r/bioengineering

Hi all! Undergrad here trying to understand what motivates those of you working in applied neuro / bioengineering fields (neural prosthetics, gene therapy, BCI, etc.).

I’m currently considering entering one of these fields, but I’m struggling with motivation for the following reason:

- Most research areas already have lots of groups (10+) working on closely related problems. Because of that, it feels like most individual contributions are incremental at best. For example, even if a new researcher were to join and make a breakthrough, it feels like that breakthrough would probably have occurred anyways, meaning that all they did was shift the timeline a few months forward maybe.

If that’s even roughly true, I’m struggling to understand what actually motivates people to work in these fields long-term.

Some answers I can think of are:

* deep-seated curiosity for the underlying science

* interest in the work itself (working with neural interfaces, gene editing tools, etc.)

For people doing very applied research, what are your primary motivations? Is it something similar to above (curiosity, passion for the work)? Or something else?

Would really appreciate honest perspectives.

High school junior here...

I got really into biomedical engineering and decided that's what I wanted to pursue for undergrad.

However, as I look on r/BiomedicalEngineers it started to concern me about the lack of job opportunities people have out of undergrad.

I'm not particularly interested in R&D...I kind of want to do more of clinical engineering or quality engineering. Should I still do BME or should I look into other engineering fields that are more reliable?

My GPA is pretty mediocre I have an unweighted 94.7 (about a 3.74), no crazy awards or APs really.

If I should, what colleges do you recommend?

Am I overthinking this? Thank you for reading/helping!

Hi everyone. I am from India. I am going to complete my bachelors this year and had planned to go to switzerland for higher studies in biomedical engineering. I want to know the terms and conditions for a non EU student to get admission into swiss universities with monthly stipend in merit. I also want to know the competitiveness in securing phd in this field. Please kindly reply if anyone knows about it

Hey everyone! I'm an Indian international student finishing up my IB this year with acceptances from several US schools for engineering/BME. I'm also waitlisted at UC Berkeley and NYU Tandon. Would love input from alumni, current students, or anyone who's researched these programs seriously.

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**My profile:**

- Biomedical engineering background: family health context, built a tremor sensor, developed a wearable mood-tracking app, interned at a health-tech company

- Long-term goal: strong industry placements in biomedical/biotech, then a top masters after some work experience

- I want genuine rigor but NOT a cutthroat, hyper-competitive environment

- I'm an extrovert — social life and campus culture genuinely matter to me

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**Schools I'm deciding between:**

1. **UIUC** — Engineering undeclared (#5 engineering, #14 BME)

2. **UW Seattle** — Engineering undeclared (#21 engineering, #16 BME)

3. **UW Madison** — Biomedical Engineering (#14 engineering, #25 BME)

4. **Northeastern** — Engineering undeclared (co-op program is a big draw)

5. **BU** — BME (#14 BME, Boston)

6. **Case Western** — Engineering undeclared (#17 BME)

7. **UCSD** — Cognitive Sciences (note: not an engineering admit here)

8. **Purdue Indianapolis** — BME

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**What I'm weighing (my priority order):**

Happiness with coursework > placements into industry > flexibility within the program > campus life > rigor > safety > rankings

**On flexibility:** This is a real sticking point for me. I personally want flexibility within engineering (so I can explore before committing to BME). My family prefers schools that offer flexibility across the whole university. Happy to hear thoughts on which schools do either of these well.

**Family's view:** Parents lean UIUC or UW Seattle — both weight rankings and placements highly.

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**Specific questions:**

1. UIUC vs UW Seattle vs UW Madison — which is genuinely best for BME/bioengineering outcomes? UW Madison is a direct BME admit with a strong ranking (#14 engineering) — is the certainty of the major worth choosing it over the flexibility of undeclared at UIUC or UW Seattle?

2. Is Northeastern's co-op program worth the ranking drop vs the top three above?

3. How cutthroat is UIUC really? Is it manageable for someone who wants rigor but not misery?

4. BU BME vs Case Western BME — which places better into industry?

5. Is Purdue Indianapolis worth serious consideration, or should I deprioritise it?

Thanks so much — especially keen to hear from people with direct experience at these schools!

I’m starting to feel uncertain about my chances of finding a job after graduating with a BS in bioengineering. I’m considering pursuing a master’s degree to improve my employability, but I’m open to fields outside of bioengineering as well.

What master’s programs would you recommend that have strong job prospects and practical career outcomes? Ideally, I’m looking for something that builds on my background but also makes me more competitive in the job market.

Any advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated.

Hi, I am a software quality engineer with some years of experience, and I have decided to pursue the dream I left behind years ago. I want to focus on the connection between the mind, physiology, and technology. I am interested in robotics, but many other areas have caught my eye, such as AI, neural networks, and neural links.

I want to start studying bioengineering at a university in my city, and then specialize.

I am pretty new to this world and am looking for advice on where to start, as well as resources, books, or podcasts to embed myself in this knowledge without losing my mind, the quantity of information is a bit overwhelming hehehe

I’m trying to figure out whether MBSE (Materials & Biomaterials Science and Engineering) or Bioengineering makes more sense for me, and I’d really appreciate some honest advice.

I’m currently a CSE major (switched from bio about ~1.5 years ago) with a ~3.5 GPA. My academic background is kind of mixed:

• Strong in biology and chemistry (straight As, had the highest grade in a ~300 student Gen Chem II class)
• Inconsistent in math (A-/B range, but I really enjoyed discrete math and vector calc)
• Weaker in core CS theory (mostly B range, some A-)

My university offers direct admission into Master’s programs in Materials & Biomaterials Science and Engineering (MBSE) and Bioengineering for CSE majors, so I’m seriously considering going that route.

Right now I’m in a lab doing molecular dynamics simulations. I also did a data science internship at LLNL where I worked on data cleaning/preprocessing for a pathogen spread modeling project using ArcGIS, which I really enjoyed.

Over time I’ve realized I tend to enjoy:

• CAD / design-type work
• Spatial/system tools like ArcGIS
• Hands-on lab/experimental work

I don’t mind coding, but I don’t see myself in a pure CS/software-focused career. I’m much more interested in using coding as a tool within a broader engineering or scientific context.

I’m currently deciding between:

• Materials & Biomaterials Science and Engineering (MBSE)
• Bioengineering

What draws me to each:

• MBSE: real-world systems (energy, environment, materials in applications) and more tangible engineering problems
• Bioengineering: strong interest in biology/chemistry, hands-on work, and areas like biomaterials or biomedical devices that combine experiments with some computational work

My goals:

• Get into research relatively easily
• Be able to land a stable job after an MS (open to doing a PhD if it makes sense)
• Work on tangible, real-world problems (ideally involving some design or systems thinking)

My main questions:

• Does having a CSE undergrad hurt me for materials or bioengineering jobs?
• Between MBSE and BioE, which tends to have better entry-level opportunities with just an MS?
• Is one path significantly harder to transition into from my background?

I’m also a bit concerned about the CS job market and don’t see myself pursuing pure software roles long-term.

Would really appreciate hearing from people who:

• went into industry after an MS (not just PhD)
• or transitioned from CS into engineering fields

What would you do in my position?

By some miracle I got accepted into the SIMR bioengineering internship program!! Is there anyone who has done this experience in the past or is taking it this summer as well? there isnt a lot of information about it online and it's a bit different from the other institutions SIMR offers. Pls lmk if anyone knows anything :)

Hi everyone!

I am a Senior UX Architect with over 10 years of experience and degree in Cybernetics. I’m currently working on a deep concept for next-generation bioreactor software (focusing on cell therapy and tissue engineering).

I know how powerful but often painfully outdated laboratory software can be. My goal is to design an architecture that actually respects your time and reduces cognitive load.

To be absolutely clear: I am NOT seeking any proprietary research data, formulas, or confidential project details. Please keep your NDAs safe! I am strictly interested in the usability and information architecture challenges you face.

If you work with these systems daily, I would value your perspective on:

1. Redundancies & Extra Steps: What are the most annoying UI/UX redundancies or unnecessary complexities in the software you use daily that you would like to see changed or combined?
2. Alert Fatigue: Have you experienced issues with critical alerts or alarms being visually indistinguishable from routine system notifications?
3. Data Fragmentation: How many different screens or separate programs do you typically need to monitor to understand the current state of a batch?
4. Structural Change: If you could fundamentally change one aspect of the information layout in your current software, what would it be?

Thank you for your time and for sharing your expertise to help make laboratory software more intuitive and efficient.

Hi to everybody. I am proceeding with the analysis of data coming from HD-MEA recordings. During the spike detection analysis I have to set parameters such as peak lifetime period, refractory period and also filter parameter, high pass or band pass filter, selecting a specific cut off, and also some filters such as IIR or FIR. My aim is to collect the action potential shpaes that have to be align at the same point. Sometimes the algorithm is not able to precisely assign the negative peak and take a peak just before or after the real peak. I have a biological background and if someone of you can help me in understaing how to use these filter to I will be very grateful.

I have no college experience, but I do work in the medical field and I’m also trans. Bottom surgery (and other GRS) has come a long way but the limitations of getting in with a skilled surgeon, coverage, the inconsistency with surgical outcomes, and the amount of complications is really disappointing. I haven’t had bottom surgery yet, but one day I will. I want to help make that part of healthcare better in some way. I’m studying for the accuplacer exam (I took the ACT 5 years ago) so I can get into college. I feel like this is really niche and was just wondering if anyone had any advice. I know there is already some advances for vaginoplasty like tissue engineering but obviously it’s not routinely used, and I don’t know much about it. I just feel strongly that I should do something in this as I have my own personal hardships with gender affirming care.

Hey, as the title suggests, I'm narrowing down my grad school decision from my acceptances and was wondering if anyone has any experience and/or advice with any of the above programs.

Hi all, starting to prep for my final year dissertation.

I really really love tissue engineering, next year I'm planning on doing a masters then PhD, aiming to end up in academia.

Issue is I'm struggling to narrow down the areas to base my diss on because (almost) everything sounds so interesting.

Any suggestions from you guys for potential areas I could look into would be really appreciated, anything is game, so long as it's mostly wet lab :)

tysm!