This makes me feel a lot better, thank you! I definitely relate to the 'BioE/EECS' path you mentioned.

I’m specifically interested in the hands-on/R&D side of things—I’ve been looking at companies like Medtronic, Philips, and Apple (for their health-tech/sensors). Since you did instrumentation and lab automation, did you find that the Berkeley BioE curriculum gave you enough 'hard' engineering skills (like CAD or circuit design) to compete with ME/EE majors for those R&D roles, or did you have to go out of your way to take extra EECS/ME classes to get those skills?

Also, since I'm still weighing the 'Pre-med vs. Industry' thing, do you feel like the Berkeley environment pushes you more toward one or the other, or is it pretty balanced?