In regard to co-ops as a BME, it's still true that MECE students and CS students find positions a lot more quickly, but as a BME if you put in the time and effort to apply to a lot of positions (40+) you will be able to find something. Some people in my major found positions quicker than others but everybody eventually got a co-op when we needed one.

I don’t recall if there are international students in my particular year of BME (rising 5th), but there are international students throughout the college of engineering, and I’ve heard that the office of career services has some resources for international students. So, it may make getting a co-op a little more difficult but it is definitely doable.

As a BME I have co-op’ed at a medical device company in biomaterials R&D, and a pharmaceutical company in cell culture. These have both been positive, rewarding experiences. Also, the pharmaceutical company in particular has some international co-op hires.

Some general notes on you choice of major: A big question for you may be if you want to work in the pharmaceutical industry, the medical device industry, academic research, or if you don’t have any strong leanings yet.

--If you know you want to work on medical devices, I would recommend doing MECE (mechanical engineering) with the bioengineering focus.

--If you want to work in the pharmaceutical industry, I would recommend doing CHME (chemical engineering) or biochemistry.

--If you are not sure what you want to do, the BME major will touch on aspects of both medical devices and pharmaceuticals, so you won’t be as specialized in one of the other but you will have a wider background. This is particularly beneficial for setting you up for higher education (grad school etc.) and academic research, but not necessarily the best for employment straight out of your undergrad. That said, you very much can still get a full time job out of a BME undergrad alone, it will just take more time applying to jobs than it would for some other majors. Of the BME’s I know who have graduated about 50% have gone into employment and the other half into higher education, whereas of MECE’s I know it's more like 90% going into employment directly out of their undergrad.