MS in MechE with a BS in Biology

Hi all,

I am going to graduate in the summer of 2016, with a BS in Biology and minors in Chemistry/Mathematics. I have taken my GRE and plan to apply to schools for fall 2017. I have also undergone a research internship at my university and have attended 3 conferences. I have the mathematics portion of engineering, I have taken DfQ, linear, and multivariate. My physics is lacking as I have only taken two semester of general physics.

Would anyone know the competitiveness of Biology majors with my coursework/research for graduate programs in mechanical engineering? I am trying to decide if this is worth putting effort into.

I made a similar transition a few years ago. I graduated with a BS in molecular/cell biology, did a considerable amount of (biology) research, worked for a while, took some time off, then decided I wanted to do mechanical engineering, so after taking a couple prerequisite math classes, applied for thesis-based MS programs in mechanical engineering.

The chemistry and math minors are good in that they prove you have some basic foundational quantitative ability, as is the fact that you’ve taken differential equations and linear algebra. What kind of research have you been involved in? Was it biological, or was there an engineering bent? Any research experience is good in that it teaches you about the research process, but unless it’s relevant to potential engineering research areas and topics, it won’t be terribly helpful in itself.

How did you do on the GRE? What was your GPA? While these are not the only factors that will be considered for graduate-level admission, they are strong indicators of success in graduate-level coursework (though not necessarily indicators of success in graduate-level research). These numbers will be especially important for you, since you’re coming from a non-quantitative background.

Do you have experience with programming?

On a more general note, to put it bluntly, a biology major with your background will have a relatively difficult time being truly competitive for most ME Master’s programs, but it can be done. I didn’t have any real programming knowledge or engineering coursework or engineering-related experience, but was able to get into some excellent thesis-based MS programs on account of high GPA/GRE, an understanding of the research process, and the ability to express my motivations and make a case for myself very well in my personal statement. And, probably, also a little bit of luck. However, if I had to redo it, I would do a lot of things differently. For instance, I didn’t take any engineering courses before starting my MS program. Sure, I’d studied a number of topics–mechanics, thermodynamics, fluids, etc.–on my own to some extent, but this doesn’t compare to the depth and breadth of engineering courses that engineering majors take. I was sorely underprepared relative to my classmates, which led to a stressful first year. And though I did ultimately survive the deep end of the pool (and learned a ton of stuff very quickly in the process, by necessity), I would not recommend this approach. Taking a number of basic engineering courses will not only make your application significantly more competitive/realistic, it will also ease the transition.

Another thing you should definitely do: learn to program if you don’t already.

Why do you want to get an MS in ME, if you don’t mind my asking?

The research I am involved in does not contain any engineering concepts. Our group uses different chemicals to understand oligodendrocyte morphology and significant pathways involved in the process for the formation of myelin.

On the GRE, I scored 160Q/154V and a 4 on analytical. My current GPA is a 3.4.

I have little experience with programming.

And so, I was interested in getting an MS in ME because I would like to apply what I know to either biomechanics or energy & sustainability. Research is something that I have found I enjoy doing

I would definitely recommend taking a number of basic engineering courses–this should be your number one priority right now. Not only will this make you a more competitive applicant and make you better prepared for graduate-level study in ME, it will also help you get your feet wet in engineering so that you can narrow down exactly what you would want to study/research in a Master’s program. At the very least, mechanics (statics/dynamics), thermodynamics, and fluids. It also wouldn’t hurt to peruse journals or textbooks in various areas, since you’ve got the basic mathematical background to tackle most topics or at least begin to understand them in a little more depth.

You should also learn the fundamentals of programming. Doesn’t matter which language as long as you learn how to program. Everybody has a different opinion on which language(s) to start with. I started with Matlab, which is a very common tool in engineering and which you will undoubtedly use at some point, and I thought it was a great introduction to programming. If you have access to Matlab through your school or something, go with that. Otherwise, Python is a also friendly and useful introduction to programming. Java might be good too, and it will get you to learn concepts of object-oriented programming, though some of these concepts might be initially overwhelming for someone who’s new to programming. I would not recommend starting with C or C++, though, again, everybody has a different opinion.

It must depend on the school, because I know that at some universities, it would be impossible to do an engineering master’s without getting a bachelor’s degree first. Be sure to check with the specific schools you’re interested in.

@MaineLonghorn brings up a good point. Not all programs will accept students without an engineering BS.