<p>I want to change my major from CompE to BioMedEng but the Biomedical Engineering program at my school is not accredited (Not ABET accredited). Is that okay? </p>
<p>I go to CCNY.</p>
<p>I'd be wary but it might not be a problem. Take a look at the program and compare it with others.</p>
<p>Iwould think it would be. </p>
<p>Call up the organization for biomedical engineers (call up the American Chemical Society and see if they know who that would be) or call a hospital and ask whether their biomed engs have to graduate from ABET accredited college, or call ABET and find out the importance of this accreditatin FOR THIS TYPE OF ENGINEERING, because it might not be important to be ABET accredited at this time in this major.</p>
<p>I've heard that biomedical engineering does not need to be ABET accredited for most jobs, however I think that you should ask employers and grad schools just to be safe. Nothing would suck more than getting a degree and figuring out that you need a whole slew of outside activities to get licensed.</p>
<p>what if ur undergrad school wanst abet, but your master/phd school was?</p>
<p>The lack of ABET accreditation is not important if you do not pursue professional licensure in your future. The overwhelming majority of biomedical engineers do not. The only time when I can see it being beneficial is for those who are expert witnesses in a court of law... but that's not something you really plan on decades ahead of time.</p>
<p>That being said, ABET will of course say it's important. It's like asking a salesman if their products are good. What you should try to look at is why your program isn't accredited. Talking to somebody from the department is probably a good idea; see what kind of information you can get out of them. It may be that they find the ABET requirements are too stringent for how they want to shape their program. Or it may be because the program is very new. See if you can find out if the program has been reviewed by ABET at all. If it has, try to get a reason for the lack of accreditation.</p>
<p>Just the lack of accreditation isn't a problem; I think there are quite a few good programs out there that aren't accredited.</p>
<p>Biomed. engineers probably will never need or get a PE because their industry will be regulated by the FDA and they'll be you signatory for your designs. Thus, ABET will not apply. I am looking at getting my PE since I have left FDA regulated industries, somewhat, and I think I have seen options for if you did not graduate from an ABET school.</p>
<p>There are options if you get your degree from a non-ABET accredited program. It varies from state to state; for some it may just be working an extra few years.</p>
<p>If you want to get a Professional Engineering license, you MUST graduate from an ABET accredited program.</p>
<p>
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If you want to get a Professional Engineering license, you MUST graduate from an ABET accredited program.
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</p>
<p>NOT true at all. In fact, you can become a PE without ANY college degree. It's a lot tougher, but it's definitely NOT a requirement in every state. For NY, see NYS</a> Professional Engineering - Licensing requirements</p>
<p>I imagine there are similar educational requirements in some other states as well. Some are probably stricter and some are more relaxed. Again, it varies by state.</p>
<p>Schools that are busting their butts to put ABET accreditation in place are awesome: full of engaged faculty and risk taking students. School that don't have ABET and arn't trying may have dead souls.</p>
<p>Schools that have had ABET for decades and the faculty is bored and tied to old ways isn't all that hot either.</p>
<p>Check out Daniel Webster College in NH. On the verge of collapse, they took a look at their core competancies in 2000, one of which was Aero design. They focused, studied, took thier cue from Olin and MIT aero/asto and designed a system-thinking, cross-disapline aero and mech engineering program, the ABET examination scheudled for this spring. Even without ABET the engineer graduating class sprang from 3 to 35 in two years. </p>
<p>More important then ABET in hand is whether the school is trying, inovating, re-thinking the arcane factoid overload of todays' big univeristy engineering programs. There is a reason that small engineering schools, Harvey Mudd, Rose Hulman, Webb, Olin the the most selective. Small undergraduate only schools offer a better focus on cross dissapline and problem solving education</p>
<p>
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If you want to get a Professional Engineering license, you MUST graduate from an ABET accredited program.
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As stated above, this is not necessarily true. Many (perhaps most) states have alternative routes to PE licensure -- although the ABET degree route is typically the shortest and most direct. Some states strictly require ABET degrees, but I think they are probably a minority. In practice, I'm sure that the vast majority of PEs do hold ABET degrees, but exceptions exist.</p>
<p>But in any case, does it really matter for a Biomedical Engineer? At present, there are exactly zero states that license Professional Engineers in this discipline. So even many top engineering schools -- like Stanford, Berkeley, Cornell, and MIT -- have never bothered with ABET accreditation for their bioengineering or biomedical engineering programs. These schools are, of course, ABET accredited in traditional engineering disciplines that are subject to state licensing laws -- but not in BME, which is essentially unregulated. </p>
<p>So in BME, I'm not sure that there is any significant disadvantage to a non-ABET degree. It's possible that if you wanted to switch careers, from BME into a more traditional engineering field, then employers might be more comfortable with the ABET degree.</p>
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Check out Daniel Webster College in NH ... Even without ABET the engineer graduating class sprang from 3 to 35 in two years.
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New engineering programs aren't eligible for ABET accreditation until after they've graduated their first class (which hasn't yet happened at DWC). If the program does qualify at that point, then the accreditation is normally made retroactive, to include the first graduating class. So it is likely that the students currently enrolled in the new DWC program will ultimately receive ABET degrees, even though the program is not ABET-accredited at this time.</p>
<p>
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what if ur undergrad school wanst abet, but your master/phd school was?
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ABET doesn't accredit schools -- it accredits specific degree programs. And normally, ABET only accredits BS degree programs. They occasionally accredit MS degree programs, but usually only at graduate institutions that don't have undergrad programs.</p>
<p>This policy is likely to change in the future. Prospective engineers will be able to choose between two different educational tracks: an ABET professional BS degree, or an unaccredited BA plus an ABET professional MS degree. This dual-track system has already been implemented for architects (B.Arch. track vs. B.A. + M.Arch. track)</p>