<p>I will be starting college as a bioengineering major at the University of Maryland this fall. I am in a bit of a bind because I have such varied interests but I'm not exactly sure what I want to do. Right now, I am interested in entering the biomedical field, but I may also want to go to medical school after graduation. That is why I initially chose BioE (med school), but now I'm thinking that BioE might be too focused as an undergrad degree so I'm also considering chemical engineering and electrical engineering. Electrical seems interesting because it offers such a wide variety of options (I will probably discover that there are more interesting things than life sciences in college), and chemical engineering is appealing because it offers variety upon graduation while allowing the possibility of going to med school after graduation. </p>
<p>Also, I intend on earning at least a Master's degree in my chosen field after my undergraduate education. I have heard that BioE majors with graduate degrees have a better time finding a job. </p>
<p>It would be nice to decide soon because the EE requirements are not similar to BioE or ChemE as EE requires some programming courses freshman year.</p>
<p>Aren’t the freshman engineering classes the same for all disciplines? My son’s school didn’t make the students specialize until after the first year. They also offered seminars to introduce the various kinds of engineering to the students to help them make informed decisions. Good idea. Maybe your school does something like that, too.</p>
<p>While math, physics, and humanities / social studies breadth are broadly the same, some courses may be major-specific. For example, chemical engineering majors take a full year of general chemistry versus zero to one semester for most other engineering majors. Electrical engineering majors often take more computer science courses since the major is closely related to, or combined with, computer science.</p>
<p>If one is careful, it may not be that hard to “catch up” if one changes to a different engineering major after freshman year (chemical engineering may be an exception, since any delay in taking freshman general chemistry can delay a long chain of prerequisites).</p>
<p>I’ll be at the University of Maryland, so the difference between the BioE and EE curriculums are the two programming courses first and second semester each that go with the EE major and the special “Biology for Engineers” course for BioE majors. I figure it won’t be too hard to catch up if I decide to switch into EE after the first year. Also, EE-specific courses start the second year, first semester while BioE courses start second year, second semester.</p>
<p>My biggest concern is based on the fact that I may still want to go to medical school. This would be easiest to handle as a bioengineering major. The problem is that if I don’t go to medical school, I’m “stuck” with a degree that covers a little bit of every kind of engineering, but doesn’t go into depth with one kind of engineering. If I go to EE, then I sacrifice the medical school option for greater depth of study and the possibility for many other job opportunities in the future. Am I correct in my concern? What do you guys recommend I do?</p>
<p>If you switch to EE, would you have enough science elective and free elective space to shove in all of the pre-med requirements that are not required by the EE major?</p>
<p>Easy. To take the MCAT, go read their requisites or requirements. If I were you and preferred to major in EE, then I would do it and take BIO, CHEM classes at community college or even at your university in the summer just to meet the requirements if you decide to go to med school.</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, switching from bioengineering is a good choice. You’ll still have a good chance of getting into medical school from Electrical, so if that’s where your interests lie, it seems like a sound decision.
You can always do summer courses (although its not ideal) to catch up on major requirements if you switch majors later.</p>
<p>My plan was, if I switch to EE, I would give up the pre-med option completely because it would be too much work and EE is far harder to maintain the high GPA required for med school admissions. That is why I am so divided right now (because I may want to go to med school, but not exactly sure).</p>
<p>doctorate: Why do you say switching FROM bioengineering is a good choice?</p>
This statement is often confused by the sample curriculum grid. Students love using that grid because it plans out everything for them, and they face peer pressure that they should take core engineering courses as soon as possible.</p>
<p>If you have a bunch of AP credits, such as Calculus BC, Physics C, English, Chem, you will be ahead of many of your peers, and so you can follow the sample plan.</p>
<p>Beside that, some schools do this intentionally because those “core” introductory major courses have very low registration requirements. That’s true. You don’t need Caclulus to learn about digital / switching system. You can take Intro to computer science right away in the first semester.</p>
<p>I say switching from bioengineering is a good choice because from what I’ve heard, bioengineering doesn’t give you the technical knowledge you need to succeed in engineering. Look at what you’re interested within bioengineering - the UMD bioengineering site lists five subfields: Biomedical Devices; Cells, Tissues and Organs; Drug Discovery and Delivery; Energy and the Environment; and Premedical Education. If you’re interested in biomedical devices, Electrical would prepare you better. If you’re interested in cells, tissues and organs, some sort of biology might prepare you better. ChemE is better for drug discovery, and probably for energy and the environment as well (though I suppose that would depend on your exact interest). And you’re not sure you want to go to Medical School.</p>
<p>EE at the University of Maryland is far too difficult to maintain the good GPA required for medical school, so if I go in that direction, I sacrifice the med school choice. If I knew for sure that I didn’t want to go to med school, I would switch to EE in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>I’m planning on going to grad school anyway, so I’m sure BioE provide good job opportunities if I get a Master’s or PhD. I’m still debating though.</p>
<p>Why BioE as oppose to Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering? (I’m in the position of choosing between these two majors, so any insight you might have on this would be awesome).</p>
<p>I’m currently debating the exact same thing, except with BioE vs Electrical (EE). The only reason holding me back from the switch is the med school option. I’m actually hoping that in the near future, I’ll decide that I DON’T want to become a doctor so I won’t have to hesitate about the switch haha</p>
<p>Chemical and biomolecular engineering graduates tend to do better in career surveys than bioengineering graduates. So do electrical engineering graduates.</p>
<p>Can you fit the organic chemistry and biology courses around an electrical engineering degree program?</p>
<p>Of course, if you take your first organic chemistry or biology course and don’t like it, then your decision may be made for you.</p>
<p>If you started in BioE and decided against med school, could you switch to EE?</p>
<p>Also, I wouldn’t necessarily write EE off as too difficult. Since my son is an engineer and I know a lot of engineering students, it seems to me that “difficult” is relative. Some found MechE to be hard but BioE to be easy. Others found BioE to be difficult but EE to be a breeze. Still others who studied Civil wouldn’t touch IE. It’s all in what you enjoy doing and what interests you. Don’t do BioE just as a med school prep with a reasonable career fallback. As a parent, I think you should begin to study what interests you the most. Even if it takes an extra semester or two, you can always change.</p>
<p>I decided to major in BioE because I’m interested in all the aspects of biology, chemistry, and math, but also because I might want to go to med school after undergrad. The thing is that I don’t really know for sure what I like or what I want to do in the future, so deciding majors has been rather difficult for me, especially now. </p>
<p>It’ll be a bit more difficult to switch from BioE to EE after the first year since I would have to complete some programming courses for EE not included in the BioE curriculum, but it is doable for sure. lkf725, that’s what my parents keep saying to me. I honestly wouldn’t mind playing a little catch-up if it gets me doing what I like. </p>
<p>I’m just really hoping that there’s that one class this upcoming year that helps me decide one way or another.</p>