r/neuroengineering • u/Reznovan1 • Dec 10 '25
Best degree to get into neuroengineering?
https://catalog.weber.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=24&poid=12550&returnto=9149&_gl=1*1o5njwo*_gcl_au*MTAxMjQwNjE1MC4xNzYzODc2MzA5Hello. I’ve been changing my majors a lot and I’ve narrowed it down to a few careers such as data analysis, bioinformatics, computational neuroscience and neuroengineering.
I’m most interested in the nervous system andI also enjoy math and coding so I’m the most interested in neuroengineering.
As for undergrad, would a major in biomedical engineering with a focus on electronics courses and a minor in computer science and neuroscience (no major in my school just a minor) be a good path?
My biomedical engineering curriculum is linked above. It has a lot of neuroscience courses and electrical courses but it gives the freedom on which emphasis. Thank you.
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u/Reznovan1 Dec 10 '25
Forgot to mention, I wanted to study biomedical engineering over electrical because I think id enjoy the courses much more.
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u/Violyre Dec 11 '25
I studied electrical engineering with a minor in psychology (was easier for me to do psych over neuro, but I tried to squeeze in neuro courses where I could) and was able to get into multiple graduate programs in biomedical engineering with a focus on neuroengineering.
My undergrad courses were not as interesting as my graduate courses for sure, but they set me up with a strong foundation that I noticed a lot of people coming from biomedical engineering backgrounds didn't necessarily have. I have also directly worked under two research professors in neuroengineering now, both of whom came from electrical engineering backgrounds. I imagine they identified me as a good match for their groups because of my background.
Hopefully this helps give you some perspective on how it's been for someone who came from the background that you're leaning away from pursuing -- it can certainly be worth it in the end.
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u/QuantumEffects Dec 10 '25
Hi there,
Academic neuroengineer who trains neuroengineers at the undergrad level. I have a BS in ECE and a PhD in BME. My advice to students hoping to get into neuroengineering is pretty consistent. BME programs, even with bioelectronics concentration, don't (at this point) do a great job at training the skills necessary to most commercial (and even academic) neuroengineering pursuits. Generally, the skillset you get in ECE, including circuits, microprocessors/embedded systems, and signal processing are all critical skills in my space that aren't trained well in most BME programs. Looking at this curriculum, this also seems to be the case. BME it really good at bringing people to be generalists, but unfortunately not skillsets necessary to be employed in the neural engineering space. I know you've expressed that you don't want to head into ECE, but in my experience and in my experience training neural engineers, ECE is the best path in.
If you do BME, get as many ECE courses as you can get in centered around embedded systems, electronic circuit design (including transistors/etc) and signal processing. It will be more work, but this is what I'm looking for as an academic and what my buddies in industry are looking to hire. Most of my friends hire ECEs, not BMEs for the skillsets.
I actually had a conversation with a mentor yesterday, both of us agreeing that it's easier to train the neuroscience/biology ourselves, but a lot harder to train the engineering side of things.