| This study investigated the population of master's in biomedical engineering at a large research institution. The purpose of the study was to describe background characteristics the students in the master's in biomedical engineering program, identify the reasons that the students considered before enrolling in the program, compare them to the students in the master's in civil engineering program at the same institution, and compare the differences in the reasons for enrolling provided by foreign students to domestic students.;A web-based survey was conducted and quantitative methods utilized to collect and analyze the data. The analyses showed that the biomedical engineering and civil engineering samples differed in gender, country of citizenship and age. Internal factors such as educational aspirations, the desire to know more about engineering and academic self-confidence were the most important in the participants' decision to enroll in the master's program. External factors like the participants' undergraduate experience and important individuals such as parents and university professors also played important roles in the participants' decision. Foreign participants did not differ significantly from the domestic students in the factors that influenced their decision to pursue the master's degree. Foreign participants in the biomedical engineering program reported that they came to the U.S. to study because their home countries lack the educational and industry resources to provide proper training. |
