So I am considering about going into BME as my major here at Case Western, well originally I was thinking about becoming a doctor and going to med school or becoming a physical therapist for a couple reasons:
I have done a some physical therapy in the past and it has been an important part of my life which is why I was thinking about going into that field. I have always been interested in the medical field because of this experience.
Come senior year in high school I am in a honors physics class and find what we study to be interesting and took an engineering class my freshman year which was real fun and was unlike anything I did before and also joined a group where we get to speak and learn from various architecture, construction and engineering companies in the area. This prompted me to look up some engineering fields of study and biomedical caught my attention. I also seen on Case’s website that they were the first university to have this kind of field.
I feel that Case is a great place to study this field, but have heard some stories that undergrad BME is very broad having to take such a variety of courses that it could be better to go into something more specific like mechanical or chemical. Some of those were a few years ago and since technology expands so quickly maybe that has changed and it is not as difficult to get a job.
I feel like this is a good school and field that I would enjoy, but having to take so many different kinds of difficult math/bio related courses scares me a bit and the thought of having difficulty finding a job afterwards.
Maybe I am overthinking it and it would be a good field for me to do, but I am still nervous. I am in Cleveland and will try to schedule a visit for next semester, probably when the weather clears up a bit.
Hi, while I’m not sure what the current trends are for BME grads, many years ago I was in a similar situation. The school I went to required me to be an electrical engineering major and then ‘specialize’ in biomedical engineering. The nice thing was that my degree actually says “BS Electrical Engineering” and that helped immensely when I graduated in the early 90’s and the job market was not so hot. I knew of some BME majors from other schools that, a few years later, could not get the same job that I had just because their degree was biomedical engineering. So, if you have the opportunity to major in mechanical engineering but take BME electives, I think that is the way to go. I essentially had a pre-med and electrical engineering double major when I graduated. Most of my classmates are now very successful doctors/surgeons. I am happy with the career path I took though too.
My daughter was just admitted to CW (comp sci). We are in Phoenix - I don’t know if she can handle those winters!
@azmomof3 Thanks for the insight! Hmm I would reather major in BME so when I visit in the spring I’ll definitely bring up research opportunities, jobs,co-op etc. But I understand that it is a pretty new field and doing chem/mechanical would probably be better in the long run. Plus I’m not too sure if I want to go to grad school and BME is so broad that some people disagree with going BME for your BS. I’ve heard of people going from Chem/mechanical/electrical BS to get MS in biomed which could be a better outcome. You did say that was in the early 90s so I’m hoping the job market for BME has improved greatly since.
Haha yeah been in Cleveland my whole life so I got used to it, not to say I enjoy it though. Almost slipped so many times already this year and I remember winters going into april/may sometimes lol.
The more I research about BME the more I’m thinking no due to the job market perspective and being able to use a degree in another engineering field like MechE and ChemE if I really wanted to work with hospitals and with medical devices. And if the BME market does rise then I could consider doing BME for a masters degree. I figure since no matter the engineering degree the core classes are the same correct? So I could take classes the first semester or two and be fine being undecided.
Thak you for the lists. So I’m just comparing tri c credit and that list of classes you have me. I believe my tri c credits could help save some time I think. Skipping first seminar of sages, PE req and I’ve taken sociology and psychology 1010 and those are social sciences correct which fills the open elective humanities/social sciences? I’m hoping that will help lighten course load.
I also took a political science and a history course but I do think those would do much for engineering major other then just some extra credits. Still some credit going in>No credit haha.