Chemical Engineering or Biomedical Engineering?

[yh_1992]

I am accepted to chemical engineering PDP (product development program) of Berkeley and BME (biomedical engineering) of John's Hopkins. Both are MS programs. So it's more like a choice between the two majors. A lot of people (most are my classmates at college and former students) keep telling me that it's hard to get a job with only a MS degree in either of the two majors. I understand that most people in the two majors (especially BE or BME) go for a phd since research is the key in the two fields, but I don't think I'm the kind of person who can survive from the "formidable" phd journey. I am wondering what is the chance for me to get a decent job (non technician) in the industries if I attend to one of these two programs? Also, which major will give me a better chance in the job market? Thanks a lot!!

[CozyEnzymes]

I am not an engineer but one of my friends got her master's degree in ChemE last year. I'm not really familiar with either of the programs you applied to but her's was a thesis master's. She got a job with a decent salary coming out (around 80k? I think) and she's happy with her decision. I wish I could offer more help but I just wanted to share that success story in case it could influence your opinion. Personally I would choose the field I was most interested in working in. There are a lot of different directions that biomedical engineering can go that ChemE doesn't really cover, so I would consider that aspect as well. Best of luck! 

[yh_1992]

Thank you so much for your suggestions CozyEnzymes!

[andijo]

I honestly would research career post phd/Masters. I am currently working and applying to go back to school. Jobs in Engineering are relatively easy to find. Jobs that you will find passion and would love to go everyday are hard and depend on your perspective. I left a very large biomedical company, Medtronic, and I have transfer out of Biomedical Engineering program at University of Minnesota because I dont like biomedical at all. I find to be a find so regulated and with  so much paper work because everything you do must be approved and follow FDA guidelines. You can do research in biomedical, but eventually you will end up in a biomedical company or stay in a university as a research fellow. I believe that chemical engineering allows you more options and different paths. And surely, you can do biomedical research as a chemical engineer. Chem eng allows you more flexibility. For that reason that I am going back to school in Mechanical Eng.