Biomedical/Medical Engineering at University of California-Riverside

UC Riverside's biomedical engineering program starts behind the pack but shows impressive momentum, with graduate earnings jumping 32% from $61,342 to $80,773 within four years. That four-year mark puts graduates within striking distance of top California programs like USC and Cal Poly SLO—notable for a school with a 63% admission rate. However, those first-year earnings fall short of both state ($67,170) and national ($64,660) medians, placing this program at the 40th percentile among California's 20 biomedical engineering programs.

The debt picture offers reassurance: at $19,877, graduates carry slightly less than California's median for this program and substantially less than the national average. This translates to a 0.32 debt-to-earnings ratio—manageable even during that lower-earning first year. For families prioritizing UC access and affordability, this represents solid value, particularly given that 47% of students receive Pell grants.

The critical question is whether your student can weather those initial years when peers at Cal Poly or USC are earning $15,000-$20,000 more annually. If they're planning graduate school or can accept entry-level positioning for the promise of rapid advancement, UC Riverside delivers strong outcomes at a reasonable cost. Students seeking immediate high earnings might look elsewhere in the UC system or at California's top-tier private programs.