List of All U.S. Colleges with a Biomedical Engineering Major
Biomedical engineering might make you think of scenes from science fiction movies, conjuring a Frankenstein-like image in your mind. However, the work of biomedical engineers is much more common than you’d think – this field involves the creation of medical technologies that are complex and obscure, as well as those tools and devices that are omnipresent in many people’s lives. Colleges around the country have added this growing, interdisciplinary field to their offered majors. Though this is a highly specialized field, job opportunities abound in creating, maintaining, and improving a range of biomedical devices and equipment. You might find yourself programming an automated surgical procedure, creating prosthetics, or tinkering with the latest in breathing assistance technology. If biomedical engineering sounds like it’s up your alley, read on to learn more about which schools offer the major and what you should look for in a program. Biomedical engineering is an inherently interdisciplinary field and requires a range of foundations in different fields. For a more comprehensive look at what it takes to become a biomedical engineering major, check out our blog article, which covers the steps you should take from high school to pursue this major. In college, students will need to have a strong foundation in the life sciences, such as biology and chemistry. They will also likely take rigorous course material in math and physics. In addition, BME majors need technical education, so to have a working knowledge of computer science, they must take introductory programming classes. Introductory bioengineering courses often combine this subject material to provide students with these subjects in an interdisciplinary format. Upper division courses allow students to explore more specialized fields, customizing their education to better align with their interests and career aspirations. Some examples of these are Medical Imaging (University of Florida), Neural Interfacing (Case Western Reserve University), Microcomputer-Based Instrumentation Lab (Wayne State University). Students in this major need to have an aptitude for STEM subjects, and the ability to integrate them in an interdisciplinary manner to aid them in coursework. The learning material is an eclectic blend of varied but challenging subjects, so you’ll need to be able to understand where your strengths and weaknesses lie and change your study behavior accordingly. The field is also everchanging, so you’ll need to keep up with the latest biomedical technological developments, and be on the lookout for startups as you apply to internships and jobs. Many biomedical engineering majors go into the field right after their undergraduate career, but some careers will require a license, especially in the government. Graduate school is also an option. This will afford you the opportunity to hone your skills even further and delve deeper into a particular subfield of biomedical engineering. The prerequisites often align so that medical school is also an option for these majors. Though less common, students can also go on to business school, where they can delve into the corporate aspects of the biomedical field, or law school, where they can learn more about medical technology policies and patent law. Popular career paths for this major center densely in the field of biomedical engineering; however, within this subject are a host of career possibilities. Most of these job prospects center around improving medical care for patients and lowering the cost of existing technologies by making them more efficiently. Biomedical engineers can go into research, materials development, manufacturing, rehabilitation engineering, and technological advancement. Because both the medical and technological field are both growing exponentially, the biomedical engineering field is also experiencing rapid growth. As more advancements are made, these engineers are able to solve issues in order to increase people’s lifespan and improve their quality of life. Biomedical engineering requires hands-on components for students to receive a well-rounded education that adequately prepares them for the field. You’ll want to be working with cutting-edge tools and novel equipment to gain a solid understanding of where the industry is headed. Look into the quality of laboratories and equipment at prospective schools and see what sparks your interest. For example, the University of Vermont lists out its BME equipment, which includes cell culture incubators and compound microscopes. As you look for ways to continue your education over the summer, you’ll probably consider pursuing internships at biomedical or tech companies. It is imperative that you research what resources the school has in place for professional development. For example, do they have mentorship programs or biomedical-specific career fairs? Are the professors well-connected in the industry? Is the school located in a biomedical tech hub, such as Northern California or D.C.? Many schools require biomedical engineering students to create and complete a senior capstone project. This is usually a group effort, where you’ll be able to apply what you’ve learned during undergrad to a hands-on project with several peers. Through this capstone, you’ll be able to create a device that could actually revolutionize the biomedical field. Examples of previous projects include a Scoliosis Simulator (CMU ‘20), an Intra-abdominal Biodegradable Amylase Sensor (Illinois ‘19), and a Dynamic Rocking Wheelchair (Brown ‘20). School City State Texas A&M University College Station Texas Endicott College Beverly Massachusetts New Jersey Institute of Technology | NJIT Newark New Jersey University of California, Riverside | UC Riverside Riverside California University of California, Irvine | UC Irvine Irvine California Central Michigan University | CMU Mount Pleasant Michigan Colorado State University | CSU Fort Collins Colorado North Carolina State University | NC State Raleigh North Carolina Clemson University Clemson South Carolina University of Connecticut | UConn Storrs Connecticut Trinity College Hartford Connecticut Michigan Technological University | Michigan Tech Houghton Michigan University of California, San Diego | UCSD La Jolla California Rowan University Glassboro New Jersey Arizona State University | ASU Tempe Arizona Northwestern University Evanston Illinois University of Hartford West Hartford Connecticut University of California, Santa Cruz | UCSC Santa Cruz California University of North Texas | UNT Denton Texas University of Memphis Memphis Tennessee Gannon University Erie Pennsylvania Pennsylvania State University | PSU University Park Pennsylvania Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | RHIT Terre Haute Indiana California Polytechnic State University | Cal Poly San Luis Obispo California University of Vermont | UVM Burlington Vermont Grand Canyon University | GCU Phoenix Arizona Milwaukee School of Engineering | MSOE Milwaukee Wisconsin Purdue University West Lafayette Indiana University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan Rutgers University-New Brunswick | Rutgers New Brunswick New Jersey Messiah College Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania University of Houston Houston Texas Rice University Houston Texas Dordt College Sioux Center Iowa George Mason University Fairfax Virginia Mississippi State University | MSU Mississippi State Mississippi Stanford University Stanford California The State University of New York at Stony Brook | SUNY Stony Brook Stony Brook New York California Institute of Technology | Caltech Pasadena California San Diego State University | SDSU San Diego California Wentworth Institute of Technology | WIT Boston Massachusetts Tufts University Medford Massachusetts Harvard University Cambridge Massachusetts Boston University | BU Boston Massachusetts Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MIT Cambridge Massachusetts Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee Ohio State University | OSU Columbus Ohio University of Minnesota, Twin Cities | Minnesota Minneapolis Minnesota Lehigh University Bethlehem Pennsylvania The College of New Jersey | TCNJ Ewing New Jersey University of Wisconsin-Madison | Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin Cornell University Ithaca New York University of New Hampshire | UNH Durham New Hampshire Dartmouth College Hanover New Hampshire Jackson State University | JSU Jackson Mississippi Rochester Institute of Technology | RIT Rochester New York University of Rochester Rochester New York Bucknell University Lewisburg Pennsylvania Oregon State University | OSU Corvallis Oregon University of California, Davis | UC Davis Davis California University of Arizona Tucson Arizona Union College (New York) Schenectady New York Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | RPI Troy New York University of Cincinnati Cincinnati Ohio Miami University Oxford Ohio University of Texas at Austin | UT Austin Austin Texas University of California, Berkeley | UC Berkeley Berkeley California Walla Walla University College Place Washington Washington State University | WSU Pullman Washington University of Massachusetts Dartmouth | UMass Dartmouth North Dartmouth Massachusetts Worcester Polytechnic Institute | WPI Worcester Massachusetts Tulane University New Orleans Louisiana George Fox University | GFU Newberg Oregon University of Louisville Louisville Kentucky University of Arkansas Fayetteville Arkansas University of Virginia | UVA Charlottesville Virginia Marquette University Milwaukee Wisconsin University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | UWM Milwaukee Wisconsin Western New England University | WNE Springfield Massachusetts University of Pittsburgh | Pitt Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Duquesne University Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Carnegie Mellon University | CMU Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Johns Hopkins University | JHU Baltimore Maryland San Jose State University | SJSU San Jose California Santa Clara University Santa Clara California Montana State University | MSU Bozeman Montana University of Oklahoma Norman Oklahoma Georgia Institute of Technology | Georgia Tech Atlanta Georgia University of Rhode Island | URI Kingston Rhode Island Brown University Providence Rhode Island University of Florida Gainesville Florida North Carolina A&T State University | N.C. A&T Greensboro North Carolina Elon University Elon North Carolina University of Akron Akron Ohio Florida Institute of Technology | Florida Tech Melbourne Florida University of Iowa Iowa City Iowa Louisiana Tech University | La. Tech Ruston Louisiana Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis | IUPUI Indianapolis Indiana Wichita State University | WSU Wichita Kansas SUNY – College of Environmental Science and Forestry | SUNY ESF Syracuse New York Syracuse University Syracuse New York Saint Louis University | SLU Saint Louis Missouri Washington University in St. Louis | WashU Saint Louis Missouri Wayne State University | WSU Detroit Michigan University of Illinois at Chicago | UIC Chicago Illinois Illinois Institute of Technology | Illinois Tech Chicago Illinois University of California, Los Angeles | UCLA Los Angeles California Florida International University | FIU Miami Florida University of Miami Coral Gables Florida West Virginia University | WVU Morgantown West Virginia University of Colorado Denver | CU Denver Denver Colorado Colorado School of Mines | Mines Golden Colorado University of Delaware Newark Delaware Louisiana State University | LSU Baton Rouge Louisiana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | UIUC Champaign Illinois Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio University of Tennessee Knoxville Tennessee University of Texas at Arlington | UT Arlington Arlington Texas University of South Carolina | USC Columbia South Carolina University of Utah Salt Lake City Utah University of Toledo Toledo Ohio The State University of New York at Binghamton | SUNY Binghamton Vestal New York Wright State University Dayton Ohio Widener University Chester Pennsylvania Duke University Durham North Carolina University of Texas at Dallas | UT Dallas Richardson Texas University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | UNC Chapel Hill North Carolina Virginia Commonwealth University | VCU Richmond Virginia University of Pennsylvania | UPenn Philadelphia Pennsylvania Drexel University Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple University Philadelphia Pennsylvania University of Southern California | USC Los Angeles California Columbia University New York New York City College of New York | CCNY New York New York University of Texas at San Antonio | UTSA San Antonio Texas University of the Pacific Stockton California University of California, Merced | UC Merced Merced California University of Maine Orono Maine University of Washington Seattle Washington University of Alabama at Birmingham | UAB Birmingham Alabama Yale University New Haven Connecticut Fairfield University Fairfield Connecticut Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken New Jersey George Washington University | GW Washington Washington DC Catholic University of America | CUA Washington Washington DC Notice a school that’s missing? Email us and let us know! Regardless of what major you choose, you’ll want to first ensure that you’re academically comparable to the university’s previously accepted students. Most selective schools use a tool called the Academic Index to filter out applicants based on quantitative data. This is the initial “hoop” you’ll need to jump through for your entire application to be considered. Engineering programs also often have a separate essay; you may even need to apply directly to the college of engineering rather than the larger university. In high school, try to demonstrate your interest in biomedical engineering by joining related activities, such as robotics, HOSA, and volunteering in hospitals. You should also take the most advanced STEM courses possible. In addition to this, you need to ensure that the more qualitative aspects of your application match up with what the school is looking for in a candidate. Each school has a unique culture, and prioritizes different qualities. This information is usually explicitly on the school website in the form of values, or can be gleaned from a perusal of their admission materials and online presence. On your application, ensure that your extracurriculars and essays paint an accurate picture of who you are that aligns with what the college is looking for. For more insight regarding your chances of attending a particular school, we recommend using our free Chancing Engine. Unlike other admissions calculators, it takes into account a large portion of your individual profile, including academic stats and more qualitative factors like extracurriculars.
Overview of the Biomedical Engineering Major
What to Look for in a College as a Biomedical Engineering Major
Laboratory Equipment
Internship Opportunities
Senior Capstone Project
List of All U.S. Colleges With a Biomedical Engineering Major
What Are Your Chances of Acceptance?
