Does Harvey Mudd offer BME?

College Majors Engineering Majors
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I want to major in biomedical engineering in college, and I’m planning on applying to HMC RD. HMC only offers “engineering” as a major on the common app so I wasn’t sure what exactly that entailed.
I checked their site and can’t seem to find BME listed anywhere. My counsellor hadn’t told me about this so I assumed they double checked and found my major. I’m currently in the middle of the application and writing the “Why HMC” essay but I need to be sure that I’ll get to study BME under some capacity. Does anyone know if it is an option there?

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HMC has an “intro to BME” class open to Juniors. It does not have a BME “major”.

You might find this interesting:

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Interesting read. Reading the comments associated with the article gives even more perspective. It would be interesting to hear from more recent BME grads to know what they are experiencing.

Harvey Mudd biomedical offerings seem to follow the suggestions of the article.

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You can use IPEDS to view how Harvey Mudd distributes by majors chosen: College Navigator - Harvey Mudd College. Note that all of HMC’s engineering majors are “general engineering” majors.

For comparison, this is the distribution for Bucknell, which offers a different approach: College Navigator - Bucknell University.

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Hmm I see. Thanks for the link, it’s very interesting. I do understand BME is a really broad field, which is why I intended to test out the branches and then choose one to specialise in eventually, which I suppose addresses the conundrum of not being knowledgeable enough in a particular field (I hope)

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I’d love to hear from more BME grads, yeah

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So when you graduate from HMC, do you graduate with a degree in “general engineering” or a particular field you choose to focus on later?

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You would earn a B.S. in engineering from HMC. “General engineering” is a term that IPEDS happens to use to describe programs of this type.

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Be aware that bio med engineers sometimes have trouble finding a job with just a BS. Look for other threads on the topic.

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You graduate with a degree in engineering. Of course, your selection of classes can define a focus…my ‘21 Mudder focused on electrical engineering. I worried whether Mudd’s lack of specific engineering majors would affect his job prospects, but it didn’t at all. Like CalTech, Mudd offers the same core curriculum for the first 3 semesters to all students which gives them a strong background no matter what their major…and allows them confidence in selecting a major because they have a good breadth in math, science, CS, etc.

There is a reason why Mudd grads have the top beginning and mid year salary over ALL other US colleges…employers want them.

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Having mostly students graduating in engineering and CS has a lot to do with it.

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I concur that having STEM majors is a factor. But my younger son chose between WPI, RPI, NC State, and Rose-Hulman and they all have similar starting salary averages—which are all much below those at Harvey Mudd. Part of it is that many grads work on the West Coast where the cost of living is higher…but the other part is that companies know that Mudders are not only brilliant and hard working, but they are also collaborative and used to working with diverse teammates. A highly sought after commodity.

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The HMC numbers are all about CS. According to College Scorecard, median salaries for CS majors are $142k at 2 years out. For General Engineering…$81K. That’s very respectable for engineering, but not above all others and not grossly different than the mean. As a relative comparison in CA, Cal Poly and UCB MEs make the same at 2 years.