I haven't found much information about the Electrical & Biomed Eng program. Is there anyone in years 2-4 that can tell me about this program and answer a few questions?

Not sure if you already know this but there's an open house on Saturday, March 21st at McMaster where you can come and speak with representatives from all faculties and departments. If you want more information about a program, I'd encourage you to come out.

Isn't that open house for high school students?

Yes, nytrogyn is in highschool.

If you're in first year and you're interested in ECE, the first year info night is tonight, March 18, at 5:30 in ITB/137.

I believe there is an open house for electrical and computer engineering tonight at 5:30 PM in ITB-137. I don't know if that goes into the biomedical electrical joint thing, but it's probably worth checking out regardless.

Electrical and Biomedical Engineering will be covered at tonight's open house.
More info http://www.ece.mcmaster.ca/docs/Unde... ormation.pdf

I don't live in Hamilton so I don't think I can make it out to the high school open house; BUT if any first year Engineering I students are going to tonight's opening house, could you please ask about the Elec & Biomed Eng. program and tell me what you learn?

I am interested in:
- Co-op placements available relating to biomedicine
- Difficulty of achieving a high GPA compared to health/life sci in order to go to medical school
- Current jobs available in the biomedical industry (growing industry?)
- Graduate programs related to biomedicine
- Specific topics covered regarding biomedicine in the program
- What is the fifth year master's degree?

"The Biomedical program offers the possibility of a 16-month internship in industry."
- What specific companies in the industry would students be able to get placement in? Are there enough spots available? Is it likely a lot of students will not be able to get in? How does this 16-month internship work?

On a different note, can Engineering I students take a statistics course? Does the ENGINEER 1EE0 co-op course count as an elective course? Must you fill up your 6 units of electives in first year? Also, in Engineering II, would I be able to take HUMAN 2C03 (critical thinking)?

Thank you very much to whoever can asks these questions for me, hopefully they will get current Engineering I students interested in this program so that I can ask more questions!

There will be another open house type thing in May so I would plan to come out to that. It's really important that you get a feel for the campus rather than just an idea of courses and programs.

I've been on a campus tour already, and have explored almost all the buildings. I already know that McMaster has a stunning campus and I love it. But these questions I think I can get answers to by just calling some people or having students help me out on the forums rather than have to go all the way to Hamilton.

PS anyone in Engineering I and interested in Biomed let me know.

Yeah, March 18th, the 1st years have a physics test the following day. They should really move the dates around where its not prior to a test, then they can get more hits.

i am a first year eng student and hoping to be in biomed,

and to answer your questions mr.nytrogyn,

1) If you are coming to engineering, let me remind you that its not a walk in the park like health sci keeping in mind health sci ppl get to grade themselves in a few courses and their other courses are a big joke. So, you are gonna have to work your butt off. You need atleast a 9 gpa for biomed. I am borderline 8 and I entered from my high school with a 93% avg.

2) Sorry if I am promoting other unis on this mac forum, but other biomed program you might want to look into is UofT's Nsci program.. very competitive.. but worth it. but still Mac kicks Uoft's ass. Just another suggestion.

3) Biomed is very general and specific at the same time which I like. You could do almost anything with a biomed and electrical degree such as apply to med school, pharmacy, financial engineering, continue grad school, etc. while also not being too general like mechatronics folks who aren't accredited yet and combine 2-3 types of engs into one.

4) Make sure you like biology, anatomy, and organic chemistry. If you don't like them or atleast willing to tolerate them, forget coming into biomed.

5) If you're one of those sciency people trying to become biomed engineer without no interest whatsoever for electrical engineering or with no particular strengths in that, forget coming into biomed. Btw, I was one of the sciency students, I took IB bio and chem, and had to take gr.11 and gr.12 physics in summer school. I had to adjust to physics a lott at mac and all the engineering courses and change my understanding abilities from memorizing to analytical. So make sure, you can balance your memorazational/analytical abilities together because if you can't, then you will struggle.

Please don't get discouraged by what I said. All these points are written to give you a heads up on what you are stepping into.

Originally Posted by maclover

4) Make sure you like biology, anatomy, and organic chemistry. If you don't like them or atleast willing to tolerate them, forget coming into biomed.

...Why would someone want to go to bio-med if they didn't like those? :p

Thank you for your response, it helps a lot.

I am very interested in the biomedicine part; as for the electrical engineering part, I don't quite know what to expect. I can tell you I am really interested in physics and love everything about it - it is one of my favorite subjects in high school. I am indeed one of those 'sciency students', and love in depth and analytical thinking.

On the other hand, I despise computer science, specifically programming, and dropped out of the grade 12 course because I was so bored of staring at the blue pascal screen mindlessly typing code. Despite my hatred for writing code, I am willing to tolerate it, provided the courses do not bore me to death.

I have to say you have scared me quite a bit. My average is currently the same as what you graduated with, and the idea of you getting an 8.0 GPA surprises me. With all due respect, is the reason for the "low" mark because you are in first year, or just because engineering at mac is damn hard? I am seriously doubting my capability of maintaining a GPA of 11 for medical school, although I don't believe I am interested in medicine anymore (http://www.medschoolhell.com /).

Due to the fact that Engineering I is, as you say, not a walk in the park, I think I should reconsider my electives. I originally planned on taking an English course, just to help develop my writing skills so that I can do well on written assignments, but I may be overloading myself. Do you have suggestions for any other first year electives?

At least I will have my entire first year to plan this out, and if you get into biomed you will find me asking you quite a few questions, haha. I wish you all the best and hope you get in!

I'd also like your thoughts on the idea of going to engineering to get a high GPA instead of life science, for med school. It seems to me that maybe engineering is harder - but then again, graduating with a B.Eng makes you a professional and a candidate for well paying entry-level jobs, whereas a B.Sc gets you nowhere.

Originally Posted by nytrogyn

I have to say you have scared me quite a bit. My average is currently the same as what you graduated with, and the idea of you getting an 8.0 GPA surprises me. With all due respect, is the reason for the "low" mark because you are in first year, or just because engineering at mac is damn hard? I am seriously doubting my capability of maintaining a GPA of 11 for medical school, although I don't believe I am interested in medicine anymore (http://www.medschoolhell.com /).

Ask yourself this - is your high school actually making you work to earn your marks? By that I mean, how hard are you working in your science/math courses, and what's the average like for the class. I pulled an exact 85% average (just made that scholarship, lol) in high school and I'm doing about the same right now (somewhere between 10 and 11).

If not, then well, University will teach you what it's like to work for your grade. I know many people here that went to easier high schools and bragged about their 95% averages, but are now just barely getting by with a 5 or 6. A lot of the classes you cannot get through without doing the work. Luckily I learned that early on after failing my first math midterm.

Also, in regards to learning how to write, I've yet to meet more than 10 or so people in first year engineering that are capable of spelling or putting together a proper sentence, as evident on the WebCT discussion boards. You're probably literate enough as evident from your posts above to pass by in engineering, lol.

Good luck!