<p>What are the main differences of the two majors and in what kind of field can the student work at after majoring in either biomed or chem eng?</p>
<p>Here are two descriptions of chemical and bioengineering that I found for UCLA:</p>
<p>Chemical:
The Department of Chemical Engineering conducts undergraduate and graduate programs of teaching and research in the areas of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, mass transfer, catalysis, semiconductor materials processing, plasma processing, electrochemistry and corrosion, high-temperature chemical kinetics, reaction engineering, combustion science, environmental reaction engineering, cryogenics and low-temperature processes, biochemical engineering, process systems engineering, process integration, computer-aided process design and control, particle technology, pollution control, pollution prevention, and polymer engineering. Students are trained in the fundamental principles of these fields while learning a sensitivity to society's needs -- a crucial combination in addressing the question of how industry can grow and innovate in an era of economic, environmental, and energy constraints.</p>
<p>Bio:
The goal of the Bioengineering program is to provide students with the scientific knowledge and engineering tools necessary for graduate study in the engineering or scientific disciplines, continued education in health professional schools or employment in industry. There are three main objectives of the educational program: (1) to provide students with a rigorous training in engineering and fundamental sciences, (2) to provide knowledge and experience in state-of-the-art research in bioengineering, and (3) to provide problem-solving and team-building skills to succeed in a career in bioengineering.</p>
<p>Chemical engineering deals with large-scale, generalized chemical processes. Historically, the plurality of chemical engineers ended up working in the petroleum/petrochemical industry - refining petroleum, synthesizing plastics, textile dyeing plants, steel foundries, metal smelters, etc. Hence, traditional employers of chemical engineering would be companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, DuPont, Dow Chemical, and many others. </p>
<p>In the last few decades, chemical engineering has oriented itself to high-tech fields like semiconductor fabrication, materials science research, polymer processing, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Andy Grove, the legendary former CEO of Intel and Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1997, is a chemical engineer. So other major employers of chemical engineers are Intel, Texas Instruments, Pfizer, Merck, Genentech, and companies like that. </p>
<p>Biomedical engineering is a new and somewhat trendy (dare I say 'faddish') discipline that basically deals with the merging of engineering and biology - basically, how to create medical technology using engineering techniques. Traditionally, the large employers of such engineers would be the medical device makers like Guidant (pacemakers, defibrillators), Johnson&Johnson (stents) . Now, biomed is encompassing a lot of advances from genetic engineering and tissue engineering. So in the future, you may well see major pharmaceutical and biotech companies hiring many biomedical engineers. Hence, there is some crossover between chemical engineering and biomedical engineering. </p>
<p>However, after you get your first job after graduation, nobody is really going to care about what degree you got. The only thing that will matter at that point will be what kind of job you held and how your performance was in that job. For example, if you've been working for years as an engineer and were looking for another job, nobody is going to say " I see your experience is just what we need, but your degree is in chemical engineering and we wanted a guy with a biomed engineering degree, so we can't hire you". That's not going to happen.</p>
<p>are bio and biomed similar?</p>
<p>no. not at all. biomedical engineering is closer to EE than chemE. almost all of my professors for BME's are EEs.</p>
<p>same question from other post ... if i want to do MED later on ... i should either do bio or bio med ... ? ... CAN I do chemE and still go on to Med school ... will i cover all the pre-reqs? ... i dont know thanks</p>
<p>biomed engineering is NOT closer to EE than chemE. At my college (which is a top engineering school and I'd like to keep it anonymous for now), many chemical engineers easily specialize in biomed engineering (specifically tissue engineering - its big here). Once they graduate, they can easily work as a biomed. engineer because chemE has a broad background that enables you to work as a biomed. engineer. EE is totally different.</p>
<p>about med school and engineering. ChemE would put you closest as far as curriculum goes to coincide with a pre-med reqs but engineering is insanely hard even for a good student. Med schools like law schools are all about GPA and engineering isn't the best choice if you want to go to med school. If you have the confidence you can do that well with engineering to make it into med school ChemE or BiomedE would be your best bets for having the pre-med reqs in the curriculum.</p>
<p>Oh God, like all of the ChemE undergrads at MIT are pre-med. (Actually, they're "10-B" -- "biological engineering" -- which is a track offered through the ChemE department.) Apparently the new fad at MIT is for premeds to major in ChemE rather than bio. <em>rolls eyes</em></p>
<p>so if i did chemE .... i could MAKE NO MED SCHOOL? even with a low gpa and a good MCAT score?.... i dont have to make the best but i mean i could make none of them???? at the end of senior year of 4 years of undergrad?</p>
<p>i'd say this is a bad idea, because if your REALLY bent on going to med school 1) engineering is a lot harder than most majors. 2) you dont need to even major in biology to go to med school. going to med school is about fulfilling the requirements, getting as high of GPA + MCAT as possible and then applying. furthermore, engineering offers no real career tie-in's and benefits when you want to become a doctor.</p>
<p>i'm doing engineering and later on hope to move into law, however, i plan on specializing in IP/patent law, so the engineering background is not only beneficial, but in many cases required.</p>
<p>"biomed engineering is NOT closer to EE than chemE."</p>
<p>i would somewhat disagree, i also attend a top 10 engineering school and am an EE w/ conc. in BME. almost all of the professors who teach classes in BME here were formerly EE's. although chemE does have relattion to BME (tissue engineering), a lot of BME is focused on device design, computational analysis, etc... applied to medical problems, and EE encompasses more of these tasks than chem E. </p>
<p>as to med school again. MCAT matters a bit more than GPA. if your an engineering major, med schools will weight the difficulty of your courseload some, but not much. in other words you will at least need a GPA of >3.5 and a good MCAT. its probably a good idea to score internships & or research, because could potentially make up for a lower gpa.</p>
<p>getting a high gpa in engineering is not easy, but its not impossible. it is possible to do well and still have free time if you can manage your time wisely (and assuming you have a fair amount of interest and talent in the area.)</p>