<p>Rising senior considering premed options. </p>
<p>Gatech BME ranks #3 undergraduate and #2 graduate this year I believe. With Hope scholarship, it is almost free for ga students.</p>
<p>So I am torn between gatech and washu.</p>
<p>Anyone on CC has gone through the same delima?</p>
<p>Both of my sons chose to go out of state instead of GT. I love GT and would have loved for them to go there for many reasons, not the least of which is the money. One is in BME at Virginia and the other is pre-med at Wash U. </p>
<p>In the end you have to find a school you love and a program of study you love, and of course a school you can afford. I would ignore the rankings. As long as they have accredited programs with resources and good reputations, the rankings won't matter, especially for undergrad.</p>
<p>Whether fair or unfair, GT has developed a reputation as being cold for undergrad students, with too many classes taught by TAs who do not speak English well. Check out their rankings at Princeton Review. My kids just did not feel like they would do well in that environment. Again, the reputation may be unfair, but you should find out for yourself and decide.</p>
<p>I will add that if you are serious about pre-med, consider carefully whether you want to do engineering. Lots of threads about this same subject, but there is no doubt that GPA is tougher in engineering anywhere, and especially at GT. And while engineering is good training for docs, you have to get through the first screen, which is mainly MCAT and GPA.</p>
<p>Some links...</p>
<p>Alex's</a> Illicit Guide to Medical School Admissions: a Trusted Source for Premed Students</p>
<p>Let me make sure I got this.... GATech is almost free for you and is one of the top 2 or 3 programs and you are torn to go to WASHU instead ! Could it be all the mass mailings have started to affect your common sense or what?</p>
<p>Strange it may sound, but most of the asian kids I know of want to go to a top ten/ivy school over ga tech. That's why I am debating.</p>
<p>HartinGA, I am with you about ga tech. I have some friends there burned and eventually dropped out. On the other hand, I have some friends at WashU and love it.</p>
<p>My son is a Georgia resident who chose Wash U over Ga Tech. He is a junior in Engineering (but not BME). There were many factors in his decision about what school would be a good fit for him -- including academic atmosphere, curriculum flexibility (he has a double major with a dept outside of Engineering), and some specific extracurricular opportunities -- as well as location and the desire to go somewhere different/out-of-state. He is happy and thriving at Wash U.</p>
<p>Cressida, you have to watch those rankings. They are like IQ scores: they can be useful if the two scores are far apart, but once they get close together they really mean nothing. For example, while BME at Virginia is ranked 12th, the engineering students at Viriginia have higher SAT scores than Tech students. All classes are taught by full time faculty. The faculty is very friendly and accessible and the kids can hang out in their offices and see them out of class. Their new building is adjacent to one of the top med schools in the country, so they have the run of those labs also. So it is a great environment. In the end it is about finding the right fit, not about numbers. The financial side is tough, but we are fortunate to be able to pull it off.</p>
<p>WCL, do consider UVA also. If you are interested, send me a PM and I will get you connected to my Son, who is a guide at UVA and get you set up to see everything. My other son LOVES Wash U so far, but their E school has been through a lot of changes lately and some folks are skittish about it. Others to consider for BME:</p>
<p>Vandy: great town, great school, easy drive to GA. Big $.
Texas: If you are NM Finalist you can get in state tuition. Yough to get into BME OOS though.
Duke, of course, but I would prefer Wash U (less intense I think)
Rice: They have a great environment there also and it is a close knit group</p>
<p>I can't believe I am about to pile on GT this way, but Cressida sort of challenged my judgment (though in good humor) and I wanted to explain. I do love the school and my sons have friends who are there and happy. They have several friends there who are not happy, and their reasons are, unfortunately, consistent with the issues raised in the Princeton Review. Below are the only Princeton Review "top 10" lists where Tech shows up:</p>
<h1>8 Professors Get Low Marks</h1>
<h1>4 Least Accessible Professors</h1>
<h1>3 Class Discussions Rare</h1>
<h1>6 Best Athletic Facilities</h1>
<p>Take it for what it is. I hope it is unfair and inaccurate, but I wasn't willing to gamble with my sons' education.</p>
<p>Other thing to consider is what happens if D or S decides to drop out of BME (or other engineering). My D went to Wash U BME and has already decided it's not the program for her - so consider the overall program of a school also in case the kid decides to switch to a liberal arts program! So far she loves WashU by the wayl</p>