I’m an out of state student from Arizona, and I was recently admitted to UC Davis for Biomedical engineering. I’ll definitely be majoring in BME, with a possible minor in Biotechnology, and I was was wondering how good is Davis for BME (and biotech), and what the BME program at Davis is like (anything noteworthy or anything unique about the program). I’m specifically interested in the following, but I’m open to any info that anyone can give me:
Research opportunities for undergrad students
Internships for undergrad students
Ranking of Davis for BME
I’m currently deciding between UC Davis for BME, UCSD for Molecular Synthesis (my alternate major), and ASU’s Barrett Honors College for BME, and I’m trying to decide how beneficial it would be to choose Davis over my instate college, where I would save a lot of money.
Thanks! I would really appreciate any tips or information that you could share with me about UC Davis for bioengineering!
Used to be a BME major at Davis, and I can honestly say, not the best experience I have had. In regards to your questions:
The UCs are research schools, hence there will be research oppertunities. BUT Davis's BME... I don't understand what it was, but the research felt so bland. I seriously think they've been running the same research that the years before us went though. Unenjoyable experience for me.
Internships are available, but unlikely. I didn't happen to get accepted to one, neither did my friends. Some did, not sure how it ended up for them. Most people usually go for graduate BME, not necessarily the internships
Davis's BME is seen as ~rank 40, which is supposedly good, but again I, as well as many others, had a bad experience
I was once in your position. A friend of mine is there right now for Biochemistry and he transferred into Bioengineering and claims he loves it (I don’t think I would be in the same position, but who knows). I’d honestly go for UCSD, better campus, better ranking, more opportunities. UCD is a nice homely campus and all, just not much happening. La Jolla is more active; I think I would have liked that more.
In regards to saving money, what instate college are you thinking of applying to, and how much money would you be saving?
@jorell Thanks for the detailed response! I’m already accepted to Arizona State University’s Barrett Honors College, and I would be saving thousands if I go there. If I go to Davis, I’ll have 40k in loans to repay per year, but if I go to Barrett, I’ll be paying only 12k in loans per year.
I definitely love UCSD the best as a college, but I’ve heard that it’s almost impossible to transfer into the biomedical engineering major. I think the UCSD BME website says that since the BME major is impacted, only direct admits from high school are allowed in. Is that true? If so, would I have to try transferring after 2 years or is it even impossible then?
@AstraeaX Paying only 12k? That’s incredibly cheap for a college like Arizona State! Grats on admission into there btw. I’m not too aware of Arizona’s BME program, but I know it has a pretty good school of engineering (so I’d assume its good).
It’s not impossible to transfer into bio/med engineering at UCSD, but it’s not exactly an easy thing to do. My friend managed to transfer into Jacobs school of engineering (impacted majors) from bio, but if you could link me to UCSD’s BME page that says that transfers are impossible, that’d be great. I believe that there are specific classes you have to take to transfer into bio/med engineering.
Transferring after 2 years is always a possibility, and I know of people who have transferred into the school of engineering at UCSD, but again, I don’t recall UCSD’s BME website saying that transfers are impossible, I just know that specific courses must be taken.
@jorell Thank you! I really appreciate all the advice!
Here’s the link where it says only direct admits are allowed in; I’m not actually sure how strict this rule is and if it actually is impossible to switch in (it’s in section 3.2 Freshman Student Advising)
After reading the section more closely, I noticed that it very specifically mentions no transferring into BME as a freshman, so I’m assuming that transfers are allowed as a sophomore? I’ll probably email the admissions department to clarify this.
Specifically looking at post #10, people have been able to transfer into Bio/Med Engi as sophomores, suggesting that it cannot be done as a freshman, but afterwards it is possible. A friend of mine was able to transfer from UCSB to UCSD Bio/Med. Engi with a certain GPA. Again, this all leads to the fact that it is a definite possibility to transfer into Bio/Med Engi.
What I would suggest doing is that if you were to go to UCSD, in your freshman year, take GEs and classes that can count towards Bio/Med Engi. Once you transfer, your work will not have been wasted
Good luck, and keep both your finance and future in mind!
I have no experience with BME, so I won’t comment on that.
I honestly don’t think it’s worth that kind of debt to go to any school, though. I would go with Arizona State, and if you want to live in California then move out here once you’re done with school.
I really appreciate all the advice!