a practical fallback (engineering degree)</p>
<p>A Biomedical Engineering BS degree would not be a “practical fall-back.” I suggest you do more research, but as Magneto stated, you’ve got a lot of time.</p>
<p>No doubt, very very many people who pursue BME do so for medicine and not engineering. Interesting (supporting?) statistic, ratio of male:female pursuing BME is almost 50/50.</p>
<p>If you want a fall back option with possibility of medicine, do some research into Chemical Engineering as well. But if you are serious about going to med school I suggest you don’t do engineering, because of the potential that it could be a major GPA drain.</p>
<p>I think I’ll be ok as far as getting into college is concerned… ha </p>
<p>Is a biomed degree not worth anything? Are there very few job openings or something? Because I have heard that from a few guys that are at state schools that aren’t known for their biomed programs. But what if I were to get into a school that has an excellent program (Duke, JHU)? Is that not, then, a very valuable degree?</p>
<p>I would really like to study biomedical engineering, and I would like to advance my knowledge/options by perhaps going to med school. Is it so hard to get good grades as an engineering major?? Because I know that med schools are notorious for their lack of a holistic approach to admissions (GPA is most important factor?). But if I am really, really determined, would a good GPA be achievable? Or are engineering majors not intended to have good a GPA?</p>
<p>Partially correct - a BS in BME is not worth much in its field. A MS/PhD is, however. Leaning on a BS in BME as a backup isn’t exactly feasible (depends on how you look at it - see below), but if you truly want to study BME, then shoot for the stars!</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get a job with a BS in BME, you just won’t get one with the title of being an actual “engineer.” You’ll instead land a position in sales or other non-technical aspect of the BME world.</p>
<p>you better hope. College is a completely different game than high school no matter what AP credit or how prestigious your high school was.</p>
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<p>that depends solely on you. some people are late bloomers, some people start out high and end up low, some people start out high and end high and some people just make it through. a high gpa is possible but you are going to have to work for it. anything in life you’re gonna have to work for. if you want to study bme, study it. if you want to go to med school, do it. just be careful. like I said before, wait till you get to college and get some time in because it might be harder than you think.</p>
<p>So what I’m absorbing is that, if i really want to be doing engineering in the field, I will probably need to get a MS/PhD and go to grad school, instead of going to med school? So i should just choose one basically.</p>
<p>But I know at Duke, for example, you can have an MS in BME in 5 years. Could i then try to go to med school?</p>
<p>I am currently a biomedical engineer, so I can give you some advice. When I went in freshman year, every person who was a biomedical engineer and premed wanted to go to pursue a medical degree at some prestigious university using a biomedical engineering degree (using “engineering” as a resume booster apparently…)</p>
<p>After the first semester, at least 50% of the considering premeds dropped biomedical engineering from their major and chose to go into something else more related to their interests (neuroscience, biology…etc.). The reason being is that biomedical engineering does look into the biological sciences that much. In my curriculum, there is really one course that has biology in it and maybe two or three that indirectly relate it (keep in mind this is out of 36 course / 136 credit curriculum) in addition to the preset premed curriculum.</p>
<p>I remember the first month, a girl was screaming that she hated programming and didn’t understand why it was required. She definitely wasn’t alone… </p>
<p>My advice? Take a breather. Sit down and think about what you really want to do in life. Can’t decide now? Its ok, not many people do and most of them get out alright. For a BS in BME, people are right, it isn’t really a great “failsafe” as so many of my colleagues said in my school. You need a grad degree to do it and to even make it that far, you need a LOT of money and good grades. Its not an easy path, you need the passion to do it. </p>
<p>If you like engineering enough, than do it. Its a great field. If you like biomedical engineering and want to stick with it? Then do it. But I think you ought to know its not as straightforward as college officials want you to believe. This isn’t like high school where you just continue on education. There is more at stake in college (time, money) and more for you to gain.</p>
<p>An upperclassman at Texas told my son that after undergrad school, roughly 1/3 of the class gets jobs, 1/3 goes to grad school, and 1/3 goes to med school. I was surprised at those statistics, but that’s what the guy said, FWIW.</p>
<p>1/3 goes to med school? That’s absurd, too much of a ballpark estimate, I wonder how big the graduating class was - if 60, that’s 20 people who got into med school? That’s a lot.</p>