<p>My D was interested in medicine and we actually even applied to direct bs/md programs (she had all that was needed good SAT, EMT, hospital stuff etc). But as the decision time came she was not sure and did not want to pursue direct program.</p>
<p>She is in one of the ivies doing biomed engineering thinking that will keep door open to medicine. She is now moving away from medicine path and we are thinking in that case biomed engineering may not be good choice based on what I have been reading here at CC and in other places. </p>
<p>She had taken java language in her highschool and really liked it. She also loves math, physics, chem and bio. </p>
<p>Maybe computer engineering/comp science might be good choice? However school she is at has good ranking for biomed but not computer. At this point, we are thinking forget ranking....get something that has job prospects. Maybe do double major? biomed + computer?</p>
<p>She is freshman right now and I think sooner you make the decision for change better off you are. </p>
<p>193 views and no reply, I guess basically there are no good answers?</p>
<p>Also this is just my question, my D of course will choose what she thinks is right for her based on her interests.</p>
<p>All we could do as parents is to guide a bit…so posted this question. I see claims in newspaper articles that there is a huge biomed engineering job growth but experiences of students who are actually in biomed does not seem to agree with that.</p>
<p>What is there to really say? Pick a major at random which we think will work for your daughter?
Job growth for biomed is indeed pretty good. The catch is that interest is even higher and that it’s still a pretty small field to begin with.
The first semester or year of an engineering major is usually a pretty good time to gauge what you really want to do. The curriculum is pretty similar for that first year. Just the basics.</p>
<p>I feel as though biomedical engineering has good job prospects under certain conditions. A lot of schools seem to have biomedical engineering majors that really have no set path for students, you pretty much take the generic engineering classes and then pick whatever classes you want for the rest of your time. If your school has structured concentrations within bme it is going to help in that you will specialize in something rather than have such a broad knowledge base. Also, it is extremely helpful if you can land some sort of internship which will give you the jump on everyone else when you graduate. </p>
<p>For instance, I am currently in my third year at Drexel and am studying biomedical engineering. I am starting my second co-op position and had no major trouble landing either of my co-op positions. I am concentrating on biomechanics so I take more mechanical engineering courses than the tissue concentration which is more of a chemical engineering approach. I am also doing an accelerated degree so that I will graduate with both my Bachelors and Masters degrees. </p>
<p>Students at Drexel are getting jobs at some big name companies such as Stryker, Merck, GSK, and J&J. The thing with the biotech companies is that they cluster around certain cities such as Philadelphia and Boston, so with BME you need to be willing to go where the jobs are.</p>
<p>So far, I have absolutely no regrets in choosing bme as my major!</p>
<p>College Confidential is not really the place to come to if you want to learn whether biomed engineering majors are marketable. Most of the people who advise on this site are in high school. There will be few here with many years of real world experience, especially in bioengineering.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about whether your daughter will be employable if she goes through an Ivy and graduates with a biomed eng’g degree. All Ivy graduates get jobs unless they go out of their way not to. Even the anthropology and classics majors and history majors (look up Elena Kagan, and as well, one of my PU roommates with a history major is employed with a company in the … bioengineering field) and art history majors (read Liar’s Poker, then Moneyball and then The Blind Side - all written by an art history major) will get good jobs. A friend with a Philosophy degree retired in his forties, and another roommate, a Chem E, retired in his late 30’s from Wall Street.</p>
<p>If she graduates with a degree in bio engineering and can’t find a job with a medical device company or any of the countless other places that hire people in that field, she’ll be able to find a job in another field, I guarantee you. If she stays in the engineering track, she could wind up in mechanical or electrical engineering; many Ivy engineers wander off to other fields that pay better, such as Wall Street. Most by my age (30 years past graduation) are doing something completely unrelated to their majors.</p>
<p>The companies I speak to in my work tell me that they can’t get enough engineers, despite high unemployment in other fields. The research I’ve seen (and if someone can find one of the articles on this and post it, that would be great) have indicated that engineers are retiring faster than colleges are graduating kids with engineering degrees to replace them (getting an engineering degree is hard work), so the shortage is projected to grow.</p>
<p>Well, if she like biology why is she moving away from medicine? Reading these threads it seems that many kids hedge their bets on their path to med school by pursuing an undergrad degree in some engineering field. Many never make it to med school. Either they get pulled into engineering work because they lose sight of their eventual goal or their gpas don’t support the med school path. I’m not sure the engineering is the best prep to become a doctor in most cases.</p>
<p>It sounds as if your daughter doesn’t know what she would like to pursue. It’s a common issue but the one that needs to be addressed before looking specifically at job prospects. For example, bio engineering may have different job prospects as an undergrad versus masters or Phd.</p>
<p>ChrisTKD, she is moving away from medicine because two of her exp as EMT freaked her out. I agree that engineering is definitely not the path you would take if you were to do medicine. She chose biomed engineering because she was undecided on medicine, but now she has decided. However kids keep changing their minds so not sure if she would ever go back to med path. </p>
<p>Boondocks and derek320, based on your input, Looks like bio engineering may not be bad. If she works hard, she can keep up the gpa than med door is still tiny bit open, she could always do masters and switch to something else if her interests changes. </p>
<p>agree on CC being not the best for this, but input from current bio engineers like derek320 is more helpful than any newspaper articles. </p>
<p>Are there any other web sites geared towards more on engineering students?
thanks,
Sam</p>
<p>The problem with biomedical engineering is that it is realy considered mostly as another premed track and not a serious engineering program. Top engineering schools such as MIT don’t even offer biomedical engineering programs. There are no standard curricuclum, few progarms are ABET approved and even those BME pograms that are approved are typically interdepartmental programs where students pick courses from various areas without gaining any core skills. Very few companies would hire biomedical engineers on graduation. I have worked in the medical device field for over 25 years and we hired many mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, chemical engineers, CS majors but never BME majors because they weren’t really strong in any field. BME majors also have the lowest salaries on graduation of any specialty. If you look at schools who advertise their BME programs, they are typically weak engineering schools where most graduates end up going to med school. </p>
<p>Your D has much better chances of employment with a CS degree even from a non-top engineering school. Unlike many engineering specialities, CS does not require huge labs, just good teachers. Salaries are high and demand is strong. Since she already likes programming and math, she should be able to switch fairly easily. She could get a job in any area, even in biomedicine if that is what she likes.</p>
<p>Why doesn’t she see if she can get in contact with seniors in her program? Then she can ask them directly how their job search is going. Most schools should also have a post graduate record of how many people in a certain major were employeed, how many are still looking, how many went onto graduate school, etc as well as salaries.</p>