Going into a bio-engineering graduate program after a liberal-arts undergrad? See details please.

[gptdvjr600]

Hi everyone. With finances, my visions of an undergraduate experience, close proximity to home, and a variety of other tangible/intangible factors in mind, I have chosen to pursue my undergraduate education at Yale-NUS College rather than UC Berkeley (please note that Yale-NUS college is NOT Yale University although both colleges have very close ties with each other). I am greatly interested in pursuing medicine but am simultaneously gravitated towards bio-engineering. Now, for medicine, it is an almost no brainer for me to attend Yale-NUS college as I have the opportunity to enter med-school at Duke-NUS (please note that as an international student, entering medical school in the US is almost impossible). However, when considering bio-engineering and entering this field for my graduate studies, I really want to pursue this higher education at the United Sates, primarily in higher tier institutions (ex: Stanford- dream). Do you think it will still be possible for me to be a competitive applicant for a graduate engineering program in the US despite having graduated from a liberal-arts college, Yale-NUS? I understand that pre-requisites must be filled and Yale-NUS allows its students to take supplementary courses at its neighboring university, NUS (NUS has a bio-engineering program). Or, was it foolish of me discard UC Berkeley for Yale-NUS? Any insight and advice will be greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for your time.

[BrownParent]

I think it will likely be difficult without a bioengineering undergrad. Why don’t you read the pages of various grad schools and see the requirements?

[juillet]

If you can study bioengineering and take the prerequisite coursework for a bioengineering program, then the fact that you’re at a liberal arts college won’t hurt you. The type of college is not the problem; it’s the necessity of taking a lot of necessary coursework for an engineering degree; that’s why graduate engineering programs usually prefer people with an engineering major from undergrad. I agree with @BrownParent that you should check the websites of some graduate programs in bioengineering and see what kinds of backgrounds they expect their students to have.

[Fifty]

Bioengineering is highly interdisciplinary, so most good graduate programs accept students with undergraduate majors in biology, chemistry, or physics, as well as in bioengineering. An undergraduate bioengineering degree is not necessarily preferred. What is necessary is a strong background in the sciences, including mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

Here is what Duke says it requires of applicants to its graduate program in Biomedical Engineering.

The MS and MEng programs in BME admit students with undergraduate degrees in sciences and engineering. The minimum requirement is that the students have taken the following college level courses:
• Multivariable Calculus
• Introduction to Physics (mechanics) (or with accepted AP credit)
• Introduction to Chemistry (or with accepted AP credits)

http://www.bme.duke.edu/grad/faq#bme1

You expressed interest in Stanford. Here is what they have to say about admissions to their Bioengineering graduate program:

Students will be expected to enter with a series of core competencies in mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, computing, and engineering. The backgrounds of students entering the program will be assessed by the examination of their undergraduate transcripts and research experiences. Specifically, we will require that students have completed mathematics through multivariable calculus and differential equations, completed a series of undergraduate biology courses (equivalent to BIO 41, 42, 43 series) and completed physics, chemistry, and computer sciences courses required of all undergraduate majors in engineering.

http://bioengineering.stanford.edu/education/admissions.html

Many people are surprised about the emphasis on math, physics, and chemistry in bioengineering.

I am not familiar with Yale-NUS College. I looked at their website and see that they offer a “Physical Sciences” major, not the conventional chemistry major or physics major. If you are interested in pursuing a bioengineering graduate degree after college, I suggest that you major in the sciences and be sure to take challenging math, physics, and chemistry courses. Take the physics and chemistry courses designed for physics majors and chemistry majors, not the easier versions for premeds.

Research experience also is very important for admissions to the best bioengineering graduate program. It does not really matter if your undergraduate research is in biology, chemistry, or physics.

[xraymancs]

@Fifty is absolutely correct. If you look at the degrees of thefaculty in a Biomedical Engineering department you will see backgrounds in engineering (all sorts), physics, chemistry, and biology. A STEM degree is pretty much necessary but you can have a science degree from a liberal arts program and it will meet the requirements with no problem.