<p>I really want to do biomedical engineering, but I am not sure if I want to ED to Duke or Johns Hopkins. Which is the better all around experience (academic and social)? Also, how much does legacy affect JHU's admissions because my brother got his BS and MS in BME at JHU.</p>
<p>JHU has the stronger biomedical engineering program, however it is a program you must apply directly to and is extremely selective. That being said, jhu academics have a rep of being very cut throat; Duke, though their academics are up to par, has a more sociable, outgoing vibe about it. In terms of overall college experience, I’d vote duke, but have you visited Baltimore and Durham to see which you prefer? I live in baltimore and was accepted at Hopkins and looked into duke heavily so I visited both and they have very different feels on and off campus.</p>
<p>So I visited both schools when I was looking at universities for BME. Duke was like 10 degrees hotter than Baltimore (but that probably fluctuates a lot). Duke has a much larger campus than JHU. Its buildings feel spread out much more than at JHU. JHU has the whole red brick, very colonial thing going on whereas Duke buildings have a Gothic feel in the main west campus (the east campus where I think the freshman are, although I never visited, has the georgian colonial style buildings I think). Both BME programs were pretty awesome. I recommend visiting both if you can and just imagining yourself living in both of these great universities. They are really different from each other and once you visit you’ll probably immediately see which one you like more.</p>
<p>Both BME’s are great programs. I think JHU BME is ranked 1st nationwide and Duke BME is ranked 2nd so there really isnt that much of a difference. Just go to the school that you think you’ll personally be more comfortable at.</p>
<p>I’ve a Hopkins BME grad who’s now in the MD/PhD program at Duke, so I’m pretty familiar with both programs and faculties. Both programs are quite strong and are very student oriented. Neither one is going to be easy by any means. I think the biggest difference between the two schools is not going to be in their academics but in their campus lives. Both schools have very different cultures on campus and I would reiterate the recommendation to visit (and try to stay overnight) at each one. I personally chose Hopkins over Duke and other schools when I picked colleges 6 years ago, and even though I’m at Duke now and absolutely love it, I would definitely still pick Hopkins if I had to make the college decision again.</p>