<p>My son has been accepted into all 3 of these programs. We visited UM last week and he loved it and all of the potential opportunities it affords him, plus he is excited that they have the prospective 5th year Master's program there.</p>
<p>Yesterday he visited U Louisville and also really liked it. He would be in the Honors College there (guaranteed classes) plus they do 3 paid internships, but that would mean no seeing him during the summers.</p>
<p>Tomorrow he visits USC where he is a Capstone Scholar.</p>
<p>I was just wondering if anyone has any insight into the pros & cons of these three schools. With his scholarships, the price is almost the same at all 3, so not a significant factor in our decision. Thanks!</p>
<p>Louisville and South Carolina are peer schools are but University of Miami is way ahead. University of Miami has average ACT of 30 whereas Louisville has 24 and South Carolina has 27. Look at the graduation rate, student to teacher ratio, faculty, campus life, everything points to Miami etc. </p>
<p>He will get internship opportunities everywhere(except its not guaranteed like Louisville’s) so that should not be a important factor. UMiami has the reputation and its very good for sciences including biology. I do not think he should turn down a prestigious college like UMiami for those two. 0.02</p>
<p>Internships are key to employment. If Louisville has 3 guaranteed, then look no farther. </p>
<p>Nothing else matters. </p>
<p>Internships are not everywhere, especially for bioengineering. If employers don’t come to campus, then you will have to network on your own sending resume across the country. Getting a good job in BME is much harder than the statistics portray. I had some PM me for advice for their son that had top grades but could not get an internship anywhere. </p>
<p>I did a job search for Miami, FL and there are a lot of hits for BME so it won’t be a bad choice though. I would still go to Louisville for the guaranteed real world internship that will directly relate to getting a job after graduation.</p>
<p>Granted it was almost 30 years ago, but when I went to UofL’s Speed Scientific School, they helped you find engineering internships, but they weren’t actually guaranteed. I guess things have changed, but I would still get details before using that as your main criteria if you haven’t already; I mean, it seems they can’t force a company to take someone with a very poor resume. If satisfied with the answers, then yes, it would be a major boon! </p>
<p>Also, the 3 internships were <em>required</em> for graduation. If you had previous employment in any kind of technical field, you could write something up about it and get it to count as 1 of your internships. I did that, and got my other internships on my own. </p>
<p>Where does your son want to end up living? If the answer is the midwest, then definitely go for UofL!! It’s considered kinda regional, but I got a great education there, and it led to a successful and satisfying career for me.</p>
<p>I’ve seen some other posts where people are in programs that require internships/coops to graduate. I am hesitant about this because I could see where one would be in a situation where they can’t graduate because they don’t have the required internships/coops. While schools make you promises that they’ll place you, many of them do not fulfill those promises. I’ve seen schools where the same kids, over and over, get the fellowships, grants, awards. What about the other kids who are not so pushy, not so connected, but are still talented, hard working kids. Are those kids left in the dust, not able to graduate, because they couldn’t land that required internship? Do they have to do something pieced together just so the university can say they’ve fulfilled the requirement and get them out the door, fudging their statistics that their graduates have all completed internships?</p>
<p>There may be a confusion between required / optional internships and co-ops. I’ve seen the same kids over and over at work doing 2-3 co-ops with us, true, but they have time assigned on a regular semester where they simply work, not necessarily in the summer. University of Cincinnati and Kettering are such schools in my area. That bumps the degree to 5 years but hey, you’re paid good money, great social opportunities :), and so on.</p>
<p>I would start by finding out whether the co-ops are pre-arranged or the student has to do a lot of legwork. Hard as it may seem to believe I’m not a big fan of co-ops / internships but today’s climate is quite different. </p>
<p>Also, do not underestimate the distraction factor of going to a school like, ehem, U Miami. There’s a reason we used to joke about GPA and proximity to New Orleans; our formula was that GPA increased by a full point as driving distance away from New Orleans increased… I.e. about 2.0 for my buddies at UNO (Univ New Orleans), then 3.0 at LSU an hour away, then 4.0 at UL 2 hours away :). If the student is committed and has a good work ethic, UMiami should be fine, but having visited there it’s a very, ehem, tempting place…</p>
<p>Also Louisville has a good ‘medical scene’ thanks to the medical center there and there’s a lot of medical related companies for BME in the greater area (L’ville, Cinci, Indy, Bloomington). Ask UL which companies the school places interns with on a regular basis for details.</p>
<p>Thanks for everyone’s advice! My son, after visiting all three schools now, has discarded USC. So now it’s down to either U Louisville or U Miami. Miami’s current president has done a lot of work to get rid of the SunTan U mentality and the school has been rising through the national ranks. It is ranked significantly higher than UL overall. Anyone else have any knowledge one way or the other?</p>