My team at Atlas helps future premeds choose the right path and build applications for it, including BS/MD. Book a free strategy call and we'll look at where your application stands: https://atlaseducation.co/yt-bme-trap

100% real. Currently a BME premed at Cornell. Taking way more bio and chem than any engineer, but way more physics and math than any premed. We learn pretty much everything but not enough to do anything with it

Biomedical/Mechanical engineering graduate from USC way back in 1990, now an MD. GPA was definitely lower applying to med school but MCAT were higher. For me it was worth the extra work and effort!😅

I am a mechanical engineer who became an Orthopaedic surgeon. I will recommend majoring in something that you like and that gives you good options and do just minimum medical school requirements in order to apply to medical school. This is very important if you find that you do not like becoming a doctor or if you simply can not get into medical school. Being biology major is not a major career builder..

That’s so crazy b/c I was currently debating between BME pre med and biology pre med routes for my upcoming course registration at my college. The only reason I was headed into BME was because of the security, but now looking at load of extra work I might have to put along with med school applications, I might not pursue it. Thank you so much for posting this video!

I agree with this for the most part, but with one very very specific exception. If you find that the Carle Illinois College of Medicine in Champaign Illinois is your ideal school, then BME is an ideal major because the mission of that school is to “to educate exceptional physician-innovators to deliver high-value, compassionate healthcare through transformative solutions developed at the intersection of engineering, science, and medicine.” It’s the only med school I’ve seen here in the U.S. that requires calc 3, diff eq, and linear algebra. The biomedical engineering degree may actually be really useful if you want to go to that school.

Also, as a D.O. Student, I appreciate you mentioning us! While I think more people know what we are now, I still have to explain it a lot, so it was nice to get some recognition!

Thank you for this. Actually insanely specific and accurate to my exact situation right now.

Bro took 9 days to find a new seating spot

Easy way to get an A in organic chemistry and other difficult "weed-out" courses: take a light course load. Take summer courses or graduate in five years instead of four years. Then you can get all your A's and have time to master the MCATS. Then you not only will look great on paper, but you will also thoroughly learn some basic concepts that will help you in medical school.

Thank you so much for posting this, I was really confused on whether BME could or could not be the right path (or the best path) for me. I'm so happy. Thanks for removing that confusion.

Retired physician here. Strongly agree with the comments about shadowing and evaluating whether you really want to be a doctor before starting college. Medicine is no fun. If you are looking at it from the perspective of making money, do something else. If you want prestige, do something else. If you want independence, do something else. If what you want is to make the lives of other people better, even though they will hate you for it, medicine is a consideration.

I think the underlying assumption behind this argument might be flawed, a lot of people may pursue BME for other reasons than it being purely a backup plan to medical school. One being the absolute beautiful research opportunities provided or the inherent capacity for innovation being a BME affords you. Many of my peers do not view it as a backup plan but a way to deepen their path to medical school. Additionally, the difficulty of the course load trains your brain to endure hard things and I think if you can reflect on your nontraditional path to medical school in a meaningful way, it can also act as an asset. I also think BME offers people a way of thinking about the world that other majors will not offer you and a familiarity with extremely rigorous coursework. I think, yes, it is harder definitively to be BME as a premed, but are you the type of person to shy away from a challenge or chase after it, are you the type of person who seeks out innovation and curiosity in their endeavors or wants an easier route? These are all questions to consider when choosing your path to medical school, and while you offer anecdotal evidence, I would like to counter this with my own experience as pre-med BME. I think you are discounting the personal growth, skillset, and curious attitude that enduring the rigor of a BME curriculum offers you. Compared to the average BME courses, your typical "weed-out" courses like Ochem are much easier. I think BME makes everything else in life easier, including applying to medical school and studying for the MCAT. Moreover, it teaches you not to complain as much. Absolutely, what you are saying makes sense, but you make it seem like the only positive aspects of BME are "job security" and this is far from the case. Additionally, one last thing I love about being BME to anyone considering, is it distances you from the hypercompetitive pre-med environment. While in other majors its everyone versus each other, in BME, it's us versus our professors. Just if you want to do BME and be pre-med, have a plan, keep your gpa high, and focus on just the two goals of A-getting into medical school, and B-keeping your gpa high.

I genuinely really like the field of bme it seems very interesting especially because I have an interest in both engineering and medicine so seems like a good intersection. I'm currently in highschool and I know I want to work in healthcare but I'm not sure if I want to go to med school yet. Thats my reason for wanting to go into bme but im scared that i might decide i want pursue medicine later on.

This guy knows his stuff. Thank you!!!

Actual doctor here who took many engineering and pre-med courses. Pre-med biology often is harder than regular engineering course. “Pre-med” courses are often hypercompetitive. The pre-med majors need an A but only 10% of the students are allowed to have one. Better to compete with engineering majors who can still have a great career with a B average (or worse), thus are not desperate to work three times harder getting an A instead of a B. Don't take "pre-med" anything. A "Pre-med"course  is code for "extra hard, time-wasting course that will ultimately make it MORE difficult to get into medical school because the admissions committee will look at your grades, not whether the courses had "pre-med" appended to the name of the course. As far as medical school admission, you get no extra credit for having taken a "pre-med" course vs a non-"pre-med" course.

you are the older brother i wished i had

I realized most of this, and that's why I chose Biomedical science for premed instead!

Doctor here who has studied engineering. Biomed degree is not only for "niche jobs". You get  broad engineering education that applies to many engineering jobs, especially big-picture systems engineering positiions. You do not have to get a job that is strictly biomedical, in fact, as Pratik says, most bioengineering students ultimately do not.

dude i have questions for you besides how you style your gorgeous desi locks
1.)what region of india are you from (you mentioned volunteering for respiratory health in south asian women but where?)
2.)what your childhood was like
3.)personal inspiration
4.)what specialty you're thinking of

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