<p>Hi all,</p>
<p>I will be attending Wash U next fall and am currently enrolled in Olin. However I have developed an interest in biomedical engineering over the past year or so and am thinking that I might major in that, or possibly a combination of BME and economics. Before I act further, I would appreciate your input on a few questions. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I don't know much about BME other than it focuses on the design and implementation of medical devices and procedures. At Wash U the vibe I'm getting is that BME majors are pre-med majors (so they want to be MD's and go to med school?), but I am not interested in a "medical" degree per se but working for a medical company like Medtronic. Eventually I would want to make the jump to management (duh), hence the possible econ degree although I know this is not completely necessary, yadda yadda. Am I on the right track here?</p></li>
<li><p>What GPA would one need to get a decent job with one of these companies? How well does Wash U place its BME grads? Do students get jobs or go to grad school out of BME? I looked on their website and the BME class of 2010 looks to only be about 30 students. It seems like many more than this enter so do many drop out?</p></li>
<li><p>How hard is it to double major in engineering and business? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for your input. I'm sure some of this comes off as stupid but I'm just looking for more info before I make my choice over the summer. Regardless, I'm excited to take advantage of everything Wash U has this coming fall. :)</p>
<p>All BMEs take BME 140 which is a survey course over the different facets of BME. It’s notorious, so I wouldn’t recommend taking it unless you are seriously considering BME. However it does show that there are many options for people looking to go into BME (masters, PhD), as opposed to MD. The reason there is the pre-med stigma is because BME covers all but orgo in the pre-med track, so you get all the requirements out of the way.</p>
<p>BME pretty much requires advanced degrees if you want to pursue it as a profession, but Wash U has a great graduate program which, most importantly, knows first hand what the undergrad course load is like (a.k.a., 3.5 looks pretty good to them).</p>
<p>And yes, a lot of people drop out, especially from 140. Our class size dropped by at least a third before our final exam, and it definitely went down after this semester, since you take bio, chem, physics, and math all at once. The numbers then tend to steady after you get into the electives.</p>
<p>Finally, not too sure how easy it is to double major. BME is a pretty big time sink, but I’m fairly certain that if you plan ahead it’s possible. I’ve also heard a lot about an engineering/MBA combined program thats growing.</p>
<p>Sorry for the wall of text, hope it helps!</p>
<p>I’m a BME freshman (rising soph) and 140 is a real b****. I didn’t like the teaching style at all - researchers come in and give lectures on their research. It’s not going to make me quit BME though, there’s much more than just 140. I also want to work at a biomed company which is why I chose BME. </p>
<p>As for the econ…I don’t think you have to major in econ but at least minor, which will not take as much time. I currently am minoring in bioinformatics but since it overlaps with the BME curriculum, I have to take very few classes specifically for the minor. </p>
<p>I thought the BME class last year was about 100-120 students. 30 seems dangerously low. </p>
<p>I plan on continuing to grad school but know nothing about statistics. DJEureka sounds like he knows what he’s talking about more than I do on that. </p>
<p>Congrats on Wash U and you made an excellent choice!</p>