<p>So I still think I want to do patent law, but I'm looking at BME in general (not neural engineering anymore) as a backup. I would be set on EE as my major, but I'm not too hot on circuit building and stuff. Although I love math, circuitry isn't my cup of tea, so I'm not sure if EE would be a good major since I don't really enjoy even if it is the most useful. ME is actually probably my favorite major in engineering (besides BME of course), but I'm worried that there isn't enough to do with this major in BME. I know that they can work with artificial hips and joints (which doesn't really interest me) and with some artificial organs, but I'm worried, and I know this is a pretty irrational fear, that there is too little to learn. Again, this is probably ridiculous, but I'm worried that there is a small limit to how much one can do with ME, as in, how good of an artifical heart can you design? But for EE, it seems that you can always make the machines work faster, and electricity IMO has many more unknown possibilities than mech E, so it seems "safer". Again, I know that this is ridiculous, but what else can an ME do? I'm seriously worried that there is not enough to learn as a ME in the BME field.</p>
<p>If you don't think you would enjoy EE, then don't do it. There is enough overlap in ME and BME, but if you don't think you would enjoy the areas that overlap, then maybe that one isn't for you either. You could also look at CompE and ChemE which both have some overlap with BME.</p>
<p>You should think about what area of BME you're interested in. Based on my own knowledge, ME deals mostly with prosthetics, while EE covers more areas, such as imaging and medical devices. I think most of the current BME technology is based on EE. </p>
<p>If you don't like EE, for God's sake, don't major in it. You may still be able to get into BME, but if you don't like the work that you're doing (even if you're in the field that you enjoy), you will still hate your job, and I know this from personal experience. </p>
<p>You should consider other areas of ME before you perceive it as "not useful". For example, are you interested aerospace or automotive engineering? These are pretty popular areas with commercial and military applications.</p>
<p>Biomedical engineering is the application of traditional engineering to medicine not mechanical or electrical engineering to medicine exclusively. You can study CS and be a biomedical engineer. There are BME programs that focus on computational biology or bioinformatics and have nothing to do with MechE. BMEs don't only design hip joints and artificial organs. </p>
<p>You can study Chemical engineering and be a BME. There are BME programs that deal with artificial tissues and biomaterials.</p>
<p>BME is not some form of ME or EE or anything -- yes some schools do make it an extension of those majors (ME/EE + Medicine) but it doesn't have to be.</p>
<p>For example, today I talked to a ME who is vice president at a BME company in Palo Alto, CA called Satiety. He explained a whole bunch of good stuff to me and showed me around the place. What he said was that a group of ME type people (your major doesn't designate anything, it just makes you better at it) would mostly participate in R&D, creating a device concept that may allow for a certain procedure to be better ran, make a new procedure, etc. These R&D guys then go to a BME type person in their company or from an outside source and ask him whether their ideas are feasible. The BME type person then goes to a doctor or clinically inclined person who will say what problems might exist from a medical background, because, after all, it is the doctor who will be using this device. So...a BME company is definitely a team with many different players of many different skill sets (whether its a tinkerer (ME type) someone in between (BME type) or someone who is on the medical side). As you can see, what major someone on this team has doesn't really determine what they do; what they are good at and what the company needs determine what the person will do. If a product the company is trying to make is more electrically or computer based, then the company will need people of an according skillset. </p>
<p>The company that I was talking about is developing a less invasive stomach stapler. Its a pretty hands-on piece of equipment, meaning a ME might be better suited to develop it. However, there is a certain amount of optical engineering and computer imaging because the operator need to know where he/she is going inside the stomach.</p>
<p>Just remember in terms of biomedical engineering:</p>
<p>sruder I hope you do understand that you only asked 1 person at 1 company. You're telling me they hired a guy with a full blown biomedical engineering degree so that he could work as a go between them and a doctor? What, the other engineers can't send an email?</p>
<p>I am EE undergraduate student at Georgia Tech and I wanna say first of all, don't diss ME. ME design pretty much everything that is not building and flying. It is oldest engineering field that came a long way and I really don't think this kinda comment: </p>
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"I'm worried that there is a small limit to how much one can do with ME."
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<p>is for ME. Patent lawyer require them to have technical B.S. degree and all you need as patent lawyer is to recognize that the patent someone submited is not noobish design that doesn't worth a patent to give out. In my opinion of Biomedical engineer undergraduate degree is that they are not GREAT AT ANY FIELD OF ENGINEERING. They learn little bit of Mechanical, and Electrical engineer and once they graduate, when they face with project that require heavily in either side of Mechanical and Electrical, they cannot perform the task as good as ME or EE. I know a friend who is biomedical engineer who regret doing biomed after knowing this fact. But don't get me wrong. Biomedical engineering major is great IF YOU GET GET A GRADUATE DEGREE. If you truly love biomedical engineering, go all the way to graduate school. But if you just wanna become patent lawyer, I suggest you major in ME or EE. </p>
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ME is actually probably my favorite major in engineering (besides BME of course), but I'm worried that there isn't enough to do with this major in BME.
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<p>again loose the ME dis comment. I liked mechanical physics (physics I) better than physics2 (point charge, field, gause law, and electromagnetic). I chose EE because at that time, there were more job opportunities with EE than ME. Also I like electronic gadgets so I wanted to design it. I hate physics part of EE but there are many different fields you can go into in EE such as: biomedical, electromagnetic, Analog circuit design, Telecommunication and more. I hated physics2 and still hate it so I went into field that doesn't require too much of physics involvement such as circuit design and telecommunication. Don't go ME just because you like physics I now. You might actually like EE that doesn't really involve too much of physic.</p>