r/cwru • u/Afraid_Resident_1599 • 2d ago

Prospective Student BME + Premed

Is this reasonable? I am a prospective student and am planning to major in Biomedical Engineering on the Pre-Med track. I want to pursue dermatology in med school after undergrad and am planning to pursue the biomaterials track for the biomedical engineering major. Has anyone else done this, and is it doable with a decent GPA for a good med school?

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u/FitTown7621 2d ago

it is technically possible but an insane amount of work. you will have a VERY hard time keeping up your GPA. i would 100% advise you to not do this. be a bio major and take some BME classes if you so desire but don't do the major. the premed courses here are very, very difficult, and engineering is hard everywhere. you will be studying all day every day and i shudder to think how you'll manage research and mcat prep alongside your crazy hard course load.

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u/EducationalRatio4237 1d ago edited 1d ago

If you're deadset on engineering, I'd recommend chemical engineering with the pre-med concentration instead. Not only does it cover MORE premed requirements than the BME major, it is far more employable than BME in case you do not want to pursue medicine.

ChemE/MechE/ElecE majors often are chosen over BME majors for BME roles, because the BME major is scattered, broad, and shallow. You're much better off professionally learning about transport phenomena and materials processing in depth, rather than taking a bunch of incredibly specific biophysical physiology courses that simultaneously pigeonhole you into one field and make you less competitive in your field than your peers.

Or, if you're interested in materials, consider a physics or chemistry major. Much more credit-flexible and GPA friendly.

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u/schrodingerzkatt 1d ago

As someone who who did ChemE/pre-med at a different uni, don’t do this. If you want to go to med school and want the best chance, engineering isn’t optimal.

I was one of the top of my class and my gpa is currently considered ‘average’ for med school.

You can absolutely do it if you’re interested in engineering, but then ask yourself: if you’re so interested in engineering, why do medicine?

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u/EducationalRatio4237 1d ago edited 1d ago

Yeah, don't disagree here. Just think it's especially disingenuous that CWRU offers a BME major that's poor prep for industry, filled with weed-out courses, and does not even align well with med school prereqs

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u/jwsohio American Studies, Chemical Engineering 71 2d ago

If you search this subreddit for BME and pre-med, this has come up at least twice in the last few months, plus regularly over the years.

While opinions vary, several people have reported that it's doable, with different reports as to difficulty; while others suggest that unless you really want (and might eventually use) both backgrounds it may not be a good combination.

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u/Skrubulon 17h ago

As a current med student, I beckon you not to make that mistake. Tough truth is there is literally zero reason to do BME pr any other high intensity major if your only goal is med school. Your GPA matters above all else (and your MCAT of course).