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Pre-med is essentially biology, chemistry, ochem, and possibly calculus/physiology.</p>
<p>In general, those with a near perfect GPA do have a lot of options by default. That’s just by nature.</p>
<p>@Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>That’s dumb IMO. Other than Civil and Mechanical, not too many of the other engineering disciplines have that much in common other than the Math & Phyiscs prereqs and Statics. So, why would a Biomed Engineer need to do a 2nd major?</p>
<p>I’m not familiar with how Masters degree work but can I get a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineerings then get into Masters Degree Program and perhaps a PhD program for Biomedical Engineering?</p>
<p>You do a Masters as part of a PhD. If you’re not sure about which you want to do, go for the PhD and drop out if you don’t want to go further. You have to pay for a Masters. As long as you take all the classes (or most of them) that I mentioned, then you’ll be qualified for a BME graduate course.</p>
<p>The thing about BME is, you’re using lots of different tools for the purpose of medicine. It’s better to know in depth how one set of those tools works (electronic medical devices, or chemicals such as pills, etc) than to just have a vague idea of how all of them work.</p>
<p>Ah I see. So a mechanical engineer with a Bachelors degree would be better skilled at certain types of tools that Bioengineers also utilize so graduate studies in Biomedical engineering would give one more education and experience on the remaining parts that Mechanical Engineering does not cover?</p>
<p>But as I was asking, does the Bachelors of Engineering degree have to be in the same field as that of the PhD of Engineering?</p>
<p>Yes, exactly.</p>
<p>No it does not. As long as you have the core classes down, you can go into a different field. Even if you don’t have 100% of them, they’ll let you take an extra course to learn what you missed. There’s no real hurry to finish your coursework in a PhD either; you’re going to be doing research for a few years after you’re done taking classes anyways.</p>
<p>I actually don’t plan on furnishing my dorm much because I’m making the libraries my main dwelling areas.</p>
<p>I used to be pre-med but I’ve decided I would much rather pursue a career also related to healthcare but involves more math, biology, and chemistry and that’s biomedical engineering. And if I ever want to become a doctor, there are always post-bac programs. I’m also quite sure that years of being a biomedical engineer would pound physics, math, chemistry, and biology in the brain anyhow. After all, it pretty much covers all of that. And that is part of the problems as Neodymium stated since a Bioengineering major basically spreads all of it out thin.</p>
<p>The challenge is getting an ultra-high GPA. So yeah, the library will be my home pretty much.</p>
<p>Don’t do that. You’ll just burn yourself out in the end and probably never want to have anything to do with science again. Not to mention it’s really not necessary because it’s very possible to keep a high GPA (even something close to perfect) without an overwhelming amount of effort if you study efficiently. Not to mention you also have research, and your motivation to study is never infinite. On bad days, you’ll make it worse by studying more than you need to.</p>
<p>But isn’t efficient studying for engineering basically understanding concepts that applying them by doing numerous problem sets to practice applying them in various situations?</p>
<p>Wow, how I wonder how some students study so well and breeze through engineering.</p>
<p>You can definitely do BME in grad school after doing a different major for undergrad. My research adviser was electrical engineering for undergrad, then did his PhD in BME. BME seems like it would be such a “specific” field of study, when in fact it is very general… There are so many subsectors within BME. Medical devices, medical imaging, bioinformatics, pharmaceuticals, etc. And then within those, it splits again.</p>
<p>Example:
Medical devices - there are devices based in electronics (such as EEGs), and mechanical devices (such as prosthetics), and then you would need to know chemical engineering/biochemistry so that the device can actually be biocompatible in the body
Medical imaging - mostly physics based
Bioinformatics - mostly computer science
Pharmaceuticals - mostly biochemistry/chemistry</p>
<p>There’s probably more but I can’t think of them… also I don’t think a PhD is really necessary if you want to go into R&D, unless you’re going into pharmaceutical R&D. For devices, I have met EE/MechE/ChemEs who only have bachelor’s or master’s. Usually people who get a PhD in those fields do not go into industry, they stay in academia.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that many undergrad BME programs now allow you to specialize. In those tracks you can get the EE, MechE or ChemE classes that you need. </p>
<p>Just throwing it out there as an option for students that aren’t interested in majoring in EE, MechE or ChemE.</p>
<p>
Yes, but the key is not to spend an unreasonable effort on it. Endless practice won’t make you remember more facts, and you’re tested on concepts anyway. Understand the concepts, and you can solve any problem without a ridiculous amount of effort.</p>
<p>How to do this? It’s different for everyone, and honestly it just takes practice. But you should definitely avoid studying too hard. If you can get a A for 1/3 the effort of an A+ (applies for all other grade ranges as well), then don’t bother working for an A+. Efficiency trumps perfectionism by a large margin.</p>
<p>If you’re 50/50 between an MS and PhD, go for the PhD. You can drop out of a PhD program with a MS. If you’re 90% sure you want an MS, don’t do it though; that’s dishonestly stealing university money for a free degree.</p>
<p>You will cover every class I listed in any decent BME program, but I still do recommend taking the MechE. As I mentioned, you need to be an expert in one field, not just someone with a little bit of experience in everything.</p>
<p>I work for an industrial biotech company and I would say there is not much of a point to the “bio-engineering” course of study. Effectively that’s a biology major with a few extra math classes, in the real world it’s not going to open any job opportunities for you. </p>
<p>At my company, we have people from a whole range of backgrounds including biology, chemistry, physics, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. Some are Bachelors level and some are PhD level. But we’re an industrial company that produces materials and chemicals. Other companies will have a different balance of disciplines, depending on the nature of their end products. </p>
<p>I have a word of advice for you though, and that’s to choose a major that you’re most interested in. I think it is noble to want to challenge yourself, and apply your skills and creativity to health care solutions. If you keep that attitude you will be successful in your career no matter what. But, you’re always going to do the best at the thing that you find most interesting. For me that was biology and I’ve had alot of great opportunities in research since I graduated. If you’re more interested in the life sciences side of things, do biology or bio-engineering. If you’re more interested in mechanical/chemical/physical systems, choose the appropriate engineering discipline. Either way you will find a job and have a productive career as long as you keep that positive attitude.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice SloaneC.</p>
<p>Now though, I’m stuck between bioengineering and mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>For research, what sort of research should I be seeking that would impress Ph.D admissions committees? I know I should do research on topics that interest me but how can I stand out with research besides somehow having my name being listed on research papers or publications. Does the topic have to be of utmost importance and value to the research community?</p>
<p>Research is research, really. Most graduate schools look for some kind of research, not any specific kind. Find work that seems interesting enough to you and do it. The important thing is to know how to research, not the topic itself.</p>
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<p>You’ve been given terrific advice and post #34 you are still stuck. </p>
<p>How can you still be stuck?</p>
<p>I’m stuck because while Mechanical Engineering is more marketable, I’m still very much more interested in Bioengineering. So I’m not sure exactly which path I should pursue. </p>
<p>I think I would enjoy the focus of bioengineering more than the breadth offered by mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>Mechanical Engineering isn’t necessarily a more marketable degree in general. It’s a more marketable engineering discipline, but in medical research a biology background is desirable. I don’t know what area of the country you are in, but here in Boston, with a Bioengineering degree, you’d have a host of job opportunities. </p>
<p>And by the way you’re first job out of college is not career-defining. It takes a few years to build your resume, the first job or two is all about gaining experience and figuring out what you want to do in the long term. In my experience, I learned ALOT more in the first 2 years of working in research than I did in my 4 years of undergrad.</p>
<p>I’m happy to move anywhere in the U.S., but I’m having a hard time finding these job opportunities.</p>
<p>Could you possibly name some of these companies in Boston?</p>
<p>I don’t know whether this has already been mentioned, but you really ought to consult the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. When it comes to predicting the future, the BLS OOH isn’t as reliable as physics or readable as Nostradamus, but it’s better than flipping a coin, which is better than how most politicians make decisions.</p>