Graduate Programs

The graduate curriculum in biomedical engineering is track-free. Initial graduate study in biomedical engineering is designed to expand the student’s undergraduate preparation in the direction of the concentration of interest. In addition, sufficient knowledge is acquired in other areas to facilitate broad appreciation of problems and effective collaboration with specialists from other scientific, medical, and engineering disciplines. The Department of Biomedical Engineering offers a graduate program leading to the Master of Science degree (M.S.), the Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D.), and the Doctor of Engineering Science degree (Eng.Sc.D.). Applicants who have a Master of Science degree or equivalent may apply directly to the doctoral degree program. All applicants are expected to have earned the bachelor’s degree in engineering or in a cognate scientific program. The Graduate Record Examination (General Test only) is optional for all applicants. Students whose bachelor’s degree was not earned in a country where English is the dominant spoken language are required to take the TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic, or Duolingo English Test.

Columbia Engineering does not admit students holding the bachelor’s degree directly to doctoral studies; admission is offered either to the M.S. program or to the M.S. program/doctoral track. The Department of Biomedical Engineering also admits students into the 4-2 program, which provides the opportunity for students holding a bachelor’s degree from certain physical sciences to receive the M.S. degree after two years of study at Columbia.

M.S. students must complete the professional development and leadership course, ENGI E4000 PROF DEVELOPMENT＆LEADERSHIP, as a graduation requirement. Doctoral students will be enrolled in ENGI E6001 Professional development and leadership for first year doctoral students–ENGI E6004 Professional development and leadership for fourth year doctoral students and should consult their program for specific PDL requirements.