- Joined
- Feb 14, 2008
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
Anyone know if having these two degrees can give a different career pathway instead of just private practice? Can it be used for example, in a similar fashion as the biomedical engineering degree?
I have a bachelors in biomedical engineering and will be starting vet school in a month. I hope to mix the two degrees by doing some clinical research. I'd love to get into designing prosthetic limbs for animals. I know there is a lot of that kind of research going on for horses, but I'm more of a small animal type person. They do have all those doggy wheelchair contraptions which also appeal to my engineering side! Anyways- I just wanted to say that I am trying to do exactly what you are talking about- hopefully put my engineering spin on vet med- and I think there are actually more engineer-vet people out there than you think. The sky's the limit with the kinds of things we can do between the two degrees...
I do highly recommend a degree in biomed engr. because I think it was very interesting, makes you come out as a better problem solver, and makes you a more unique candidate for vet school.
Like RazorDoc, I've got a ChemE undergrad degree, and I'm starting vet school in the fall. You would be surprised how much engineering can help you. Not only do you learn a structured way of problem-solving (which is analogous to diagnosing and making a treatment plan), but the actual topics sometimes come back to haunt you. Who'd have thought that fluid mechanics would come back with a vengeance in the cardiovascular system?
In short, it can help whether you're going the research route or into practice.
A related question - As I have been browsing the pre-veterinary forum I have seen a lot of discussion about what qualifications it takes to get accepted, particularly in terms of the number of veterinary experience hours one should have. I know OSU requires a minimum of 80 hours which seems quite achieveable. I have seen several posts from people who have 300-800 hours and are asking if that is really enough. Of course as an engineer in aerospace, it seems like a really high bar to rack up that many hours without becoming a vet tech.
Mohandis,
You need to avoid veterinary school because your engineering expertise will be wasted if your interest is in biomedical engineering. Most biomedical devices are developed for humans and there is not the expertise in veterinary schools in engineering or in human uses for the devices that would add anything to an engineering degree. Plus the shallow veterinary education with courses in production animal medicine and pharmacology really have little relevance to developing devices that really only humans will ever use on a large scale. It would be better to get into a graduate program at a medical school with a strong biomedical engineering research interest like Bowman Grey Medical School in Winston Salem,NC for example. Also very little funding would be coming to any veterinary school to develop any biomedical devices meant for a human market. Most devices used in animals except for hip joints are usually recycled human devices ie pacemakers in dogs for example. Plus the cost of procedures like these in animals make them only available to very few.
You might want to consider a career as an orthotist/prosthetist as they are the one who build and fit the artificial limbs etc. It would give you experience in working with real world users of the devices which would enhance the engineering expertise. Plus orthotist/prosthetists make a very good living compared to veterinarians who depend on how much money owners are willing to spend on one animal.
Joseph
Why not just go for a PhD in biomedical engineering, materials science or something similar instead of wasting time in veterinary school learning a little about a lot of things that have minimal relevance to research and development of medical devices? I have yet to see many jobs that advertise for just a DVM to engage in medical device development. A veterinary education will not help you much in getting into these fields. versus specializing in these fields. I think its called the division of labor.
Joe
If I could do it over again, I don't know that I'd change my choices. They've made me the person that I am today, and I'm pretty happy with who I am.
Why are veterinary academicians qualified to tell incoming students that a DVM degree is a good adjunct to pursuing so many different non veterinary fields based on the value of an overly broad and shallow educational model?
Also my father was an engineer who rose to managing and operating very large projects which employed technicians and engineers from many different fields in producing a very complex product.
The division of labor/specialization of knowledge from economics 101 still holds in veterinary medicine as every one of those veterinary academicians is highly educated and trained post DVM in order to become an expert in a small field. Most of them lack any experience outside their own narrow field.
Why are veterinary academicians qualified to tell incoming students that a DVM degree is a good adjunct to pursuing so many different non veterinary fields based on the value of an overly broad and shallow educational model?
Anyone know if having these two degrees can give a different career pathway instead of just private practice? Can it be used for example, in a similar fashion as the biomedical engineering degree?
My main point has always been that there is no way veterinary school prepares anyone for multiple career opportunities as currently designed. It attempts to cover too many areas and as a result no one develops the needed depth of expertise in any particular area to become truly effective. Just as any design in engineering must be optimized and compromised to meet the technological specifications of the physical need, veterinary education needs to be optimized through a number of educational streams that will allow the student to be achieving and successful in their chosen area of the veterinary profession.