I have been admitted to Pratt. But I wanted to major in computer science. If I leave my intended BME major and major in CS, I have to transfer to trinity, am I correct?
Correct. To “transfer” to Trinity, you will have to check a box on a form once. Seriously, it will be that easy. You have to wait until the end of your freshman year to officially transfer (unless they changed it), but can enroll in whatever courses you want. Just talk to your academic advisor of your plans.
@bluedog How are job prospects for BME? I have heard that they are not so great, especially for pure BME majors, because BME industry usually demands specialization, and acquirement of a masters degree. Is this true? My source was a recent grad btw.
OP: I do not fully agree with the foregoing information (and that’s based on 40+ years in high technology program management and engineering with the Navy and Lockheed Martin). The aerospace and defense industry perpetually wants entry-level BMEs – ESPECIALLY FROM UNIVERSITIES OF DUKE’S STATURE – and collectively it a huge employer of undergraduate engineering hires.
And that brings me to a second, important point. A BSE from most fully reputable schools generally means a first professional job in engineering (as well as perhaps a lifelong engineering career-track). However, Pratt Bachelor’s graduates are sought for MANY fields beyond engineering (consulting and iBanking, among others). This results from the stringency of Pratt’s admissions, the curricular demands, and the fact that many core Pratt skills (e.g., quantitative analyses) are directly applicable. Therefore, should you opt to remain at Pratt, you have a far wider job “search area” than you would at many other universities AND (as @bluedog, who I hope will add to this post, indicated) transferring from Pratt to Trinity couldn’t be simpler.
I also want to offer a concluding thought to you: Duke undergraduates – unlike students at some other excellent, most-selective schools – are primarily just that and are not “defined” by Trinity/Pratt or by major.
@TopTier Ok, thank you for that info. I hope to get a job in the Silicon Valley, basically in the technical side. I do not know much about career paths (after all, I am a HS senior), but I think CS would be the most logical major for that. Is a BME/CS major too intensive? Does it require a ton of work? On the ECE page, it says quite a few ECE Pratt students opt to also major in CS, which makes sense considering the close ties between ECE and CS, so much so that a few universities have combined the program into EECS (MIT/Berkeley/Michigan). So it is probably not as disparate as BME.
One other concern I have about BME is that it is basically all other sorts of engineering, or samples of ECE and ME, that are applied in different contexts. Is it hard to specialize?
Finally, also being interested in economics, due to my eventual interest in acquiring an MBA, is it a necessity to appear attractive to iBanking and consulting firms? Thanks.
Well, sounds like you have a lot of interests! (Which is a good thing). But I wouldn’t bite off more than you can chew – honestly, you don’t need to look for the “perfect” combination of majors or overthink it. Simply choosing something you’re passionate about that you think you can be successful in will position you well for a Silicon Valley tech job. They certainly want to see you have strong quantitative skills so not all majors are created equal, but any one of BME/ECE/CS/Econ realm would be acceptable.
Honestly, they don’t care all that much about the knowledge you bring, they care about 1.) if you’re smart, 2.) do you have strong problem solving skills, and 2.) do you have the desire/passion to learn what they’ll teach you. They’d rather have smart people that don’t come with the background knowledge (and can mold/teach them to be effective workers), then people coming in with some more direct knowledge, but without the other soft skills. Now, I’m talking about the Googles of the world and not engineering firms who certainly look more for the background knowledge and expertise.
If you want to go the iBanking/consulting route, it is NOT necessary to major in economics. Again, they want to see demonstrated quantitative skills and the capacity to problem solve/learn quickly and work hard. Many engineers go onto these realms. Economics would also be a fine selection for that career choice, of course, but certainly is not a requisite and choosing engineering/CS would not put you at a disadvantage. In fact, consulting firms LOVE engineers from Duke really. For MEs, I believe finance/consulting is the #1 post-graduate career, ahead of engineering.
As to your other comments…I think the recent grad was probably speaking to the fact that an undergrad BME degree is actually viewed as a pretty broad curriculum and I agree with this. There are a lot of areas in BME and while Duke undergrads “specialize” by catering their research and upper level electives in the junior/senior years, the major doesn’t situate itself as well as some others in building a deepness of understanding for a particular job in BME. Thus, many biotech/medical device companies DO want to see advanced degrees when hiring their engineers in the field (and is required to move up the ladder often) whereas an undergrad chemical engineer would likely have more options in the field. Having said that, that doesn’t mean Duke BME career prospects are “poor” – that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s simply that the career choices for BMEs are more DIVERSE than other traditional engineering disciplines (as @TopTier spoke about). And with Duke being known as a power on Wall Street and in the consulting realm, BMEs often go into these roles. I did know BME undergrads who got immediate jobs with Medtronic/Stryker/Guidant, so certainly it happens, but it’s just not the majority. Duke BME does not churn out biomedical engineers in huge numbers – it churns out smart, driven people with strong problem solving abilities who learn to be successful in many different fields.
I would agree that if you want to double in CS, an ECE/CS double would be much more doable than BME/CS. Not saying BME/CS is impossible, but it will require a lot more planning. Double majoring in engineering/econ is actually decently common, but is again a difficult combination (but will make you VERY desirable to consulting and finance firms if you do well with that combination).
In the end, I’d recommend you take courses your freshman year across various departments and see what appeals to you. You’ll be more successful in the end if you choose something you’re passionate about rather than selecting something that you think “looks good” to companies or business schools. They don’t really care – they want a diverse array of backgrounds that share the core competencies and soft skills of successful people.
Hope that helps.
@bluedog (re post #5): This post’s excellence will be very hard for anyone, ever to equal; it’s factual, germane, helpful, and incredibly knowledgeable. Thank you for investing the time and the expertise to write this.
@lb43823 (re post #4): I hope you’ll understand the advice that follows – from an old to a young Dukie – is conveyed with GREAT respect and with UNLIMITED hopes for your future. I’m one of the most thorough possible planners – it’s an obsession – so it is near-inconceivable for me to believe that I think you’re CURRENTLY “over-planning” and “over-thinking” these legitimately important and concerns . . . after all, it’s only April of your senior year in high school. Yes, these are key all questions. However, you’ve been admitted to Duke/Pratt – and that is both wonderful and a true accolade – so it just might be wise to spend a semester or two at Duke before truly addressing most of these concerns . . . then, with the considerable additional knowledge that you’ll clearly have about yourself, your goals, and reasonable ways to achieve them in (perhaps (??) June of 2016 or January of 2107).
Please let me give offer a pertinent example. You indicate a preference for a post-Bachelor’s technical Silicon Valley job; that’s just fine, but obviously your desires and objectives are quite likely to change in the next several years. Similarly, you question the necessity of “appear(ing) attractive to iBanking and consulting firms.” But, how do you really KNOW these things? To illustrate, maybe during your time at Duke, you’ll decide it would be great to attend a first-tier MBA program beginning in (maybe) 2023 AND completing that MBA debt-free would be ideal. Well, an excellent, entry-level iBanking job is likely to pay 2x to 5x more (bonuses included) than an equally top, entry-level Silicon Valley technical/engineering job. Could that alter your immediate post-Duke goals/plans?
I most certainly am NOT criticizing you for thinking ahead; to the contrary, I sincerely believe it’s great. BUT, you do not need to make all these decisions now AND you will have a FAR more sound basis to do so in a few years.
Enjoy, thrive, learn, and grow at Duke – it’s perfect for all that (and more) – and absolutely keep ruminating regarding these (and related/similar) matters. However, collect information, learn much more about yourself, and at last partially determine where you realistically want to go and how you might reasonably get there for a little while.
With warmest regards.
@TopTier Life cannot be all planned out. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fun, no? You’re absolutely right. Relish the serendipities and misfortunes even, otherwise life just passes one by.
Thanks for the advice.
And, just for curiosity (and not for planning purposes), you think an entry-level position at iBanking would make 2x as much as entry level job in tech fields at SV? If average salary for a tech job is about 70,000 i would assume (Google, for ex maybe), you think iBankers would make 140k?? That is startling that someone fresh out of Duke could make that much!
Not that it changes my current career focus, considering that money has never been a priority. I’d rather love what I do.
@lb43823 (re post #7):
Absolutely; I know several young Dukies (both Trinity and Pratt), who are the children of Duke Board/Executive Committee members with whom I served, whose iBanking first-year BONUS was >$250K (bear in mind, that many top Wall Street/finance/iBanking jobs tend to have relatively (given Manhattan and the overall affluence of the industry) modest salaries, but very large bonuses). I don’t want this to appear or to be arrogant, but I do want this to help you: Duke is the “big leagues” and a few of your classmates will annually earn ~$500K in their early years (although, probably not in their first year). Further, I want you to understand clearly that these mega-salaries are the exception, not the rule. However, and specifically to answer your question, it would not be AT ALL unusual for a Class of '19 Dukie, who received a top iBanking job, to earn $200+K in his first year.
@TopTier Damn, that’s all I can say lol. Haha, I do not even know what iBanking really entails, considering limited exposure to it. But, I have always loved computer science, and I am an avid programmer, so it was always natural for me to gravitate towards the tech industry and the Silicon Valley.
I guess not knowing about iBanking is okay because that’s what Duke is for, or in essence college is for. Who knows maybe by the end I genuinely want to become an iBanker, even though I don’t know exactly what it is besides that they help others invest their money wisely.
Yeah, @lb43823: an iBanker, or a musician, or a journalist, or an attorney, or a chemistry teacher, or . . .
And that’s the overriding point. You are BLESSED with undergraduate attendance at one of the world’s finest universities. You’re 17 (?), and the next few years are supposed to be about BROAD intellectual exploration and GROWTH in many key arenas (personal, academic, leadership, and SO much more). In my opinion, you – and MANY others, who essentially are in similar situations – will cheat themselves and their futures’ if (for example) they precipitously decide (as SO MANY do, just read CC for a day or two and you’ll observe dozens) I’m going pre-med, followed by medical school, then by a pediatric residency, and so forth. As you know, I would NEVER counsel ill-preparedness and/or poor thought/planning. However, right now time (at least for a few years) is your ally.
Enjoy you weekend on campus!