Carnegie Mellon BioE

What is your opinion of Carnegie Mellon BioEngineering program ? My D got accepted into BioE in Carnegie this weekend and I wanted to find more information from current/past student. I wanted to know how you are doing and if you are done with your degree what you are doing say grad school vs working ? My main concern is that BioE in Carnegie is not standalone program, and you have to finish one another engineering. How difficult is to finish another Engr and BioE in Carnegie ?
How many % of students in BioE end up going to med schools ? Thanks for the information.

Are there any BioE majors from Carnegie here ?

Just want to point out, DON’T come to CMU as engineering pre-med unless you are ChemE, because any other combination makes your life just a living hell + BME. Been there did that, gave up on it and just switched to Bio with a minor in BME instead. It’s not worth the hassle if you’re not even going to get an engineering job to be frank.

Thanks for your response. @CougarCatClan, I see that ChemE degree seems already loaded up and where is the place in the schedule to add more courses ?
http://coursecatalog.web.cmu.edu/collegeofengineering/departmentofchemicalengineering/#curriculumtext

I feel like this dual degree program cannot be finished in 4 years unless the student takes lot more courses and/or summer school. Why are they not making it a standalone program like other school ? My daughter also received admission in UW BioE with scholarship but she thinks it’s prestigious to go to CMU. CMU is quite prestigious if you want to find a job but how prestigious if you want to get into Med school ?

How is the weather in Pittsburgh in winter ?

ChemE/BME pre-med is the nicest combination between the other disciplines since ChemE gets almost (if not) all of the chemistry out of the way. The only issue is having to take I think 2 extra courses like Intro to Psych or Socio (which is both counted for GenEd anyways). I think other courses like taking a 2nd Bio course is covered under the BME double major (physio + other BME courses get you the Bio you need for med school).

The weather in Pitt is like east coast weather: unpredictable and during the winter months can get really cold/snowy, in the fall it is gorgeous, and the spring. IDK, people complain a lot about it but it isn’t like Pitt is another world/universe.

And yes, the BME/ChemE can be completed in 4 years, the BME courses just cover the restricted/unrestricted electives built into the curriculum so instead of taking an art class you are taking a BME-ChemE specific course.

Unless your child is deadset on loving ChemE, there are better (and far more easier) way to obtain a Bachelor’s degree to go to med school. I suggest they explore other majors (even if non traditional) like CogSci, IS, Econ, Political Science, Creative Writing, etc.

@CougarCat ChemE in CMU seems to be very heavy on Physics. I am not sure if physics is something my daughter really like or she might just end up taking lot of courses she doesn’t like because she want to put CMU on her resume. Is it easier to register for ChemE classes ?

BioE in other universities are not this intensive with that many courses in physics.

You said you are doing Bio & BME minor. Do you have option to take Bio and BME double major ?

No, there is no option to double major in Bio & BME, and I think that is a useless combination anyways. Getting a minor in BME is enough engineering courses related to Bio.

And it’s not really CMU being heavy in Physics, engineering in itself is the study of Physics, plus Chemistry has a huge deal of physics so at any reputable engineering school a ChemE curriculum will have a lot of Physics, Chemistry and Math. If your daughter wants to do BME with pre-med, go to a school that has it as a standalone major.

@CougarCatClan, does CMU give credit for all the AP courses as suggested in the website ?

Do any students skip Phy I & II because they have credit from AP Phy C Mechanics & Electricity ? I see that there is a fluid mechanics and thermodynamics courses in the requirement too. Is there anyway I can find the syllabus and courseware for these courses ?

What makes CMU physics hard, are the classes too intense with lot of busy work ? Are teachers/TA not approachable outside class ? Seems physics is not ranked well in CMU so probably, there aren’t many good teachers.