Graduate school and other advice needed

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I am at a point where I am at a major crossroads in deciding the future of my education. Basically my choices are between bioengineering and mechanical engineering. Both would be at the University of Washington. </p>

<p>My dillema is this: mechanical engineering and similar classes come more naturally to me; I dont have to study much and do okay. Bioengineering I sometimes have to read stuff a couple times before I can put it into understandable terms in my head, but it has a greater potential for a greater impact on society/more money/more prestigious/etc. I am interested in both subjects.</p>

<p>I would like to go to graduate school for whichever I choose; for bioengineering it is nearly required from what I gather, at least for the good jobs, and mechanical engineering would be easier for me if the way things are going is any indicator so I might as well to further distinguish myself. If I go the mechanical engineering route too I could also get a chemistry minor pretty easily as I already have most of the classes done for it. And this could lead to jobs similar or the same as what regular bioengineers get hired for anyways according to some other threads.</p>

<p>My questions come down to this: First of all could I even get into/do well in grad school at UW or another decently good school if I am making around a 3.4 in the "weed out" classes?
Given the above information which path is recommended - master of bioe or master of M E + minor in chem or ???? Or if I am kidding myself and can't get into any grad schools what should I do?
Basically how much weight should I put into the ease in which I learn the material?</p>

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<p>Who said bioE graduates have a greater impact on society and make more money? BioE is also a more prestigious major? I find that hard to believe.</p>

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<p>I said there is a greater potential for a greater impact. Medical breakthroughs in prosthetics or drug delivery or artificial organs etc etc etc I would say makes a bigger impact than designing a slightly more efficient solution to a mechanical engineering problem. Many problems in mechanical engineering have tried and true solutions and it’s just a matter of implementing them, whereas with bioengineering it’s all new. Bioe is said to be the future whereas there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of mechanical engineering breakthroughs these days. I would say Bioe is more prestigious for these same reasons.</p>

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<p>i totally agree with you aa, i had the same thing in mind when thinking of what i wanted to major in, i ended up picking Neuroscience, but then my dad said i should do something that gives more money, so i turned to BioE.</p>

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<p>Bioengineering is really just a specialization of several different engineering majors in a similar fashion that Aerospace is a specialization of Mechanical. BioE consists of engineers from ChemE, ME, EE, MSE backgrounds. So its difficult to attempt to separate the ME from BioE since BioE can in some sense be seen as a specialization of ME.</p>

<p>So I get confused when you say things like this</p>

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<p>because you are contradicting yourself. Isn’t designing/improving a prosthetic really just finding a more effective solution to a mechanical problem? After all, a prosthetic is a mechanical system, the reason it falls under BioE as well is because it is a mechanical system applied to a biological application. The exact same analogy can be made for drug delivery and chemical engineering. </p>

<p>My point is that if you major in ME you can still get involved in the BioE industry. The curriculum for most BioE programs is still under development and changing much more often than things like ME since schools are still trying to figure out how to best prepare their students for bioE jobs since its such a new field. As a result, BioE industry still hire a ton of engineers in from fields like ME, EE, CS, ChemE, etc. </p>

<p>It seems that you like MechE and I’m guessing that you’d be interested in getting involved with mechanical systems as they are being applied to biological applications. If this is the case, maybe you could just stick with MechE and only take the relevant BioE courses that specifically apply to what you want. </p>

<p>In short, I don’t think its absolutely necessary for you to switch if you like ME better and understand it, you can still work in the BioE industry. I don’t really see a benefit in getting a chem minor. And its certainly possible to get into masters programs with a 3.4, just don’t expect MIT/Caltech/Stanford to be knocking on your door.</p>

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<p>My response was more geared towards the average bioengineer’s contribution versus the average mechanical engineer’s contribution. I just meant I don;t see a whole lot of radical mechanical engineering revolutions in the future and the field kind of has an established “ceiling,” if you will. Whereas bioe the sky is the limit at this point.</p>

<p>You are right about the prosthetic parts and offer good insight. The prosthetic or robotic limbs is probably the area I would try to get into if I went M E, or a similar mechanical system applied to biological application. </p>

<p>I guess my question now is just how easy or common is it to go ME bachelors or masters + possible chemistry minor and land a job in this field?</p>

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<p>Its very easy, ME’s are needed everywhere.</p>

<p>Is there a reason you are pursuing a minor in chemistry other than personal interest?</p>

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<p>I have been going towards a bioengineering degree and am ~12 credits away from a chem minor. Wouldnt want to “waste” all the chem classes Ive taken so far if I end up in ME, and it might look a little better on a resume compared to a bunch of plain ME’s.</p>

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<p>the bioengineering industry hires people w/ a B.S. in ChemE, ME, and EE </p>

<p>a B.S. in bioeng is a new thing, so that degree has not established itself…</p>

<p>so if you want to enter that industry its much better to major in ME, ChemE, or EE…</p>

<p>thats what viennariver was trying to say (I guess) ok?</p>

<p>Electrical Engineering - for students wishing to study the design and development of medical devices, signal processing, and medical imaging. </p>

<p>Chemical Engineering - for studies of transport within physiological systems, drug delivery, and development of engineered tissues. </p>

<p>Mechanical Engineering - for studies of the mechanics of the human body in health and disease and applications to medical devices and orthopedics.</p>

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<p>I feel that this discussion has 2 sides talking past each other. To wit:</p>

<p>*It is perhaps true that the bioengineering field may have more potential for new inventions and developments than the mechanical engineering field. </p>

<p>*However, that’s not to say that you should choose the bioengineering major just because the field is hot. There’s a big difference between a major and a field. As has been pointed out, plenty of people will get jobs in a particular field without majoring in that specific field. Heck, I’ve seen it myself with relation to bioengineering. I’ve seen bioengineering students lose out on the bioengineering job they really wanted to somebody else who majored in some other engineering field (or sometimes even from one of the sciences). What does it matter if bioengineering as a field has great potential if you can’t get the specific bioengineering job that you really want? </p>

<p>*I completely agree with viennariver and tom725 that bioengineering as a major is currently not well established, whereas the other engineering disciplines are. In the future, that will probably change. But that’s not relevant here because you have to worry about getting a job *now<a href=“or,%20at%20least,%20in%204-5%20years%20when%20you%20graduate”>/i</a>, not decades in the future. So you have to worry about how to position yourself and your career now. </p>

<p>If nothing else, one of the traditional engineering majors give you stronger bargaining leverage when it comes to salary negotiation time. For example, if you have a ChemE degree, you can legitimately threaten to walk away from a bioengineering offer and instead take a process engineering job at an oil refinery. The bioengineering firm ought to know this and hence will probably not try to lowball you on salary, or if they did, you could negotiate something better from a position of strength. {Granted, they probably won’t pay you a salary comparable to what Big Oil would pay, but at least they wouldn’t completely screw you.} On the other hand, if you have only a bioengineering degree, you will be negotiating from a weaker position. </p>

<p>*Worrying about the difference between specific majors and what classes to take is not a good use of your time. The truth is, bioengineering firms won’t really care. What they care far more about is your work experience - i.e., internship/co-op experience. If you have that, as well as accompanying strong recommendations, you will be in excellent position to get your first bioE job regardless of what your specific major was or what classes you took. Furthermore, after you get that first bioE job, few employers are really going to care about what you did in college anyway, as from that point forward, they will care mostly about the quality of your work. </p>

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<p>All true. In addition, neurology has a lot to do with EE, as your nervous system is basically just a electronic signal transmission system. I read about a guy who is getting his MD/PhD, with his MD at Harvard and his PhD in EE at MIT, specializing in neurological pathways. </p>

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<p>Also much of biotechnology, especially the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals.</p>