MD with PhD in biomedical engineering?

[yeloFELO3]

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Hello all.
New to the forum and all that jazz.
I am interested in getting into a MD-PhD program and considering doing my PhD in biomedical engineering.

I am a sophomore undergrad majoring in biochemistry with a minor in biology. Biomedical engineering is a relatively new interest for me and i think its too late to have a bachelor's in engineering, but i am maybe considering on having a minor in engineering. I think I am above average in math and physics compared to most of my premed friends, but, personally, i do not think I am excelling in those subjects. Also, I am currently in a organic synthesis lab so that is not to relevant to biomedical engineering i guess.

So I am looking for outside opinions, should i take a minor that will help me be better prepared for this phd? I also have to consider if engineering departments will even consider me with the undergrad experience i do have.

Should i find outside experience like a internship?

Should i just stick to my curriculum i had before?

 

[haanman]

Requirements for the biomedical engineering PhD will differ from school to school, and often you'll need to be admitted by the biomedical engineering program PhD program independently from the MD/PhD. But yes, several schools will consider you even without a bachelor's in engineering.

The minor sounds like a good idea if you can fit it in. In general, if you're planning to do this, my advice would be to take as much engineering, physics, and math as you can stand.

An internship may not help you so much for MD/PhD admissions (research experience is more important) but might be worth doing if you're curious about opportunities in industry (and there are quite a few of those). It all comes down to what you're interested in.

 

[ppp91]

Right now, I'm applying to a few schools for BioE without an engineering degree from undergrad (my school didn't have a school of engineering, so I did biochemistry). I have a few interviews lined up for schools where BioE is my stated research interest. So far, the schools have been looking at my interest in BioE and my research experience generally. That said, I'm interested less in devices and more in the cellular/molecular engineering, so it might be a better fit with biochemistry than if you wanted to do devices.

I agree with haanman about taking more classes in math, engineering, and physics if you can. I've had interviewers ask about my math skills, which luckily was part of my biochemistry degree, to ensure I'd be able to take on the new curriculum.

 

[Shifty B]

Perhaps more importantly than the minor, I would try to get some research experience in a biomedical engineering oriented field. That's going to go a lot further into letting people know that you are interested as well as getting some idea what types of PhD projects you might be interested in. If you haven't done engineering before, you might find that it's awesome and you like it... or you might hate it, but it's important to know.

The advice to take as much math and physics as you can will also be useful.

 

[Neuronix]

I am a sophomore undergrad majoring in biochemistry with a minor in biology. Biomedical engineering is a relatively new interest for me and i think its too late to have a bachelor's in engineering, but i am maybe considering on having a minor in engineering.

I'm not trying to discourage you from following your interests, but be very careful about this. Engineering courses are notorious for giving low grades even with hard work. If it doesn't work out or even if it does, be careful not to damage your GPA with this minor.

So I am looking for outside opinions, should i take a minor that will help me be better prepared for this phd? I also have to consider if engineering departments will even consider me with the undergrad experience i do have.

Some will, some won't. PhDs in engineering often have excessive requirements both for admission and graduation for MD/PhDs that make them onerous even for undergrads who major in biomedical engineering. My advice as an undergrad and grad student is to find a lab that does the type of research you're interested in and tailor your coursework to that. Pick a PhD program based on how flexible it is to let you pursue the coursework and lab you want, with minimal additional requirements.

 

[Shifty B]

Some will, some won't. PhDs in engineering often have excessive requirements both for admission and graduation for MD/PhDs that make them onerous even for undergrads who major in biomedical engineering. My advice as an undergrad and grad student is to find a lab that does the type of research you're interested in and tailor your coursework to that. Pick a PhD program based on how flexible it is to let you pursue the coursework and lab you want, with minimal additional requirements.

This is partially true. Some BME PhD programs will have additional requirements, like you may have to take the GRE or something. They probably are flexible about some of these, but some of them are for your own good. If you don't have a decent math background, the PhD courses can be an uphill climb.

There is something to be said that BME PhDs do have more onerous graduation requirements. You might have to take more courses, TA more classes, and the like. I think I had to take about 12 semester-long courses when many other PhD programs had only 2 or 3. However, depending on what kind of thesis project you select, you might be able to still finish in a predictable amount of time. This is not because engineering PhDs are easier, but they are often subject to fewer external factors outside of your control. In many cases, how fast you finish an engineering PhD can be directly proportional to how much time you spend on it (not so in most biological sciences). This is because some types of projects, like computer programming, image processing, computer simulations can be driven forward by effort alone. If you have a stack of 10,000 images to process, that project is done when you are finished processing, and there are no cultures to get infected by mold, mice to die when some disease rips through the animal colony, gels to fail when some reagent is contaminated, etc.

I do have 1 huge piece of advice though. If you choose to go for an MD/PhD in biomedical engineering, choose a program which has a proven track record of students getting their degrees in that department. If you start hearing stuff like, "Oh, yea, there's a biomedical engineering department at Affiliated Institution X, and no one's done it before but we think we can work out a way for you to work there," then run as fast as you can. You want to hear that over the past decade 15 people have graduated with BME PhDs, because that means they understand the difficulties and how to get it done. For example, my graduating class had 5 people who had BME PhDs, and many people had done it before me.

This is so important I'm going to repeat it: You do not want to blaze a trail when it comes to a PhD program. You may think that it would be cool to be the first to do something, and you won't run into problems. When you're 5 years into a PhD with no end in sight, you'll regret it.