DS is a freshman ME major who also likes biology. He is not interested in medical school and, at this time, doesn’t think he’ll pursue graduate school right after his 4 year degree. He does not have a specific career goal at this time.
Which biology classes should he take in order to find “BME type jobs” if that’s the direction he wants to go in after graduation? Cell biology? Anatomy and Physiology? Organic chem?
Thanks!
It would depend completely on what facet of BME interested him. The background one needs for mechanical prosthetics is different than what’s need for say tissue engineering scaffolding. What intrigues him about BME?
Thanks for the response! He really enjoyed biology classes in high school and working on a project researching medical devices. Right now everything sounds interesting to him!
I’m a Mechanical Engineer and don’t know much about BME (except what I’ve learned on these forums). But it seems like a Mech Eng could work in BIomedical Fields (on mechanical design) without needing specific bio classes. Other/BME folks could probably add some example jobs.
Why not look at the BME four year undergrad plan and see what that looks like for class options. Does he actually have space and time to add in classes though? it would seem M eng pathway won’t have room to meander. If he is looking at BME then it appears post grad would be the answer, as taking extra undergraduate classes extends the already fraught route of engineering. Is he doing well with his calc 2, physics, etc? His GPA was good after semester 1?
My daughter is a BME major but is grad school bound. A number of her friends who intend to work after graduation,are ME/BME double majors.
“Why not look at the BME four year undergrad plan and see what that looks like for class options.”
The problem with this is that it could lead to taking irrelevant classes.
I agree with @colorado_mom. Unless he’s interested in tissue engineering, he can do most anything a BME would do without any bio classes. If he’s interested in tissue engineering, then ME is not a good fit.
The intersection of ME and BME is in biomedical devices. Look at the suggested course listing for a biomedical concentration in a BME curriculum.
A biomedical device concentration will require ME (already in his curriculum), EE and BME courses.
Think about it like robotics which requires a knowledge base of CS, ME and EE.
DH managed a large med device group and rarely hired a BME due to lack of curriculum depth.
Thanks for your help! I’ll have DS look over the BME program and see if he’d like to take some of those classes and/or take a couple biology courses that interest him. He has a little bit of room in his schedule for additional classes due to AP credits. It’s good to know that he can still pursue some jobs in this field without the additional coursework!
Here is a complete list of undergraduate BME courses from an ABET accredited program at WPI. If he looks over the course descriptions he may get an idea and see if he can fit like courses into his ME program.
See https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/biomedical-engineering/courses
It all depends on what area of Biomed your son is interested. A basic class on Anatomy and Physiology would lay some ground work for prosthetics and robotics. If he desires to take Biomechanics, he will need the anatomy and physiology as a base.