I’m looking at various schools, and as of about a month ago I was undecided. Now, however, I’ve decided to enter as a biomedical engineering major (possibly studying in econ/biology/computer science as well, and either going Pre-MBA or Pre-Med). Since I am applying to the school of engineering, when I get to college will I be expected to be able to do engineering projects? I come from a small school and a small town so I haven’t had opportunities to pursue rocket building, robotics, or any other engineering associated ECs. I have a 35 composite ACT, received a 780 on the Math 2 SAT Subject test, and am interested in biology as well as medicine, so thats why I chose biomedical engineering. For applying to selective schools, is this a reasonable choice despite my lack of experience, or will experience be an expectation? Ive listened to multiple accepted students who have talked about their experiences in rocket building or programming in their supplementary essays, and obviously I cannot do this, so would applying to the school of engineering be a reasonable choice?
You are not expected to have done engineering projects, and for disciplines like biomedical or chemical that’s largely impossible anyway.
Thanks! I was just unsure as to what I was getting into since I just recently decided to apply as an engineering major. I was just considered because for one school, their supplementary essay was “If you had a small budget to create a project to improve your life and that of those around you, what would it be?” and I was worried since as of right now, even with money, I wouldn’t realistically be able to build anything of value that would be a significant life improvement to anyone in a first world country. I’ll just answer that prompt as a hypothetical question and address a problem along with an outline of how I would solve it
engineering, computer science, econ, pre-mba, pre-med. I guess the only checkbox you’ve missed to keep every future option in play is considering law.
Until you understand what people with a this degree actually do for a living and what the undergrad program is like, you are choosing a major that is both tough to gain acceptance with and tough once in school on what seems like more or less a whim. It’s your choice, of course, but it may put you at a large disadvantage in admissions for no good reason.
Many engineering schools admit you to the engineering school first and require you to decide your specialty after 3 or 4 terms of intro courses. Others admit you to the school and require a minimum GPA for different programs. Most freshman do not have sufficient exposure to the different disciplines to choose wisely.
Those open ended essay questions are about the adcom learning how you think. Engineers have a problem solving mindset and you must first recognize a problem to solve it. Even an improvement that seems tiny to you can make a huge difference in a different person’s life.
@mikemac:
Explanation:
Your first statement is very true, I was completely undecided with no knowledge of what I wanted to study until about a month or two ago. The majors I named are just ideas for where I want to go, since before I had no idea, so I’ve got a starting point here. Premed was just an option to keep in mind for me, I don’t plan on pursuing it. My mother is a doctor and at her hospital many of the doctors that were formerly private practice (the local hospital system here is best explained in that the hospital “loans” out space and equipment as well as offices to private practices who “work” for the hospital but aren’t true employees. My mother “works” for 6 different hospitals within about a 2 hour radius of where we live, and thus becoming an employee would limit her to just one. I felt the need to explain since I am unfamiliar with other hospital systems in any town but my own, my area is somewhat rural.) are being turned into hospital employees, and thus are getting substantial pay drops. Money is a big pull factor for what I intend to follow for my major/career so I think med school may soon be out of the question as the health care system experiences further detriments. My Pre Calc teacher told me to follow engineering and no matter what field, follow it with an MBA to increase earning potential so thats why that option is there. Computer science is present since at my visit to Vanderbilt they talked about how companies are trying to hire their computer science majors before they graduate, and their average starting pay is around $100K (that figure is augmented by some employers in Silicon Valley, so its somewhat misleading but is still high regardless). But throughout my college visits, the usual trend I tend to hear is that either Biomed Engineering or Computer Science are the fastest growing majors with the highest starting salary.
Question:
When you said “tough to gain acceptance with” were you referring to acceptance to med school or to undergrad?
@TooOld4School:
Thank you for making that point, I’ll make sure to keep that in mind.
Note that Biomedical can be difficult to break into without a graduate degree. It’s a new field, and other types of engineers (chemical, mechanical, electrical) can also compete for those jobs.
undergrad. Being admitted as an engineering major often is harder than for other majors.
No offense to the teachers out there that do their best at what is seldom the best pay, but why would you think this teacher has any useful insight into the working world outside of teaching?
Let’s point out a problem or two with this advice. First, top MBA schools expect students to have real-world job experience prior to entry. Nobody goes from undergrad to Stanford/Penn/Harvard, etc. And by work experience they don’t mean just employment somewhere, they mean a position of increasing responsibility. Not so sure bench engineer is exactly what they want, although of course some engineers go on to get MBAs (I know some that do it via night programs at the local U, a way to signal their engineering employer they want to go into engineering mgmt – not exactly what it sounds like you have in mind).
Take 5 minutes and google “age discrimination engineering”. Think you’ll still be working after age 50, or is the plan to be rich by then and retire?
My question for you would be is: Have you taken Calculus? If so, good. If not, make sure you get a tutor right away in college so you don’t fall behind.
The first two years of engineering are taking classes like Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, Intro to Programming and some liberal artsy classes. You may take a class in your major like Circuits or the equivalent. Nobody expects you to know how to create robots before you get there.
Grit.
This is really a terrible reason to choose a course of study. You can pick the highest-paying job, but if you don’t like it and aren’t motivated, you are going to be fairly terrible at it and not move up the ladder. You’d then probably end up quitting anyway and moving onto something you like more.
Pick a course of study that leads to a job you think you would reasonably enjoy.
I am not sure what detriments you mean here, but (most) doctors still get paid a lot of money and will for the foreseeable future. The only people who are really feeling the pain right now are general practitioners, who don’t really get paid as much as most other doctors but still have huge medical school debt and insurance costs.
Your pre-calc teacher is clueless. As was previously mentioned, you can’t generally get an MBA without at least a few years of experience. Also, getting an MBA can, in some situations, make you less marketable for engineering jobs. It’s better to be employed with a good salary than to be unemployed but be able to command a slightly higher salary. Only get the MBA if it becomes clear that your career path requires it.