Chance Me, not really sure where I fall, top student at a low level school [PA resident, 3.92 GPA, 1440 SAT, top 3% rank, <$70k; biomedical engineering]

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Demographics
US Citizen
PA Resident
Public Highschool (500+ kids in class)
Asian Male

Intended Major(s) : Biomedical Engineering, aim to create dental care innovations

GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
GPA: 4.34 W, 3.92 UW
Rank: 13/521
SAT: 1440 (710EBRW, 730 M)

Coursework
APUSH (5)
AP Bio (5)
AP Lang (4)
AP Environmental (4)
AP Micro (3)
AP Calc BC
AP Comp Sci
AP Seminar
AP Macro

Awards
State Representative Service Award
Research Project 1st place regionals, 1st place states
DECA 4th in states
NHS
AP Scholar w/ Distinction

Extracurriculars

Shadowing Dentists (11,12) - Shadower

Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (9,10,11,12) - Research Leader

DECA (10,11,12) - Member

Volleyball (9,10,11,12) - Starter & unofficial DJ

Community Service Club (9,10,11,12) - Member

Students for Universal Oral Health (SUOH) (11,12) - Event Coordinator (Board Member)

________ Research Program (Research leader) (10th, 11th) Co-First Author and Head of Research, in process of publishing paper

_____ Hospital Volunteer (Summer of 10th)

Religious Youth Leader (9,10,11,12)

Essays/LORs/Other
(Optionally, guess how strong these are and include any other relevant information or circumstances.)

  1. AP Bio, got 5 on exam, she liked me, supports my intended major (8/10)
  2. AP Lang, super close with her, strong writer, highlighted my strengths as a student (9/10)

Cost Constraints / Budget
no more than 70k a year including room & board

Schools

  • Safety: Temple U, Jefferson, Penn State
  • Likely: Pitt, Drexel, Rutgers, UIUC
    *Match/ Reach: Northeastern, GA Tech, UVA, UMich, Boston U, Cornell, UPenn, NYU, Hopkins, Brown
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Do you qualify for need based aid? (If unsure, have your parents run the net price calculator at some of the private schools). If not, all the private schools on your list will be unaffordable. UMich is out too.

Technically, NEU and BU provide some merit aid but unfortunately you’re unlikely to get any.

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I won’t qualify for much need based aid. Are the top private schools really more than 70k a year?

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Unfortunately yes. Between $83-90k per year and will likely go up 3-4% each year.

GT and UIUC will both be affordable, and they have very strong engineering programs. So that’s good. Plus you have Penn State.

You have good options on your list, so don’t worry.

Good luck.

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Thank you so much. I do not have a lot of people to guide me college-wise so I really appreciate your help!

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UIUC would be a reach for Engineering. But definitely worth applying as it is a great school for BME.

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Do you think I should add or take out some schools on my list?

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Will you qualify for any need based aid…because if you don’t…I’m not sure how you will get to $70,000 price point at most of your reach schools which have COA in the $80,000 range.

Cornell, Penn, Hopkins and Brown give only need based aid. Actually the schools that are on your reach list give mostly need based aid.

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Yes. This year, BU and and i think Hopkins are already over $80,000 a year.

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I think your in state schools can get you to your goals just fine.

UIUC is a reach. I might lose it or at least add Purdue and UNC.

Ga Tech is the only reach I’d apply - so UIUC, Purdue, and Ga Tech can be reaches. You can add UMD and even UNC if it’s specific to biomedical. I’d move on from the rest, all of which are not affordable cost wise and while a couple give merit but are unlikely. By the time you finish college, some of those will be $100K a year.

For an inexpensive and fine school, check UAB. Others within the Eastern half of the country that could work at much under budget are Delaware, Iowa, Lehigh (with merit), Miami Ohio, Minnesota, SUNY Bing and Buffalo, NC State, Ohio State, Rose Hulman for very small, and WVU. They would all come in well under $70K - except maybe Lehigh. UAB with auto merit would be very inexpensive.

Great student.

Best of luck.

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I dont think I will qualify for much tbh. I haven’t ran the NPC for most schools, but my income is 120k, which I think is a little too much for need based aid. not sure though.

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thank you so much, I will definitely add some of those schools to my list. How much do you think going to a top school for BME matters? I’ve always heard that a state school is not worth it if you want to land a high-paying (90k) job out of college. Is there any truth to that?

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If your parent income is $120,000 a year, you may very well qualify for some need based aid at some of these colleges. You need to run the net price calculators with accurate figures to get an estimate of your need based aid.

So…please please do the net price calculators.

I don’t know who told you this…but it’s not true. Employers do not pay you based on the name of your college. They pay you based on what you will bring to their job. If you go to an ABET accredited engineering program, you will likely be able to find a good job when you graduate IF you do well in college, have some internship experiences, etc.

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That makes sense, thank you. What are your thoughts on schools that offer Co-Ops to students while studying. I know Drexel and Northeastern offer it. It seems like a good way to gain some real job experience and money while still in college.

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Hmmm - i can’t speak for Bio engineeringbut my son graduated a school (Alabama) in MechE - and they are not on anyone’s ranking but have tons of top students - and he will make $90K or potentially more (assuming the company hits its profit target - last year they hit 129%). That’s before signing bonus. The reason he chose his school btw - so he could have his own room - and a shared bathroom with one other kid. Otherwise he was off to Purdue.

Many of the “top” engineering schools in the country are publics. But forgetting that, there are various jobs of different payment levels out there - and a lot has to do not with where you went to school but based on where you live. Jobs in Mass or SF will pay more than jobs in Kansas.

Purdue, in 2022, for example, shows 17 salaries - from $61K to $78K.

UC Berkeley reports in 2022 a median $65,000 - with 32% still looking.

That tells me - it’s likely a lesser paying field of engineering and maybe harder to find jobs as UCB and Purdue are both world class engineering schools. I would actually look at curriculums of schools as you have a specific desire - and to find a professor / school that focuses on dental equipment.

Here is one such linked below - yes it’s private and out of budget - but are there others?

In general, it does seem that sub major of engineering is lesser paid - but I would pursue your dreams - and where you’ll end up, your pay will likely match your location, etc.

One last thing - I noted UAB as a “budget” school with solid rep. Here’s where they place although they don’t show salaries:

  • Agenta Biotechnologies
  • Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • BioHorizons Implant Systems, Inc.
  • Biological Innovations
  • GE Medical
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
  • Medis Medical Imaging Systems
  • Medtronic
  • Melodis Corporation
  • Novartis
  • RTI Biologics, Inc.
  • Southern Research Institute
  • St. Jude Medical
  • SurModics Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
  • US Food and Drug Administration
  • Wright Medical

One last thing - if you google Dental + biomedical engineering + linkedin, you’ll see lots of people - you can check their profiles. You have to filter out the dental students for those working in the dental equipment industry.

Good luck

13 Highest Paying Engineering Degrees (interestingengineering.com)

Dental Medicine and Engineering Unite to Transform Oral Health Innovations - H. Koo, K. Stebe, 2023 (sagepub.com)

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I think coop schools offer a great opportunity to gain experience as part of the college plan.

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GaTech unfortunately is very unlikely… It will not provide any OOS financial aid. GaTEch requires SAT/ACT score. BME program at GaTech is currently #1 in the country. Unfortunately, there are thousands of applicants with SAT >1500. GaTech is a public school and by GA law is required to take mostly Ga students. OOS GaTech is extremely competitive since there are very few spots for OOS students. Top students from every state compete with each other. I believe OOS acceptance rate last year was just 12%.
DD with SAT 1560 and GPA higher than yours was deferred and then waitlisted. She made it only because it was the beginning of COVID (many students asked for a gap year) and she was a legacy.

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UMD does not have BME. UMD has only Bioengineering for undergrads. It is not related to medicine.

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Yeah, seems like biomedical engineering is on the lower end for engineering salaries. Kinda disheartening to hear since I always imagined a large salary for engineers, but I will for sure keep following my interests. Or just become a full on dentist LOL. Thank you so much for your help, I really really appreciate all the information you shared.

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ah, i see. thanks for sharing. i will still apply there since their biomed program is so strong, but yeah, i agree that it’s a shot in the dark.

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