<p>Hi -</p>
<p>What is the process for declaring Bioengineering as your undergrad major at Stanford? Do students apply and only a limited number are admitted to the BioE program? When do they apply? How difficult is it for a Stanford student to get into the BioE program?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Anyone can declare any major at Stanford, since they don’t admit by major. All you have to do is fill out a form.</p>
<p><a href=“http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/students/declaring-major”>http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/students/declaring-major</a></p>
<p>They do have an honors option for BME, which requires pre-approval of a professor & etc.</p>
<p><a href=“http://bioengineering.stanford.edu/education/BioE-Honors-Program.pdf”>http://bioengineering.stanford.edu/education/BioE-Honors-Program.pdf</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the link Lilliana.</p>
<p>Under “Declaring a Major” at that link, it says “You then submit a request to the department in which you want to pursue a major. The department informs you of their decision whether to accept you into the major.”</p>
<p>How often are students not accepted into a major - especially Bioengineering?</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Stephany</p>
<p>No problem!</p>
<p>Hmm I’m not an actual student, so I don’t have solid info on that part. I would think non-approval is rare, though; it seems more like a way to make sure everyone has proper science & math preparation to handle the work, instead of a competitive process between students. </p>
<p>If you’ve done well in STEM AP/IB courses in high school (or actual Stanford courses during your 1st two years, if you declare as a college junior), it seems like you should be okay.</p>
<p>I have not heard a single story about a stanford student being shut out of a major.</p>
<p>Not getting admitted to Stanford OTOH is quite common since 94% of applicants won’t make the cut.</p>
<p>^^so true @texaspg. @mschneid You apply to Stanford…not to any particular major. They really don’t care what you declare as a potential major (undeclared is fine as well) when you apply since so many change their majors during the 4 years while they are there. Our K has already noticed that some of the kids who were interested in engineering majors switching to humanities majors…some political science/international relations majors switching to CS/engineering…few premeds majoring in CS and 1 premed majoring in classics…prelaw students majoring in symbolic systems to science, technology, and society…you can study and major in whatever drives your fancy.</p>
<p>Thanks Tex. The clause about the department letting you know whether you were accepted makes me wonder about the potential of not being able to pursue a chosen major.</p>
<p>We will find out this Friday whether my daughter was accepted to Stanford. But in the meantime, she was accepted at 2 public universities as a direct Freshman admit to their BioE schools. So we are trying to weigh that against Stanford (if she is accepted) and Caltech and Harvey Mudd (where she has already been accepted).</p>
<p>So confusing.</p>
<p>About 60-70% of those intending to be premeds at Stanford decide to pursue non-medicine careers which is a well known fact. My kid went in as a premed and I ask the question about pursuing medicine at the end of every quarter to see if the interest has changed.</p>
<p>@gravitas2 - don’t know if you read Stanford news but someone was appointed to Stanford board of trustees recently who is a symbolic systems grad from 1993!</p>
<p>@texaspg. Yes. I have read the article from Stanford News last week…Srinivasan was the 5th employee at Yahoo working alongside co-founders Yang and Filo (fellow Stanford students). She stepped down as vice president and editor-in-chief in 2010 and has gone on to start her own company Loove…and she is very active in supporting the arts and Stanford…
<a href=“You've requested a page that no longer exists | Stanford News”>You've requested a page that no longer exists | Stanford News;
<p>…what’s interesting is that some of the most successful movers and shakers in the entrepreneurial/technology start-up world have come from symbolic systems (SS) graduates…and there aren’t that many that graduate each year with this degree…</p>
<p>… and you are right, so many of the kids who come in thinking they were going to be premed are frequently tempted by some of the other exciting career options…that’s why some of the more astute premeds try to cover “all their bases” by majoring in something like CS or even symbolic systems and taking the minimal premed requirements (that could easily be managed) just in case they “change their mind”…</p>
<p>Stanford produces well rounded graduates who are well prepared to do anything. My dad was a Human Biology major who never worked or studied science again - rather worked in business, got MBA, and runs a big company now. </p>
<p>It’s fine to choose a public university’s Bioengineering program, or Caltech or Harvey Mudd, over Stanford. But don’t do it because you fear being rejected as a Bioengineering major, because that’s not going to happen unless you are totally unsuitable, e.g., insufficient basic preparation, no understanding of what the major entails, and no chance of completing it on time (or on time plus a semester). If you could let yourself get into that situation, you will probably not be capable of staying in any of the public university programs anyway.</p>
<p>On the other hand, what could happen easily at Stanford is getting interested in something else and going off in a completely different direction. That could happen anywhere, but it’s probably more likely to happen at Stanford because the culture of the university encourages you to believe you can succeed and accomplish great things from any major. And, the truth is, coming from Stanford, you can. But that can be nerve-wracking for parents whose hearts were set on a particular engineering career.</p>
<p>Sadly, my daughter was not accepted at Stanford. Such a crazy year for admissions there! So she has chosen UW as a direct admit in the BioE program. She plans to apply to Stanford again for either her Masters or PHD.</p>
<p>UW should be a very good school for BioE with an attached top rated medical school.</p>
<p>@mschneid. I’m sorry to hear that. Having read your daughter’s outstanding profile at Caltech…she will do great at UWashington since she has the academic chops to have gotten into Caltech (a very tough school to get into as well)…</p>
<p>…agree with @texaspg…UW has a wonderful bio-engineering program and medical school…</p>
<p>…and like you said, she can always apply to Stanford for grad school…</p>
<p>…best wishes!</p>