<p>thumper, I’m really looking for a school of 20-30K students, 4 seasons, and a solid STEM program. </p>
<p>mom2collegekids, well then I guess it’s good that I have no desire to stop my education after my undergraduate studies. Why is it that companies are biased towards BioMedE majors? Wouldn’t it make sense to hire one? And regarding your son and Bama, that sounds pretty great. It is definitely what I am looking for. Now, my family and I just have to find time to visit the campus!</p>
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<p>You may want to check the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-5.html#post15975553[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-5.html#post15975553</a> .</p>
<p>Ok…here’s the posts that I was talking about…</p>
<p>The first part is from another person, and the second part is mine (mentioning that other E disciplines also work and that not all schools have BioMedE)</p>
<hr>
<p>Do yourself a favor and study something other than Biomedical Engineering!</p>
<p>There are next to no jobs out there in that field. Thanks to news media sources touting it as “the next big thing” for several years, every college with any sort of engineering department decided to create a biomedical engineering curriculum. The problem is that the firms who hire biomedical engineers did not grow as fast as projected, and now there is a surplus in supply for biomedical engineers. </p>
<p>This is true even where I went to college (Georgia Tech – #2 Biomed program in the US) and where my sister goes to college (Duke – #3 Biomed program in the US). We both have friends who graduated with very good GPAs (3.5 and above) and good work/research experience who were still struggling to find jobs 6 months or so after graduating. Many of my friends who studied biomedical engineering ended up working in business consulting, finance, or other industries in which they could put their analytical skills to use… but not in Engineering roles. </p>
<p>If you really want to work in that field, STUDY ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING! You will learn everything you need to know to be just as qualified and as successful as any biomedical engineer. Plus, EE opens up a lot of other job possibilities outside of the biotechnology industry/field. Finally, there is a shortage of good EE’s in industry today, so if you are any good, you will have <em>no trouble</em> landing a job before you graduate.</p>
<p>============================================</p>
<p>I agree with most/all what you wrote, except the part of about every school with eng’g creating a BioMedE dept. Many Colleges of Engineering don’t have that discipline. The unfortunate thing (I think) is that too many students are determined to do that major and therefore they ignore schools that don’t have biomedE…when that particular undergrad degree is so not needed career-wise.</p>
<p>I think the name “biomedE” sounds sexy so people often choose it because:</p>
<p>1) they think they’ll be finding cancer cures in undergrad.</p>
<p>2) they think med schools will be so impressed (they aren’t). </p>
<p>Yes, there is a glut of BioMedE grads with little/no job prospects out there. Without a PhD or a MD degree, employment is harder to get. Just too few options. And, there is a much smaller pool of employers anyway. Eng’rs in other disciplines have bigger pools of employers.</p>
<p>Along with the EE option, I would also suggest ChemE or MechE as possibilities. All of those disciplines are fine for later seeking a PhD in BioMedE later…or med school if that’s desired. But both options require very high undergrad GPAs, so if you don’t end up with one, you may find yourself stopped at undergrad with a degree that’s much less marketable… </p>
<p>When my son (ChemE) did summer REU’s for BioMedE, the selected students from all over the country were in a variety of eng’g disciplines, because there isn’t anything really special in the biomedE req’ts that the others don’t have as well. Yet, those in other eng’g disciplines are much more marketable AFTER they graduate. Although my son went on to med school, his ChemE fellow grads are now immediately employed at very high starting salaries (over $75k starting)…a new BioMedE grad wouldn’t likely be so lucky.</p>
<p>I understand, but I still don’t get how a BME major is not as qualified as a chemE, EE, etc. The BME major is a jack of all trades. Anyways, yeah I actually am interested in Biomedical Engineering and neuroscience. I am not doing it just to sound smart, and I am in no way expected anything more than I rightfully should be. I like math, genetics, chemistry, and physics. This involves all. ChemE also interests me due to the fact that I would love to have a job synthesizing new chemicals/medicines.</p>
<p>Biomedical engineering may be popular for the same reason biology is popular – it conveniently covers most of the pre-med course requirements. However, most pre-meds do not get into any medical school, so there is an “excess” of biomedical engineering and biology majors relative to the bachelor’s level jobs available that are specific to those majors.</p>
<p>How many kids actually stick with BME though? I mean Im either doing BME or ChemE and I really don’t think I could go wrong with either. Especially ChemE at UM-Twin Cities.</p>
<p>Others can correct me, but I think the reason is that most engineering jobs in the US are aerospace, defense, software, oil or chemically related, etc. They’re not looking for biomedE grads. They’re looking for EE, mechE, AeroE, ChemE, math, physics, Comp Sci, CompE majors. </p>
<p>You may think BiomedE is a “jack of all trades”, but it’s really not.</p>
<p>you wouldn’t go wrong with ChemE. </p>
<p>can you afford OOS at UM-TC? Isn’t it about the same cost as instate UIUC???</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, I don’t see how BME is not. Have you ever seen the course load for a BME major? Classes in all types of engineering. Aerospace? Us Govt. cut NASA funding, so unless there’s a private firm it is not too useful. Also, Petroleum engineering is not going to be around too much longer. Slowly going to die off.</p>
<p>UM-TC is cheaper. Plus, I could receive some scholarships as well. UIUC = no scholarships.</p>
<p>Chris…You’re going to have to take your argument up with the majority of folks who hire engineers. They’re not hiring BME’s. Your thinking that the major should be viewed as marketable is not shared by them…and when it comes to hiring, who’s opinion matters? Yours or theirs? lol</p>
<p>And, NASA isn’t the only company that hires AE. Many/most defense industry corporations do as well…Boeing, Northrop Grumman, etc. And, I didn’t mention PetE. That said, the ChemE majors are having no trouble finding employment upon graduation with just a BS. </p>
<p>And, yes, of course I’ve seen the curriculum for BME. It’s not the jack of all trades that you think it is. Many/most of the classes have some kind of bio-XXX title (biomaterials, bioimaging, biocomputing, biological transport, etc). That’s not marketable in many eng’g fields. …and it’s not “jack of all trades”…not at all.</p>
<p>UM-TC is cheaper. Plus, I could receive some scholarships as well. UIUC = no scholarships.</p>
<p>??</p>
<p>The COA at UMinn is $32k per year. How is that cheaper than UIUC, especially when you’d have to include add’l travel costs??</p>
<p>Your ACT 31 is at the bottom of the upper quartile at UMinn. If you were to get any scholarship money, it would likely be very minimal. The merit money is likely going to those with higher ACT scores.</p>
<p>There’s no harm in applying, but if you need to get your costs down to around $15k per year, you need to be sure to have some schools on your list that will have a net cost of that low.</p>
<p>texas a and m. great engineering school, only 10% out of state, i believe, but at least one to investigate.</p>
<p>^^^
The OP is looking for inexpensive schools. His budget is $10k-15k. OOS TAMU wouldn’t be cheap.</p>
<p>UM-TC is much cheaper than UIUC…</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, please provide some statistics then. You make these biased claims with no evidence.</p>
<p>Ok…you’ve already said that. How is UM-TC cheaper than UIUC? UM-TC is $32k per year. How is that “much cheaper” than UIUC?</p>
<p>What stats do you want? Just look at where UMinn’s BiomedE grads are employed…nearly only in medically related fields. That discipline does not have a broad application like some other E disciplines do.</p>
<p>Yes 32k with room and board. After scholarships, the price should be much lower.</p>
<p>Do you know if you’ll get scholarships from UMinn with your ACT 31? If so, how much? I can see getting a few thousand, but not enough to make it “much cheaper” than UIUC…especially when you’d have to add in extra travel costs. </p>
<p>Definitely apply, but don’t count on getting enough merit from UMinn to make it much cheaper than UIUC. If it works out, great. But, you’d have to get a full tuition scholarship to get it down to your budget. Not likely with an ACT 31.</p>
<p>Their Presidential Scholarship for OOS students is for $1k-10k per year. Very likely, the $10k is given to those with the near perfect ACTs…and then downward.</p>
<p>you said that your family can pay $10k-15k…that will limit your choices, but you will have choices…look for those.</p>
<p>Univ New Mexico.</p>
<p>ABET engineering programs.
[School</a> of Engineering - University of New Mexico - home](<a href=“http://www.soe.unm.edu%5DSchool”>http://www.soe.unm.edu)
[UNM</a> Center for Biomedical Engineering: About Us](<a href=“http://cbme.unm.edu%5DUNM”>http://cbme.unm.edu)</p>
<p>Mind Research Network for neuroscience.
[The</a> Mind Research Network (MRN)](<a href=“http://www.mrn.org%5DThe”>http://www.mrn.org)</p>
<p>Med school is across the street from main campus–making volunteering activities easy to access.</p>
<p>OP, you’d need to apply for the Regents (competitive, pays full tuition for 4 years. Requires 31 ACT plus 3.9 GPA. That just leaves room board = $8454) or the Amigo for OOS students (pays OOS tuition differential plus $200/year stipend. Requires 26 ACT and 3.5 GPA. UNM instate COA [tuition +room & board] = $15,901)</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Scholarships :: | The University of New Mexico](<a href=“http://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/]Undergraduate”>http://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/)</p>
<p>One thing to consider: if you do get the Regents, it only requires 3.3 GPA to keep it. Something to keep in mind with an engineering major.</p>
<p>School size: undergrad = 22700</p>
<p>NM does have 4 seasons–contrary to popular belief we do have winter, albeit a milder version than the midwest. Adjacent mtns have ski runs for skiing and boarding. </p>
<p>Football team is awful, but men’s and women’s B-ball teams are nationally ranked. Also men’s and women’s soccer teams are national ranked.</p>
<p>The OP can up his budget to $15,000 - $20,000 all out after scholarships since he can take out the federal direct loans. But the OP is going to have to find unis where he is in the upper quartile to garner merit scholarships. I mentioned New Mexico, Montana State and Michigan Tech up thread but it didn’t “interest” the OP. The Alabama schools are a real possibility. Case in a potential ringer although it feels to me that there merit dollars have tightened up abit (search this year’s threads.) Also for med school the OP needs to get great grades and do well on the MCAT…another reason to find a uni where he’s going in at the top of the class as potential hedge against future grades.</p>