<p>Okay, so here’s the situation. Six months ago, I was pretty decided that I would start out college majoring in ChemE. But now I’m starting to reconsider and doing BME instead, and here’s why…</p>
<li>I will be attending CWRU, whose BME program ranks 7th nationally.</li>
<li>Even if I got a degree in ChemE, I would apply it to the medical industry anyway, since that’s where my interest lies.</li>
<li>I want to keep the possibility of med school open, and I’ve heard that BME will better prepare me for it.</li>
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<p>On the other hand, I’ve heard that ChemE majors make a lot more than BME majors, and that biomedical companies would rather hire ChemE majors and teach them biology. Is there any truth to this? I’ve also heard that BME majors have a hard time finding jobs because it’s a relatively new field. But would it help that I’d be going through a nationally recognized program at CWRU?</p>
<p>I would really appreciate some feedback on this.</p>
<p>Which do you like more?</p>
<p>I personally had the VERY SAME dilemma, the only difference is that I'm going to be attending FREAKING JOHNS HOPKINS (BME IS RANKED 1!!!!!)</p>
<p>I decided that I would end up double majoring, and picking EITHER BME or ChemBE as my second major, this way I have a year to take the classes and see which ones I like more, maybe you can do the same.</p>
<p>Also don't believe all that garbage about companies not hiring/paying BME majors, it s a very hot field and its BOOMING, especially if you get into nano-tech, which btw I'm going to be doing :)</p>
<p>Good Luck!!!</p>
<p>It depends on how specialized you want to be. Picking one of the major engineering fields (electrical, civil, mechanical, chemical) already specializes you quite a bit... BME does so even more because it tends to exist within either chemical, or electrical engineering to some extent.
In my opinion, a chemical engineer can do everything that a BME can do with proper training or supplementary graduate education. It doesn't quite work in the opposite direction though.
Vader, I believe that it is a HOT field mostly at the research level at this point, which is all pretty cool stuff... but that's mostly relevant to graduate education.</p>
<p>I have many friends who were pre-med and BME or ChemE. I feel that BOTH majors will offer tremendous amount of preparation for the MCAT and will be highly desirable for medical school. BME will typically give you an edge over ChemE in terms of medical school, due to the special emphasis on biology, but keep in mind that BME is still a very "new" subject and that beyond the medical or graduate school level, finding a job might be very difficult. </p>
<p>Also, if you are ultimate goal is medical school, keep in mind that you must maintain a stellar GPA and achieve a high MCAT score. Majoring in ChemE or BME will prove to be a difficult path and historically, ChemE is a harder major and could hamper your GPA. </p>
<p>You need to consider what your ultimate career goals are or where you see yourself in 5-10 years. If you see yourself in the medical field (for sure), I say that a BME major (especially from CWRU) would be great for med school. If you are still unsure, go with ChemE since it is a far wider major and can allow you to enter either the industry, medical school or any other engineering discipline. </p>
<p>Finally, while ChemEs command a high salary, Medical doctors earn more.</p>
<p>I just graduated from CWRU with a degree in BME. From what I saw at Case there could be a lot of overlap between the ChemE and BME curricula depending on the specialty sequence and technical electives chosen, so either major could be a good option for you. ChemE is not a cakewalk, but at CWRU the BME department has a reputation for having the toughest major. (At the same time, in one grad level ChemE class a friend took, nobody got above a 87% in the class - in BME that would have been curved, but the ChemE professors refused to curve and nobody in the class got an A.)</p>
<p>As far as this year's BME graduating class - A lot of us are going on for a master's or PhD. A few will be going for their MD/PhD. I think about a third will be going to med school. Those choosing to not get another degree had the best success finding jobs at companies they did a co-op or internship with, but there were a few who found positions at companies they did not have prior connections with and a few who are still looking for jobs.</p>