BME Degree Requirements

BME admits students who have successfully completed First-Year Engineering requirements. Students completing their BS-BME will spend a minimum of five semesters in our program, learning about the breadth of the field of Biomedical Engineering during their first two semester and choosing an area or areas to focus more on during their final three or four semesters.

The degree broadly consists of five categories of coursework which a student must complete:

Major Required Courses (86 credits)

Major required courses are courses which every Biomedical Engineering student at Purdue must complete. These courses include those required for First-Year Engineering, BME courses, Depth Area courses, and additional STEM courses.

Students are required to select a primary and secondary depth area. For more information on the depth areas, please visit the Depth Area page

• FYE Courses
  • ENGR 13100 & ENGR 13200 (or equivalents)
  • CHM 11500
  • MA 16500 & MA 16600 (or equivalents)
  • PHYS 17200
  • Oral Communication Course
  • Written Communication Course
  • Science Selective (CHM 11600 or CS 15900 recommended)
  • BME 21400
  • BME 21401
  • BME 23100
  • BME 23101
  • BME 22000
  • BME 25600
  • BME 28000
  • BME 32000
  • BME 32001
  • BME 38000
  • BME 38900
  • BME 39000
  • BME 48901
  • BME 49000 or (BME 49101 and BME 49200)
  • Bioelectronics/Bioinstrumentation: BME 30100 & ECE 30100
  • Biomechanics/Biomaterials: BME 30400 & BME 31400
  • Bioimaging: BME 36000 & ECE 30100
  • Quantitative Biomedicine: BME 35600 & BME 36600
  • Biomaterials: BME 31300 & BME 32600
  • BIOL 23000
  • CHM 11600
  • CS 15900 or CS 17600
  • MA 26100
  • MA 26200 (or both MA 26500 and MA 26600)
  • BME 20200 or ME 20000 (Thermodynamics)
  • PHYS 24100 (or PHYS 27200)
  • STAT 35000 (or STAT 51100)

  Courses listed in BME Courses, Depth Area Courses, and Additional STEM Courses make up a student’s major GPA. Students must maintain a 2.0 major GPA or better in order to remain in good standing in the program and to graduate.

  Technical Engineering Selectives (15 credits)

  Technical Engineering selectives are courses approved by the BME curriculum committee which allow a student to gain a deeper understanding of engineering principles and concepts. Technical Engineering selectives are mainly courses in the various engineering disciplines including BME and other core STEM areas such as Computer Science, Statistics, and Mathematics. It is recommended that students complete technical engineering selectives that correspond with their depth area, but it is not required.

  For in-depth information about the technical engineering selectives including policies and a breakdown of selectives based on depth areas, please visit the Technical Engineering Selectives page.

  Life Science Selectives (6 credits)

  Life Science selectives are courses approved by the BME curriculum committee that provide a student more knowledge about biological and chemical principles to supplement their engineering coursework. Life Science selectives are taken from various departments including Biology, Chemistry, Public Health, and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences.

  For in-depth information about the life science selectives including policies and a breakdown of selectives based on depth areas, please visit the Life Science Selectives page.

  General Education Selectives (18 credits)

  General Education Selectives are non-technical courses that provide a broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context.

  For in-depth information about the General Education selectives including policies, please visit the General Education Selectives page.

  Electives (5 credits)

  Electives are courses which a student does not use towards other degree requirements and are not included on the No Count List. These courses can be from any department.