Bio Engineering

Types of Degrees Bio Engineering Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many biomedical engineering graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	8,820
Master’s Degree	3,671
Doctor’s Degree	1,361
Graduate Certificate	113
Basic Certificate	22
Associate Degree	19

What Bio Engineering Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to bio engineering and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Bio Engineering Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in bio engineering should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Bio Engineering Majors

bio engineering majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities for Bio Engineering Majors

As a bio engineering major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Bio Engineering Major?

People with a bio engineering degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Architectural and Engineering Managers	5.5%	$140,760
Biomedical Engineers	7.0%	$88,550
Engineering Professors	14.7%	$101,720

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Bio Engineering?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 8,517 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering in 2021, making it rank #60 in popularity. According to recent stats this major attracts about equal numbers of men and women. Roughly 53% of the graduates are women, and 47% are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of bio engineering majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1,799
Black or African American	440
Hispanic or Latino	1,110
White	4,266
International Students	618
Other Races/Ethnicities	587

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Bio Engineering, too. About 7.0% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Bio Engineering

Some careers associated with bio engineering require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to bio engineering have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	0.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	45.7%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	5.7%
Master’s Degree	26.5%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	3.2%
Doctoral Degree	13.0%
Post-Doctoral Training	5.4%

Online Bio Engineering Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	9	0
Bachelor’s Degree	20	4
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	175	4
Post-Master’s	3	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	137	2
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Bio Engineering

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to bio engineering.

Major	Number of Grads
Mechanical Engineering	43,522
Electrical Engineering	27,809
Civil Engineering	20,728
Computer Engineering	18,973
General Engineering	12,241
Chemical Engineering	11,830
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering	9,220
Industrial Engineering	8,722
Systems Engineering	4,148
Materials Engineering	3,397
Other Engineering	3,221
Environmental Engineering	3,012
Electrical and Computer Engineering.	1,988
Operations Research	1,907
Robotics Engineering	1,759
Engineering Science	1,338
Agricultural Engineering	1,328
Construction Engineering	1,284
Architectural Engineering	1,090
Engineering Physics	1,047
Manufacturing Engineering	942
Petroleum Engineering	941
Nuclear Engineering	885
Biological Engineering	411
Marine Engineering	390
Geoscience Engineering	315
Mining Engineering	300
Textile Engineering	292
Ocean Engineering	290
Polymer & Plastics Engineering	290
Engineering Mechanics	209
Metallurgical Engineering	195
Energy Systems Engineering	187
Biochemical Engineering	141
Surveying Engineering	123
Ceramic Engineering	60
Forest Engineering	57
Paper Science & Engineering	48
Electromechanical Engineering	47
Engineering Chemistry	27

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By UC Davis College of Engineering under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.