If you go look at med device job postings for J&J, Medtronic, Cardinal, Stryker, Boston Scientific, GE, etc. they may not even list BME as a desired degree for candidates, and ME and/or ChE or EE usually are. Usually it’s all of the above. Completely depends on the role. Same goes with Pharma jobs with Pfizer, BMS, J&J, Bayer etc. (often chemical is the preferred over all others unless it is a process engineering job where they may want ME or BME). BMES are viewed as “jacks of all trades but masters of none” because they skim knee deep in elements of the other engineering disciplines without having a deep course regiment of its own (because electrical BME is way different that biomechanics or biochemistry or anatomy etc.). This is also why they usually encourage students to pursue an MS or PhD in BME where they can dive deep in the subset of BME that they are passionate about and become true masters of that area.
After your first job in whichever area of “biotech”, the college major matters less. Doing a BS in ME, ChE, or EE with sub specialty in BME will NOT limit your son’s options and aspirations in the biotech field, but also keeps other options open. Getting a BS in BME locks you out of many other good fields. In fact, my PhD in BME worked against many times when I was looking at jobs based only on my BS ChE, and I guess I was tainted by the scarlet BME. BS’s in those core engineering disciplines often make more money than MS or PhD in BME due to how shitty most of the field pays and how BME gets disrespected. It took me until I was 40 to catch up to approximately (annual salary) what my undergrad peers in ChE were earning, ignoring the 15+ years of earning less. Nothing tells me that change is coming soon.
Mrs. Murfdogg (BS BME, MS BME, PhD BME) wanted me to tell you that Northeastern has an amazing co-op program that sets kids up great for industry jobs, and the program is not limited to BME majors. She also regrets getting the BME degrees rather doing BME courses/research/jobs with another type of engineering major.
I was once an idealistic noncynical murfpup who at 18 thought I’d go to med school or do research to cure disease, then at 22 as BS CHE rejected the corporate dollars of the Exxons to do the BME PhD and create great medical innovation. There have been rewarding times for sure, but there have been more times of frustration, a couple times unemployment with low prospects, and I am pretty far behind my undergrad peers in lifetime earnings. If I could do it over again, I’d probably go to
1. med school, or
2. go consulting after undergrad followed by MBA, or
3. PhD in CHE or ME with biotech related thesis work to keep more industry doors open.