BME without Calculus

Student Lounge International Students
1

Hi everyone!
This is my first question on this forum. I wanted to ask whether it is possible for me to apply to a Biomedical Engineering School as an Indian International Student who hasn’t taken Calculus in High School. I’ve taken Algebra I&II, Geometry and Trigonometry. I will be giving the SAT and was thiking whether taking the SAT Math 2 Subject Test might help me with the admissions procedure convincing them that I can probably handle the math. I also am ready to take up any remedial classes if offered to me in college.

Thanks,
Hoping for a quick reply

2

Please do keep in mind that I’ll be applying for the Fall 2021 semester and that many colleges are now going test optional. So could this favour me too?
Also, the Indian system doesn’t have these courses spread out like the American one does. I put it that way to translate. I’ve studied till 10th class and some of 11th class Math

3

Lots of engineering students have to start calculus when they get to college. This isn’t a problem provided the rest of your application is solid.

4

But some engineering schools require calculus for admission. Check each school’s website.

5

The more selective schools will probably be out of reach, but state flagships that are less selective will certainly be possibilities.

6

Very few. Caltech, Harvey Mudd, Olin - others?

But in the admission process, it can be a significant barrier at top schools, as almost all applicants will have taken Calculus. At mid-tier schools it may not be as significant a gap.

7

There are engineering universities and there are engineering technology colleges. Most of the engineering universities do not teach pre-calculus topics. There is a necessary “pre-calculus” course taken after completion of the second year of algebra. It also includes trigonometry.

A Calculus is not actually required of applicants for most engineering programs, but pre-calculus is. For many jobs and for graduate school you need a full BS in engineering.

8

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21642599/#Comment_21642599

9

As an Indian applicant, you’ll be a severe disadvantage if you apply to Engineering without the STEM track background - what track are you on?
It’ll limit where you can apply but even without that background you can still apply to non flagships as long as you reached precalculus by senior year.
In addition, it means you may not be competitive for scholarships.
Finally, why BME? It’s one of the most competitive Engineering specialties and the only one that requires a Master’s degree (meaning you’d be eligible for OPT but wouldn’t be as likely to find one as with another Engineering major…)

10

MYOS1634 said:
“Finally, why BME? It’s one of the most competitive Engineering specialties and the only one that requires a Master’s degree (meaning you’d be eligible for OPT but wouldn’t be as likely to find one as with another Engineering major…)”

True, Masters degrees are common in this field, but it is not required. BS in BME job opportunities are not bad when compared with many other subject areas in the life sciences.

Evidently the BME market in some parts of the country are not doing well. I hear this often repeated on CC. The following specific data is taken directly from the WPI website. It pertains to the latest available data (class of 2019). Given the pandemic we don’t know how the class of 2020 will do, but the same pandemic impact concerns apply to all majors.

The following data actually includes ALL BME graduates in the class of 2019. I.E. this is a report on 100% of the class. None were left out (not common in this sort of data)

The average starting salary for the 39 graduates who took jobs with their BS in BME was $63,985. Ten graduates reported that they were still seeking employment at the time of data collection in the summer of 2019. Eighty percent seeking jobs with a BS in Biomedical Engineering had jobs before the end of the summer.

Please note that these salaries are about 20% above the BS degrees reported in the Biology and Biotechnology report. How many life science majors have jobs by the end of graduation summer? Do I have the ears of all those premedical students?

One BS graduate reported joining a “volunteer service.”

All twelve BME MS graduates are also included in the corporate listing below. Their average salary was $71,490 or only about 11% higher after another year of university expenses.

All three PhD graduates took jobs, but salaries were not given (sample too small).

Employing companies were:
AbbVie
Altran IPD
Americorps VISTA
Analog Devices
Astellas
Azzur Group
Barry-Wehmiller Design
Group, Inc.
Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston Scientific
Brainlab, Inc.
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Charles River Laboratories
Confluent Medical
Technologies
CONMED
DEKA Research and
Development
EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma
and EMD Performance
Materials
GE Healthcare
Global Prior Art, Inc.
Helen of Troy
Hillrom
Hub Recruiting, LLC
Instrumentation Laboratory
Insulet Corporation
Integra LifeSciences
Corporation
IPG Photonics
Johnson & Johnson Family of
Companies
KLS Martin & KLS Martin
Manufacturing
KorroBio
Massachusetts General
Hospital
Masy BioServices
Medtronic
Mocerna Theraputics
Northern Arizona University
(NAU)
Process Design Solutions
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
Selux Diagnostics
South Shore Health
StemExpress
Takeda Pharmaceuticals
Townsend & Associates
Translate Bio
University of Massachusetts-
Amherst
ZOLL Medical Corporation

Twenty-nine BSBE graduats went on to graduate schools at:
Brown University
Johns Hopkins University
Queen’s University Belfast
Tufts University
University of California-San
Diego
University of Pittsburgh
University of Utah
Worcester Polytechnic
Institute (WPI)

Point of interest, double majors were:
Electrical & Computer
Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Pyschological Science
Robotics Engineering
Writing (Professional)

I am not trying to talk students out of graduate school. Life has its twist and turns. It just seems that a BS in BME is not the big waste of time as is often reported on CC.

Really strong students who want a premed program should also look at this option. The foundation achieved may actually offer greater flexibility in a rapidly evolving medical/engineering world.