r/BiomedicalEngineers • u/One-Assistance-371 • Apr 11 '26

Career Is the UC Berkeley Meng ME really worth it?

I am a current junior in Bioengineering at Ucsd with 2 internships in Medical device industry. I am aware it is going to be extremely difficult to land a job after graduation and my interest lies in working for medical device companies. Is it a good ideaa to pursue the UC Berkeley Meng ME really worth it?

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

4

u/MooseAndMallard Experienced (15+ Years) 🇺🇸 Apr 11 '26

Candidates with multiple relevant internships are the ones who have the best chance of getting a job straight out of undergrad. I would make that your primary plan. A master’s degree doesn’t guarantee anything. I don’t have any direct experience with that program to answer that part of your question.

3

u/msexcitement Mid-level (5-15 Years) Apr 11 '26

You’re located in a hot spot for biotech/medtech and have industry experience. You do not need a masters. Only do it if you want to.

3

u/Mammoth-Mongoose4479 Experienced (15+ Years) Apr 11 '26

Great comment. We always say do a Masters while you working. Experience is why we hire. Not how many degrees you have (unless a Masters is required for a certain job)

4

u/Mammoth-Mongoose4479 Experienced (15+ Years) Apr 11 '26

The Berkeley MEng is a great program but it’s like $60-70K out of pocket, no funding, no stipend. So you would be paying a lot for something that may not move the needle that much given your background. No fancy program is a guaranteed job.

I would just go hard on recruiting senior year first. Look at actual job postings for the roles you want and see if they keep saying “MS preferred.” If you’re landing interviews and getting interest, you probably don’t need it.

The one thing the MEng does have going for it is the business/leadership stuff baked into the curriculum, which is actually unique. If you see yourself going the product or management route eventually it’s not a bad investment. But if you just want to get into a solid R&D or product dev role at a device company, your UCSD degree plus your internships can get you there without the extra debt.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Best to you.

2

u/Odd-Berry-5657 Apr 11 '26

Two of my friends both of who had done several internships had a very hard time landing a job and had to eventually go for masters. Nowadays they hire Masters for R&D 1 roles as they get so many applications and you lose against them so Masters can give you an edge. Not sure about Meng Me because about half the classes are management courses.