<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm currently HS senior working my ass off on college apps.</p>
<p>I have a pretty good GPA, SAT score, and EC; enough to think I have a fair shot of being admitted to my dream school, UCLA.</p>
<p>If I apply to Letters & Science that is.</p>
<p>Originally I saw myself entering as a Biochemistry major, but recently I've been leaning towards Bioengineering. The Engineering school has a notably lower acceptance rate than L&S, so I'm not sure if I should actually follow this path. It seems pretty interesting, and supposedly offers more lucrative jobs. </p>
<p>Is it worth risking admission to apply into an impacted major?</p>
<p>I can list more specific stats if anyone needs it. </p>
<p>Also, the thing with alternative majors. Can I choose alternative majors in different colleges? For example, enter Bioengineering as my desired major and Biochemistry as my alternative? How does the admission process work for that?? </p>
<p>Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Bioengineering is probably the most competitive of all the engineering majors, so if you have the Stats, there is no reason not to apply. Also trying to transfer into an impacted major later on may prove to be difficult.
UCLA does not use the alternate major, so you will only evaluated based on your first choice.</p>
<p>Bioengineering does not offer lucrative job offer. Not according to people on CC. I do know of one kid who graduated with such major and he is working with his dad’s firm. Nothing special. I don’t know if he gets paid well.</p>
<p>If you are interested in bioengineering (and you have the GPA and SAT to make you a competitive applicant) you should go for it. You may have a lower chance of being accepted, but go to a different school doing what you’re actually interested in than go to LA doing something that doesn’t interest you as much. In regards to @DrGoogle I would say that while it’s true that the bioengineering job market is pretty small, it is growing quickly. Additionally an undergraduate degree in bioengineering gives you a quite a few more options than a degree in Biochemistry. For example with a BS in Bioengineering you could go into industry, get a masters in a more “mainstream” engineering field and then go into industry, get a masters in Bioengineering and go into industry, go into research, or go to med school. With Biochem you 're options are usually more constrained to research or medicine. </p>
<p>I forgot to mention such kid got a Bioengineering degree from UCLA. If you have to get Master degree then I think it’s not so lucrative then. Most engineering degrees don’t need masters to go into industry. Chemical engineering makes more sense.</p>
<p>It really depends on what concentration you want to pursue. If you’re interested in something like cell/tissue engineering or synthetic biology then you have quite a lot of school ahead of you. for the later you may want to go into chemical rather than bio engineering since as DrGoogle said above it’s a more mainstream field with more job opportunities. However if you want to go into computational biology, sensors, instrumentation, robotics, computer integrated surgery etc you’re looking at four years of undergrad and maybe a 1-2 year masters in MechE, CSE, CS, or EE depending on if the results of your senior year job search.
If you’re into research or medicine you’re looking at close to 10 years of school. There’s really no getting around that.
By the way if you’re into bioengineering you may also want to look at
Hopkins
Georgia Tech
Rice
UCSD
UCB</p>
<p>I mean if you really want to study bioengineering, apply for that major. But if you are hedging your bet then there it’s not much hedging because the major is not a mainstream engineering major, ie not easy to find jobs.
I think one valedictorian kid from USC with bioengineering degree ended up working at Edwards Life Sciences. I was reading his bio that’s how I remember where he ended up. I think I would categorize Edwards Life Sciences as medical equipment or instrumentation kind of company. So that is one other place where one could find work in this major.</p>
<p>Bioengineering is a hot major at a number of schools. I know that at JHU, it is the one major for which you get an out if you are accepted ED by the school but not to the program, they will permit you to withdraw your app. Show you how difficult it is to get into that program. Seems ot me that UCLA is running into the same thing.</p>
<p>This is a choice you have to make, a chance you have to take A lot of students have to do the same. There are number of programs that are difficult for acceptance even at schools where admissions is a go, and the policies at some of them are such that you have to apply to such a program to get into it right away without a second choice at the school. It makes things difficult but that 's what’s on the table. I suggest you get a bunch of choices both with and without the bioengineering major so that when your accepts are in, you have the choice of School X with bioengineering or School Y as another major. You still have to decide whether for any given school, like UCLA that yo will make it your X or your Y.</p>
<p>Are in the top 5% applicants to UCLA?
Then apply to Bioengineering. Otherwise, are you ready not to get into UCLA - what are your other choices? Do you have two safeties you like and can afford?</p>
<p>I would recommend doing Chemical Engineering with an emphasis in Biomolecular Engineering / Biochemical engineering. Those are often available - I’m not sure if they are at the schools you are looking at. That way you can pursue engineering jobs in the health / agriculture / medicine / pharmaceutical fields but still have a great degree (Chem. Eng) for lucrative job opportunities.</p>
<p>BioEng/Biomed Eng are sort of “weirdos” in the engineering world since their applications aren’t as nearly as widespread as the ‘big three’ mechanical, electrical, and chemical. You need a master’s BioEng to actually do work as a BioEng. If you seek other engineering jobs with just a bachelor’s in BioEng you will be in competition with those who have mech eng. electrica eng, etc. degrees.</p>
<p>However don’t let me let you turn your back to bioeng. It is definately an interesting field and if it is your true passion, by all means pursue it. At almost all eng universities they will let you take intro eng freshman year and give you a glimpse into all of the different eng. specialties. You may find you like a different one more, or that you don’t like engineering at all. </p>
<p>Just get into the school. Then change majors if/as necessary. If you are trying to get into a school that requires you to request a school for which to declare your intentions, well… pick the easiest program to maximize your chances. Then, once you are there, change your major. This is why universities should have general admissions for undergrads:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Most kids do not know what they want to major in, and if declaring early, will change their minds.</p></li>
<li><p>Limiting the number of admits by program means you might be letting in some less-qualified students over some superstars who just happened to try for the toughest major. So integrate the process and equally assess each candidate.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Don’t major in bioenginering unless you want to go graduate school. You only learn 1/4 CS, 1/4 EE, 1/4 ME, and 1/4 BIO and will not specialize in anything to find a job. My friend’s son graduated in biomedical engineering from SLO last year and still does not have a job yet.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your input on this topic. To be completely honest, I don’t really know too much about Bioengineering so far enough to say I truly “love” the subject, I was hoping to explore this once I got into college but it seems like that would be too risky of a move.</p>
<p>I wanted to have the option to either go into med school or find a job in the engineering field, but either way, I plan on going to graduate school unless I’m offered a good enough job with just my BS. Does anyone know what different jobs I could find with just a BS v.s. a GD? </p>
<p>I think what I will do it apply as a Chemical Engineering major (since many of you seem to say that it is a more beneficial major, plus it has a higher acceptance rate) to UCSD and apply into L&S Biochemistry for UCLA. Does that sound like a safe enough plan? D:</p>
<p>Btw my stats are 4.5 w.GPA, ranked top 2% at school, 2020 composite SAT score (which I am retaking in November and am guessing at least a 2100 this time), president of two school clubs, volunteer at animal shelter and Kaiser medical center, member of high school tennis team, and a job working as a microbiologist lab assistant at a analytical lab (which I think is my best asset to my resume). </p>
<p>I feel like my stats are good enough for L&S but perhaps not for engineering…</p>