I’d really love to do a MD/PhD in biomedical engineering. However, I’m at a school that doesn’t offer an engineering degree. I’m a junior math and applied physics double major…and at this point, I’d rather not transfer. Do I still have a shot with my degree?
Possibly. But admission into a BME grad program will likely be conditional until you take a number of core undergrad engineering classes. Probably 3-5, but the exact number will depend on the departmental requirements of the graduate engineering program at the university.
The reasoning is that these X classes are pre-reqs for the graduate engineering classes you’ll be taking.
You will be expected to take these classes concurrently with MS1.
(Know 3 students who weren’t undergrad engineers who either entered or inquired about entering grad engineering programs. Two of them were my Ds. D1 was a physics & applied math; she was told she need to take X core engineering undergrad classes for admission to a grad BME program. D2 was applied math and biological neuroscience. D2 did instrumentation research with a grad BME-neuropsychiatry research group after college and had taken a couple of grad BME classes when she was told she needed to take 3-5 core undergrad engineering courses if she wanted to formally pursue a grad BME degree. D1 and D2 both went to med school. D1 did her research thesis jointly with the MechE and surgery departments. The third was classmate of D2 who was an applied math, cognitive sci and history major who did enter a PhD program in neural/BME engineering, but he was accepted only on the condition that he take & pass 5 core undergrad engineering classes during his first year of grad school. )
Thanks for the reply! Just to clarify: so in all three cases, they were admitted into the BME program, and took classes in their MS1 year? Did your D2 take the grad BME classes before admission?
Only the friend of D2 was admitted to a BME PhD program. D1 and D2 decided to apply to straight MD programs.
At D1’s med school, a research thesis is a graduation requirement for all students. D1 did not earn a PhD.
D2 took 2 gap years after college graduation to do research full time while deciding whether she wanted a MD or MD/PhD. During this period, she took 2 grad BME classes specific to her job. (The group’s director asked her to take them.) Since she already had grad BME credits, she contacted the BME department to ask what she needed to do matriculate into a BME grad program (MS or PhD) and was told she needed to take X undergrad engineering pre-reqs before they would consider her for admission. Ultimately she decided against a MD/PhD and never took the undergrad classes.
The point is in all cases, students without an engineering degree were told they would be required to remediate undergrad engineering core courses in order to be admitted formally to a BME grad program.
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I’m a junior math and applied physics double major…
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What is your cum GPA and science GPA?
Have you taken the MCAT yet?
What career goal do you have with a biomedE MD/PhD?
My cumulative GPA is 3.85, for science about 3.7 (which is very low, I know, but I can promise to get it up to 3.8 by the end of the year). Haven’t taken MCAT yet.
I’m not sure about the ultimate career goal, but I’m having trouble deciding between the two paths. I’ve shadowed people on both ends, and I’d be unhappy giving up either side. I love math and physics, but also the aspects of medicine (especially the clinical side).
I realize I may not be that great of a shot for a double-degree program anyway, but I just wanted to explore options.
Have you considered fields such as medical physics? While more on the physics side of things, it does include clinical contact and requires a 1 years clinical internship at the end of the PhD.
http://www.aapm.org/medical_physicist/
What about nanotechnology in cancer?
Some other fields that might be worth considering are biostatistics, epidemiology or bioinfomatics.
Bioinformatics http://www.bu.edu/bioinformatics/
Epidemiology http://www.jhsph.edu/departments/epidemiology/
Biostatistics http://www.sph.umn.edu/academics/divisions/biostatistics/
(FWIW, my daughters considered all of these as potential careers in case they didn’t get into med school. All these fields are math-intensive but also have a clinical aspect. BTW, both kidlets have complained many times that there is no math in medicine.)