Whenever I tell someone what major I declared in college, you can be sure that I'll be asked that question shortly thereafter. For those who don't already know what Biomedical Engineering is, it is formally defined as "the application of engineering concepts and principles to problems in medical science". That's the definition they gave me, and it took four years to fully understand what they were talking about. Basically, BME uses experimentation, design, analysis, and research in order to build new devices and drugs that allow physicians to perform their jobs more effectively. New, higher resolution and less claustrophobic MRI machines are currently being developed by BME's. So are new electrocardiographs, pulse-oxymeters, and bionic implants which have allowed the deaf to hear well enough to make phone calls, are just now allowing the blind to see, and will one day allow the paralyzed to walk. All of this, and more, is encompassed within Biomedical Engineering.

I've been a student and a researcher for the Biomedical Engineering department at USC for six years now. I considered declaring Biology as a major, but couldn't resist the curiosity I felt when I heard about the depths of BME. I began as an undergraduate in 1994, double majored in Biomedical Engineering and Biology, and am now pursuing my Ph.D. degree in BME. I currently work as a teaching assistant, where I teach the freshman "Intro to BME" class.

A strong foundation based on a strong School of Engineering is the first thing that any good BME program needs, and USC provides just such a foundation. Many schools' BME programs are offshoots of their biology departments; they take their standard biology program, add some math and physics, and then call it "Biomedical Engineering" (or "Bioengineering"). However USC's BME department has never been anything but an engineering department, founded from USC's electrical engineering program. I cannot stress enough how important it is that a good BME program be backed up by a strong School of Engineering, and USC's BME department is backed up by one of the best Engineering programs in the land.

As with other departments at USC, all courses in this department are taught by professors who have earned their doctorate degrees; no classes are conducted solely by teaching assistants. Rather, the teaching assistants help by assisting the professor during lectures, holding office hours and exam review sessions outside of class, and holding weekly discussion groups (which are in addition to the lecture part of the course). All professors and teaching assistants hold weekly office hours in which any student can get help with the class, ask questions about BME in general, or talk about just about anything. I've worked with the majority of the professors in this department, and I have found them to be knowledgeable, intelligent, and concerned with their students' welfare. Classes are kept small. In fact none of the classes hosted by the BME department have more than 50 people enrolled, usually that number is kept around 30. Advisement is a snap; with the exception of G.E. and Technical Elective Classes, your schedule is written out for you, and a space is reserved for you in all required departmental and nondepartmental classes, so there's no need to stress about whether that class you need to graduate on time will be full by the time you register.

There are four degree options within the undergraduate spectrum of BME at USC. In addition to the regular BS in BME degree, students can choose to pursue a dual-degree (not the same as a double major) in biomedical-mechanical engineering, biomedical-chemical engineering, or biomedical-electrical engineering. Each of these programs offers its own expertise within the biomedical field. A student who majors in plain biomedical engineering has the option to combine these disciplines, or take additional courses in experimental biology, which is what I did. This freedom to tailor your own program to a specific field of BME is unique to this particular program, and is one of its strongest points.

Graduate students have an equal degree of freedom when choosing their emphasis. First of all, graduate students have the option of pursuing a Ph.D. degree, a 2-year research based MS degree (which requires a thesis), or a 1-year MS degree specializing in Imaging and Telemedicine.

Something else that is unique to USC's BME department is the "Associated Students of Biomedical Engineering", known as ASBME for short. ASBME is the BME department's own student organization. Mainly a professional-type organization, ASBME arranges for tours of biomedical companies and invites speakers to tell about the various facets of BME. ASBME also sponors an annual "corporate luncheon", where students and corporate representatives from across BME are given time to converse over lunch. Often students are offered summer internships on the spot. ASBME also exists as a major route by which students can voice their concerns and recommendations directly to the leaders of the department. Many of these recommendations have been turned into policy, such as the addition of several "senior project" courses, which allow students to conduct their own research and carry out their own design project, a skill that is considered by employers to be highly important.

Furthermore, the future for this department looks bright. Last year this department received a 100 million dollar endowment from Dr. Alfred Mann, which will be used to begin the Alfred Mann Institute (AMI-USC), which will research and develop new and life-saving biomedical devices. A new building will be built to house AMI, as well as the computational genomics program, and other computational biology programs.

However, as a lot of graduates of this program will tell you, BME is deceptively difficult. First of all, BME's are required to know a lot about a wide range of subjects; more so than any other field of engineering. You will be required to take the requisite year of general biology and chemistry, but will also need three semesters of physics (going up to optics, relativity, and quantum physics), some Organic Chemistry, and advanced classes in biology. There is also 2 years of calculus, and another two years of engineering classes which will teach you math that even math departments don't teach. And to top it off, there are requisite electronics (design and building) and computer programming classes, which you will use a lot. And now that I've managed to scare everyone, I'll add that I thought it was a lot when I started, too. But everything blends so well together that it all makes perfect sense by the end. I promise... if you can pass any other engineering field, you can get through BME, but it takes dedication.

Furthermore, while some will advise that BME is a great major to declare in order to get into medical school, I personally would advise against it. It's true that if you major in BME, get good grades, and do well on the MCAT, you're practically guaranteed to get into a med school somewhere (I have a few friends who did just that), I found that competing with the pre-med biology crowd can be a bit difficult. It's tough to compete with students that have nothing better to do than memorize a series of chemical reactions while you're balancing three homework assignments, two exams, and a project at the same time. Every freshman BME class is 60% pre-med; by senior year it's down to about 10%. As you can see, many students drop their pre-med status. While some of these people change their minds due to lowered grades, most simply decide that they'd rather be biomedical engineers than doctors.

Besides that, the only real disadvantage to choosing to be a Biomedical Engineer is having to patiently explain what Biomedical Engineers do to the masses of people that will ask that inevitable question. But you'll get used to it.

If you desire a challenge, are interested in biology, are good at math, and want to be an engineer, I would highly recommend the BME department at USC. This department has changed my life. You'll learn a lot, and upon completion, get a great job working on cutting edge medical technology. Biomedical Engineering really is the future of medicine.




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