<p>Hello guys!
I need your advice. I have narrowed down my choice for college to two schools: MIT and JHU (BME program). JHU has offered me the purely merit based Westgate Scholarship (full tuition for 4 years as long as I maintain a 3.0 GPA). MIT did not give me any money. Generally speaking, money is a bit of an issue, but my parents keep telling me that they would pay, so I should be able to come out of college without (or very little) debt.
I am interested in a career in R&D of prosthetics/neural interfaces/implants/biomechatronics, and am very much set on pursuing a PhD in one of the related areas, most likely some subfield of Bioengineering, or perhaps a subfield of Mechanical Engineering. I have looked around the web, and have found that the suggested traditional path into this field is Mechanical Engineering for undergraduate study, and then a top school for BioEng/ BioMedEng for PhD studies. I am tempted to agree with this plan, as it provides a very good backup plan in case graduate school plans fall through.
However, in light of Hopkins generous scholarship, I am very interested in examining the possibility of a BME or perhaps BME+ME double major at JHU, with similar plans of attending MIT/ Stanford for BioEng (those schools are the most well-known in the specific subfield I wish to pursue) for my PhD.
I am having a difficult time choosing between the two, because honestly, the MIT environment, and also the name, is hard to pass by. Having gone to several selective summer programs in high school, I realize the importance of a competitive environment. I understand that JHU would also provide a good environment, but I do not believe it is quite on the same level (correct me if I am wrong). Still, honestly, seeing as JHU accepted me as a scholar, I am very sure that I will have much better access to top professors and good research opportunities there than at MIT. Additionally, I am tempted to believe that it would be easier to stand out from the pack at JHU than MIT. On the other hand, if I am correct, a BME degree offers very few backup plans, as it is a relatively new, very general major, and few industries really recognize it as versatile.
The problem really comes down to this: (1) Where do I have the better chance of getting into a good grad school (MIT, Stanford level) and (2) If, in the unlikely (and I mean unlikely), scenario that grad school plans fall through, which college would guarantee me better job opportunities right out of undergrad.</p>
<p>well…to me this is a no brainer. If money is an issue at all, you’d be saving 200k by going to Hopkins. Lots of people spurn top schools every year for state schools with generous merit scholarships. But in your case, you’d be getting a top private school as an alternative instead of an average state school like others might have to “settle” for.</p>
<p>In terms of job prospects and grad schools, JHU and MIT are likely equal for BME. This is something hard to quantify, as specific comparison data for JHU BME and MIT BME are not released. I’m basing this on personal experience with colleagues. I’ve met numerous JHU and MIT undergraduate alumni in graduate school at Stanford. Additionally, JHU does well in terms of the number of Stanford Graduate Fellows (the most prestigious 3 year full scholarship/fellowship offered by Stanford for graduate school). All in all, there doesn’t seem to be an over representation of one school versus another in engineering. MIT’s presence would be more pronounced at MIT grad school however, since a lot of their students choose to stay and earn master’s degrees. </p>
<p>I’d have to disagree with your other assumptions though. I’ve known AB Duke scholars (full ride at Duke) along with Westgate scholars at JHU. It’s not an automatic declaration that you will be at or near the top of your class as it appears you might assume. Some of them graduated in the middle of their classes. You likely stood out in your extracurriculars due to the fact that the BME statistics for JHU (average SAT around 1500) are actually higher than the MIT entering class statistics. There are also instances of students who turned down MIT for JHU BME (case in point here, one of the most talented high schoolers in the country at the time): </p>
<p>[Johns</a> Hopkins Magazine](<a href=“http://www.jhu.edu/jhumag/0605web/scholar.html]Johns”>Johns Hopkins Magazine)</p>
<p>While he received a full tuition location based award at JHU, there are others who did not have a full ride that turned down MIT among other schools. It’s a bit far-fetched to say JHU wins cross-admits vs. MIT for other majors, but BME is an exception.</p>
<p>So in essence, you will be challenged and will be competing with other students who were accepted into Stanford, MIT, and Harvard in the BME program at JHU. Should you do well at JHU, you’ll likely have the same opportunities as an MIT bioengineering grad. But if you do bad, well, it makes no difference if you come out of JHU or MIT in this tough economic climate. People aren’t hiring 4.0/5.0 GPA MIT grads in this economy when they can hire 5.0 GPA MIT grads that are just as hungry who’ve spurned grad school.</p>
<p>I’m a Hopkins BME alum and was a Westgate finalist. Congratulations on being selected for the Westgate! In your situation, frankly, I think you can’t go wrong either way. Either school will get you into the top graduate schools, and either school will provide you with excellent job opportunities. Along with all the BME grads I know who have gone with traditional routes (med school, grad school, biotech industry), I also know grads who have gone to law school, gone into I-Banking, joined consulting firms etc. My understanding is that companies love to hire engineers because we’re trained in problem solving, and you’ll get that solid training at either institution. The BME degree is definitely not new at Hopkins - I believe it’s been around since the 60s and many hundreds of graduates have gone on to work in many different fields. I do think the Bioengineering major is much newer at MIT - I don’t believe it was around when I applied to college since I was looking at Course 10B ( the Chemical-Biological Engineering program) at the time. </p>
<p>I agree with you that the overall campus environment is different at Hopkins vs MIT and you’ll have to see where you see a better fit. Since your’re a Westgate, I assume you’ve already visited campus and had a chance to get a feel for the campus? I think you’ll be equally challenged academically at either school. The BME program is quite tough and students in the program are very well-accomplished. I think it’s equally difficult to “stand out of the pack” at either school - while the Westgate is definitely a huge honor, it’s based more on your research background than on your sheer academics and many students who have equally stellar academic backgrounds just didnt have opportunities to do research in high school</p>
<p>As for your major choice, I actually somewhat surprised to see Mechanical Engineering as the recommended undergrad major for prosthetic and neural interface type work - while a MechE degree will teach you the mechanics of making prosthetic devices, it will provide you with almost no biomedical training that seems like it would be crucial moving forward. Take a look at the work being done by Dr. Thakor at Hopkins ([lab</a> website](<a href=“http://web1.johnshopkins.edu/nthakor/]lab”>http://web1.johnshopkins.edu/nthakor/)). I don’t a whole lot about BCI/prosthetics/neuroengineering (my focus area was in tissue engineering) but I believe he’s one of the leaders in the field. When there was a full-conference panel on neuroprosthetics at the Biomedical Engineering Society conference a few years ago, he was one of the four or five panelists discussing the field in front of a thousand or so BME faculty and students. </p>
<p>Hope that helps! Feel free to post or PM me if you have any specific questions!</p>