r/BiomedicalEngineers

Hey everyone, need some urgent perspective on a stressful grad school situation.

Applied late to a top-tier US MS program in Bioengineering due to portal errors. The Director liked my medical device startup profile (8+ months in core R&D/prototyping), manually approved my application, and offered an interview.

But after some scheduling glitches, he sent me this exact mail today:

"Before signing up, can you confirm that the financial burden of the cost of Rice is something that you can manage? The tuition is $59,100 and if the financial fit isn't there, we shouldn't proceed with an interview."

I haven't replied yet because I'm stuck in a major dilemma:

The Guilt: I really want an academic comeback and don't want to settle. I already have an interview scheduled with Vanderbilt, and I'm waiting on UCL. If I say "yes" to this Director just to get the interview, but later decline for other universities or due to visa/funding issues, will I permanently burn a bridge since he went out of his way for me?

The Age Anxiety: I am turning 24 now. If I drop/defer and join next year, I’ll be 25. I feel "too old" for an MS, even though I'll have 2 solid years of core BME R&D experience by then. The cohort consists of mostly fresh grads.

The Red Flag?: Is it normal for a top program to explicitly gatekeep an interview behind a tuition confirmation like this, or are they just trying to fill empty seats?

TL;DR: Director manually approved my late MS application but wants a $59k tuition confirmation before interviewing. Want to say yes as a backup, but feeling immense guilt because of my other interviews and feeling "too old" at 24/25. Help!

Hi! I am considering getting my master's in biomedical engineering - however my BS is in Physiology (graduated in 2020) and I have little to no actual engineering course experience. Do you think it would be feasible for me to get into a program/the engineering field if I did pre-req work solely in Calculus and Basic Coding? Or would it be better to go back to square one and get an associates or bachelors in engineering? Thanks for your advice!

Hi everyone,

I’m feeling really lost and honestly a bit overwhelmed right now, so I’d really appreciate any honest advice.

I studied Biomedical Engineering in my home country. The program I studied was not very programming-focused. When I compare my course syllabus with Canadian programs, it honestly looks closer to BMET than a typical BME degree here. But after graduation, I didn’t get much hands-on practical experience in electronics, troubleshooting, repair, or hospital equipment maintenance. In my country, there were not many real BMET/medical equipment repair jobs in hospitals, so I ended up working in medical equipment sales because that was the available path.

Later, I moved to Canada and completed an MBA. I tried to apply for sales/business roles here too, but sales in Canada feels very competitive, and my English is not fully fluent enough yet for strong sales positions. Deep down, I’ve always been more interested in BMET, hospital service, and Field Service Engineer roles.

The problem is that I don’t feel confident with practical electronics or hands-on repair skills. I’ve been applying for BMET and Field Service roles for a while, but I’m not getting results. I’m 35 now, and I feel like I still haven’t found my path. It’s honestly very stressful and discouraging.

Some people told me that if I really want to get into BMET in Canada, I may need to go back to college because Canadian employers often prefer candidates with local BMET/biomedical engineering technology training and co-op experience.

I recently applied to the Biomedical Engineering Technology program at Centennial College. The program has a work placement/co-op in the middle of the studies, but I’m still not sure if it will really help me get a job or not. After the placement, I would still need to return to school and finish the program. At my age, I’m wondering if going back to college is the right decision or if it’s too risky.

I feel very confused. I don’t know whether I should:

• keep applying for entry-level BMET/Field Service roles,
• go back to college for a Canadian BMET diploma,
• try to improve my hands-on electronics skills on my own,
• or choose another career path related to healthcare/medical devices.

Has anyone here entered BMET or Field Service in Canada later in life, especially with an international biomedical engineering background?

Do you think going back to college with co-op is worth it for someone in my situation?

I’d really appreciate any realistic advice, especially from BMETs, Field Service Engineers, biomedical engineering technologists, or anyone who has hired for these roles in Canada.

Thank you so much. I’m just trying to make the right decision and not waste more time.

Hello, I recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, and I’ve been feeling somewhat disillusioned about my direction after graduation. I do want to continue gaining experience within the field and potentially pursue further education in the future, but I’ve realized that many of the areas that initially interested me seem heavily focused on wet lab research, which I do not see myself enjoying long term.

I was wondering if there are other areas within biomedical engineering that are less research/wet-lab focused, but still have strong job opportunities and room for career growth. I’m especially interested in paths that are more industry-oriented, device-focused, technical, or interdisciplinary rather than biology-heavy laboratory work.

I would really appreciate any advice on realistic entry-level paths, industries, or roles that might align better with this.

Just curious on when people graduated. What was their first job post grad? If they went to grad school? And just people’s journey after their degree?

Hello,
So I received my BS in molecular cell bio and physiology and currently go to Brown U for master in biomedical engineering w/thesis which just started.

I want to get into aerospace engineering or do something different but not get into medicine.

I didn’t think I would get admitted for aero or other engineering so I just chose something that was closer to my major. I just want to know what are things to do now to make me stand out so I can get hired after my masters. Any recommendations.

Frankly, I feel like the market for biotech engineering isn't that amazing in comparison with BME.
Pharmaceuticals pay bioengineers a very bad salary and I feel like my education aligns more with being an application engineer at a lab equipment manufacturer.
But still it takes at least a year of looking around to find this kind of position.
Therefore, I am considering a second masters in BME instrumentation in order to become a hybrid profile: application/service engineer and I think from examining market trends this kind of combined profile is exponentially better than the sum of the two masters. What do you think?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently finishing my degree in Biomedical Engineering and I’m considering doing a Master’s in Neuroengineering.

I’m looking for programmes that are not too long, ideally 1 year and maximum 1.5 years. I’m especially interested in options related to neurotechnology, neural engineering, brain-computer interfaces, medical devices, or computational neuroscience.

Do you have any recommendations for universities or programmes in Europe or elsewhere? I’d also appreciate any advice from people who have studied Neuroengineering or moved into this field from Biomedical Engineering.

Thanks in advance!

I’m currently a nurse but I want a different career path. Just something new in the medical field. Anyways, how was your experience in school and what type of job do you have now? Any advice?

So basically what the title says. I'm currently in the third year of my undergrad in Chemical Engineering and I'm looking to make the switch over to Biomedical Engineering for my graduate studies. I wasn't sure if it would be worth taking a year or two off to get some sort of work experience and then enrolling in a graduate program, or if I should just jump straight into doing my master's program.

All my undergraduate research portfolio and my thesis work are lining up in the Biomedical sector, if that's worth anything, and I've been internshipless if that also helps. I'm honestly just super torn between the two and I know that I need to start looking into specific grad schools and trying to make connections ASAP if that's the case.

I don’t even know where to begin, but I just want to write this somewhere.

I graduated with my Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering in May 2025 in the US. Like everyone else, I had dreams. I thought graduation would finally be the beginning of everything I worked for.

I stayed back and kept applying for opportunities till December 2025.

Every single day was applications, resume edits, recruiter calls, LinkedIn messages, hope, rejection, silence, repeat.

Watching friends slowly get jobs while you stay stuck does something to you mentally.

But I still didn’t give up.

Then my health collapsed.

I got diagnosed with MCTD. Suddenly life became hospital visits, medications, weakness, pain, swelling, steroids, fear, and uncertainty. Everything I had planned for years started falling apart in months.

My family wanted me back home because things were getting serious.

So I traveled back alone.

That journey is something I don’t think people around me fully understand.

I was already physically weak. Mentally exhausted. Carrying the feeling that maybe I failed after all the sacrifices my parents made.

And then the world around me was in chaos.

War tensions.

Flight cancellations.

Uncertainty everywhere.

Waiting in airports not knowing if I would even make it home smoothly.

Trying to stay calm while feeling completely broken inside.

I somehow reached home in April 2026.

Now I’m back in India, recovering slowly, trying to rebuild life from zero while watching the life I imagined disappear in front of me.

No job yet.

Health still unstable.

Confidence shaken.

Dreams delayed.

But one thing is still alive inside me:

I will not stop.

I did not survive all this just to quit now.

Maybe my path looks different from everyone else’s.

Maybe I’m slower right now.

Maybe life hit me harder than I expected.

But I’m still here.

Still applying.

Still trying.

Still fighting.

And honestly, sometimes surviving itself is an achievement.

If anyone else feels left behind in life right now — you’re not alone.

I’m a biology/biochemistry student who also got heavily into electronics/embedded systems (ESP32, sensors, troubleshooting, calibration, basic circuitry).

Recently I realized I’m much more interested in scientific instrumentation than I expected. Not just using devices, but understanding complex systems deeply and eventually becoming “the person” for a specific instrument/workflow.

I noticed that people who go very deep into things like mass spectrometry, sequencing, microscopy, biosensors, etc. often end up building surprisingly strong careers around that expertise.

So my question is:

How realistic is this path actually?

Can someone intentionally grow into a specialist around complex scientific instrumentation by combining biology + electronics/embedded skills, or does the industry mostly separate “biology people” and “engineering people” into different worlds?

At the end of the day biomedical engineers are people using engineering principles applied to biomedical problems. Some have a background in biomedical engineering, others in traditional engineering, others aren't engineers at all but have a degree in science (biology, chemistry, physics, math, computer science, etc...)

A biomedical engineer in medical robotics doesn't need much biology at all. On the flipside some biomedical engineers basically become biotecnologists in grad school working in wet labs. Someone doing biomaterials might use more chemistry and less electrical engineering principles than someone in imaging. Math is a powerful tool but a few engineers might forget half of their programs as they mostly rely on statistics and linear algebra while others (bio fluid dynamics) won't shut up about Navier-Stokes equations.

Bioengineering is even worse. Bioengineering is used for environmental engineering, environmental biotechnology (waste water treatment, bacteria and other microorganisms for bioremediation, mathematical modeling of pollutants), but also for genetic engineering (which, again, not really engineering besides the name), but some journals publish electrical engineering research as well because sometimes it's used interchangeably for biomedical engineering so while usually people would tell you bioengineering is the more science thing while biomedical does prosthetics and medical devices, it's not always true.

Now I understand why biomedical engineers have an hard time getting jobs. Your title doesn't mean shit by itself, it's the experience that matters. A mechanical engineer will work in medical devices because they know mechanical principles and can take an elective in biomedical to learn the basics of anatomy for biomechanics or organs like the heart to make models or design a valve, but a biomedical engineer? Some school, especially ABET accredited ones, give you some basics classes of various engineering fields, others specialize in one from the start (electrical and biomedical, mechanical and biomedical, chemical/material and biomedical) and some make you take immunology, genetics and other things that make you end up as an hybrid. Grad school also accepts people from different backgrounds and the requirements aren't as hard to meet as traditional engineering degrees, a biologist taking calculus 3 might get in even if they don't have the electrical knowledge because the program is focused on tissue engineering, but the title is still "biomedical engineering master/PhD".

Anyways just wanted to yap about it. I'm combining biomedical with mechanical, at least to have better prospects for job applications (like automotive, aerospace, energy, nuclear, sales, manufacturing) because I don't have a lot of medical device companies nearby me, and I see other biomedical engineers going to pharma, med school, grad school, because a bachelor often doesn't cut it. I guess that's the curse of being a "jack of all trades master of none", which is funny, because while it is true you have plenty of knowledge most of it is specialized in biomedical problems, meanwhile mechanical engineering is specialized in mechanics (so no advanced electrical or computer or chemical work) but more generalist, can be applied to most things, even in civil and structural engineering, chemical and process engineering, material science, energy and nuclear, naval architecture and, yes, also biomedical engineering.

I'm about to start a Bachelor's in Computer Science but I was thinking of switching to a degree that'll allow me to work in Biomedical/Tissue Engineering. I was wondering what the best undergraduate degree would be?

I am currently at a crossroad where I have the choice between pursuing an accelerated masters in biomedical engineering (1 year, post grad) or accepting a full time offer from a biotech company to be an analytical development associate. I’m very interested in becoming a pharmaceutical engineer, maybe working in process development? But I’m not sure which option would be better to get there. I feel dumb for not accepting a full time offer in this economy, but at the same time, I’m not sure if that job is the best option for my future career goals. I like my team (I have interned there before), but I definitely felt more like a scientist than an engineer with the tasks I was doing. Along with that, the pay is really not great. Would I be able to get a job much more aligned with the career that I want if I were to pursue a masters? Similarly, if I turn down this job to complete my masters, what if I have no job options after? A job is better than no job? I’m not sure, I guess I’m just looking for advice.

Hey I have just finished my school

Now I'll be applying to a university which has BTech in biomedical engineering and in india there are very few options in government only iit Hyderabad and not rourkela have this course and for private college SRM, VIT, UPES ETC have the course and I am not sure which university to apply to

Is it okay to do my btech from India

I was thinking of doing the same course from South Korean university

Please give me some guidance

And moreover I m new to biomedical engineering can you guys give me some advices as well.....

I'll be really grateful

Want to pursue Biomed Engineering Bachelor next year
Experts in this domain could you please tell me a little about yourself? How did you end up in this domain, how hard were the years for you, how were the internships and how easy was it for you to find a job?
Also if there are any Biomed Engineers from Moldova or Romania here can you tell me if there is actual demand for the specialists? Is it easy/hard to find a job there or is there need to move to the EU/USA?
Thanks

Hi! I am a second year BME undergrad student. Summer break is ongoing and I really wanted to figure out what I can do/learn for myself.

Right now, I am doing certifications in ML and biosensor fabrication, and I'm planning to do one in AI for biomedical applications as well. My current interests mainly lie in neuroscience, neurotech, and rehabilitation robotics.

I’ve been struggling to find internships, cold emailing hasn’t worked very well, and I’m not really sure where I should be applying. Are there any freelancing or project-based opportunities I could pursue with my current skills?

I’ve also designed some concepts/sketches with proper scaling, and I’m wondering whether learning CAD software or Blender would be more useful for my field.

Any sort of inputs and advice would be appreciated to help out this confused (and slightly frustrated) student 😭

I honestly thought troubleshooting medical equipment would mostly be about understanding the systems and fixing faults.
But one thing I didn’t expect was how much time gets wasted just trying to find information. Not even the repair itself. The information.

Searching for service manuals.
Trying to decode error codes.
Digging through 300-page PDFs for one paragraph.
Finding outdated versions.
Jumping between manufacturer sites, old forum posts, random repositories, and archived documents.

And somehow even after finding the manual, you still spend forever trying to locate the exact thing you need. Sometimes the equipment downtime isn’t because the issue is difficult. It’s because the information workflow is terrible.

I’m curious if others here experience this too or if my workflow is just bad. What’s your actual process when troubleshooting equipment, you’re unfamiliar with?

Based in the UK but open to all advice. Would be interesting getting an additional perspective. I did a BME masters but have been in Sales (grad scheme) for going on 3 years, it’s been cool and insightful but think it’s time I enter the field I studied for. Not really sure where to start and what jobs are available, priorities are defo pay and hybrid work. Kinda want a clue as to what I need to up-skill in before I’m applying and what’s even out there I’ve seen some stuff about QE, R&D etc but a comprehensive list ?

Curious about hearing some of the more niche/interesting roles and industries people have ended up in and what that journey looked like!

I don’t usually use Reddit but thanks for any help!