BME 4550

Professor Chen's "Experiential Learning for Your Future" is less a class and more a workshop to prepare students for their careers. He goes over resume and cover letter tailoring, networking, cold emailing, and personal meetings to discuss what you want to go into and how to get there. Dr Chen is very personable and willing to help students find job opportunities and internships through his own connections and encouraging students to reach out. The course is very easy; the only deliverables are perfecting your resume and CL, doing an occassional reading, and creating a career plan. Dr Chen designed this course to serve as a way to prepare and find you opportunities and prioritizes that over class deliverables and homework. He also brings in guest speakers who are in the industry and work in the area, as well as a tour of a local biotech. It's a class that is very low priority and prepares you for finding opportunities; I found it was very worth my time and I will apply what I've learned every time I touch up my resume or reach out on LinkedIn to network. #tCFS24

I took this course over the summer of 2023 and fall 2023. This class was really helpful and teaches the soft skills necessary for job hunting that most BMEs do not receive. We worked on resumes and cover letters, interview prep and best networking practices. Prof Chen and Dasha are very knowledgeable and supportive.

I took this class in Spring 2023 for 1 credit and then in Summer 2023 for 2 credits to satisfy my BME Elective. It has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. I have gotten tours of startup companies in Charlottesville, access to numerous guest speakers spanning many different industries, feedback on my resume and cover letter, and the chance to learn about various career and professional development topics, such as ethics, project management, and work-life balance. David and Dasha, who co-teach the class, are absolutely fantastic and always willing to lend a helping hand. If you have room in your schedule, I would highly recommend this class! It is very low stress, low workload, and overall very manageable. Also counts for a BME Elective!

I really enjoyed this class! I took it for one credit over the summer and plan to continue it this fall for two credits. The work load was not overwhelming at all and this class really helps you plan for job application season. It motivated me to apply for fall internships and helps perfect my cover letter, resume, and linkedin. I highly recommend this class! Also, it counts as a 3 credit BME elective which is insanely helpful. Professor Chen is so easy to talk to and is honestly very encouraging. 10/10 class!

Dr. Chen and Dasha helped me navigate my plans for the next year after graduation. I went into this class knowing I wanted to apply to med school, but I didn't know what I wanted to do in my gap year. This course opened up many possibilities for me and strengthened my resume and cover letters to help me secure opportunities. The course is formatted in a constructive way that allows you to immediately apply what you learn in your internships and work.

Dasha and Dr. Chen offered valuable time and effort to expand our knowledge on career building and networking. This class is almost like having weekly meetings with two built-in career advisors. You hear from past students who have taken the class, people who are in the industry, and hear from the professors on some of the best avenues for finding a job and ways to ensure that you are in the right place once you find a job. There is no better class to learn about career development, and I would recommend any BME to take this course. You cannot go wrong.

For the 1 credit summer course, it was helpful to start thinking about career/future life plans going into the fall semester. Having someone like David and Dasha with experience in the workplace + connections to recent grads in relevant industries is a helpful resource!

Prof Chen and Dasha provided helpful information, resources, and support through this class. It is the only class for BMEs that focuses on work life and professional development. They helped us with: cover letters, resumes, post-grad planning, work life balance, etc. We also discussed important topics such as workplace ethics, negotiating, and more. I feel much more well-rounded and confident as a rising fourth year after taking this class. I would suggest this to all BMEs and engineering students in general!

This is a really awesome class! You get to go into clinic and watch surgeries and stuff, which is awesome. The guest speakers that come in almost every week will also give you a kind of real-world perspective on BME and how what you are doing converts into the real-world. I learned a huge amount in this class, and would recommend it to everyone (even though David will talk you up about how hard it is... its not tooo bad)

Class is fun and is a great introduction to applying bme skills to design. And strong team work skills are required. Professor, however, is very under-qualified. If you suck up to him, he will favorite you and push your project forward despite its zero marketability. He plays very strong favorites and my classmates were worried more about whether or not David favors them than their actual project. Otherwise very easy and fun class!