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Biomedical Engineering

Colleges offering this major Rankings Trends

What you'll do in college

BME blends engineering with biology and medicine. You'll take core engineering courses (math, mechanics, signals, electronics) plus anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and cell biology. Specializations include medical imaging, prosthetics, biomaterials, drug delivery, tissue engineering, and neural interfaces.

Labs often involve designing devices that interact with living tissue or analyzing real medical data. Many programs encourage research with a faculty member or an internship at a medical device company or hospital.

What you'll do after college

Grads work at medical device companies (Medtronic, Boston Scientific), pharma, hospitals, research labs, and biotech startups, designing things like heart valves, MRI scanners, prosthetic limbs, and surgical robots. The work is heavily regulated and slow-moving compared to software—patient safety comes first—but extremely meaningful.

Many BME grads also use the major as a strong pre-med pathway, going on to medical school. Others pursue PhDs because cutting-edge biomedical research demands deep expertise.

Famous graduates

  • Sangeeta Bhatia — MIT professor and biotech entrepreneur; B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University
  • Reshma Kewalramani — CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals; B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University
  • Tejal Desai — Bioengineer and Dean of Engineering at Brown; B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Brown University

Selectivity vs. earnings

By acceptance rate

$88,364
1,258
100–80%
$90,902
2,940
80–50%
$97,410
2,987
50–12%
$103,195
1,246
12–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$82,069
1,058
400–1200
$91,077
2,514
1200–1350
$96,213
2,476
1350–1470
$105,327
996
1480–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings vs. selectivity rank

$78,458p10 $105,286p90 Arts STEM Non-Research Liberal Arts Public University Religious University Private University Public University 1–25 Private University 21–40 Private University 1–20 Johnson & Wales University - Providence · $77,291 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology · $87,368 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology · $93,920 Milwaukee School of Engineering · $85,180 Wentworth Institute of Technology · $103,502 Lawrence Technological University · $79,318 Bucknell University · $101,512 Union College · $84,458 Cal State Long Beach · $104,409 University of California, Irvine · $109,350 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo · $111,260 Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University · $80,032 University of South Florida · $87,962 Binghamton University · $80,875 College of New Jersey · $90,223 University of Washington · $98,911 CUNY City College · $79,610 Clemson University · $85,149 Florida International University · $93,714 North Carolina A&T State University · $89,410 University of California, Davis · $105,286 Stony Brook University · $92,089 Alabama State University · $71,496 San Jose State University · $108,749 Northern Illinois University · $78,368 West Chester University of Pennsylvania · $91,821 University of Connecticut · $94,444 Pennsylvania State University · $104,854 University of South Carolina · $73,342 University of Pittsburgh · $103,167 Mississippi State University · $75,267 University of Massachusetts - Amherst · $94,764 Jackson State University · $76,079 Wayne State University · $103,927 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $93,996 Louisiana Tech University · $83,745 University of Houston · $80,209 New Jersey Institute of Technology · $94,193 University of Michigan - Dearborn · $55,960 University at Buffalo · $100,258 Louisiana State University · $74,903 University of Colorado Boulder · $91,867 George Mason University · $91,662 Marshall University · $79,694 Oakland University · $83,139 Temple University · $99,079 University of Alabama at Birmingham · $85,321 University of Colorado Denver · $84,466 University of Delaware · $91,058 University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth · $89,969 University of Memphis · $86,513 University of Oklahoma - Norman · $87,445 University of Texas at Arlington · $65,901 University of Texas at Dallas · $82,860 Virginia Commonwealth University · $76,242 Wright State University · $84,716 University of California, Santa Cruz · $98,115 University of Vermont · $86,621 Miami University - Ohio · $87,271 Michigan Technological University · $94,268 Oregon State University · $96,618 University of Arkansas · $64,718 University of Louisville · $82,625 University of Mississippi · $88,614 Washington State University · $95,879 University of Rhode Island · $93,508 University of Missouri · $88,195 University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire · $84,596 University of New Hampshire · $91,124 University of Illinois Chicago · $86,517 Grand Valley State University · $89,169 University of Toledo · $84,310 University of Central Oklahoma · $82,794 University of North Texas · $86,714 Colorado State University - Fort Collins · $98,033 University of North Dakota · $88,755 University of Utah · $97,195 University of Iowa · $89,577 Indiana University - Indianapolis · $84,223 Rowan University · $82,378 University of Akron · $76,829 University of Arizona · $98,396 University of Cincinnati · $85,432 University of Maine · $78,458 University of Massachusetts - Lowell · $87,900 University of Nevada, Reno · $85,846 University of South Dakota · $81,975 West Virginia University · $86,466 Wichita State University · $71,477 University of California, Riverside · $92,140 Arizona State University · $88,459 Florida Gulf Coast University · $86,835 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee · $73,184 University of Kentucky · $85,027 University of Texas at San Antonio · $76,219 Kansas State University · $86,747 University of California, Merced · $89,244 Montana State University · $83,770 University of the District of Columbia · $88,005 Santa Clara University · $118,457 Fairfield University · $94,066 Saint Louis University · $58,898 LeTourneau University · $83,399 Walla Walla University · $92,002 Harding University · $80,011 Messiah University · $80,124 Rockhurst University · $85,798 California Baptist University · $91,415 Regis College · $88,220 Loyola University Chicago · $90,028 Marquette University · $91,571 University of Mount Union · $81,366 George Fox University · $87,278 Duquesne University · $86,507 Gannon University · $80,242 Catholic University of America · $98,693 Valparaiso University · $84,494 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · $111,812 Florida Institute of Technology · $86,358 Rochester Institute of Technology · $103,407 Syracuse University · $100,385 Hofstra University · $90,609 Endicott College · $91,266 Hawaii Pacific University · $89,774 Indiana Institute of Technology · $79,695 Illinois Institute of Technology · $72,853 Alfred University · $80,108 Western New England University · $86,081 Trine University · $98,168 University of Hartford · $84,711 University of the Pacific · $111,794 New York Institute of Technology · $85,251 Drexel University · $103,385 Widener University · $87,998 Stevenson University · $87,699 Georgia Tech · $102,958 University of California, Berkeley · $89,225 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $85,471 University of Virginia · $94,692 University of Florida · $86,316 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · $96,032 Purdue University · $92,892 University of Maryland, College Park · $98,609 UCLA · $114,571 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $103,191 University of Texas at Austin · $91,099 Rutgers University - New Brunswick · $87,822 University of Wisconsin - Madison · $94,667 Texas A&M University - College Station · $101,088 Florida State University · $91,744 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $93,023 University of California, San Diego · $117,178 Ohio State University · $86,881 North Carolina State University · $99,115 Washington University in St Louis · $104,019 Case Western Reserve University · $99,721 University of Southern California · $112,503 Boston University · $98,562 University of Miami · $86,005 Lehigh University · $103,136 Tulane University · $109,205 Stevens Institute of Technology · $94,580 Worcester Polytechnic Institute · $102,711 University of Rochester · $101,457 George Washington University · $114,006 MIT · $106,402 Harvard University · $96,457 Caltech · $111,542 Johns Hopkins University · $118,167 Stanford University · $73,206 Brown University · $89,841 Duke University · $115,268 University of Pennsylvania · $121,488 Carnegie Mellon University · $102,839 Rice University · $89,863 Yale University · $101,070 Northwestern University · $129,919 Cornell University · $89,026 Dartmouth · $99,328 Vanderbilt University · $105,677 Columbia University · $91,198 Tufts University · $101,144 Arts: mean $77,291 STEM Non-Research: mean $89,858 Liberal Arts: mean $92,985 Public University: mean $87,604 Religious University: mean $87,365 Private University: mean $91,742 Public University 1–25: mean $96,135 Private University 21–40: mean $102,355 Private University 1–20: mean $102,496 All colleges: p10 $78,458 All colleges: p90 $105,286
Each dot = a college · y = degree-weighted earnings

Majors in this category

Major Colleges Degrees ▼ Male/Female Intl Earnings Employment
Biomedical Engineering 184 8,431 46% / 54% 6% $91,430 96%
Biomedical Engineering 166 7,656 46% / 54% 6% $90,552 96%
Bioengineering 13 717 45% / 55% 7% $99,831 95%
Biological Engineering (Course 20) 1 48 12% / 88% 8% $106,402 100%
Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering 3 5 40% / 60% 0% $79,465
Biomolecular Engineering 1 4 50% / 50% 25% $98,115 94%
Biomechanics 1 1 100% / 0% 0% $102,839