Im a high school senior, and would like to work with prosthetic and surgical equipment. Would majoring in MechE and minoring in BME be a bad idea? If I want to get a masters degree what should I get it in (what concentration)?
It is hard to get a minor in a very different engineering field but you can certainly go for a M.S. in BME even with a ME degree.
Would that diminish my MechE degree, thats what I’ve been told.
I doubt it. How could it?
What do you mean “diminish”?
I posted a question a few days ago, and I asked if getting a masters in BME after doing BS in MechE as an undergrad would be a good idea. I got an answer saying that once I get a masters in BME all my undergrad work would be useless and I wont get hired for MechE work (in other words less job prospects).
Not everyone who answers on CC is an expert. He was probably another 17 year old like yourself.
So Im good if I do MechE as an Undergrad and then get a masters in BME? what classes should I take along with MechE classes?
Yes, you are good to do that. A BS in ME is more general and would leave a few more doors open if you decide not to go the BME path, but BME is very hot right now, and if that is your interest you should find many opportunities. Look at a school like Washington University in St. Louis with both ME and BME majors, where you could take courses in each as an undergrad.
How about schools like Penn State or Rutgers?
Look at curricula before you commit to an idea like a minor or taking additional BME courses as others have suggested. Many don’t have the space. My son’s flow chart has, wait for it…ZERO hours for free electives. This is highly dependent on where you end up, but most ME programs, after you get the GE requirements out of the way, are pretty packed with just ME requirements. Good luck.
Can I still get into Masters BME if I dont take BME classes, I heard a lot of BME classes are similar to MechE classes (you know if I dont have room for BME courses in my schedule). what college does your son go to btw? At PSU each semester is around 16-17 credits of MechE classes.
Absolutely you can go to grad school in BME with no BME UG experience. He goes to Cal Poly. They’re on 10 week quarters and the full ME curriculum is 200 hours.
Ah I see, there’s a school on my list that does quarters instead of semesters (Drexel University) and it seems like most kids get really stressed from the work since the curriculum is crammed there.
By the time you are 22, you should be able to decide if you want to be a ME or a BME, or at least whether you want to spend 2 more years in school to earn a MS in what discipline you would choose. You don’t have to know today, but it is good to find a school that lets you explore both options to some extent and has maybe some faculty doing BME type research.
I think some really heavy mechanical companies might wonder why you had the MSBME and wanted to work on say machinery or cranes. NASA for example has people working on biology for both manned space and astrobiology, so the MS-BME might be what they want.
Are you a generalist and want to learn a lot about a lot of things or do you want to be an expert in something smaller ? Again that might become clearer as you grow up and take more courses. But if you want to be able to work on cranes one day, planes one day, and then dabble in artificial limbs … not going to happen. IF you must work on artificial limbs, a BS-ME would work followed by a MS-BME with specialty in biomechanics. The BS-ME might get you a job at a BME company, but you won’t be doing high end design work.
Note - engineering curriculum and requirements are actually really different at different schools, so it is a great idea to look at various 4 year plans, electives, gen ed requirements, etc now on their website and maybe use that to help narrow the list down from any ABET accredited ME school to schools that would let you be you.
Yeah I get it, so If I one day wanted to do some other work besides prosthetic (and i already have a BME masters), i wont be able to do other work? (and by other work I mean in MechE). I was told that a MechE spans through different fields, and that intrigued me because I want to explore different fields and not get stuck doing one thing and getting bored of it. My main goal is make/design prosthetic and surgical equipment though.
I just wanted to know If I got a MSBME and later on wanted to go to a more MechE job, would I be able to.
Let’s say you have a BS-ME and the MS-BME and go and work at a biomed company for a few years.
Yes, you would be qualified to work in say structural analysis, assuming you have taken that class, but since you have no expertise building say cranes, a crane company may only want to pay you what a BS-ME makes a year or two out of school, which could be less than you made as a BME. They might think it is odd, but assuming you are somewhat able to communicate why at the interview or better yet come in through networking with some crane engineers, you will be competitive. Until you have say 10 years in, moving from one design job to another of equal complexity would be a lateral. At some point in your career, if you have been a specialist, you may have to take a more extreme pay and status cut to change fields. If you are by then managing or running projects, no one will even think to ask you where you started and if they do, they will be like “that’s cool” and walk away with their coffee mug.
Why stress about all this now ? Find a school that offers one or more engineering 4 year plans that interests you and maybe allows you to test the waters on your interest in BME. Get good grades. If BME is not your thing, there is no school that doesn’t have ME and if you switch say junior year, you can probably graduate on-time or maybe a bit late (and I am a big broadcaster of the truth that the 4 year engineering degree is the exception not the rule anyway).
Planning your life out 6 years based on HS which is nothing like college and nothing like the workplace without a crystal ball to tell you the hot field in 6 years, starting salaries, how that field will hold up for 40 years of your career is a waste of time… Also, unless you already know what particular part of engineering suits you, sitting at a computer designing leg parts, testing leg parts, optimizing leg parts, whatever … no, you don’t know … so it is hard to map out your career at all.
Careers are also just a string of opportunities that you seize, make the most of, and hope string into the next opportunity.
I was thinking the same idea as PickOne1, there are some schools that let you major in ME with a biomed concentrations. They have this at schools that do not have an actual BioMed major so they blend it into a area of focus with ME. Just googling, I could not find a NJ or PA school but this is is one in IL that is what I mean.
http://www.bradley.edu/academic/departments/mechanical/programs/biomedical/
Rutgers has a biomed engineering program and you may be able to use biomed classes for your ME electives. They don’t have minors like some schools. You should look through the websites of all the schools you are seriously considering and maybe even take a field trip or go to an open house or tour to talk to people about whether you can get a ME degree and still explore BME enough to know if you want to pursue a masters.
Do current graduates of top BME programs really have difficulty finding BME jobs with just a bachelors ? I have a 30 year old degree in Biochemical engineering and there was little in the field in the 80s but times have changed and there is a lot more money to be made in biotechnology and biomedical industries now.
I do not know if it is realistic to think you would be doing ground breaking R&D work in any engineering field with just a BS … so if you want to design the next generation artificial hip, you will need more, a MS or a PhD.
But is unemployment or low salary still a factor ?
If you are not totally fixated on biomedical, you can also explore some related fields like bioengineering or biochemical engineering, etc … some are really guided to areas like pharmaceuticals or even green fuels.
Either way, pull out the ABET webpage, enter biomedical (And any other bio fields you would really be interested in) see what schools have that and the ubiquitous BS-ME degree programs and explore a bit. Surfing is fast and should take you into areas that you are interested in …
@eyemgh at CalPoly SLO looks like senior year is tech electives and a design project, for the general degree track at least. I wouldn’t particular pick that program if I was focused on being a BME someday. So at most, you coudl take the two biomed intro classes as extras freshman year and then try to take one or two of the junior level classes in the biomechanics specialty.
For OP … if you want to design medical equipment, I think you will have to stick to that field as long as you can and not spend a few years working on cranes or aircraft or missles. There might be some related industries that could really fit, but you are trying to get into a very specialized field that will have well, specialists, not people who flit in and flit out. BME companies are not looking to spend 10 years to make you a prosthetic expert and then you leaving to go work for Boeing on wing nacelles, so yes … it is a commitment (biocompatibility and human anatomy for example are not going to be something you learn outside of BME classes).
Then again, you wouldn’t be working on state of the art wing nacelles if you weren’t focused their either, it is not something you will accidentally be hired for.
What a generic ME degree will qualify you for is … typical ME work … and if you then specialize and have a knack for design, you can move into something pretty new and exciting (takes some luck too and probably a willingness to move to where the work is, possibly many times).
I do know someone who went from specialized mechanical work on space-based instruments to engine nacelles … likely doing mechanical design work and analysis … so maybe parts is parts … but not to a crazy extent either.
Also generalists don’t make big money unless they are really good (say really good parts designers or analysts) or go into management, project management, or other engineering-based but not engineering-only work. They do find jobs, which is important too …