<p>I'm already a sophomore in college and am considering biomedical engineering as a major. I need to decide fast if that's what I want to do because it requires a lot of units. I was torn between physics/BME. </p>
<p>I'd like to help people maybe get an MD, but also do research such as figuring out how the brain works, stuff like that or maybe how the body perceives space/time?.</p>
<p>Would BME be a good major for that? or Physics and then med school?</p>
<p>Also, if I get a B.S.E. in BME and decide I wanna pursue physics in grad school. Can I do that? </p>
<p>Research on neuroscience is typically done in the graduate departments of medical schools (ie PhD programs, instead of MD). There is such a thing as an MD/PhD program, but they are intensive and competitive.</p>
<p>For anything you want to study in graduate school (especially in the sciences), the two most important things are undergraduate coursework and research experience. If you want to study neuroscience, take neuroscience courses (although a general biology track can be adequate as well). If you want to study physics, take physics courses too. Research graduate programs and find out the courses they expect incoming students to have taken.</p>
<p>The most difficult part of this will be research experience. It will be difficult to work at multiple laboratories. Do your best to find summer research programs as well, and maybe you can split up by semester.</p>
<p>One thing I will say about BME is that it is a VERY vast subject. For this reason I don’t think many undergrad BMEs are going to get very good jobs. However, if you do undergrad in either mechanical/electrical/chemical, then you could go for engineering grad school for a specific subset of BME that interests you.</p>
<p>Oh, just saw you wanted to get an MD. In that case, DO NOT do BME, or in that case any engineering. Engineering is one of the toughest fields, and the average Engineering GPA is significantly lower than Humanities/Sciences GPA. You won’t get into a med school with a “low” GPA, even if for engineering it is seen as pretty decent. There are different standards.</p>
<p>I have no clue about B.S.E. in BME and then physics grad school…Could you explain how exactly that would work?</p>
<p>BMEs tend to be the lowest paid among the engrs because they are so scattered. depending on the specialization, you’re just a glorified bio major, or you’re a lack luster mechanical/electrical engr who happened to take a bunch of bio classes (IMO)</p>
<p>ive heard, offhand mind you, that if you want to work in the BME field right after undergrad, you’re better off with a mech or electrical engr degree and some time of BME minor (maybe those engr electives toward the BME classes?) then a full BME degree. </p>
<p>re: bme undergrad/physics grad.
i think this would be really hard. most schools expect that you have a very strong background in physics, in particular research in physics. even then, you dont need to get a phd in physics to do research on neurobiology. </p>
<p>additionally, you should realize that BMEs are essentially engrs who work to make the body better. whether its a new form of prosthetic leg, artificial organ, or genetic engr. the research you briefly described being interested in doesnt seem to concern BME as much.</p>
<p>“BMEs tend to be the lowest paid among the engrs because they are so scattered.”</p>
<p>Scattered? I think they’re the lowest paid because there isn’t much market demand for them. While bioengineering has potential to become the “hot” new field, that just hasn’t happened yet, so there are relatively fewer employment opportunities for BMEs.</p>
<p>“depending on the specialization, you’re just a glorified bio major, or you’re a lack luster mechanical/electrical engr who happened to take a bunch of bio classes (IMO)”</p>
<p>ok, i might across kinda of mean…scratch that- i know i came across mean.</p>
<p>anyway, let me elaborate: by and large, the material learned in a bme program is going to be heavy towards mech engr, but they dont call it that. so instead of statics/mechanics, they call it biomechanics.
so instead of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics applied to mechanical systems, they’ll be applying them to bio systems (carido-vascular systems). that being said, you dont get the same level of preparation for those fields as mech engrs do. fluid dynamics is probably a year long class your junior year for mech es, and you apply it heavily your senior year in topics like heat transfer and aerodynamics.
this alluded to what i said earlier: most BMEs work to make things like artificial legs and hearts. a mechanical engr working with the body. you will do a lot of normal mech e classes, but with a “bio emphasis”</p>
<p>as for the glorified bio major, some people choose an emphasis heavy on cell/tissue engr. i still think that a lot of a BME program is scattered relative to what you want to do. wheras most traditional engr programs maybe have 2-4 “specialties”, the core curriculum is largely the same. for example, bme at berkeley has 6 different specialities in bme and the curriculum seems fairly different. thats what i mean by “scattered”.</p>
<p>keep in mind that almost every field in engr is essential one of these: mechanical, electrical and civil (maybe chemical… or it might be under mech… room for debate). particularly at the undergraduate level where you spend a lot of your time learning the basics of science and engr, rather then specializing. </p>
<p>more so: the M.D.- in particular, avoid anything similar to BME:premed program. worst of both programs. you get the low gpa of a engr program but not the proper training of an engr. note that most engr programs are similar in the topics covered (to various depths depending the school) because of ABET accred. this means that most of the topics covered are pre-defined.</p>
<p>something to say though: one of the benefits of a BME program is you can do the modeling of various biological systems with advance math, something a bio program may not give.</p>
<p>also, look into a biophysics major. that might be what you are looking for.</p>
<p>Ah okay that clarifies. I agree, I think that is all true.
I read a thread from a UCB BME senior (can’t locate the link atm) which was sortof a warning against doing BME in undergrad, because of the sheer vastness of the subject. I guess that is what you meant by scattered. What you said about the significant amount of MechE in BME is pretty true. While some schools (USC comes to mind) offer BME with specializations (ex: BME-electrical, BME-mechanical, BME-chemical), I think most schools would mix all three together, which is probably part of the reason why the subject can be seen as too broad for undergraduates. For employability purposes, I would recommend getting a B.S. degree in either electrical/mech/chem and THEN do the masters in a subset of BME, so as to not box yourself into a rather limited field (which hasn’t even taken off yet). Also, I think the few companies that are hiring BMEs are looking for at least Masters degrees, because BME is still developing, and they need innovative people (my guess)</p>
<p>Haha, I totally forgot about biophysics. That would match you pretty well if you wanted to pursue physics in graduate school and keep your options open for medicine.
(warning: biophysics is no cakewalk, it could probably/will kick your (GPA’s) ass, which would hurt your med school chances)</p>
<p>Might I recommend neuroscience, if you want to “figure out how the brain works.” Keep in mind you’d need to go all the way and get a PhD in this if you want to do any serious research.</p>
