r/bioengineering

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!

Interesting video on the future shift from ex vivo to in vivo therapeutics.

Im going into my senior year in high school and I am wondering if I should take AP Chemistry or AP biology. It may be relevant to know that I am also taking AP calculus ab/bc. I feel confident that I would be able to score 5 on either but not both so which would be more useful?

I don't know if this has been asked here earlier, but I'm wondering if I could go for Engineering Sciences instead of specifically Biomedical Engineering. I want to be flexible with my options in case I ever change my mind about what I wanna go for later, and I don't want my knowledge to be restricted only to the narrowed range of medical engineering. However I was also wondering if this would lead to any issues later if I do decide to go for Biomedical Engineering itself. Will there be any restrictions when I later decide to go for medical engineering, after going for engineering sciences?

Hey guys, hope things are alright with you all. Here is my situation:

I am graduating this semester in Computer Science UCSD after 7 years of undergrad, thank God. I'd been derailed academically and career-wise after a health issue I endured from 2022-2024 and experiencing other things like changing majors, transferring schools, activism, and just being in a bad place for a bit. Since then, I've grown and interests have changed - my drive behind career and completing this degree differ now at 24 years old compared to when I was 19, and the environment has changed a lot in light of AI, job saturation, etc. since 2022. I don't just want to code for TikTok for money, mission and impact matter to me, and I want to get better at a skill in the same way one wishes to perfect his craft.

After working a bit now in a hospital and examining interests and current circumstances, I think I'd like to move into robotics for medical devices. My GPA took a major hit in undergrad, so it's not as easy as getting another degree to pivot into hardware etc. I believe the smart move is to use my degree and work on projects to position myself in spaces adjacent to what I'm looking for - embedded systems for example - rather than spending thousands more on a DYI postbacc to get into school again. Then, after some years in the industry, I can go back to school with greater clarity on what I wish to study and with a resume that includes my work history, not just academic history, so I'm not just evaluated as a regular student.

What types of roles should I seek to apply for if my goal is to work in biomedical devices/robotics let’s say or med tech at places such as Intuitive Surgical? What's mobility like internally - if you start as a software engineer can you take on more and more hardware/EE tasks to work up to being a systems engineer without that masters degree (for now)? And most importantly, could you recommend me where to begin in terms of projects for robotics? Any online courses/tutorials? Materials that will help me work on my own? Things I should look to build in the future? I want to develop this skill but don't know where to start, or what to do if I get stuck.

Thank you for your time looking at my case. I wish you well.

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Hi all, I am a mom looking for advice on selecting a program for my daughter. She has gotten acceptances from both Rutgers and Virginia Tech for BME. She will be in-state at Rutgers but I have Virginia is the better engineering school? Any insight you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

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I'm currently a junior in high school located in the Bay Area, California, and am particularly interested in going into neurotech jobs that involve BCIs, technology, and the brain. I would love to work with companies that bridge human consciousness and tech through implants, specifically being able to help build them or code them

However, my profile so far is mainly aimed at neuroscience and data science instead of engineering and biology, and is fairly weak compared to other students at my school aiming to get into t20s for engineering. This summer, I already have some computational biology research, EEG/Brain programs, and other neuroscience/bio-related programs lined up to try to shift my focus into the neurotech field, but I'm not sure if I'm preparing myself the right way.

I was wondering whether I should pick EE, BioE, BiomedicalE, Neuroscience, Cog sci, or any other combination as my major when applying to colleges. The problem is that if I were to apply to good schools (Berkeley, LA, SD, USC) for EE or Compsci, I would have a near 0 chance, but if I went for BioE (Bit easier) or neuroscience (much easier), I would have a higher chance and thus get my degree from a better school. My parents are immigrants (Indian), and they are totally freaked out by the "small and bare" job market that would come right after college with a major in neuroscience or bioE, and want me to go to a mid school for EE or MechE. I was also thinking that I could minor in EE, but I'm not sure how that works.

My overall goal is to potentially work in Neurotech with a bachelor's or master's degree, so I'm torn about which path to pursue. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

Hello fellow lab rats,

I will be completing my PhD in Biomolecular Engineering in the next 3-6 months from a US school. IYKYK. I have primarily been researching PEG nanoparticles and immune response to them.

I am exploring career options outside of academia, and the 'typical' molecular biology PhD pipeline. I am trying to get a better idea of what other science careers look like outside of pipettes and papers.

So I ask you ... what did you love/hate about your PhD? What career are you in, Science Policy, MSL, Regulatory, etc.? and why do you like it? Because science is global ... Did you stay in/move to the states? Would you relocate to another country? why?

Thank-you for all of your wisdom!

Hi all, I don’t know if this is the right place to post. But I was wondering for the career path I would like to pursue, would it be advantageous to do a PhD or MBA?

For context, I have recently graduated from a renowned midwestern engineering school (think UIUC, UMich, Purdue) with my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and my Masters in Biomedical Engineering (from same school). I am currently working for a surgical robotics startup as a robotics engineer (more on the mechanical design /systems eng. side) for 3 months now and I really do enjoy the work! However, for my future goals, I would eventually like to work in corporate strategy, M&A, or VC for large MedTech companies, where my technical background would be useful for acquisitions and investments into other companies.

I have previously interned at two very large medical device companies for more than a year combined, so I have an idea in how these larger companies work and how the medical device industry works in general. I also know I’m very early on in my career, but I would appreciate some guidance so I don’t end up doing a PhD too late into my life if I wanted to.

My reasons for doing a PhD would be to also get further into the bleeding edge of medical device technology and continue doing R&D but within an academic setting. I would ideally concentrate my PhD towards Surgical Robotics, Wearables, or BCIs and focus primarily on Sensor Integration and Signal Processing.

However, I already have a pretty good job and the future goals (Corp. Strategy, M&A, and VC) I mentioned would be my end goal of an ideal career for me. Looking for some advice on this, thanks!

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A few years ago, I discovered Zeyner through his videos on genetic editing.

My question is, Is there a group or something, where enthusiasts with home lab are trying to achieve in vivo genome editing?

I know that is dangerous, but the technology is new and there are always a few crazy people