Many top medical engineering colleges, such as the University of California, charge an admissions fee of around $60 and maintain a highly selective admissions process, which means that only the students with the correct grades and attitude can gain entry to begin a course of study. UC-San Diego, for example, accepted just 38 percent of applications for admission in 2010, rejecting about 30,000 prospective students.
The process of admission to medical engineering courses differs slightly between American and U.K. colleges. The Institute of Biomedical Engineering at Imperial College, London, offers a variety of undergraduate courses in the field. Each student must fill in an online application form using the Universities & Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) system of higher education using the UCAS code for the specific college, which is 150, in Imperial's case, according to Imperial.
Timing is crucial for any application. Only one UCAS application is permitted for each student in the U.K. per year, as explained by UCAS, so it must be your best attempt if it is going to succeed. Schools in the U.S. also have strict application deadlines. Second applications, or applications sent after the deadline that do not meet the guidelines, will be canceled and destroyed and you will not receive a refund, so take care when submitting your first attempt. Often, your current school or college will help you work out the best time to send your applications, which is usually in October of each year for a medical related subject.
Before you begin a degree in your chosen subject you will likely have completed several other qualifications, or be near to completing them, such as A-Levels, GCSEs and BTECs in the U.K. and AP or IB classes in the U.S. Check before you apply if your list of personal qualifications will meet the requirements for the course you wish to attend. Medical engineering majors typically require top grades in related subjects, including maths and physics. Applications can be strict, and one or two grades lower than the requirement will not be enough. If you do not have the right grades or predicted grades and do not wish to consider another course you can sometimes go through a "clearing" procedure or late entry, where you are given the opportunity to retake basic or remedial classes before beginning your chosen major. Be sure this is what you want before applying.