<p>I want to work in Biomedical Engineering, ultimately. I know that just getting an undergrad degree in BME is too broad to be employable. I want to get an undergrad degree in ChemE and then a masters in BME. Is this a reasonable transition?</p>
<p>I am wondering, too, if this is as doable as everyone suggests. With so many colleges offering BME as an undergrad major now, I wonder if it is harder for kids with “regular” engineering degrees to get accepted into BME grad programs. It’s got to be pretty competitive now since the major has become so popular. I wonder if it’s better to just get a masters in your regular undergrad and try to break into the industry that way. For instance, someone with a BME undergrad will take biology classes and maybe even organic chemistry, depending on their program. An undergraduate mech eng major may not necessarily take these courses because of scheduling issues, and no matter what undergrad research, papers, presentations they’ve done, they’ve got to compete against the kid who was an undergrad BME who had this undergrad coursework. I wonder if it would be wiser to find one of those BS/MS five year combo programs at a university that offers the BME undergrad major.</p>
<p>I am speculating based on what I’ve heard and read, so if somebody is more knowledgeable, please correct me.</p>
<p>However, Montegut, I would assume the opposite to be true. The thing with a BME undergraduate degree is that, in most programs, it is more engineering than biology. BME BS students, by and large, don’t really learn a whole lot of biology. The problem with BME as an undergraduate program is that, by and large, they don’t learn a whole lot of engineering, either. BME programs tend to have a lot of breadth as far as coursework goes, but not much depth. Most of the BME curricula I’ve seen are very scattered, and there’s a smattering of low- and medium-level courses from several different areas.</p>
<p>On the other hand, a student who has majored in, say, ME or ChemE or ECE, has gained a significant depth of knowledge in a particular area, which can be supplemented and augmented well with a Masters in BME. Most BME BS graduates cannot say the same.</p>
<p>To answer the OP’s question: yes, ChemE BS to BME MS is a perfectly fine transition.</p>