<p>With the current job market, my parents told me its hard to find a job and to pick the major that will give you a job. I need help deciding between fire protection engineering and Bioengineering. I really like to major in Bioengineering but I know alot of bioengineer jobless.
Fire protection is a guaranteed job after I graduate but I don't really seem interested in it.
which one would you pick in my situation. Thanks for the help guys.</p>
<p>I would go with Bioengineering. Do what you’re interested in. I wouldn’t risk not liking your career just for a little better job security right out of school. Engineering is usually a fairly stable career anyways. And hey, the economy might even turn around before you graduate.</p>
<p>Biomedical engineering is best pursued at the graduate level.</p>
<p>Second what Norris and alchemist007 said.
Although I am not a BME / BE, I feel that as undergraduate you should really pick something that secure your potential employment. Moreover, something that can bring additional knowledge to your future graduate study, let say, BME.</p>
<p>ME/EE are probably good undergraduate for BME at graduate school. But I can’t keep my words. Just how I feel about it.
Do whatever really interest you. In fact, if you can’t really decide, for the first two semesters, finish all the calculus and basic science and liberal arts requirement, and by the time you are sophomore you might have a better picture of what you want to do. In the mean time, find out more from your upperclassmen and from the Internet. Attend career fairs, and guest speaker. Go to some student clubs and find out.</p>
<p>If you aren’t interested in fire protection “engineering” then you shouldn’t do it. That is the simplest answer I can give.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great help guys. Do you think it would be possible for me to get a b.s in fire protection and then get a m.s in BME. I am a pre med major so the transition should be to bad. My gpa isn’t too great so I am not too high on it.</p>
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<p>Unless the courses significantly overlap, then no. Especially with a low GPA.</p>
<p>I think you should get a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering first, so you have plenty of options. You can go on straight to the workforce, or do a masters in Biomed Engineering.</p>
<p>Fire protection engineering really isn’t true engineering from everything I have seen. It likely will NOT prepare you for an M.S. In any engineering, especially BME.</p>
<p>I have never seen “fire protection engineering”. What exactly does it entail?</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Courses, Department of Fire Protection Engineering, University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.fpe.umd.edu/undergrad/ug-courses.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.fpe.umd.edu/undergrad/ug-courses.html)</p>
<p>most reliable one I can find through google</p>
<p>[Department</a> of Fire Protection Engineering, University of Maryland](<a href=“http://www.enfp.umd.edu/]Department”>http://www.enfp.umd.edu/)</p>
<p>It seems like a marriage of a small part of mechanical engineering (basic fluids and heat transfer) with a bunch of stuff you could easily learn in a trade school.</p>
<p>EDIT: Looks like thrill3rnit3 beat me to it… At any rate, I can attest to the fact that the thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer all are using good books and cover good topics important to engineers, but it really depends on the portion of their descriptions that says “of importance to FPEs”. The rest of the classes seem like they are things that you don’t need to learn at a 4 year university to be honest. I guess flame dynamics is just a fancy word for various things in combustion.</p>
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<p>Would you really have that much more opportunity doing this than BioE</p>
<p>Haha that is where I go to school. Well my teacher did say that it put the bs in b.s. </p>
<p>Well there is more opportunity in bioe but there are so much more bio engineers out there. Since that is the only school for fire protection for b.s, the there s no competition and high salaries</p>
<p>Yeah but technology is improving by the minute. Fire is…just fire.</p>
<p>Fire is just fire, yet it still kills so many people every year. I don’t know about you, but I’m not satisfied with where fire prevention technology is at yet.</p>
<p>I don’t know too much about this field, but I’m sure there’s lots of room for improvement. Until you can make something that is 100% fireproof, there will still be new products, designs, etc. Every building utilizes these, such as firestopping, fireproofing on steel structures, sprinkler systems, etc.</p>
<p>As far as job prospects, I have no idea how readily jobs are available. Probably the manufacturers of fire safety products hire a lot of them, such as 3M and Hilti. I haven’t seen a firm that solely designs fire protection systems in buildings though, but I’m sure architects need to consult with those who are experts in this field.</p>
<p>Sure there is less competition, but UM being the only school that offers this would sound an alarm in my head and make me think long and hard about the marketability of such a degree. You really are pigeonholed if you take that route.</p>
<p>I honestly just feel like it is a watered-down, very specialized subset of mechanical engineering. Why not just do ME?</p>
<p>I dont know how you guys did this but I think i am going to pick neither of these majors.
I am picking Mechanical engineering. I hope its the right decision. Are any of you guys mechanical engineers?</p>
<p>Well this forum always makes a good case for ME. I’m sure there will be plenty of people that can answer any questions you could have about ME.</p>