<p>We just read that in order to major in Biomedical Engineering at Tufts you have to submit an application at the end of the freshman year. Only the top 15 students are taken. So if you really want this major at Tufts there is a risk of not be accepted into the department. I never heard of a student not being able to take any major that they want. What is the reason for this policy? What do advise students to do if that is the only engineering major they want?</p>
<p>Different schools handle the BME major in different ways. For example, even though there is usually no need to indicate a prospective major, I think that Johns Hopkins requires applicants who plan to major in BME to apply for that major specifically (I think that’s the only major JHU treats that way).</p>
<p>Tufts has two BME majors. The first major, the more rigorous and thorough of the two, has a required research component with a BME faculty member, so the number of first majors cannot stretch beyond what the department is 100% sure they can accomodate with a meaningful research opportunity - this is the motivating factor behind the cap. There are non-BME majors who work on research projects with BME faculty, and there are BME 2nd majors (which I’ll explain presently) that do so as well, but the cap exists to ensure that opportunity/requirement can be offered to all BME first majors.</p>
<p>There is also a 2nd major offered in BME. A student would have another undergraduate major in a different engineering discipline, or often in an area of the liberal arts curric (biology, computer science, history, whatever), and BME would be the second major in a double major. There are fewer requirements to get the BME degree this way, so it can be offered to all students, but it also (obviously) doesn’t have the same automatic depth the first major would have. </p>
<p>As for your final question - what do we advise students to do - that depends: what would you like to work on within BME that has so captured your attention?</p>