Courses Choice of 2 options for Mechanical Engineering Course - Vibrations or Mechanisms

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A fourth-year undergraduate student in Biomedical Engineering is seeking advice on choosing between two mechanical engineering courses: ME 365 "Mechanisms" and ME 463 "Vibrations." Both courses require System Dynamics as a prerequisite. The student is interested in which course would be more beneficial for a Biomedical Engineering major and which one might present greater difficulty. Responses indicate a preference for the Vibrations course, with one commenter highlighting its relevance to signal analysis and vibroacoustic therapy, while expressing a less favorable view of the Mechanisms course due to its perceived monotony and lack of theoretical depth. The student is leaning towards Vibrations based on this feedback and their enjoyment of System Dynamics.
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Good evening,

I am unsure as to whether or not I am posting this question in the apropraite section of the this forum and apologize if I am not. With that said I will let you in on the question that I have for you tonight.

I am currently a fourth year undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering, and I have recently decided to go for the Mechanical Engineering minor.
In order to complete this task I will have to take one of the two courses listed below. Each course has a general description of the course.

ME 365- "Mechanisms" - kinematics & dynamics of mechanical linkages, gears, & cams. Balancing multicylinder engines"

or ME 463 -"Vibrations" - free and forced response systems with Multiple Degrees of Freedom. Response to arbritary excitation. Lagrange's equation. Introduction to continuous systems. Vibration absorbers & rotor balancing

System Dynamics is the only prerequisite for each course which I am currently enrolled in.

With that said I am not sure which course I should choose. If anyone has any advice or experience with either of these courses I would apreciate advice and input on the situation

also

Which course do you think would be more useful for a BME major?
Which course would havea greater difficlty level?

Those are just some examples of some questions of mine that would be nice to have answered. Once again any input or advice is apreciated. I really enjoy what I am learning in my system dynamics course and am leaning towards ME 465 -Vibrations. Feel free to give your input and advice

Cheers
 
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So, Vibrations or mechanisms
 
I'm taking Vibrations right now and am loving it!
I've taken a Mechanisms course in the past that sounds similar to the one you described and found it rather monotonous (lots of formulas without much theoretical background), but that may have been due to the professor I had...
I don't have extensive background in Biomedical Engineering, but I do think that Vibrations may be more useful to you than Mechanisms- especially in areas like signal analysis and vibroacoustic therapy.
 
Hey, I am Andreas from Germany. I am currently 35 years old and I want to relearn math and physics. This is not one of these regular questions when it comes to this matter. So... I am very realistic about it. I know that there are severe contraints when it comes to selfstudy compared to a regular school and/or university (structure, peers, teachers, learning groups, tests, access to papers and so on) . I will never get a job in this field and I will never be taken serious by "real"...
Yesterday, 9/5/2025, when I was surfing, I found an article The Schwarzschild solution contains three problems, which can be easily solved - Journal of King Saud University - Science ABUNDANCE ESTIMATION IN AN ARID ENVIRONMENT https://jksus.org/the-schwarzschild-solution-contains-three-problems-which-can-be-easily-solved/ that has the derivation of a line element as a corrected version of the Schwarzschild solution to Einstein’s field equation. This article's date received is 2022-11-15...
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