A Freshman's Guide to BME

By Dhaval Desai and Andrew Wentland

Biomedical engineering is a selective major. More students apply for the major than there are available spots. About 40 students are admitted every fall semester. To gain admission, do well in your classes. Taking more difficult classes will also help you. Since a lot of students will apply to get into the BME department, the average first semester GPA of an applicant is usually around 3.5-3.8.

Ideally, freshmen should apply in the second semester of their first year. The application deadline is in early March. The application process consists of two phases. In the first phase, the admission committee reviews the overall academic standing of the applicant. If the applicant is in good academic standing, he or she will be required to write an essay describing his or her interest in biomedical engineering. Begin thinking about this early. Biomedical engineering is difficult and is considered by the UW Medical School to be the second most difficult major, second only to chemical engineering (biochemistry is in third place). You will receive notice of your admission to BME in June or July.

If you are not admitted after your freshman year, you can apply again in the fall semester of your second year. If you do this, you can get into the department in the spring semester of your second year. The department accepts around 15 students at this time. Admittance is still competitive.

About a third of students graduating from biomedical engineering enter medical school, another third enter graduate school for a PhD, and the final third enter industry. The curriculum of the major satisfies all pre-med requirements.

The following will help guide you through your first year in college, should you consider applying to biomedical engineering. Good luck!

In The Beginning:

If you are interested in BME, you should first browse through the BME website. Peruse the website to get a general feel of what BME is all about. Look at the courses, the curriculum, and the research carried out by BME faculty. If it won’t compromise your studies, consider obtaining a research or lab position on campus.

September:

Consider getting involved in the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). Although it’s not required, the admissions committee for BME will consider whether or not you’ve been active in BMES. The first BMES meeting typically falls on the second Wednesday of each semester. You can learn a lot about BME by talking with members of BMES. Also, the officers of BMES are typically upperclassmen in BME who will be willing to help you with any questions or concerns you might have with BME. These people are quite affable and they know what it is like to be a freshman faced with so many choices. Feel free to check out the BMES website for information on meetings, events, etc.

Also, feel free to e-mail any officer with your questions; their e-mail addresses can be found here: http://www.engr.wisc.edu/studentorgs/bmes/officers.htm

Although it’s rather difficult for freshmen, try to obtain an internship for the summer after your freshman year. Engineering Career Services (http://ecs.engr.wisc.edu) holds a career fair in the second or third week of each semester. Even if you’re not looking for an internship, you may want to begin speaking with industry representatives to begin networking. This will help you to gain an internship or co-op later in your academic career.

Also, consider visiting the UW Student Job Center (http://www.jobcenter.wisc.edu/) to look for lab positions. Oftentimes students who work in labs eventually receive their own research projects.

Medical schools take into heavy consideration how you spend your summers. It will be to your advantage to obtain an internship, research position, or lab position early on.

November:

In November you will be required to attend a BME freshman advising session. You will not be able to register for spring classes until you attend such a session. These advising sessions are run by Bonnie Schmidt (schmidt@engr.wisc.edu). Bonnie commonly brings 1-2 BME upperclassmen to answer your questions.

You will also be registering for your classes in November. For admission into BME, you should take at least Zoology 151-152 (not Zoology 101-102).You may want to consider taking the Biocore sequence (http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/biocore/). Applications for Biocore are due in early spring; the Biocore sequence begins in the fall semester every year.

Years to come:

As a BME student, be prepared to do a lot of designing. Every BME student takes a design course each semester for three years. To learn more about design courses, visit the BME website or talk to a BME student. You will also be expected to specialize in one of the following fields: Bioinstrumentation, Medical Imaging, Biocomputing, Biomaterials, Health Factors, or Biomechanics. Again, to learn more about these specializations, visit the BME website.