Biomedical engineering. ..Pitt or Boston U

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pittsburgh
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<p>Instate PA student. Received grant from BU which almost equalizes finances.
What should be considered? One month to decide.</p>

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<p>Pitt’s engineering program is BioEngineering, not Biomedical. It’s actually an important distinction. However, if you want to focus on BME within the BioE department at Pitt, you’ll have loads of opportunity for relevant research and experience both because of our ties with the medical school and UPMC.</p>

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<p>Awesome, how would you differentiate BioEngineering from BioMedical Engineering? I didn’t realize it was an important distinction.</p>

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<p>I’ll ask my BioE/BME friend for specifics but I think it basically breaks down to this:</p>

<p>BioE focuses on the creation of any device related to the biological processes (generally of a human body) whereas BME specifically focuses on medical-field related devices. Basically BME is a subset of BioE.</p>

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<p>Thanks Awesome…you’re awesome!</p>

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<p>I would appreciate any wisdom on this choice.</p>

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<p>Both urban with blended campus. If this was Northeastern vs Pitt, Northeastern would be obvious choice since it guarantees you a job. Boston is no different than Pitt. Both have same number of students and same land area. Go with Pitt if you want to keep the transportation cost down. Boston if you want to spread your wings.</p>

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<p>@XtremePower-- how are you guaranteed a job from Northeastern?</p>

<p>Another consideration besides the cost of transportation is basic cost of living. Boston is a great city…but much more expensive to live there.</p>

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<p>Because of the co-op program. Unless, you are a really bad employee, the company is not going to fire you. Most graduates tend to stick with the employer they did the co-op with.</p>

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<p>We have the same two on dd’s list as well - I believe (and could be completely off) with the magnitude of NIH funding at Pitt and all the research going on in BioE - proximity to hospitals/etc, you may have more opportunity with research as an undergrad at Pitt.</p>

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<p>Curriculum for BU</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.bu.edu/eng/current-students/ugrad/requirements/planning-sheets/documents/BME%202016.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bu.edu/eng/current-students/ugrad/requirements/planning-sheets/documents/BME%202016.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Curriculum for Pitt</p>

<p>[BS</a> Program](<a href=“http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/Bioengineering/Undergraduate/BS_Program/]BS”>http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/Bioengineering/Undergraduate/BS_Program/)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier %20%20%20%20%20=id&ItemID=2147484038&libID=2147484034[/url]”>http://www.engineering.pitt.edu/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier %20%20%20%20%20=id&ItemID=2147484038&libID=2147484034&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Pitt seems to have a program lot more into the biological area while BU is more tied into instrumentation.</p>

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<p>You aren’t. That is false, and frankly, impossible.</p>

<p>Likely this was a reference to the co-op program, but not even that is guaranteed. (see [here](<a href=“http://nuweb9.neu.edu/che/?page_id=162#Q6]here[/url]”>http://nuweb9.neu.edu/che/?page_id=162#Q6)</a>)</p>

<p>At Pitt, you are actually guaranteed an internship after completing a participation prep program (see [here](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/cdpa/internship-guarantee-prep-program]here[/url]”>http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/cdpa/internship-guarantee-prep-program)</a>), but I believe they include undergraduate research experiences as fulling that guarantee in such fields in the biosciences, which makes sense, because that is where everyone gets such experiences in these fields: academic laboratories. Biotech companies typically don’t take undergrad college interns.</p>

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<p>While maybe rare, I know of a Pitt soph chemE who will have a 2nd summer internship in biotech this summer, so it is possible.</p>

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<p>Thank you wgmcp101. I agree that the co-op program at NEU has great value but it is certainly not a guarantee for employment.</p>

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<p>ChemE is a very different field than biological sciences. I could be wrong, but her co-op position is probably not cell/molecular biology/physiology web lab type of research. I can’t rule it out that it happens some places, but I’m just not familiar with it happening at most biotech companies around the country that at least I am familiar with. The biotech industry is also pretty small, comparatively, to other industries. Pitt’s seems to have been very aggressive setting this internship program up, so maybe they are encouraging companies to create opportunities.</p>