<p>My son is currently a junior in high school. He has decided he would like to major in Biomedical Engineering, so we have been researching colleges. As a result I have many questions. Below are the schools he is currently considering:
Johns Hopkins University
Case Western Reserve University
Boston University
Drexel University
University of Maryland
Stony Brook University
University of South Carolina
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Alabama Birmingham </p>
<p>Of those schools, Hopkins and Case Western have the highest ranked undergrad BME programs. They are both highly ranked grad programs too. I'm pretty sure he will want to persue at least a masters degree. </p>
<p>Here are the questions...
1) Is it worth spending $50,000 / year on an undergraduate degree from a top tier school? He will be our 2nd son in college, so hopefully we get some aid--and hopefully his grades/test scores will qualify for merit aid too.</p>
<p>2) If he does well at a mid-tier school for his undergrad degree, will he have a good chance at being accepted to a top tier school for a graduate degree? </p>
<p>3) Any thoughts/comments on any of the schools mentioned? We live in central Pennsylvania, and he has said he is okay with attending a school away from home.</p>
<p>4) Some of the schools on his list are not ranked for their undergrad BME, but are ranked for their grad BME. Even if he would be attended one of those for his undergrad degree, would a higher ranking for their grad BME be a consideration? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.</p>
<p>Why not Georgia Tech? It’s rated #2. My son’s is starting there in the Fall. We are instate though. We couldn’t afford $50,000/year so for us that would be it was a non-issue. However he did get really good merit scholarships offers at University of South Carolina and University of Alabama - Birmingham. So your son probably will too.</p>
<p>The only thing that I would say is to look at the internship/co-op/research at each college you are looking at. I’m sure they are all fine. It’s just some colleges seem to have more opportunities than others.</p>
<p>In my department (STEM, but not BME), the graduate admission committee (all faculty members) rarely commended applicants from lowly regarded undergrad programs, even though there have been exceptions. Things might be even trickier for BME, becaus of the wide variety of undergrad curriculums.</p>
<p>Like with other other engineering disciplines, you need to judge the school by its programs, assets and its placement record. Rankings are typically useless when it comes to engineering education. I suggest you concentrate also on where (geographically) your budding engineer wants to start his career. I know that there’s a lot of bio-e research going on at UAB, but I don’t know if an undergrad BME degree from UAB would interest employers in the northeast.</p>
<p>1) If you are considering Case and Drexel, why not Pitt. Case is rated a little higher than Pitt but is it really worth and an extra $30k. I don’t think it is worth it.
2) Yes.
3) Caught some of that in 1.
4) I’ll let someone else handle that.</p>
<p>For BME’s, a master’s degree is almost a requirement to land a job. For this reason, many schools have started to offer combined BS/MS degree’s in BME.</p>
<p>These are still “competitive programs”, but schools that do offer these programs wouldn’t discriminate against students from that school, and it would be possible to get your degree in 5 years (saving you the cost of a 2nd year in grad school). Below is a link to UF’s program, but other schools having similar programs in place.</p>
<p>Also, dont forget that most BMEs have an undergrad degree in something other than BME (like EE or ME). If a MS in BME is your goal, dont feel that youre limited to a BME undergrad degree.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>PS: On your question #4, since the goal would be grad school, the schools undergrad rating will not matter! Employers would only be looking at the grad schools rep.</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback everyone. We are still early in the search. I’m sure we will have additional school come onto the list and others fall off the list. </p>
<p>Ideally, I think he will want to live in or near a large northeast city (DC, NYC, Boston) if I had to guess. But I don’t want to limit him to undergrad schools in the northeast–mainly because of expenses. Schools in the south seem to be more willing to give decent merit aid. Certainly more than our PA state schools do!</p>
<p>Other BioMed schools in or near major cities - Northeastern, Tufts, WPI. Tufts does not do merit aid but their FA is good. NEU and WPI do use merit aid to attract the best students. Why not Carnegie Mellon?</p>
<p>DS (hs 2010, stellar stats) had one of his best merit scholarship offers Case. It made Case costs comparable to our state flagship. </p>
<p>Northeastern has good merit $ too. And perhaps the co-op would be a good advantage in BME.</p>
<p>CarnegieMellon would give need-based FA if qualifying. Don’t expect any merit $ there. In 2010 I read they might match peer school offers (RPI was on the list, not Case). </p>
<p>Note - If you have a few overlapping years with your kids in college, you may qualify for FA now (for both) even if you didn’t for kiddo #1.</p>
Case Western - accepted, received good merit aid making it affordable. Has applied for additional scholarships. Really like the school when we visited.
Pitt - accepted and accepted to Honors College. Waiting to hear on merit aid.
Virginia Commonwealth University - accepted and accepted to Honors College. Received some scholarship money, waiting to hear on additional scholarships. Liked the school and really like the Honors College Dorm.
Univ of Minnesota - accepted, waiting to hear on merit aid and Honors College
Univ of Illinois-Chicago - accepted and accepted to Honors College. Received some grant money, waiting to hear on scholarships. Liked his visit. Location is great, but campus needs updating.
Univ of Alabama-Birmingham - accepted and accepted to Honors College. Received almost full-tuition scholarship. But doesn’t want to go here.
Boston University - will waiting to hear if he is accepted.
Rice University - will waiting to hear if he is accepted.
Washington University-St Louis - will waiting to hear if he is accepted.
Although UAB is be far the cheapest option so far, my guess is he will end up at VCU, Case or UIC. Unless one of the three schools he hasn’t heard from surprises us with a great aid package.
Based on our college research/visits, Case is a great option if affordable. I don’t know anything about VCU, but I’ve heard good feedback on all the others. Good luck!!
My son’s is starting there in the Fall. We are instate though. We couldn’t afford $50,000/year so for us that would be it was a non-issue. However he did get really good merit scholarships offers at University of South Carolina and University of Alabama - Birmingham. So your son probably will too.</p>