I'm Stuck: Chemical, Mechanical, or Biomedical?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

I am currently a freshman in a Pre-Engineering major in my community college. I can’t decide which major to advance to… ChemE, MechE, or BME? I already know what I want my career to be: designing better prosthetic limbs and/or artificial organs. Which of these majors will be better for me after graduation with this career goal in mind?

After my Bachelor’s, should I Master in BME or something else?

Also, I am a TX resident. Which of these schools would be better for these majors:

  • University of Texas, Dallas
  • University of Texas, Austin
  • Texas Tech University

(I would like unbiased answers as much as possible, please.)

Thank you.

2

I suggest that you start in Mechanical Engineering. This is an engineering discipline that has a lot of job opportunities for a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree. For BME majors it is much harder to find a job just after college and Chemical Engineering is probably further from your desired career goals than either of the other two.

Getting a Masters in BME might be a good idea but you should probably work for a bit to decide if it is the right thing to do for you.

3

-Mechanical engineering is the discipline that applies the principles of engineering, physics, and materials science for the design, analysis, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the design, production, and operation of machinery.[1][2] It is one of the oldest and broadest of the engineering disciplines
-Chemical engineering is a branch of engineering that applies physical sciences (physics and chemistry) and life sciences (microbiology and biochemistry) together with applied mathematics and economics to produce, transform, transport, and properly use chemicals, materials and energy. It essentially deals with the engineering of chemicals, raw materials, living cells, microorganisms and energy – as well as the processes that use them or convert them into useful forms and products.
-Biomedical Engineering (BME) is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g. diagnostic or therapeutic). This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to advance health care treatment, including diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy.

Since you want to do medical things with your career I would say BME since it mostly has to do with medical engineering and is a great way to help others.

4

I’d also recommend Mechanical Engineering, as it is most closely aligned with the kind of work you want to do. BME is too unfocused at an undergraduate level, and there is a lot of mechanical work that goes into designing limbs, and not too much in the way of chemistry or chemical processing there. Although ChemE is passable for that goal (it covers most of the same base material as MechE), MechE is better suited for what you want to do.

MechE > ChemE > BME for your specific situation, in my eyes.

5

MechE is the most versatile. Biomedical is pretty much useless in that field w/o a graduate degree.

6

Mechanical.

Also, for engineering UT Austin is excellent while Texas Tech is quite solid and under-appreciated. The major drawback of TTU is Lubbock, unless a small town in a remote area is not a problem for you.

7

If you want to design prosthetic limbs and artificial organs, you’re going to need to need a PhD anyway. Either mechanical engineering or BME would be sell suited to your goals. Should you decide you don’t want to go to graduate school, MechE is probably a more practical major for someone who wants to have a technical job.

ChemE is very far detached from what you want to do.

8

@Pancaked
Is it possible to be a part of the design team without a PhD? Maybe not take the full lead of it, but have some significant role in the process?

Personally, I think the amount of time it takes to obtain a PhD is too overwhelming, considering the fact that I would be working full-time and going to school full-time if that were the case.

Thank you everyone for your informative replies, by the way!

9

I can’t really imagine any typical situation in which someone without an advanced degree would end up on a biomedical design team, but I suppose it is a possibility. I’m certainly no expert. Google around and see what people in the industry have to say. Biomedical engineers really don’t have the technical expertise to make meaningful contributions to a design team.

Typically you wouldn’t have a full time job while getting a PhD. Your “work” is doing laboratory research tied to your studies. This pays for your education and you get a stipend on top of it.

10

To preface my post, I haven’t actually worked in the area (yet), but if my discussions with recruiters and interviewers and hours of looking at job postings online are any indication, there’s plenty of room for individuals with an MS to make meaningful contributions to the design and analysis of biomedical devices, prosthetics, and artificial organs. With a BS, it’s less likely.

11

I would look into concentrations offered under each major at each university. For example, there is a biomolecular concentration under ChE where I go, and thus I would then recommend ChE, while at a school without any bio-related emphasis areas / tracks, I would probably not recommend it.

12

While some schools may have a biomedically related biomolecular concentration under ChE, I would say that is rare, mostly biomolecular engineering is geared towards production of biological chemicals. If pharmaceuticals fulfills your desires for biomed, that would be perfect. Otherwise, I would only specialize in ChE if they have a specific biomedical track that matches your interest (tissue engineering could possibly be there …).

Tissue engineering may be covered in material science.

Prostheses like limbs, are mechanical, but there are a growing number of electrical devices, monitors, etc that could involve EE, especially related to heart and brain which have a lot of electrical activity.

Since you have 3 schools in TX that you are considering, I would spend some time with all 3 websites looking where they have bio-medical related coursework, what they specialize in both coursework wise and research wise, and how it relates to your interests and abilities. Since you have all your core coursework done, you are stepping right into junior year classes on their 4 year plan, so that list and the coursework should either excite you or bore you.

Also, if you can manage, a scheduled visit seems like a great idea, could be an open house or a grad student tour or more.

The four specialties in biomed relate to EE,ME,MatSci, and CS in most schools.

All engineering specialties offer the possibility of helping society deal with technological issues and improve people’s lives. Clean water is essential for example.

If you get a BME degree and can’t find really technical employment, you could pursue a MS at night with employer funding or pursue a MS on your own funding. High tech design in many fields requires a masters, R&D money is limited and there are a lot of MS and PhD people who would love to have an R&D position in any field.