<p>I finally narrowed my major choices down to chemical engineering and mechanical engineering after a long time of soul searching. I really want to get my core engineering abilities nailed down to prepare for a graduate program in biomedical engineering/bioengineering with a focus on tissue engineering. Which of these majors will be the best preparation to achieve this goal?</p>
<p>Lastly, should I aim for a PhD program or a masters program with a focus on tissue engineering?</p>
<p>I don’t know enough about that field to say which is better, but what I can tell you is that this is not the time to be worrying about MS versus PhD. Just focus on getting through the first few years of your undergraduate studies and see where it takes you from there. Get yourself some research experience as an undergraduate and that should help you decide if you want to pursue research as a career, which is about the only thing you can do with a PhD.</p>
<p>I’d probably pick something closer to biomedical engineering, if you have your interest nailed down. Mechanical is good in terms of mechanical design knowledge, but mostly irrelevant to your interests. ChemE is more accurate in the sense that it’s about basic chemistry and industrial-scale chemical processes.</p>
<p>You might also consider a basic science (physics or chemistry) or medical school, depending on how experimental the proposed “tissue engineering” is.</p>
<p>I’d say ChemE, if only for the simple fact that MechE is a bit light on chemistry.</p>
<p>A standard ChemE covers most of the Chemistry curriculum, except maybe a class or two on inorganic chemistry and analytical chemistry.</p>
<p>Any more opinions?</p>
<p>I think that CE undergrad programs tend to have more elective options in BME than ME programs, but I suppose it depends on the school. My son’s CE program allowed him to do a biomolecular focus which opened doors for biomedical research although he was not a BME major. If you want to do BME in grad school, I would do CE and take any BME classes that you’d need for a BME grad program.
Check out BME grad programs that interest you and see what BME undergrad classes they want as prerequisites. Assuming you are accepted to a BME grad program, they will let you make up any deficits in grad school but you will pay the higher grad school tuition rate so it is more economical to take the BME classes as an undergrad if you are going to need them later.</p>
<p>Will it be a better option on doing bioengineering for undergrad because I’m already planning on doing it for grad school?</p>