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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

$89,830
1,291
100–81%
$90,785
3,041
81–48%
$95,633
2,993
48–13%
$98,841
1,327
13–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$85,527
1,136
400–1200
$93,041
2,687
1200–1370
$94,193
2,587
1370–1470
$102,838
1,166
1470–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings vs. selectivity rank

$79,042p10 $103,181p90 Arts STEM Non-Research Liberal Arts Public University Religious University Private University Public University 1–15 Private University 1–30 Johnson & Wales University - Providence · $76,562 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology · $97,494 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology · $95,166 Wentworth Institute of Technology · $97,439 Milwaukee School of Engineering · $87,968 Lawrence Technological University · $78,999 Bucknell University · $100,913 Union College · $81,883 Endicott College · $87,704 University of California, Irvine · $96,528 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo · $100,417 Binghamton University · $77,332 University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire · $89,592 University of South Florida · $86,837 University of Washington · $89,865 CUNY City College · $74,003 Clemson University · $88,018 Florida International University · $85,915 North Carolina A&T State University · $91,983 University of Maryland, College Park · $95,294 Cal State Long Beach · $92,167 University of California, Davis · $95,858 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $100,257 Stony Brook University · $85,330 Ohio State University · $89,602 Alabama State University · $80,318 Texas A&M University - College Station · $105,966 Northern Illinois University · $81,245 West Chester University of Pennsylvania · $93,298 University of Connecticut · $91,392 University of South Carolina · $76,318 Pennsylvania State University · $108,954 University of Pittsburgh · $104,293 University of Massachusetts - Amherst · $93,940 College of New Jersey · $86,716 Jackson State University · $86,825 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $93,302 Rutgers University - New Brunswick · $82,781 New Jersey Institute of Technology · $85,026 University of Michigan - Dearborn · $55,735 University at Buffalo · $98,415 Louisiana State University · $80,633 University of Colorado Boulder · $88,833 Louisiana Tech University · $90,753 George Mason University · $88,232 Marshall University · $83,545 Oakland University · $82,805 Southern Illinois University - Carbondale · $86,108 Temple University · $98,346 University of Alabama at Birmingham · $90,714 University of Colorado Denver · $82,216 University of Delaware · $90,356 University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth · $86,150 University of Memphis · $93,437 University of Oklahoma - Norman · $96,220 University of Texas at Arlington · $65,656 University of Texas at Dallas · $82,501 Virginia Commonwealth University · $76,316 Wright State University · $90,375 University of Vermont · $92,650 Miami University - Ohio · $90,104 University of Rhode Island · $91,782 Oregon State University · $92,074 University of Arkansas · $72,573 University of Louisville · $90,797 University of Mississippi · $101,541 Washington State University · $95,802 University of Houston · $81,607 University of Illinois Chicago · $85,564 Rowan University · $77,879 University of Missouri · $95,352 University of New Hampshire · $86,514 University of Iowa · $93,704 University of Toledo · $89,442 San Jose State University · $97,262 University of Central Oklahoma · $86,652 University of North Texas · $86,490 Colorado State University - Fort Collins · $96,891 University of North Dakota · $97,225 University of Utah · $97,929 University of California, Santa Cruz · $88,037 University of Nevada, Reno · $88,237 Mississippi State University · $86,514 Wayne State University · $103,509 Indiana University - Indianapolis · $87,964 University of Akron · $81,306 University of Arizona · $97,804 University of Cincinnati · $89,456 University of Maine · $79,042 University of Massachusetts - Lowell · $85,797 University of South Dakota · $89,597 West Virginia University · $91,731 Wichita State University · $79,887 Michigan Technological University · $94,948 University of California, Riverside · $83,977 Arizona State University · $87,039 Florida Gulf Coast University · $84,163 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee · $76,296 University of Kentucky · $91,845 University of Texas at San Antonio · $78,892 Grand Valley State University · $89,701 Kansas State University · $99,018 University of California, Merced · $84,481 Montana State University · $87,634 University of the District of Columbia · $87,488 Fairfield University · $90,868 Santa Clara University · $106,038 Saint Louis University · $62,023 LeTourneau University · $89,495 Harding University · $88,160 Messiah University · $86,702 Rockhurst University · $93,739 California Baptist University · $85,434 Regis College · $86,488 Loyola University Chicago · $89,133 Marquette University · $94,568 University of Mount Union · $85,834 George Fox University · $82,887 Gannon University · $85,287 Catholic University of America · $95,930 Duquesne University · $87,451 Valparaiso University · $90,602 University of Miami · $78,848 Syracuse University · $98,488 University of Rochester · $99,139 George Washington University · $110,814 Stevens Institute of Technology · $85,375 Hofstra University · $87,691 Worcester Polytechnic Institute · $98,429 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · $108,403 Hawaii Pacific University · $91,076 Indiana Institute of Technology · $87,549 Florida Institute of Technology · $84,663 Illinois Institute of Technology · $72,086 Alfred University · $78,403 Rochester Institute of Technology · $101,044 Trine University · $103,956 University of Hartford · $83,828 University of the Pacific · $102,521 New York Institute of Technology · $85,382 Drexel University · $102,620 Widener University · $87,347 Western New England University · $84,191 Stevenson University · $88,685 Georgia Tech · $103,181 University of California, Berkeley · $78,058 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $85,040 University of Virginia · $93,542 UCLA · $101,137 University of Florida · $86,001 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · $100,257 Purdue University · $94,601 North Carolina State University · $101,474 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $104,074 University of Texas at Austin · $91,811 University of Wisconsin - Madison · $96,804 Florida State University · $92,443 University of California, San Diego · $104,610 MIT · $100,169 Caltech · $94,829 Stanford University · $72,662 Yale University · $97,846 Harvard University · $92,660 Brown University · $88,183 Dartmouth · $98,592 University of Pennsylvania · $120,589 Duke University · $118,253 Columbia University · $85,002 Johns Hopkins University · $113,357 Rice University · $91,103 Northwestern University · $128,551 Vanderbilt University · $111,628 Cornell University · $85,322 Washington University in St Louis · $106,760 Tufts University · $97,734 University of Southern California · $99,311 Boston University · $92,788 Tulane University · $117,022 Case Western Reserve University · $104,340 Lehigh University · $102,984 Arts: mean $76,562 STEM Non-Research: mean $91,413 Liberal Arts: mean $90,167 Public University: mean $88,655 Religious University: mean $88,273 Private University: mean $91,843 Public University 1–15: mean $95,217 Private University 1–30: mean $100,895 All colleges: p10 $79,042 All colleges: p90 $103,181
Each dot = a college · y = degree-weighted earnings

Majors in this category

Major Colleges Degrees ▼ Male/Female Intl Earnings Employment
Biomedical Engineering 187 8,655 44% / 56% 6% $91,107 96%
Biomedical Engineering 169 7,866 44% / 56% 6% $90,944 96%
Bioengineering 13 728 43% / 57% 7% $92,506 95%
Biological Engineering (Course 20) 1 35 23% / 77% 0% $100,169 100%
Biomechanical Engineering 1 14 50% / 50% 7% $94,053
Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering 3 10 60% / 40% 0% $82,387
Biomolecular Engineering 1 2 50% / 50% 0% $88,037 94%