Biomedical engineer vs Biomedical Physics

[nicolasg]

I'm a freshman at SIUC and right now my major is mechanical engineering. In the future I want to make prosthetics which is into biomedical engineering. I read that it is possible to get a job as a biomedical engineer with a mechanical engineer degree with some on the job training. I also read that I can go to graduate school for a master's in biomedical engineering with a mechanical engineering degree. My university offers Biomedical Physics. If I duel major in biomedical physics and mechanical engineering, do I have a good chance of getting a well paid biomedical engineering job? Also, there is a few schools that offer biomedical engineering as a bachelor's degree major. Would I have a better chance transferring to a school that has it?

 

[Choppy]

Biomedical engineering is one of those disciplines and professions that can have a fairly broad interpretation. Most of the people I know working as BMEs (sample of about a dozen) came through electrical engineering in undergrad and specialized in BME at the graduate level. It might be worth your while to look up some of the graduate programs you're interested in and see what they list as admission requirements. For that matter, if you're interested in working right after undergrad, look up some positions for jobs that you're interested in and see what they list as requirements.

Often, it's not so much what your degree says that gets you the job, rather, it's the skills that you bring to the table (which are related to the courses you've taken).

 

[Ryuk1990]

^Yes, the EE undergrad to BME grad transition seems very common. My sister did that.