What coursework is most useful for attaining STEM skills?

Well first thing, Kayla, you are going to need Calculus through differential equations as a Prerequisite for most engineering disciplines. When planning for your major, you should definitely consult with a Counselor at your college as to the required and recommended courses needed to assure you meet the degree requirements. My opinion: Given your interest in biomedical engineering likely STEM courses include a year of both chemistry and organic chemistry. I imagine an anatomy course would also be very useful.

I hope this helps.

Hello Kayla,

The beauty of biomedical engineering is that is so broad and can cover a range of areas from orthopedic surgery to electronic devices to even the electronic finger wrap hospitals use for pulse ox monitoring now. However, this makes it difficult to choose where you want to go.

I had a pretty good idea that I wanted to move towards orthopedic implants, so I went with Indiana Tech's biomedical engineering program. It was a predominantly mechanical engineering program with a heavy human anatomy and physiology emphasis. I also got some quality engineering experience through medical device design projects. I found these experiences very valuable, although I might have double majored in the industrial manufacturing engineering program had I known which direction I would go in once I got industry experience. My story is how I personally went, but I have colleagues across a range of sub disciplines because of how broad biomedical engineering.

My advice: If you aren't sure where you are leaning, get all of your general engineering courses out of the way within the first two years along with your biology track. That way you'll get a broad range of disciplines to sample from. Most of my network either went for the mechanical engineering (like orthopedic implants or general surgical tools) or electrical engineering (like pacemakers or insulin pumps) routes, so I would get the intro courses to both of those disciplines to help you decide. One thing you might want to try is a software engineering course, as this is becoming increasingly more common in the industry.

If you have further questions about the route I took, I would be more than happy to answer them.