So I am a rising senior who lives in Florida and I am only interested in Florida schools. I want to do something with tissue engineering so that means I need to major in ME and get a masters in BME or major in BME and get a masters in BME or major in mat sci and get a masters in BME right??? What Florida schools are good with what I want to do? Which major do I choose? Is there any other tracks I can follow? If tissue engineering doesn’t work out then I’d like to work with prosthetics. Thank you
Tissue Engineering is a rather wide field, and can mean several different things.
To be honest, no one can tell you the “right” choice, between these programs. Your best bet is to take the standard engineering critical tracking courses, and explore each program. Find out what research is being done, talk with other students and faculty, before making your choice
In fact, at UF or any of the Florida public universities, you have the flexibility to change your major in the first 2 years (before your junior year).
Since you are looking at Florida schools, lets look at UF"s Institute for Cell & Tissue Science and Engineering (ICTSE) and review the members tab:
https://www.eng.ufl.edu/ictse/
You’ll notice the faculty come from several different departments, Chemical, Biomedical, Material Science, Mechanical/Aerospace, and Electrical/Computer engineering. In fact, you don’t even have to be in engineering to get involved in “Tissue Engineering”.
But sticking to engineering. Tissue Engineering is a field that requires a graduate degree (as most medical fields do), but you’ll still find a substantial difference in the curriculum between ME, MSE and BME. At UF, the best program (fit wise) would be BME. BME has 4 areas of focus, and you would want to chose Biomechanics or Biomaterials.
After earning your BME-BS, you would apply to the graduate program that best fits your research interest. Now is not the time to choose your graduate program! Focus on your BS program, with the understanding that BME would require that you continue into a grad program.
At UF, BME is a limited access program. You would be a “pre-BME” student, until you’ll accepted into the program as a junior. UF wants to make sure you plan (and are capability) of continuing your education after earning your BS in BME.
While UF has an abundance of options, your choices will be more limit at the other Florida schools. However, most do extensive medical related research, so those schools would still be solid options. All of the ME programs are a good fit for prosthetics.
for Chemical, BME, Mechanical and Material Sciences and engineering
FSU offers Chemical and Mechanical engineering, but not MSE or BME.
UCF offers Mechanical, but not MSE, BME or Chemical.
USF offers Chemical, BME and Mechanical, but not MSE.
FIU offers BME, and Mechanical, but no Chemical or MSE
FAU offers Mechanical, but not MSE, BME or Chemical.
You’ll find most of the other schools will be limited to Mechanical
Good Luck!
@Gator88NE Thank you so much for your help!
@Gator88NE What do you think of this program? http://www.mse.ufl.edu/combined-bsms-in-biomedical-engineering/
I’m a big fan of UF’s MSE program. It’s well recruited, and for UF, it’s fairly small. You’ll find it’s a lot easier getting to know all of your peers and many of the profs. For example, UF has 269 juniors in ME, but only 77 in MSE.
Combine degrees are a great option. UF’s low cost (for in-state students) makes it very affordable, and if you have the grades/test scores, you likely also are working an internship or co-op. It would give you one more summer doing an internship, which also helps manage the cost (of that 5th year).
Keep in mind you don’t have to decide on completing a combine degree it till you’re a junior. At that point, you may prefer a MS in MSE, graduating early and start working, or to pursue a standard MS or PHD program.
@Gator88NE I heard that it’s still hard to get a job if you have a degree in BME, even with a masters. Is this still true at UF?
Below is the link to the UF Graduation Survey results. Select BME and then look at the results:
https://www.crc.ufl.edu/student-outcomes/
79% of BS BME graduates plan on attending graduate or professional school. of those students, 88% have already been accepted (the survey is given before graduation).
If you select BME “masters”, of those actively searching, about 1/2 have already found a job, the other 1/2 is still looking (remember, this is done before graduation). Compare it to other engineering programs, such as Chemical, Civil or Mechanical. You’ll fine they do better than some majors, and worse than a few others.
@Gator88NE WOW interesting…very interesting. I appreciate your help!!
Note what @Gator88NE said though. Those stats are BEFORE graduation. As long as you’re comparing disciplines within UF, you’re comparing apples to apples, but they will lag the numbers of other institutions that include post graduation data. Don’t let that alarm you.
There is another angle, and that’s going the cell culture, molecular biology route. Things have morphed since I was in that field, with lots more happening on the “engineering side.” Simplistically, there are two basic pieces, cellular structure and scaffolding. The former was more biology, the latter more engineering. It has been a LONG time since I did that though. Keep doing your research to see if that’s a viable alternative if you are interested.
Good luck.
It actually looks like the survey is available only 2 weeks before graduation and up to 7 weeks after graduation. The info on the link says they get a 95% participation rate for the survey, which is very high.
My daughter is not in Florida, but she is a BME major, a rising senior. She is planning to go to graduate school. Her concentration is biomechanics, but is minoring in materials science and biology. She has been successful in getting summer REUs the last year and currently, this summer is in the realm of tissue engineering. Your original question about majors suggests that you are thinking about the options well. Her minor in biology came about because of a few classes that aren’t required to graduate in BME but are required or recommended as prerequisites for graduate programs so you wouldn’t necessarily be to minor to accomplish the requirements. Good luck!
Making it a requirement to receiving your diploma, is why UF has a high participation rate, and why most do it before graduation. It’s on the graduation “checklist”. 
The following link is to the raw survey data results (by semester, by college):
https://ir.aa.ufl.edu/surveys/grad-survey/
Note that some questions are multiple choice, so you can have more responses than “unique” respondents (the survey will give both numbers).
Interesting surveys @Gator88NE . Virginia Tech also makes their post grad surveys available to the public. They are interesting to look at , even if not perfect instruments.
@Gator88NE you mentioned I don’t have to be in engineering to be involved with tissue engineering. What other options do I have?
Here’s a good thread that talks about different majors for this field.
It’s a multidisciplinary area, so several majors can fill in. Your choice of school can also impact which majors is a bet fit.
For example, looking at UF’s institute of Cell and Tissue Science and Engineering, you’ll see the members from several departments, Chemical, Biomedical, Material Science and Engineering, Mechanical, and Electrical.
https://www.eng.ufl.edu/ictse/people/
Look into WHO is doing the research at the school, and that will go a long ways to determine which majors are the best fit.
For another example, here’s USF’s researchers:
@Gator88NE Thanks. I have so much to think about and I don’t know how to choose the right decision…
@Gator88NE I still have to be in engineering pretty much though so that narrows things down. Can tissue engineers be involved with breast cancer too?
Sure. For example, UF researchers are working on the “engineering design, development and control of new micro- and nanoscale materials for delivery of genes, drugs and cells to tissue targets”.