How do I get in the game: Biomedical Engineering

[joshthekid]

Hi all,

Where to begin? I got my B.S. in applied Physics with biological and chemical engineering focus as well as a minor in Biomedical Engineering. I was on the job market for a year and after having no success applied to a graduate program in Biomedical Engineering. So currently I am in my second semester of a Master's of Engineering program in Biomedical Engineering which is a coursework only program. I entered this program for a number of reasons, first, I could not find anybody to support me for thesis work as a Masters's student, second I wanted to get an internship over the summer instead of being stuck working on a thesis, third though, I feel every research experience gives you useful skills, there are maybe 1 or 2 faculty at my school who do research that is directly applicable with a job in industry, and fourth I have already written two papers and have ample research experience so I thought it might be to my advantage to take more higher level engineering courses.

Now after about three months of applying to internships I have not had one, interview, call, email nothing and I am starting to worry as I absolutely need a job when I get out of school, since I put myself in more student debt to pay for this program. So my question to those of you currently working in the field is what do I need to do to make myself a more competitive candidate. I will be signing up for classes in the next week for the upcoming semester. One of the advantages of my program, is that with an exception of a few required courses, I can pretty much take any graduate level engineering course, mechanical, electrical, chemical, or civil to satisfy my requirements. Is there any courses as a graduate engineering student that are big plusses on a resume? If I can't find work in the field this summer what else can I be doing to better myself?

Thanks,

Worried Grad Student

 

[Dale]

I know that when I interview candidates I often consider the technical expertise as a "given". I will ask questions to make sure that is actually the case, but then I wind up with a pool of candidates that are all capable of handling the work from a technical perspective. What then distinguishes them is the "soft" skills. I look for experience presenting orally, writing well, working independently, completing projects, time management, etc.