So I do may go to grad school for biomedical engineering in the future but im conflicted with choosing biomedical engineering for my undergrad major . I was wondering if chemical engineering would be a better option for my undergrad just in case as my fall back option for if i decide not to pursue grad school. Reason for choosing chemical engineering is that i get to choose a specialization by junior and i could choose tissue engineering since thats what i want to work with/study in grad school for. But then again if i stick with BME for my undergrad, i have the option of applying for doing a accelerated bs-ms in my senior year. Could i cut off a year of grad school by doing that. Which is a better option?
Pick what you like. Chemical Engineering is not something you can do just for fall back option.
@paul2752 Why not?
Umich offers an accelerated BS/MS program for undergrad in a number of majors, and a MS in BME. You might want to see if it is possible to still do the accelerated BS/MS if you do a more traditional engineering discipline as an undergrad at your school. Not saying that you have to, but definitely make sure you thoroughly understand what your options are. If you do a more traditional engineering discipline as an undergrad, it gives you more options with regards to industry, in case you change your mind.
Simply because its a major you have to do it only if you like it? Pursuing a major purely because of job prospects and money will make anyone feel miserable.
If what you want to do is BME, ChemE isn’t super different. Both have to take bio classes, organic chemistry…my ChemE curriculum has a required Biomolecular Engineering course…
It’s not like wanting to do history and opting for ChemE instead. OP even says they can specialize in tissues from the chemical curriculum.
Im a little late to this conversation, but here’s my two cents. Full disclosure. Im a Chemical Engineer who recruits from colleges.
Best thing is to speak to a prof at some schools about the differences between bioeng, biomed, and chem E.
The teaching of Biomed and ChemE is different so majoring in one doesn’t mean you are qualified to do the other for work. It’s true that the basic science and math courses are similar. But, traditional chemical engineering programs teach ‘unit operations’ like reactions, distillation, and other separations, while biomeds start looking at tissue, devices, instruments, and take a deeper dive into materials science. Keep in mind, Bioengineering is traditionally about fermentation and microbiology and is not biomed, though its possible one school uses the terms interchangeably.
Depending on the job, and how close it is to the core technical work, the ChemE vs Biomed curriculum difference may or may not be relevant. For example, if you are going for consulting, a business role ,or more of a factory manufacturing engineer job, than engineering degrees may be interchangeable. But if you will pursue a role in chemical process equipment design vs tissue engineering or in a very technical R&D role, then the exact major may matter more to having the best shot at getting the job you want. However, some programs allow Chemical Engineers to minor in biomed or Biomed engineers to take a Chem E minor with a unit operations focus, so then - yes - you could imagine crossing over between jobs more easily.
Chemical Engineering programs are evolving also away from the traditional, one size fits all Unit Ops approach to including a lot more bioengineering or molecular engineering/nanotech. These molecular engineering programs may be a tad closer to a biomed but still not quite the same.