CMU Biomedical Engineering Insight

I’ve been researching this school quite a lot lately. I saw that if you plan on majoring in biomedical engineering, then you also need to double major in a traditional engineering (I’d do chemical engineering). Does anyone know what this is like? Is the schedule just impossible because of this? I know that having a degree in chemical engineering would be more helpful to get a job right after college, but I’m super interested in biochemical engineering (drug development and delivery).

If anyone knows anything about the curriculum in this circumstance, please let me know about it. It seems amazing in thought, but impossible in reality. I just don’t want to be super overwhelmed all of college, and I want to graduate in 4 years.

1 Like

Also, what is the atmosphere like because I’ve heard that it’s kinda dull and competitive.

Here is an example schedule - looks like a rather heavy course load.

https://www.cmu.edu/bme/Academics/Undergraduate%20Programs/Resources/documents/schedules/2019/sample-schedule-for-chemebme-additional-majors-in-the-bmte-track.pdf

Is this a new program? In the latest reporting period, CMU graduated zero Biomedical Engineers.

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=carnegie+mellon&s=all&id=211440#programs

With regard to the previous post. I just remembered that this IPEDs report only includes first majors, so the fact that it is a “second major” would cause it not to be reported.

It would be nice to know how popular it is…

@Mastadon Yeah, I really want to know how many do it. I know I’m a good student, but I also know my limits. It’d be nice to have a little more information so I could make a more informed decision.

@Mastadon WOW…that course load seem insane! I don’t know how manageable that would be.

Biomedical, along with EPP, have always only been available as a second major, not just a double major, at least as far back as the mid-80s when I was MechE/Biomed. So I wouldn’t be surprised at all that they don’t report either in primary graduation stats.

CMUs “unit” system is a bit odd, but it’s roughly 3:1 to traditional credits. The ChemE/BME program listed above is only 3 courses and a seminar more than than the ChemE program. It’s a bit loaded, but very doable if you can place out of a couple of courses via AP or if you can take 2-3 courses over summers.

I’m sure it’s still a very good program, but it’s likely still seen as a “junior” program to the five big brothers on campus.

CMU approach to BME is unique. At most schools the program tries to cover a lot of different areas (neuro, mech, signals, materials, etc.) as a baseline inside the program and then you specialize with a few selected upper level courses. . CMU wants to you have a more solid base in the area you’ll specialize in so they require the first major in one of the other engineering disciplines. The breadth ends up being a little less but the depth in the area is specialization should be higher.

The course load is manageable particularly if you bring in some AP credit but it does require that you have some kind of clue about your specialization during your freshman year.

Course wise, the biggest initial item is that you need to get through your Intro to Eng courses as a freshman or you’ll be behind and/or needing waivers for sophomore year
as those courses have the Intro course as a prerequisite. (Note you can probably get the waiver but it’s a bit of a hassle and you’ll have to make up the course eventually).
With a BME second, you’ll take the Intro to BME course and one other required Intro to “*” Engineering course freshman year. Your first major will be in that “other” engineering. Most engineering students take 2 of the Intro courses and pick one of those as the their major. So you really can’t use those 2 courses to pick between say ChemE and MechE. You’d really have to have a clue about which one you wanted to major in to avoid getting behind.

@atxfather Thank you so much! This was really helpful.