<p>Why is Biomedical Engineering looked down on by "traditional" engineers such as electrical, mechanical, and civil?</p>
<p>It is? I never saw that being the case when I was doing my undergrad as an ME. If that truly is the case I can only imagine it has to do with the fact that BME is kind of a mix of many more traditional engineering specialties, so it almost looks like a fad degree whose real function could be fulfilled by people with the more traditional degrees.</p>
<p>Still, if it is looked down upon, it is probably unfounded.</p>
<p>It’s likely because
a) The courses in the degree are more biology-based, and thus less mathematically rigorous than those of the “traditional” engineering disciplines</p>
<p>b) The work is extremely specialized and focused, which means that engineers with the broader degrees could likely do the work of a BME (without the reverse being true).</p>
<p>See the post by <cellardwaller> and agreement by <dadofsam> here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/235271-overview-patent-intellectual-property-law-15.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/235271-overview-patent-intellectual-property-law-15.html</a>. </dadofsam></cellardwaller></p>
<p>I don’t believe it is THAT bad, which is why I asked for second opinions from you guys.</p>
<p>This dadofsam guy didn’t agree, he deferred. There is a difference.</p>
<p>The cellardweller guy makes a few good points but a few not-so-good points. For example, where do you draw the line between bioengineering, which he respects, and BME, which he doesn’t? From what I can see, BME is typically a hybrid of ME and BioE with a few other things thrown in there. Given all that, I don’t see it being any more “engineering light” than computer engineering is, which is more-or-less a hybrid of EE and CS or materials engineering which is a hybrid of ChemE, ME and plain Chemistry. I will say that BME seems to have a bad track record of employment for people with just a BS from what I have heard, but I don’t have any firsthand experience with that. In general you are better off getting an undergraduate degree in ME or something like that and then doing graduate work in the BME area.</p>
<p>As long as you have a nice direct deposit every 2 weeks, why care about how the other engineering areas view you?</p>
<p>I have only ever been aware of two stigmas associated with BE or BME:</p>
<p>1) The more specialized the field is at the undergrad level, the more leary broadly-skilled professionals tend to be. Not because of the rigor or merit of the field, simply because most of us would not make a decision to specialize so narrowly, and are lightly suspicious of those who would.</p>
<p>2) Biologists and physicists tend to be very different types of people with significantly different methods and ways of thinking. That may sound strange, but it really tends to be true, and BE’s and BME’s might as well be from Mars as far as most EE’s and ME’s are concerned. When interaction is necessary, I suggest employing a chemical engineer as a translator - they seem slightly off to both groups, but understandable at least.</p>