BME programs at JHU, Stanford and UPenn

Applying to College
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1

As an international high school senior who likes BME, does anyone know about the quality of undergrad bioengineering programs at Stanford and Upenn?
Considering the extreme competition of BME at JHU, I’m not sure if it’s worth to apply JHU during ED or take a more conservative strategy to apply stanford/upenn.

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And btw, will ED really make a big difference for JHU BME applications compare to RD?

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Yes, JHU fills the majority of their class in ED.

I can’t speak to the strength of BME at the other schools but they will likely be just as competitive, especially Stanford.

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UPenn and Stanford won’t be easier admissions, Stanford will be substantially harder.

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Neither of those is a “more conservative” strategy.

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Thanks for replying! I saw that JHU BME’s ED will automatically assign some of the students to their “second interest majors” based on the severe competition of BME program, is this common?

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Does anyone know if it’s possible to switch major from majors like biology/biochemistry to BME at JHU/Stanford/Upenn during the sophomore year?
The direct application to the BME program is too hard during the ED or RD, so I don’t know if it works to first apply biology/engineering majors and then transfer into BME after freshmen year.

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You have to go to each school’s website and/or academic catalog to research this. If you can’t find the info after a thorough search, contact your AO and ask.

Here is JHU’s info:

Can I get into BME during my sophomore year? If spaces open up in the BME major at the end of your first year, the Whiting School of Engineering will contact all Hopkins first-year students regarding spaces available in the program and the process for internal transfer. This occurs rarely and most students are advised to enroll at Hopkins with the knowledge that transferring into BME is a highly competitive occurrence.

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At Stanford you can change to a different major easily.

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Whew! These are all tough admits. My D is a senior BME major at another school and it’s my recommendation that you absolutely have some safeties on your list!

Also, at D’s class there were maybe 1/3 of the BME’s by junior year than there were freshman year. It’s a hard major and many either leave engineering all together or switch to another type of engineering - usually Mech because people feel it’s less specific and provides more opportunities. So, while your creating a balanced list, be sure that it’s not hard to change majors.

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