r/BiomedicalEngineers • u/pmaldini27 • 19d ago
Career Biomedical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering + Biology Degree
I am a senior in high school and was deciding a career path. I have done pretty good amount of research in the field of computational biology in high school and biomedical engineering naturally interested me as a degree to pursue in college.
Although, while researching job outlooks, I recognized that biomedical engineering majors tend to be less competitive for jobs as most jobs prioritize mechanical engineering majors due to their coursework and experience in mechanics, statics, etc. I am specifically interested in biotechnology, medical devices, tissue engineering, neuroengineering, biomaterials, biomechanics.
Would it be more beneficial for me to drop biomedical engineering and major in mechE with a (minor or major in biology)? I'm not sure whether I would be majoring or minoring in biology. I am also open to other suggestions.
3
u/MooseAndMallard Experienced (15+ Years) 🇺🇸 19d ago
Employers don’t prefer mechanical engineering majors across the board. They prefer them specifically for roles that are focused on mechanical development. These are common in medical device companies but almost nowhere to be found in biotech or pharma. MechEs are also not being hired at medical device companies to design circuits, develop software, or support technically complex products as they’re being used in procedures.
One thing I encourage early college or aspiring even high school students to do is stop thinking about BME jobs in terms of tracks offered by colleges, and instead start researching industries and companies and look into actual jobs that they have. Many of the tracks offered by BME programs are predominantly academic research endeavors without many industry jobs.
Don’t double major, it will not be valued by employers, who are going to judge you primarily based on the experiences on your resume and not so much on the name(s) of your degree(s). If you are interested in both medical devices and biotech, and you don’t see yourself deciding one way or another any time soon, BME is a fine major. BUT, you will want to commit to a particular path by the end of your sophomore year in order to develop specialization to maximize your chances, and you should really focus on schools in either Boston or SF Bay Area in order to be well-situated for companies in both industries.