To earn a joint Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering/Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering degree from UIC, students must complete university, college, and department degree requirements. The Department of Biomedical Engineering degree requirements are outlined below. Students should consult the College of Engineering section for additional degree requirements and college academic policies.

The joint Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering (BSBME) and Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering (MSBME) program is designed for undergraduates with outstanding academic performance who desire to pursue graduate studies in biomedical engineering, or who wish to prepare themselves for advanced placement in the workplace. Students will earn both a BSBME and MSBME degree upon completion of the program, with three courses shared between the two degrees.

Admission Requirements

The minimum admission requirements for the program are:

1. Completion of at least 22 semester hours of core courses (excluding ENGR 100, ENGR 101, BME 399), where core courses are listed under the Required Engineering Courses section of the catalog;
2. An institutional GPA of 3.30/4.00 or higher; and
3. A major GPA of 3.30 or higher.

Meeting these requirements will allow students to apply to the joint program in their junior year by the deadline specified on the UIC Graduate College’s admission web page. Final admission decisions will be determined by the BME Graduate Committee, aligning with existing procedures for graduate programs within the BME department.

Students who do not meet the minimum application requirements by the stated deadline may still apply until July 15th of the same year. However, their applications will be reviewed by the BME Graduate Committee only after their grades and overall course performance are available.

Applications will be reviewed by the BME Graduate Committee, which reserves the right to decline or accept any applicant. Students admitted into the joint program will be considered undergraduate students until they have met all requirements to earn the BS degree. Only after completing all BS requirements will admitted students become graduate students.

Degree Requirements

The requirements for completing the joint degree program are identical to the those of the two separate degrees; however, three courses may be applied to both degrees (meeting 7 semester hours of degree requirements within the BSBME and 9 semester hours of degree requirements within the MSMBE, as explained below). To meet the minimum requirements for the joint degree, students must therefore complete 121 undergraduate semester hours, plus 9 shared semester hours taken at the graduate level that count toward both the BSBME and MSBME degrees, and 27 additional semester hours of graduate coursework, resulting in joint BSBME/MSBME degrees.

Students accepted in the joint program may apply up to two graduate-level biomedical engineering courses (400-level, graduate version, 4 semester hours each) and one graduate-level seminar (e.g., BME 595) toward their concentration area electives for the BS degree. The two 400-level BME courses will count as 6 semester hours of undergraduate concentration area electives. With the 1 semester hour from BME 595, joint degree students must complete at least 5 more semester hours to fulfill the required 12 semester hours of concentration area electives and the128 total semester hours for the BSBME degree. The two graduate-level BME courses will also count as 8 semester hours of 400-level coursework toward the MSBME degree.

These two courses must meet all of the following criteria:

1. Meet graduate-level course standards.
2. Meet Concentration Area Elective requirements for the BS degree.
3. Not be required courses for the completion of the undergraduate degree.

The course selections require pre-approval by an academic advisor and will be recorded in the student’s academic record by the BME Student Affairs Office; in addition, the BME Student Affairs Office will submit the necessary forms to allow the undergraduate student to register for the graduate sections of these courses.

Sample Course Schedule

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ENGR 100 and ENGR 101 are one-semester-hour courses, but the hour does not count toward the total hours required for graduation. Students who transfer into the College of Engineering will take ENGR 101 within the first semester after enrolling.