Is a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering lucrative?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

I am a current freshman and scholarship Army Cadet at Vanderbilt University, majoring in biomedical engineering. From what I’ve been told by my academic advisor, biomedical engineering is consider a very lucrative career choice, but other people including upperclassman claim it’s quite the opposite. Many people I have spoken with say that it’s difficult to find a job, and that it’s a pretty narrow field. Additionally, they claim that BME grads usually are “jacks of all trades” as in they learn all the concepts of engineering but never dive deep into anything one thing and thus struggle to compete with engineers who have more specific skill sets. As an Army cadet, I will commission as a second lieutenant and serve in the military post-graduation for at least 8 years. I am hoping to use this experience to tap into the prosthetics field and hope to work with military amputees (but this is a long term goal).

I am looking for any information, links to creditable sources, or first hand experience with Biomedical engineering, the field, and the job outlook. I am not necessarily the kind of person to base the validity of my work or job on a paycheck; however, I do want to be financially stable.

What are the kinds of jobs BME grads can get?
Is graduate school practically a necessity?
What is the job outlook?
etc…

Thanks.

2

From what I understand, good BME jobs are rare out of undergrad. Because of the “jack of all trades” effect, and because bio- everything is oversaturated due to premeds, the field doesn’t really open up til you have at least a master’s. Whereas with ME and EE (and ChemE!) you can get lucrative employment right out of college. But I am not an engineer, I just know a few.

3

Change to ME to get a job.

4

CS is the most lucrative engineering discipline at Vandy Engineering. Google and check out career placement data.