I think they have a 3/2 with GT if I remember correctly. Still wouldn’t recommend that route.
Maybe Rice? It seems to be a favorite of CC. CMU is really about fit.
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I think that your ECs are fine. For example, training novices is a good EC. So is lab research, so is volunteering, so is a paid internship. You do not want or need to have any more ECs that what you have listed. It is definitely not like the longest list wins.
Assuming that your in-state public schools are ABET accredited for the particular versions of engineering that you are interested in, you can do fine on either an engineering or premed path in-state. It might however be a lot of work to complete both premed requirements and engineering requirements. You might want to see whether the required classes overlap (I am not specifically familiar with biomedical engineering). If there is not quite a bit of overlap, you might want to pick one, quite possibly by the end of your freshman year of university.
You are a very strong student. I think that you will do well regardless of whether you attend an in-state public university or one of your reaches.
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Yes, Emory does have a 3-2 program with Tech. Makes zero sense for someone applying to med school. I should have said they do not have their own engineering program.
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I agree unless OP would consider a different STEM major. Then Emory would be a pretty good choice.
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Not disagreeing with you there. My husband is a physician and did both undergrad and med school at Emory 
and I am an alum as well. I hope my comments didn’t read like I was knocking Emory. I was just pointing out that it wouldn’t be the best choice if OP is set on majoring in engineering.
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Not as much of a forum favorite as University of Alabama.
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You might consider majors like biophysics or engineering physics, that would lay a foundation for graduate study in medicine or engineering, without trying to complete a whole BME degree, which you’ll then never use if you go to med school.
Since you’re considering ED at Duke, here’s their biophysics major: Biophysics Majors | Department of Physics The page mentions that it’s a good major for students “who want to study topics related to biomedical engineering but with the flexibility to take the broader range of courses offered by a liberal arts education.” This is perfect if you want to decide later whether to go all-in for medicine or for BME (which often ends up requiring a grad degree regardless). There are similar majors at the Alabama publics as well, and also at Emory.
CWRU, which you also mentioned, has both biophysics BS Biophysics Concentration – Physics and engineering physics Engineering Physics Major – Physics, which requires a concentration area that can be BME. Comparing these two majors to the BME major Biomedical Engineering, BSE < Case Western Reserve University could help give you an idea how these programs differ, and which might give you the best undergrad experience in combination with meeting premed requirements.
So there are variations on the theme, but my point is that it’s okay to leave some of the specialized BME stuff for grad school if you do not go to med school. Because, if you’re going to become a doctor and never work as a biomedical engineer, why stress yourself out and jeopardize your GPA for an engineering degree that you will basically put aside to go into medicine? If you want to be a doctor who works on BME type projects, an undergrad degree in biophysics or engineering physics is probably plenty to make you a strong team member. And if you decide against med school, you won’t have to start over to go into BME; you can just go forward from there.
As for your college list, it seems that you’re pretty settled about reaches and safeties. The question is whether there are any lower-reach or match schools that you would prefer to your in-state safeties. For example, would you go to a school like Lehigh over your chosen safeties? You’d be a strong candidate there, even on stats alone; and you’d have even more of an advantage because of geographic and racial diversity. (Lehigh treats Asian students as URM, at least until SCOTUS tells them they can’t.) That’s just one example for proof of concept. You’ve got URoch, UIUC, CWRU, Wake - those are all great schools (although engineering at Wake is new and offers just a general engineering degree, which might be worst of both worlds - all the work of an ABET engineering program without the specialization that you want) - only you can decide whether you’d value them enough to pay significantly more than getting a fine premed and/or engineering (or pre-engineering) education in-state. You have strong options in Alabama, and with their heavy merit-based recruiting of top OOS student, you don’t have to leave the state to experience geographic diversity - they bring it to you.
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Roll Tide!
OP, are you NMSF? There are some great schools that offer merit. Why not take advantage?
Purdue also came to mind.
Rochester is a great school but definitely a temperature shock. Plus, I’m thinking not a fun trip with multiple layovers.
Regarding the biophysics option…
Biophysics probably has enough commonality with biomedical (and maybe chemical) engineering in the first year that it may be possible to start off following the engineering course work and defer the decision on major to after two or three semesters.
By then, the decision may become clearer:
- If it does not look like you can maintain a pre-med-worthy GPA (probably means > 3.6 or 3.7), then you can go all-in on an engineering (or other) major without pre-med.
- If, after some pre-med extracurriculars (volunteer or paid work in patient contact scenarios and serving the disadvantaged and underserved, shadowing, particularly primary care), you no longer find medicine attractive, you can go all-in on an engineering (or other) major without pre-med.
- If your GPA is still pre-med-worthy and you still have a strong interest in medicine, you can consider switching to biophysics to lighten the course load, although that would mean that if you do switch to engineering later (either out of choice or because you get shut out of medical school applications), that may require additional schooling beyond a bachelor’s degree.
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What does this exactly mean? You can apply to and get accepted to medical school from just about every undergrad college in this country.
And with regard to medical school…you don’t have to go to a prestigious medical school to become a successful practicing physician.
As I said earlier, I think you have a nicely varied list of colleges in terms of how competitive they are for admissions. And you are a strong applicant.
Just an FYI…the doctor kid in this family had high school ECs that were just about ALL music related…and swam on the swim team. Neither was directly related to the undergrad major pursued (bioengineering/ biology double major).
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Almost* all US MD and DO schools should be considered elite in terms of admission and prestige.
*With a possible exception of a for-profit school with accreditation and regulatory troubles.
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I think you will be a strong applicant and have a legitimate shot at all the schools on your list. If you have a clear first choice, then ED makes sense to improve your odds, as it appears you are interested in doing at Duke. Just because you have a legitimate shot doesn’t mean it’s likely. I’d put your chances at below 20% for all of your reaches, but that is not a reflection on you but on the extreme competitiveness of the admissions pool. There are far more extremely talented students who want to attend these universities than there are spots. But, you could be accepted to many or all of the schools. Just realize that the odds are not in your favor.
I’ve chanced you for your schools below, and added in a couple other Top X schools that might interest you (those schools are bolded). Realize that these are just my very fallible guesses as to what your chances might be.
Extremely Likely (80-99+%)
- Your state schools
Likely (60-79%)
- George Washington (D.C.) is another school that I would go so far to consider a likely, if you show it a lot of interest, that offers biophysics and a popular ABET-accredited bio engineering degree.
Toss-Up (40-59%)
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Bucknell (PA ) which has ABET-accredited biomedical and chemical engineering, biophysics
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UIUC: If you apply as engineering, it’d probably be a toss-up. If you applying as biophysics, I think you’d be a likely. But if you think you really might end up in engineering, apply in engineering.
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U. of Rochester
Lower Probability (20-39%)
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Case Western: Make sure you show it lots of love or it will drop into the low probability category
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Duke ED: Would drop to low probability without ED, and it’s currently sitting on the lower end of this category.
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Georgetown (D.C.): I would generally always put this in the Low Probability category, but because of your interests, I think your chances are greater, because people usually flock to Georgetown for the social sciences, and they don’t have as much interest in their strong science programs. It does not have engineering, though, so if you definitely want that, then this would not be the school for you. Here’s more info on its biological physics program: Biological Physics | Department of Physics | Georgetown University
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U. of Miami (FL): Within its biomedical engineering degree it offers a focus on neural engineering, one of your more particular interests. And I’d probably say I’m close to calling this school as a toss-up for you.
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Wake Forest
Low Proability (less than 20%)
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CMU, WashU, Emory, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Rice
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U. of Pennsylvania: You have your biophysics, bioengineering, and chemical and biomolecular engineering here, too.
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First of all, med school is gonna cost 400K, so you really do want to keep the cost of undergrad down. I realize both your parents are docs, but do they really want to spend close to 800K on your education, when you could get to the same result for much less?
You do have a slight hook - that is geography. Not so many great applicants coming out of Alabama, and schools do want geographical diversity. Also, as a woman going into engineering, you’re desirable to maintain sex balance.
Med schools DO want engineers, especially bioengineers. They realize that docs with engineering degrees are the future designers of biomed devices. I remember a med school recruiter (wow, think of that) coming to my Ivy’s engineering school (but back in the old days) and specifically inviting the engineers to apply, for just that reason.
You might get massive merit money at state U’s with engineering seeking high stats students. U Arizona comes to mind, but look for the recent thread about schools with lots of merit money for high stats students. If you made Nat’l Merit semifinalist, even better. These schools would probably be your best bet. They will look at your high stats, and want you. You might even get a full ride, and if not that, quite likely to get full tuition.
If money is truly no object (and honestly, even 2 doc households don’t fall into that category), then add MIT for highest reach, maybe RPI (they’ll give you enough merit money to match your in-state cost). But I’d recommend going with the big merit money at the state flagships seeking students like you. Med schools will be happy to take you from those, assuming your academic achievement continues along your current path. And you’ll save your parents a ton of money.
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I am applying neuroscience for some schools
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I’m good with Alabama as a safety and fully understand the benefits. Why not just have fun with the application process and max out my full potential?
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I am not NMSF
Well if you think writing all those supplementary essays for schools that would cost your parents an additional 200k or more for essentially the same education and med school acceptances is fun, sure, knock yourself out. My idea of fun would be chasing down the full tuition or full ride at a very good flagship state U, and then telling your parents that they can put the savings towards earlier retirement or a beach house.
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Congrats OP on your great record! Based on the classes you listed plus the comment of bare minimum foreign language, i have a small concern your course rigor may not quite be up to par compared to the top kids /top offerings at your school. In general, to be the most competitive, you need four years of core courses(english, math, foreign language, science, history) and if available at your HS a 6th core course in the years possible, typically in science for students who are applying Engineering or premed. For example, does your school offer AP physics C or AP Bio? The highest level of physics would be expected to be taken for Engineering candidates. Duke in particular mentions in their engineering info session and printed literature that the most competitive candidates have 6 core courses most years of High school and that should include at least one year physics. Take the opportunity now to make sure you are maximizing your senior year courses if you want the best chance for admission to the top schools you listed.
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Most of the OOS kids I know who have gotten into Georgia Tech the last few years have been either valedictorian or salutatorian for the respective HS classes.
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Apply to Auburn and Alabama as soon as applications open. Quick turnaround, no essays. If you want to be a doctor, go to one of these. Grades and MCAT are critical for admission to medical school. Both of these will be extremely affordable and will allow you to conserve your assets for medical school. You are also fortunate to have a top-tier in-state medical school in UAB. This would be my preferred path for you if you decide to be a doctor.
The difficulty is the schools that are best for engineering may not be best to get you into medical school so it would be good to have a path before you apply. As far as your state schools, Auburn has a top 30 undergrad engineering school so if you remain undecided that might be a good idea although I’ve heard great things about Alabama engineering as well.
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