<p>I know for a fact that I want to major in Biomedical Engineering, but I'm not really sure if I should apply to engineering school or school of science. Also, does a bachelor's degree cover enough information to let me do independent research or do I need another degree?</p>
<p>For undergrad you usually just apply to the entire university rather than individual schools. If you do have to choose a school, you obviously choose the school that BME is based in, which I would assume is engineering. What university are you referring to?</p>
<p>Independent research will require a graduate degree. (At least an MS and more than likely a PhD) You could work in research with a BS if you are able to get one of the relatively few BS BME jobs in research, but you would basically be a lab tech and not be doing independent research.</p>
<p>You may want to look into a school that has a combined BS/MS program, where you can get a masters right after your bachelors, with hopefully only one more year of schooling.</p>
<p>Are you interested in med school, industry, or research?</p>
<p>Some colleges offer internships/coops, which may add to your length of stay at the school.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure which university I want to go to yet. But I want to do a startup based on tissue engineering, so I guess that would be somewhere in between research and industry.</p>
<p>BME is a garbage undergrad degree, unless you’re coming from Hopkins or Duke. Do your research. I’m a firm believer in the idea that it is best to do one of the “big 4” engineering disciplines in undergrad… meaning electrical, mechanical, chemical, or civil engineering. The only exception may be computer engineering. These fields are well established, and employers and graduate schools really respect the content and rigor of these programs. If you come in with some AP credit and don’t take any “filler” courses, then you’ll likely have time to take a few elective undergrad courses in the specific field that you’re interested in. I’m a chemical engineering student, but by the time I graduate I’ll have taken 5 or 6 bioengineering courses.</p>
<p>moneymatters, I would have to disagree with you, you are looking at BME as an outsider, passing judgments without sufficient research, I cannot speak for other schools, but I know that at BU, BME is known as the most rigorous engineering major. It is a combination of all the engineering majors plus biology, there is no space to breath. I agree that it might not be as respected right now as the traditional engineering majors. But that is because the lack of understanding people have of the major and the general lack of foresight. 20 or 30 years ago, people said the same thing about Computer Engineering, saying people should just study electrical engineering instead. Now Computer Engineering is one of the highest paying engineering jobs available.
However I think that it is necessarily to pursue BME to a graduate level as well, because of its broad base it is crucial you specialize. Studying BME in undergrad will give you a much broader scope of knowledge when you reach the graduate level compared to the people jumping in from a traditional engineering field.</p>
<p>Although I wouldn’t say that an undergrad BME degree is “garbage” I do tend to agree with moneymatters that an undergrad education in one of the traditional engineering disciplines generally gives students a better foundation of fundamental knowledge. I am engineering professor who has taught both traditional (electrical and mechanical) and biomedical engineering graduate undergraduate classes.</p>
<p>I was accepted to BU’s BME program, so I have some familiarity with the program. I ended up going somewhere else because it was cheaper. I started college as a bioengineering major, then added a chemical engineering double degree when I realized that the BIOE program had plenty of breadth but lacked the depth of a “traditional” engineering program. Also, my first trip to my school’s engineering career fair showed me that very few employers want to hire undergraduate bioengineers. </p>
<p>Chemical engineering is definitely my main focus now. There is little chance I will actually graduate with both diplomas, as I really don’t want to hang around my undergrad institution for 5 years. However, staying in the BIOE program for now allows me to take more bioengineering technical elective classes than I would otherwise be able to take.</p>
<p>we will have to wait a few years and see</p>