Interested in engineering, need advice

<p>I'm currently in high school (sophomore)and as of right now, i study 2-3 hours of extra math a night and get in some programming and anatomy when i can. I'm interested in eventually researching in the field of biomechatronics. MIT has a Masters or PhD program for biomechatronics, so that's where i would eventually like to get to. </p>

<p>I started out being interested in neuroscience and engineering in general, then i saw deus ex (a video game) in which people could augment themselves with mechanical body parts and etc...I thought that was the coolest thing i have ever seen. So i researched and found that the field of biomechatronics (subfield of biomedical engineering) does stuff like that. </p>

<p>So since biomechatronics is a subfield of biomedical engineering, I'm thinking i might get a b.s in mechanical engineering (something to fall back on if bioeng doesn't work out) and then a m.s in bioengineering. My problem is that i don't know if that's a wise choice. I don't know if i should get the b.s in bioengineering and then a m.s in a more specialized branch of engineering or etc. Any advice on what i should do or future job possibilities other than working at a college, i would be thankful.</p>

<p>I’m a big fan of hedging your bets. If it were me, I’d major in mechanical engineering and take some biology/biomedical electives. And though you might think you know what you want to do right now, it will probably change 3-4 more times before you need to make a grad school decision.</p>

<p>Yeah, it probably will change, i won’t really know until i have some experience in the field or classes and etc… i’m thinking i just might get a b.s in mechanical engineering, that way, i will have something to fall back on no matter what. i also want to get in some basic electrical engineering knowledge and a decent amount of programming, mechanical engineering will include some of that stuff anyway correct?</p>

<p>Also, if i were to stay at college for another 2 years or so for a masters degree, what do people with a b.s in mechanical engineering typically get for a masters? what might be most useful? i have an interest in neuroscience but i honestly don’t see where i could go with that interest later in college if i were to do mechanical engineering previously. (i might be planning too far ahead right now, but it never hurts i suppose, and sorry if i’m asking too much, i’m just trying to get an idea of what i might want to do)</p>

<p>You can always study up programming on your own. You will probably have to do some programming for ME but not tons. There are many good resources out there to get you learning to program in a variety of languages. I know Coursera has some courses to aid with computer science related topics and programming (and its free). Just find some programming projects to work on to get better at programming, that’s how I first pushed myself to learn. Start with semi-basic programs and work up to building little video games or whatever you are interested in.</p>

<p>Also, I am pretty sure you could go from Mechanical Engineering BS to Bioengineering MS if you wanted. But anyways, you will most likely have to do some circuit analysis courses in ME too, so that may cover your electrical engineering knowledge desires.</p>

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<p>Usually people who continue on immediately with an MS will get it in mech e unless they’ve developed some specific interest in a related field (e.g., bioengineering, aero astro, etc.). If you’re switching fields it would wise to do some work (research and/or classwork) in that field before you graduate. For example, if you were at MIT and wanted to continue with a masters focussing on biomechatronics, you’d want to do some undergraduate research at the Media Lab (where that program is). That wouldn’t be hard to do because the Media Lab doesn’t have an undergraduate degree, so all their undergrad researchers are from other departments.</p>