UT Bioengineering : Welcome to the University of Toledo Department of Bioengineering main page.

Welcome to the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Toledo. Choosing a college is one of the biggest decisions that you will make, and we encourage your inquiries to insure that you are making the right decision for you. Shown below are some questions that I answer frequently and their answers.

If you have additional questions, or would like to meet with me to discuss the UT Bioengineering program, please feel free to call me at (419) 530-8078 or email me at wiona.porath@utoledo.edu.

Q:	What is the difference between "Biomedical Engineering" and "Bioengineering"?
A:	There is no difference. In the past, some programs used the term "Biomedical Engineering" to emphasize applications in medicine and health care, whereas other programs used the term "Bioengineering" to emphasize non-medical applications, such as artificial intelligence or agricultural engineering. We decided to use the term "Bioengineering" because we did not want prospective students to think that their only option after graduation was a career in medicine.
Q:	How many students are in your program?
A:	Currently, we have over 160 students in our undergraduate program. Our goal is to recruit incoming classes with 50 - 60 students to reach a student population of 200 - 220 students. We are a small department and pride ourselves on the personal attention that we give our students.
Q:	What is the ratio of men and women in your program?
A:	Over 40% of our undergraduates are female, which is the among the highest of all engineering programs at the University of Toledo, and is over twice the average for engineering programs nationwide.
Q:	How many students have graduated from the undergraduate program since its inception?
A:	The undergraduate program began in 1997, and we have over 200 alumni. Approximately 50% of our graduates go to industry, 15% go to medical school, and the remainder go to graduate school or other professional programs. We are very proud of our graduates and their success. Notable achievements by our graduates include obtaining patents, receiving the prestigious National Science Foundation Fellowship for attending graduate school, and receiving full tuition scholarships to attend medical school at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and at the Case Western Reserve University.
Q:	What hospital are you affiliated with?
A:	We are affiliated with the University Medical Center at the University of Toledo College of Medicine, located 3 miles away from the College of Engineering. In addition, our students have obtained co-op positions at a variety of medical centers, including the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Pittsburgh. Please see Pre-Med Programs for information about our joint BS/MD program with the University of Toledo College of Medicine if you are interested in attending medical school.
Q:	What are your admission requirements?
A:	Our requirements for admission direct from high school are a minimum ACT score of 22 (or an equivalent SAT score) and a minimum 3.0 HS GPA. Please refer to Undergraduate Admissions or Transfer Student Admissions for more details.
Q:	What are the average ACT scores and HS GPA of incoming students?
A:	The average ACT score of our incoming students averages between 26 - 27, and their average HS GPA is around 3.8. However, you should not be deterred if you do not meet these standards, as we have students with lower ACT scores and HS GPA that have done very well in our program.
Q:	Is the co-op program mandatory?
A:	Yes, the co-op program is mandatory. Students are required to complete a minimum of 3 semester-long co-op experiences in order to graduate from our program.
Q:	Do I have to find co-op positions on my own?
A:	Although students are ultimately responsible for securing co-op employment, we have a full-time staff member who assists you in finding a co-op position. To date, no students have failed to graduate because they could not satisfy the requirements of our mandatory co-op program.
Q:	Are co-op experiences paid positions?
A:	The level of compensation varies across co-op positions. Students that obtain co-op positions in industry generally receive better compensation and benefits compared to students that obtain positions in hospitals or in academic research laboratories. Although compensation can be a great benefit of the co-op program, we feel that the educational experience a student receives during their co-op rotations is of far greater value.
Q:	At which institutions or companies do your students co-op?
A:	Our students have obtained co-op positions at a wide variety of companies and institutions located throughout the United States and abroad. However, it is the policy of the Co-op office not to release employer names to prevent students at other universities from contacting these companies.
Q:	Is your program accredited?
A:	Our program has received full accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Accreditation serves to inform students, parents and prospective employers that our graduates will be prepared for professional engineering practice upon graduation. Please see the ABET website for more details.
Q:	Besides accreditation, what should I look for in a Bioengineering program?
A:	As a prospective bioengineering student, you should be aware of the following:

1. The mission or goals of the program. Some programs emphasize particular aspects of biomedical industries, such as prosthetic devices or medical instrumentation, whereas other programs emphasize Bioengineering as a pre-med major. The mission of our program is to prepare students for a wide variety of careers in the Bioengineering field. Please see our Program Goals and Program Objectives pages for more details.

2. The curriculum and required courses. Courses in chemical, electrical or mechanical engineering serve as a large portion of the curriculum for many Bioengineering programs. Our philosophy is to teach core engineering disciplines with biomedical applications. Therefore, our students are required to complete 40 hours in Bioengineering core courses plus a minimum of 6 hours in Bioengineering electives, all taught by Bioengineering faculty. This comprises over 1/3 of the curriculum, and is among the highest proportion of Bioengineering coursework across all programs nationwide. Please see our Curriculum page for more details.

3. The preparation for careers in industry. Because Bioengineering is viewed as a broad discipline that encompasses principles from other engineering specialties, one of the greatest challenges for many Bioengineering programs is to prepare students for careers in industry. To meet this challenge, our students are required to pursue a sequence of Technical Electives to gain specialization in a specific area of Bioengineering. In addition, our mandatory co-op program provides our students with industrial experience before they graduate. Some of our graduates have secured full-time positions with their co-op employers following graduation from our program.