BME: Northwestern v. Johns Hopkins

<p>I have planned trips to visit both of these schools within the next few weeks. Hopefully my visits will make the decisions clear, but I’m afraid they won’t. Either way, I’m looking to get some other perspectives on my options.</p>

<p>Below I have listed some of my general thoughts about each school.</p>

<p>Northwestern:
- Costs $8k per year less than JHU, though JHU is still affordable
- Evanston/Chicago > Baltimore
- Stronger engineering school overall and stronger university overall (?)
- Students seem more diverse and interesting
- Better fit on paper (not sure if this will be true once I visit)
- Easier to obtain another major, minor, and/or certificate
- More flexibility within the curriculum (ability to take interesting classes)
- Nervous about adjusting to Chicago winters (esp. as a SoCal resident)
- Quarter system: too faced paced (?), breaks do not align as well with other colleges, internships, etc.</p>

<p>Johns Hopkins
- #1 BME program in the country
- Research opportunities seem stronger than NU’s
- JHU Med School/Hospital as a resource for research/internships
- Stronger BME faculty (top researchers in the field)
- Worried about pre-med/biology dominating the academic climate
- Environment seems more competitive and less inviting
- Social scene doesn’t seem as lively
- Safety concerns (Baltimore)
- Farther from home (longer and more expensive flights)
- Students at NU appear to have more diverse academic and extracurricular interests</p>

<p>Would I be crazy to turn down JHU BME for NU? I’m really torn. I am pretty set on studying BME, obtaining a PhD, and pursing an academic career, so JHU seems like the obvious choice. The resources, students, faculty, research, etc. within the BME program seem astounding. But, I think Northwestern may be a better fit and it is obviously still an amazing school.</p>

<p>Note: I also posted this in the NU forum to see what responses I get.</p>

<p>I’m in a similar situation, but I’m leaning towards JHU over some other schools -not northwestern but still. </p>

<p>First of all JHU and Northwestern are similarly ranked though JHU has a much more prestigious name in general (check out the Times Higher Education Poll on reputation). Just wanted to clear that up. Neither school is really highly ranked in general engineering (eg not top 10).
To address some of your reservations about JHU:
You will neither be drowned in pre-med nor competitive, cut throat students. JHU is a tough school, but not as crazy as rumor would have us believe.
Safety is a concern, but is also blown out of proportion. JHU actually has one of the safest campuses in the US and the area around the campus is pretty safe.
Baltimore is a pretty lively city and close to Washington DC, New York, and Philadelphia. You won’t be lacking a social scene -though as a BME major your social life may be a bit impaired no matter where you choose to go.
If you live in SoCal the distance between Baltimore and Chicago is pretty irrelevant in comparison to the distance between SoCal and the general area. Travel will be long and expensive no matter where you choose.
If you check the major requirements for JHU BME your course listings are pretty diverse. Along with your typical BME requirements (physics, chem, calculus, etc) you have to take 18 credits of humanities classes, 6 credits of “design” classes (like BME labs), and some elective classes. </p>

<p>I really didn’t apply to Northwester nor do I know much about it. These are just the results of my findings on JHU while deciding on my own colleges. </p>

<p>Visit. Jhu’s top major is international relations. The students are defniitely more diverse than you think.</p>

<p>I’m sorry but Northwestern is in no way a stronger university overall or has a stronger engineering program. They are equal schools academically, some maybe stronger in other areas than the other. For example BME/IR/Writing Sems/Physics: JHU> Northwestern Economics/Chemistry/Materials Science Northwestern>JHU. And its a pretty small different for all these subjects anyways, especially in undergrad. Also JHU is way easy to double major, as they only have distribution requirements and not a core, so you get to choose your classes. Students at both schools are diverse. You have been reading CC too much and listening to these rumors about JHU that spring up.</p>

<p>I can’t speak for Northwestern but your comments about it being easier to double-major and having more flexible are false. To say it is easy to double- or even triple-major at JHU is a massive understatement (conditional on having the ability to do so). Something like 40-50% of students double-major (and typically in a quantitative field and humanity/SS; I doubled in math/econ). Also, since there are only distribution requirements, you can take pretty much whatever you want).</p>

<p>I’m a Hopkins BME alum and a now an MD/PhD student in BME at another school. I don’t know much about the Northwestern BME program, but I can tell you that the Hopkins BME program is phenomenal. While it’s certainly an intense program, the opportunities the program gives you are second to none. As an undergrad, you get involved in design projects as a freshman, have the opportunity to take classes (even intro level survey courses) from world-leaders in their fields, and work with any of the researchers on the Homewood campus (in BME, or other departments like Material Sciences, ChemBE, Biophysics etc) or on the medical campus (which has some BME labs, plus all the medical research labs). The program gives you the chance to pick an specific interest in BME and really explore it in depth, while still keeping you well-rounded with a distribution credit requirement (which I used to double major in Economics).</p>

<p>Bottom line: I think Hopkins is a strong BME program and will provide you a more rich experience as a BME student. However, you will get a good education at either school, and neither school will “hold you back” in your future career goals, so seriously consider which school you feel a better fit with by visiting and staying overnight if possible!</p>

<p>Since Hopkins has no core requirement, students find it very easy to put together their interests. 70% of Hopkins students either double major or take on a minor.
That being said, I hear that being an engineer takes up many more credits and leaves less space for electives. But BME students are allowed to surpass the 16.5 credit-per-semester limit (because the school knows that they’re smart and can handle it).</p>

<p>16.5 is for arts and sciences; I think engineering is 17.5 or 18.5. And the registrar’s office will let anyone go over the limit provided they have a history of strong grades (though, as I found out in my senior year, they cut you off at 7 courses…).</p>

<p>After visiting both schools, I have decided to attend Northwestern.</p>

<p>I preferred the location, overall campus culture (felt more collaborative and less cutthroat, didn’t feel as dominated by premeds, students seem more involved in organizations), more diverse intersection of students (more even distribution of majors, thriving arts scene, students seemed to have more varied interests), and the NU’s academic and extracurricular offerings and student body seemed stronger.</p>

<p>I really like JHU, and especially the BME program, so it was difficult to turn it down, but I am happy with my decision. Thank you for all of the advice!</p>

<p>@CollegiateDreams, congrats on your choice! I hope your college experience is wonderful!</p>

<p>“NU’s academic and extracurricular offerings and student body seemed stronger.”</p>

<p>Not bashing your statement, but can I just ask what you mean by this? Can you give an example?</p>

<p>Also, just out of curiosity, did you visit Johns Hopkins? Did you go for SOHOP or anything?</p>

<p>@JHU518: Thank you! I did visit JHU for SOHOP. I really enjoyed my visit. I was really impressed with the helpfulness and friendliness of the staff and students.</p>

<p>NU’s academics and extracurricular activities seemed to be more diverse and engaging. I also got a more intellectual (learning for the sake of learning) vibe from the students I talked to, while they all also seemed very social and involved in campus life. At JHU, I felt that some student were similar to this, while others seemed mainly concerned about grades and a bit apathetic about campus life. This could just be the impression I gained from my somewhat limited exposure to both schools, but I had to find a way to differentiate between the two.</p>

<p>It honestly just came down to fit. From my visits, I felt that I would have a better experience at NU. Like I said, it was not a simple decision and I would be very happy to attend either school, but I had to pick one, haha. :)</p>

<p>Aw well its a shame you got that vibe from JHU. its ok, we all have our preferences. NU is just as great of a school as Hopkins so you really couldn’t go wrong, and I wish you the best!</p>