Bioengineering

[pnoybballin]

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Hello fellow pre-meds. I have just recently heard about bioengineering, and I would like to know much more about it. I have a read some information about the field but I would like to receive input from actual Bioengineering students. I just would like to know what it really is about and what type of work do you do. thank you.

 

[RxnMan]

Hello fellow pre-meds. I have just recently heard about bioengineering, and I would like to know much more about it. I have a read some information about the field but I would like to receive input from actual Bioengineering students. I just would like to know what it really is about and what type of work do you do. thank you.

I did not go through a bioengineering program, (which you can find out about on any college's BioEng Dept website,) but I was a bioengineer. I specialized in gait analysis, where you apply engineering principles to the basic functional task of walking. Primarily I worked with children with cerebral palsy (a common congenital movement disorder [~2/1000 live births]), but we also saw spina bifida, stroke, and traumatic brain injury patients. All of these injuries lead to difficulties in ambulation, which is fundamental to independent living. We used a number of tools (biplanar video, EMG, motion capture, and physical examination) to figure out where we could help our patients gain greater independence through physical therapy, surgical interventions, or orthotics.

I've heard of many other careers in bioengineering - pharma and implant design are big $$$ ones - and the field is diverse, depending on where you want to go. PM me if you have more questions.

 

[pyrois]

I can't speak for all schools, but at UC Berkeley, the majority of bioengineering is not, in fact, bioengineering. You will probably spend much of your second year and some of your third year taking classes that either are in, or are cross-listed with mechanical engineering, materials science, civil engineering, nuclear engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science.

It's only really in the latter part of your third year and fourth year that the majority of your classes will be true bioengineering classes (that aren't cross-listed with another engineering department). It's basically because bioengineering classes have pre-requisites that span across biology and nearly all of the engineering departments.

As a major for pre-med students, if you can handle the workload (and if you take the standard route, it is a VERY heavy workload) you'll end up with a very strong foundation for biomedical research and medicine in general.

On the other hand, make sure that you're ready for a biology/engineering combo major. The most difficult part of bioengineering isn't the individual classes. Each class, in and of itself, is relatively straight forward and easy for the members of the associated majors, but for one person to master the mindset and methodology required to excel in all the engineering departments as well as the biological sciences, you have to be able to adapt to different styles of instruction and studying.

Not only that, but if your classes are curved, you will be taking classes in nuclear engineering, or computer science, with students who are nuclear physics and computer science majors, and to get the same grade as them, you will have to do just as well despite not having as much pre-requisite training.

In the end, I would highly advise you to go into bioengineering only if you absolutely love math, physics, and biology all together. Otherwise, the sheer amount of time it will require of you to stay on top of things will detract from your ability to pursue extra-curricular activities and research.

If you're curious about the bioengineering industry itself, bioengineers can be found in almost every sector of engineering. The only jobs that are specific to bioengineers though are usually those from biotech companies. Sometimes it can be engineering drugs, or designing the factories that will make pharmaceutical products. There are relatively few jobs available currently that involve nanotechnology and advanced robotics, as right now most of the work being done in those areas are research labs (perfect if you want to go to grad school) although those fields could open up rather quickly to the mainstream public in the coming years.

 

[muncher]

The bioengineering program at Penn sounds a lot like the one at Berkely. Like most other engineering disciplines, bioengineering requires more analytical thinking and less memorization. So if you're adept at that sort of stuff, it's a great way to get good grades without doing a lot of work. You'll also finish all of your premed classes in your first 4 semesters save organic. At penn, you're also taking some classes like chemistry in engineering only sections, and htat usually means more problem-based tests with less theory and derivation. Moreover, during the first two years you're curved against a lot of people who will eventually drop out, so getting a good grade in an engineering section is actually easier than in the arts and sciences counterpart.

 

[Tunn3lVision]

pnoybballin, not to hijack your thread or anything but two quick questions:

the college i'm interested in attending only has a bio major with a bioengineering "option"

is this actually bioengineering, or a lesser form of it?

and if it is actually bioengineering, shouldn't it be based in the college of engineering rather then the bio dept.?

 

[Hurricane95]

You're right, if it is a true Bioengineering program it should be through the college of engineering at your school, not the department of biology. This is probably just a biology program with a few electives that expose students to the field of bioengineering and what is currently being done as far as research, etc. It is not truly engineering I think. I guess it's kind of like other schools that offer biology degrees with specialization in botany, or zoology, or animal behavior, etc. Since bio is such a broad and diverse field, it is possible to narrow the focus of your studies within biology.

I did biomedical engineering for undergrad and loved it. Essentially it takes all the other disciplines of engineering, such as mechanical and electrical primarily, and applies it to the field of medicine and life science, designing prosthetics and implants to be used in surgery, medical equipment, surgical tools, computers for medical instrumentation, neural networks, etc. A solid field that prepares you well for problem solving and critical thinking.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I did biomedical engineering at JHU. It was so freaking hard, I wanted to cry my entire four years. Some how I scraped by - the program was shaped with core BME courses around which you could take courses from traditional engineering disciplines, going for a certification in one (noted on diploma). Alot of the actual BME courses were spent on modeling of biological systems to circuit mechanisms, bunch of stuff I don't really remember.

 

[blargh]

if you're pre-med, it's kind of a dumb idea. i'm a bioengineering major. i have to work 50x as hard as human bio majors to pull the same grades. it is pretty interesting, though... we solve medical design problems in a lot of our classes (biomechanics in particular), but overall it's a lot of useless math and physics i will never see again in my life.

i should add that i'm actually doing a bioengineering homework assignment right now. this class is so insanely hard... as a doctor, you will NEVER need to care about the difference between eulerian, legrangian, and infinitesimal strain...... sorry, i'm just wanted to complain a little =)

 

[NonTradMed]

if you're pre-med, it's kind of a dumb idea. i'm a bioengineering major. i have to work 50x as hard as human bio majors to pull the same grades. it is pretty interesting, though... we solve medical design problems in a lot of our classes (biomechanics in particular), but overall it's a lot of useless math and physics i will never see again in my life.

i should add that i'm actually doing a bioengineering homework assignment right now. this class is so insanely hard... as a doctor, you will NEVER need to care about the difference between eulerian, legrangian, and infinitesimal strain...... sorry, i'm just wanted to complain a little =)

From my undergrad, I knew a lot of people that started out as premed did not make it to med school. And from those people, the ones that dont' switch their majors to a marketable degree early on find themselves without a well paying job or a med school acceptance come senior year, so I think a bioengineering major, or any type of major which will allow for a good job post graduation, is not a waste of time.

The standard chemistry/biology major is good for med school but you never know what may happen in four years. I certainly did think I would forgo med school when I left college but I ended up working for a couple of years before deciding to jump back into the med school route. I'm kind of glad I didn't go with a biology major as originally intended because I detested lab work and it was hard to find non lab jobs as a bio major fresh out of college. I also got paid pretty well as a software developer and was able to save some money, pay off debt, have a little bit of fun....

I thought biomedical engineering at my school a great major to study for budding premeds. It allows for one to have a marketable skill come graduation in case one wants to forgo med school but the curriculum has a built in requirement which covers all med school requirements. However, it is difficult and I would not recommend a major where you could not at least average a B+ in (hence I chickened out on the major 😀 ).

 

[blargh]

From my undergrad, I knew a lot of people that started out as premed did not make it to med school. And from those people, the ones that dont' switch their majors to a marketable degree early on find themselves without a well paying job or a med school acceptance come senior year, so I think a bioengineering major, or any type of major which will allow for a good job post graduation, is not a waste of time.

The standard chemistry/biology major is good for med school but you never know what may happen in four years. I certainly did think I would forgo med school when I left college but I ended up working for a couple of years before deciding to jump back into the med school route. I'm kind of glad I didn't go with a biology major as originally intended because I detested lab work and it was hard to find non lab jobs as a bio major fresh out of college. I also got paid pretty well as a software developer and was able to save some money, pay off debt, have a little bit of fun....

I thought biomedical engineering at my school a great major to study for budding premeds. It allows for one to have a marketable skill come graduation in case one wants to forgo med school but the curriculum has a built in requirement which covers all med school requirements. However, it is difficult and I would not recommend a major where you could not at least average a B+ in (hence I chickened out on the major 😀 ).

The only problem is that bioengineering is a relatively new field. There are not a lot of jobs specifically for bioengineers right now. Yes, you can work building prosthetics and whatnot, but not all bioengineers study that. My friend just graduated with a bioengineering: biotechnology major and she had a hard time finding a job specifically designed for her degree so she's now working as an RAI in a biotech company. You can easily get that far with a general bio major too...

 

[kidthor]

Yeah - when I was a bioengineering undergrad I had a pretty hard time finding any sort of internship, and a lot of my classmates who graduated with a BS in bioengineering were unable to find bioengineering work. Oh yeah, my GPA is hosed due to bioengineering too.

The only problem is that bioengineering is a relatively new field. There are not a lot of jobs specifically for bioengineers right now. Yes, you can work building prosthetics and whatnot, but not all bioengineers study that. My friend just graduated with a bioengineering: biotechnology major and she had a hard time finding a job specifically designed for her degree so she's now working as an RAI in a biotech company. You can easily get that far with a general bio major too...