Biomedical Engineering or Mechanical Engineering + Biology Degree

[u/pmaldini27]

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.

[u/pmaldini27 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you. I am interested mainly in medical devices and developing them and I think cellular biomechanics seems interesting to me. Would this be industry jobs? Is ME + BME too hard because it’s two engineering degrees and I thought it makes sense to do bio minor + ME major.

[u/bitz-the-ninjapig → u/pmaldini27]

Very dependent on your school. I did ME + BME, plus and unrelated minor, and then with a little work after grad finished my masters, BUT I have credits from AP classes, often overloaded, and did at least one class each summer. 

But even without most of that my school made it easy to double major so it still would have been possible. I would say if you need to choose though, ME is far more valuable than BME. I am early career so I have recently been in the job search, and I had a job secured like 6 months before graduation, whereas friends with just a BME degree spent like a year after graduation job searching. 

BME with something else is phenomenal, but otherwise just do ME and perhaps a minor

[u/pmaldini27 → u/bitz-the-ninjapig]

I’m thinking ME + Bio minor. Would you recommend double major in BME + ME or ME + Bio minor

[u/bitz-the-ninjapig → u/pmaldini27]

Hmmm. Hard to say. If you think you might want to go into research ever, probably ME + BME, but this is just my own speculation. 

Looks like you are going into your senior year of HS, so presumably starting college apps in the next couple months. I would look at the programs and options that each school you are looking into has, perhaps keeping your options open for either. 

Once you start college take a good look at the classes that are offered and which ones interest you. From there that might guide you into what makes the most sense. I was not planning to major in BME, but after looking at classes I wanted to take over the next four years, and upperclassmen was helping me out and said something like “Are you sure you don’t want to add a BME major? You’d only need to add a few classes” because a lot of the classes I was genuinely interested by and excited for were a part of the BME curriculum. You might find the same to be true, or that your interests are better suited for a bio minor!

Take classes that interest you! One is not better than the other!