Wondering whether Biomedical engineering by default covers all pre-med courses including lab work etc or one has to take any additional courses ?
Maybe. Look up the required courses for this major. Then look up the required courses to apply to medical school. See how they align.
Impossible for us to answer your question well since the requirements for this major vary by college.
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Start first by contacting your college’s pre-health advisor. Also, keep in mind that while there is a core set of courses required by all medical schools, some medical schools require additional courses(eg statistics not required by all schools).
The bigger question is why would you choose BME if medical school is the ultimate goal?
Engineers make great doctors because they are good problem solvers. That said, it’s so challenging to get high grades that it will harm, not help your admissions aspirations.
Couple that with the fact that with a BME degree you might need an advanced degree to get a good job. It’s not a great plan B.
You can major in literally anything as long as you get the prerequisites. Choose something you enjoy, that’s employable if medical school doesn’t work out, that isn’t so hard to get a good GPA.
Good luck!
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Wondering whether Biomedical engineering by default covers all pre-med courses including lab work etc or one has to take any additional courses ?
Depends on the specific college requirements.
In general pre-med requires:
2 semesters intro bio w/lab
2 semesters gen chem w/ labs
2 semesters ochem w/labs
1 semester biochem
2 semesters physics w/labs (***BME majors will need to take calc based engineering physics, not the algebra based general physics most pre-meds take)
2 semesters of “college level” mathematics, one semester of which needs to be stats or biostats
1 semester intro psych
1 semester intro sociology
2 semesters “writing intensive” classes
Some medical schools require additional coursework besides the above ( typically in math, social sciences, upper level biology, medical ethics)
The decision is be a BME pre-med isn’t clear cut or simple. There are upsides and downsides to the decision.
But BME does significantly better post graduation employment opportunities than a bio/neuroscience/biochem major does.
FWIW, all D2’s BME major college friends had no difficulty finding jobs with just a bachelors.
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No. You will need to do courses in organic chemistry, biochemistry, psych, sociology, and probably statitistics since these are not required classes for Biomed engineering. People in Texas require 2 years of bio with lab and and this needs some workarounds.
Thanks. Many of my D22 seniors from her school taking BMED or Chem eng in GA Tech as pre-med. She should talk to them about courses mentioned above are covered in BMED or taking them as extra.
Both my kids did bio medical/mechanical engineering. These were pretty much extra at every school since biomed doesnt need them. Chemical eng covers organic and may be even biochem.
Liberal arts classes vary from school to school but it is possible that if a school has 12 required credits or something for liberal arts, you can fit in pshch and sociology.
Here is what Georgia tech is requiring biomeds to do. It is interesting they are not asking any basic biology classes and only 2 chemistry classes-one organic. Biostat is in there but lot of biology and chemistry are missing. It is possible that you can use advanced biomed biology classes to fulfill but you do need labs for all of them which are not always required for engineering.
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here is a degree checklist. there is about 26 hours of general studies where some of the classes may fit in.
Note, as mentioned above, you will need calculus based physics. That’s just the gateway to challenging classes. As a BME, you will take many classes as hard or harder than the single hardest class most typical pre-meds take…O Chem. Some are cut out for the challenge, but the GPA that will get you an engineering job won’t get you into medical school.