<p>I am currently a Junior in high school and I have recently become interested in pursuing medical school after receiving an undergrad degree. Before inquiring about med school I was fairly set on majoring in either computer or electrical engineering; however, after doing some research I have found that biomedical engineering is a very marketable engineering degree for med school and I am fairly interested in pursuing this degree. That being said, I have also heard that a BME degree does not offer very much job oppurtunities if I were to decide to not pursue med school. Is this still true today and what would be your prediction for careers in this field in the future. Also, if I decided to major in electrical or computer engineering, would I still be able to fit in all the med school pre reqs? Finally, would a biomedical degree be more helpful in getting into med school (as far as MCAT scores and marketability goes) than a computer or electrical engineering degree? Thanks in advance for your help.</p>
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<p>I don’t know where you heard this, but it’s not accurate. Medical schools really don’t care about what your undergrad major is. They look at your GPA/MCAT when considering you for admission, not your major.</p>
<p>See AAMC data on applicants/matriculants by major:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/2013factstable18.pdf”>https://www.aamc.org/download/321496/data/2013factstable18.pdf</a></p>
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<p>There are job opportunities in BME, although many of them require a MS. CE and EE have better job prospects with a BS than does BME.</p>
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<p>This is going to depend on which college you attend and the specific requirements of your program and whether you will enter college with any advance standing due to AP/IB/dual enrollment credits. </p>
<p>The number of pre-reqs for med school has increased recently. (The 2015 MCAT includes biochem, stats, psychology & sociology in addition to all the previous requirements.) Some medical schools may require additional coursework above the general course requirements. (Genetics, anatomy & physiology, upper level humanities)</p>
<p>The main advantage to a BME degree is that BME has better congruency with med school re-reqs that does either CE or EE.</p>
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<p>No.</p>
<p>lol…I pulled the same first quote because it is so wrong…</p>
<p>“biomedical engineering is a very marketable engineering degree for med school a”</p>
<p>Not only is that not true, but sadly many kids “think” it is because it has a sexy sound…as if you’re going to cure cancer or something.</p>
<p>it is true that job prospects for biomedE grads is limited. Such a student pretty much needs a grad degree to get work. That’s not true for other E disciplines. </p>
<p>My son majored in ChemE because it did provide a back-up career in case he didn’t go to med school. His fellow ChemE grads went right into highly paid jobs. Made him really pause before starting med school. lol. But, he’s happy in med school. :)</p>
<p>I believe that my background is relevant to your question. I was in EE for many years. I did not have problem with academics but hated the job, so I went back to school and currently working in IT (over 30 years), which I absolutely love. I am not sure what is Cumputer Engineering. Electrical E. is very very challenging academically. As I said, I did not have problem but there is NO overlap in Med. School requirements in either EE or CS, except for math and English. CS is much easier academically than EE, but you would spend day in and day out debugging your computer programs. I had real fun with this, but you got to love it to really enjoy it. I do not know how to fit Med. School pre-reqs and all required medical ECs (volunteering, shadowing, Med. Research Lab internship) into very busy schedule of EE or CS (again, not familiar with Computer Engineering).
My D. is a third year Medical Student. So, I am aware of how busy pre-meds are. She has never been inspired to have any back up plan. She was a Zoology major as a pre-med and went straight to Med. School. She was extremely busy in her UG, but again everybody is different, different ability levels, different study skills. As for reference, she graduated at the top of her HS class and went to state public UG, not any Elite. </p>