<p>S was accepted to ChE for this fall. His real passion is Biomedical Eng. I hear that UF is getting their program going. Does anybody knows if there is an option for him to start in the BME undergrad now or does he needs to start as ChE to later transfer to this program. How difficult is to get into their program? Are the professors committed to the undergraduates or is it better to aim at the BME graduate school?</p>
<p>D’s chemE (in her 4th semester), and she will be talking to the chemE advisor before class registration in the next week or so. She’s very interested in doing the chemE/Biomedical engineering (4 +1) combined master’s program. If I hear anything from her, I will pass it on to you. </p>
<p>Zebes</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son! First off, all engineering majors must complete Calc I, II, II, Differential Equations, Physics I, II, and in your son’s case, Chemistry I, and II. Of course I don’t know your son’s situation, but these “prerequisite” engineering courses and the other generals educations courses should keep your son busy at least until 2012. He shouldn’t have a problem switching to BME when it becomes available.</p>
<p>ChE is often not what people first assume it is. I’ve spoken with many Freshmen ChE who’ve changed majors to MSE, because it aligned better with their interests. ChE tends to have a stronger industrial focus, I believe. Also, ChE is a lot of math and it is one of the longest degrees to complete. If completed, however, job prospects tend to be very good (or so I hear).</p>
<p>BME is a very broad field of engineering. Most people advise on not going BME for undergraduate because of this reason, unless the undergrad program is highly ranked (like GaTech’s). Job prospects are high for BME, but only for masters degree holders.</p>
<p>BME is a very exciting field, but I wouldn’t recommend it for undergraduate unless it’s followed up by a masters degree. Unless your son has most of his gen eds and engineering prereqs done, he has plenty of time to decide what to do. I encourage him to talk to other students and the professors once he’s attending UF. He should have no problem finding something that clicks with him. If he wants to pursue BME graduate school, he has plenty of options for undergraduate.</p>
<p>Hope this helps a little. Make sure your son speaks to departmental advisors, they are very helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks Joe!
Zebes, I would love to hear about what your D hears fromthe department.</p>
<p>S was accepted to GT in their BME program too, but financially might not make sense. Although he is OOS for both schools, he is the Florida Pre-Paid plan that makes him insate at UF. So far he is committed to go BME Grad school so he is willing to start CHE and then follow MS/PHD in BME. Still his preference is to start in a bonafide undergraduate BME program… He is also looking at a good fit with Auburn that offers CHE with a BME certificate/minor, that should bridge him well to the BME graduate school too. </p>
<p>As far as knocking out some of the first year, he is doing dual enrollement, so there are 6 credits of socio/humanistic electives, also he has already done AP US History and Caluculus BC. This May he should take AP Micro/Macro economics, AP English, and AP Chemistry. Out of those he is planning to redo Calculus I and Chemistry in college. Effectivily he could be taking some more advance classes in the Spring semester next year.</p>
<p>My friend got accepted at UF and is interested in BME, too. He called them and found out apparently the undergraduate biomedical engineering degree is only offerred to around 20 kids who apply to the program at the end of sophomore year. So the route would be to take regular pre-engineering classes, then try to get into the biomedical program. If he does not make into the biomedical program, the combination ChemE and then BME for masters’ works fine in my eyes, especially with biology-type electives.</p>
<p>This is the program D’s looking at … </p>
<p>[BS</a> in Chemical Engineering/MS in Biomedical Engineering | <a href=“http://www.bme.ufl.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.bme.ufl.edu](<a href=“http://www.bme.ufl.edu/academic/combined/che]BS”>http://www.bme.ufl.edu/academic/combined/che)</a></p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>Zebes, looks like a great program. One thing for your D to consider is that if she wants to go the BME PHD route, it is probably better to go straight into a MS/PHD program that will pay her a stipend from the beginning instead of paying one extra year of undergraduate…</p>
<p>She’s not totally sure which route appeals to her yet, which is why she’s talking to an advisor and, hopefully, someone in the BME dept. She’s in her 4th semester at UF, but she’s completed five semesters worth of classes in the ChemE track (plus several more classes from “future” tracking semesters, i.e. she’ll take analytical chem in the fall, which is listed as a 9th semester class). So, she definitely has the room in her schedule to begin taking BME master’s classes to fulfill tech electives, as well as other slots open because she’s already taken all the humanities/etc they scatter throughout the curriculum. Just as your son, she came in with a lot of AP credit (she used the max 45 she was allowed, which wiped out most of her gen eds). She did not begin back at Calc 1, however, but started with Calc 3. And she started with Chem II. </p>
<p>Also, just as your son, she was admitted to GaTech, but we decided instate tuition (Bright Futures), etc. was too good to pass up against GaTech’s OOS tuition. </p>
<p>Thankfully, her dad has his Ph.D. in MechE, so he’s helping to advise her on options … we’re just thankful she’s found good support at UF, including a ChemE professor who’s allowed her to work as undergrad research assistant.</p>
<p>Good luck to you, lapagan, and your son. </p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>Sounds to me like your son is in the same position I was in a year ago. I wanted to do biomedical engineering and I also got into UF and Ga Tech’s program, but $40,000 a year was not happening. I’m now a freshman at UF. I know for my class the biomed program is beginning next year (or at least applications for the program). I was planning on applying for this but I’ve actually found Materials Engineering (MSE) major to be strikingly similar, and I think I will stick with it. UF’s MSE program allows you to pick a specialization, in my case biomaterials. I would suggest checking out the MSE program (ranked 2nd in the country) and still consider the option of biomedical engineering.</p>
<p>Here are websites that will tell you all you need to know.
Hope this helps!</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> | <a href=“http://www.bme.ufl.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.bme.ufl.edu](<a href=“http://bme.ufl.edu/academics/undergraduate]Undergraduate”>Undergraduate Admissions – J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering)</a>
[Materials</a> Science and Engineering](<a href=“http://mse.ufl.edu/]Materials”>http://mse.ufl.edu/)</p>
<p>Lapagon,</p>
<p>D met w/ ChemE advisor, and she gave her a name of someone to go talk to in BME. She is suggesting, as her dad already had, that she not do the 4+1 (chemE/BME master’s) if she’s planning to go for her Ph.D. D has decided she’ll take BME preparatory classes, most likely, getting her ready for Grad School, whether she does a thesis Master’s or Ph.D. She’s hoping to move from the research position she has after this summer (she’s a paid undergrad research assistant this summer) into a position w/ someone in the BME dept. So she’s got a lot of stuff to follow up on: talking to the BME person about options and finding a prof who will take her on in the fall. We’ve told her that her undergrad research experience can all be in chemE, as the grad schools just need to see the research experience. But she’s just more interested in the biological end of chemE and doesn’t want to wait. LOL </p>
<p>At least we know, she’s going to fill all her ChemE tech electives with courses suggested by the BME dept.</p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>Thanks Zebes, I think that’s a wise decision too. This is consistent with what have heard at many other schools. Do a classic eng program and then follow BME graduate studies.</p>
<p>Jpessy17, that MSE program sounds very interesting.</p>