BME Program Information

<p>I've been searching for info on Hopkins' BME program admissions statistics, but have been able to find any. Any good websites out there?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bme.jhu.edu/academics/undergrad.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bme.jhu.edu/academics/undergrad.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://apply.jhu.edu/faqs/edfresh.html#ed_bme%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apply.jhu.edu/faqs/edfresh.html#ed_bme&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"Competition for BME during Regular Decision is quite high, with less than 20 percent of admitted applicants being offered enrollment into the major."</p>

<p>Is BME the only major that's competitive? (i.e. are the others not?)</p>

<p>BME is the only program (that I know of) that you have to specifically apply for. Other than that, the laxfan04 wrote a</a> while back about the effect of major choice in the application process.</p>

<p>Even if you are not admitted into BME it is quite easy to get around it and study BME at Hopkins, and I am not talking about transfering into BME after your freshmen year because very few students do this. Please follow my logic.</p>

<p>First off, just about every branch of engineering here has developed a bio prefix concentration. Bio-mechanical, bio-chem, bio-materials, etc have all greatly developed in the last few years to compensate for BME being a restricted major. Another thing is that even if you are admitted into BME you have to concentrate in another branch of engineering, (such as mechanical, electrical, materials, chem, etc.) this is just part of their curriculum. There are numerous BMEs in my mechanical engineering course. So lets say you wanted to get into BME but didn't, and lets say you would have concentrated in biomechanics as a BME. So you join the MechE department. You spend the first few years with mechanical courses as oppose to your BME counterparts (which are usually a joke anyway). Come junior and senior year though you take all the biomech courses in the MechE department and to complete the biomechanics concentration as a MechE you are required to take courses in the BME department, which they will allow you to do. You are merely taking their courses, not majoring in BME so they let you do this. So in the end you missed a few introductory courses in BME (that are basically meaningless) and obtained a much stronger background in mechanics from your first few years there while still taking advantage of all the upper biomechanic electives from both departments. So in essence you are getting a BME education without a BME major slapped to the title, might not be as good as majoring in BME but it sure is close.</p>

<p>Just some food for thought</p>

<p>spe07</p>

<p>I can see your logic. But would you say MechE with bio emphasis is BETTER than BME? You said certain BME courses are meaningless.</p>

<p>Let say a person got into BME. Should that person reject BME major and choose another major with bio emphasis?</p>

<p>I don't think spe07 meant that BME is meaningless. It's great if you can get in, but if you don't, then bio-emphasis mechE would be your next best...
Resort to the second best if you can't get the best.
At least that's what I think spe07 meant</p>

<p>Hiraku pretty much got it</p>

<p>Meaningless/useless was probably the wrong word to use. If you want to study BME the best way to do it is by studying BME, not biomechanics in the MechE department.</p>

<p>BME is a very interesting subject. When you look at engineering projects in the real world you will find that each project is comprised of engineers for all branches, you simply have to work in groups like this. BME is the classic example of this. You need chem people for, well the chemistry of the body, bio people for the physiology, electrical to develop MEMs systems, mechanical to analyze forces/fluid flows, materials people for materials.....you get the point. By studying biomechanics in MechE you will master mechanics in general, focusing on its application to bio, but not as much as someone in BME. But again, like I just mentioned biomedical companies will need MechE people to do stress/fluid analysis in bio applications that you will be able to do because of your strong mechanical background.</p>

<p>So like Hiraku said, doing biomechanics in MechE would be the next best thing to BME....its not all that different from BME and you can really get a great concentrate in the BME department if you want, so in the end it won't matter that much</p>

<p>hope this helps</p>

<p>Excellent messages spe07...</p>

<p>The only detail I would add is that over the last two years about 50% of the students who enrolled at JHU that were not admitted directly into BME decided to take Biomolecular Engineering in the Chemical Engineering department. The difference in curriculum between BME and BioME is about 5 total courses over the four years.</p>

<p>So as your message alludes to, not getting directly admitted to the BME program is not the end of the world, and you can still get an amazing Bioengineering experience at Hopkins. And as I always say to students who visit, what other undergraduate school can offer 5 bioengineering areas to its students -- most only offer one.</p>

<p>If you got into MIT and JHU, which one would you choose? (major: Engineering)</p>

<p>The question you ask is far too subjective too really answer. From an academics standpoint MIT is the best engineering school in the world. JHU can hold its on, especially in BME, but its tough to compare any school to MIT when it comes to engineering. </p>

<p>For reasons outside of academics, I would never attend MIT for undergrad or grad school</p>

<p>If you get into both MIT and Hopkins (and especially so, if you want to major in one of the bio-related engineerings), at that point, I don't think that comparing academic programs is the best way to pick schools - Visit both campuses and see which one "fits" you better. Some people will prefer MIT's urban environment while others will feel more "at home" at JHU.</p>

<p>Hmm...</p>

<p>I was thinking, since MIT is such a GPA deflater, maybe one should go to JHU to have a higher GPA, hence better chance for medical school?</p>

<p>Honestly, I think you focus too much on which school you will have a better GPA at or a better chance to get into medical school. The differences between JHU, MIT, and other top schools are some small when it comes to things like that...</p>

<p>You should really follow tanman's advice and visit both campuses. Find out which one FITS. Choosing between schools of such high caliber really should be more about which one fits you personally - the school you can see yourself at for four years.</p>

<p>Stop sweating such small details. Go visit! JHU and MIT are different -- the students, the campus, etc.</p>

<p>Thanks laxfan04.</p>

<p>I will make time and try to visit.</p>

<p>That is, if I get into those schools.</p>

<p>JHU is considerably more probable to get into than MIT.</p>

<p>Thanks for allyour help.</p>