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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

$90,440
1,308
100–84%
$95,779
3,051
84–51%
$102,338
3,092
50–14%
$105,799
1,234
14–0%
Acceptance rate · bar = degree-weighted earnings

By SAT median

$90,176
1,132
400–1180
$96,789
2,716
1180–1370
$103,675
2,731
1370–1470
$106,376
1,078
1470–1600
Combined SAT composite median (submitters + non-submitters) · bar = degree-weighted earnings

Earnings by acceptance rate and institution category

$84,192p10 $107,619p90 Art & Music STEM, Business & Military Liberal Arts Public University Religious University Private University 20–30% 10–20% 0–10% Johnson & Wales University - Providence · $77,597 Stevens Institute of Technology · $106,987 Florida Institute of Technology · $80,829 Worcester Polytechnic Institute · $99,782 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute · $100,708 Rochester Institute of Technology · $101,994 Milwaukee School of Engineering · $98,237 New Jersey Institute of Technology · $86,152 South Dakota School of Mines and Technology · $94,492 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology · $96,418 Lawrence Technological University · $78,997 Michigan Technological University · $95,651 Wentworth Institute of Technology · $105,841 Bucknell University · $105,948 Union College · $81,882 Endicott College · $93,530 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign · $122,664 Binghamton University · $98,276 University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire · $90,196 North Carolina State University · $93,682 University of South Florida · $88,685 University of Wisconsin - Madison · $113,990 University of Tennessee, Knoxville · $84,266 University of Washington · $105,995 Clemson University · $94,043 Purdue University · $100,625 University of Maryland, College Park · $99,302 Cal State Long Beach · $92,167 University of California, Davis · $94,424 Stony Brook University · $79,170 Ohio State University · $100,809 Alabama State University · $80,140 North Carolina A&T State University · $91,975 Texas A&M University - College Station · $103,287 Northern Illinois University · $81,244 West Chester University of Pennsylvania · $89,678 University of Connecticut · $97,618 Pennsylvania State University · $103,150 University of South Carolina · $104,066 CUNY City College · $88,846 University of Pittsburgh · $91,355 University of Massachusetts - Amherst · $98,654 Florida International University · $83,397 College of New Jersey · $97,955 Jackson State University · $93,629 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities · $97,413 Rutgers University - New Brunswick · $98,166 University of Michigan - Dearborn · $101,053 University of Texas at Dallas · $87,180 University of Colorado Boulder · $98,025 Louisiana State University · $91,616 University of Delaware · $106,566 Louisiana Tech University · $90,752 Wright State University · $85,327 Wichita State University · $84,867 University of California, Santa Cruz · $107,619 University of Vermont · $86,314 University of Arkansas · $92,116 Miami University - Ohio · $99,963 University of Colorado Denver · $103,393 University of Rhode Island · $94,156 University of Louisville · $101,888 University of Houston · $81,607 University of Illinois Chicago · $84,867 Rowan University · $87,398 University of Missouri · $81,998 University of Oklahoma - Norman · $109,660 University of New Hampshire · $86,514 Oregon State University · $90,524 University of Iowa · $98,175 University of Toledo · $89,174 San Jose State University · $104,084 University at Buffalo · $86,611 University of Texas at Arlington · $81,500 University of Central Oklahoma · $92,566 University of North Texas · $86,489 University of North Dakota · $104,746 University of Utah · $102,723 University of Nevada, Reno · $90,933 University of Arizona · $104,120 Mississippi State University · $84,886 Wayne State University · $91,337 Indiana University - Indianapolis · $101,867 University of Akron · $90,621 University of Maine · $85,278 University of Massachusetts - Lowell · $103,486 West Virginia University · $90,160 University of California, Riverside · $82,698 Washington State University · $95,802 Temple University · $98,833 George Mason University · $94,077 University of Cincinnati · $98,741 Arizona State University · $91,703 Colorado State University - Fort Collins · $85,377 Florida Gulf Coast University · $96,096 University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee · $76,294 Oakland University · $82,803 University of Texas at San Antonio · $82,419 Virginia Commonwealth University · $89,177 Grand Valley State University · $90,630 University of Memphis · $84,696 University of Kentucky · $92,571 University of Alabama at Birmingham · $86,103 Southern Illinois University - Carbondale · $90,418 Kansas State University · $94,878 University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth · $98,607 University of California, Merced · $82,068 Marshall University · $96,476 University of Mississippi · $95,981 University of South Dakota · $92,314 Montana State University · $90,582 University of the District of Columbia · $91,680 Santa Clara University · $95,818 LeTourneau University · $88,252 Harding University · $90,730 University of Evansville · $90,051 Rockhurst University · $93,337 California Baptist University · $85,176 Regis College · $88,097 Millikin University · $87,649 Saint Louis University · $92,472 Loyola University Chicago · $102,705 Marquette University · $106,962 University of Mount Union · $87,922 Messiah University · $89,688 Gannon University · $89,425 Marymount University · $90,087 Catholic University of America · $101,304 Duquesne University · $87,544 Valparaiso University · $89,515 George Fox University · $88,710 Case Western Reserve University · $99,267 University of Rochester · $98,333 George Washington University · $119,071 Syracuse University · $105,164 Illinois Institute of Technology · $107,028 Hofstra University · $84,609 University of the Pacific · $102,521 Indiana Institute of Technology · $92,780 Alfred University · $84,819 Trine University · $103,952 Drexel University · $103,215 New York Institute of Technology · $91,460 Widener University · $87,365 Hawaii Pacific University · $95,656 Western New England University · $84,192 Stevenson University · $96,226 University of Hartford · $84,975 Lehigh University · $109,895 University of Florida · $91,577 Florida State University · $101,361 University of Texas at Austin · $127,084 University of California, San Diego · $90,665 University of California, Irvine · $93,665 Fairfield University · $99,868 Cal Poly - San Luis Obispo · $110,306 Tufts University · $93,765 University of Southern California · $103,166 Washington University in St Louis · $113,756 Boston University · $99,578 Tulane University · $105,107 University of Miami · $79,219 University of California, Berkeley · $109,995 Georgia Tech · $110,769 University of Virginia · $128,412 University of Michigan - Ann Arbor · $107,760 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · $97,122 Yale University · $101,917 Caltech · $105,338 Stanford University · $73,410 Harvard University · $94,905 MIT · $87,575 Columbia University · $120,753 University of Pennsylvania · $129,175 Duke University · $127,487 Vanderbilt University · $124,249 Dartmouth · $104,732 Johns Hopkins University · $108,313 Brown University · $88,185 Northwestern University · $104,793 Rice University · $134,006 Cornell University · $85,322 UCLA · $88,649 Art & Music: mean $77,597 STEM, Business & Military: mean $95,507 Liberal Arts: mean $93,787 Public University: mean $93,355 Religious University: mean $91,865 Private University: mean $96,508 20–30%: mean $103,053 10–20%: mean $104,423 0–10%: mean $104,926 All colleges: p10 $84,192 All colleges: p90 $107,619
Each dot = a college · y = degree-weighted earnings

Majors in this category

Major Colleges Degrees ▼ Male/Female Intl Earnings Employment
Biomedical Engineering 187 8,685 44% / 56% 6% $95,674 96%
Biomedical Engineering 169 7,896 44% / 56% 6% $95,279 97%
Bioengineering 13 728 43% / 57% 7% $100,405 94%
Biological Engineering (Course 20) 1 35 23% / 77% 0% $87,575 92%
Biomechanical Engineering 1 14 50% / 50% 7% $97,046
Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering 3 10 60% / 40% 0% $87,062
Biomolecular Engineering 1 2 50% / 50% 0% $107,619 95%
Biomechanics 1 0 $102,166