My son has whittled down his college acceptances to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Virginia, and Georgia Tech. UIUC is instate, so it is substantially cheaper. However, my wife and I have decided that we will send him wherever he feels best fit, as we are mostly comfortable with the cost wherever. He is having some difficulty choosing the a school, despite each one being vastly different. Georgia Tech is obviously the strongest academically. It is ranked 3rd in biomedical engineering, while Virginia is 18 and Illinois is 21. He has a slight chance of switching to another engineering major, most likely mechanical if at all. His end goal is to work in some sort of biomechanics (prosthesis). However, he isn’t sure if the technical school environment is right for him. He values diversity, and has made it clear that he doesn’t want to be surrounded by STEM people at all times. He also values an intimate environment, which he isn’t sure if Illinois, a very large school, will provide. He also would like to get away and experience something different, another reason he prefers to not go to Illinois. Illinois’ program was very selective, and is very small (about 70 students per class), which may add to the intimacy he is looking for. When it comes to Virginia, he feels it has the environment he is most looking for (smaller, beautiful campus, quality sports, not all party). Our one issue with Virginia is that we aren’t sure if the engineering is at par with GT and UIUC. The overall engineering school is not ranked nearly as high. However, Payscale shows Virginia engineering graduates make well above Illinois and GT engineering graduates http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-majors/engineering#fullText . Can this be trusted? A collaborative environment is also important, and so is strong job placement. Any recommendations? Is Virginia worth the out of state cost, or is it absurd to pay for it?
Anyone?
I wish there were some responses to this thread! I cannot tell you how exactly this describes my position right now. Those three schools, intimate+intellectually passionate+diverse environment and my desires for a strong Biomed program (but with less of a focus in the biological/chemical engineering side, and more focus on the mechanical and electrical side. ).
Even if no one replies to this I am glad to hear that there are other people who think like I do and that I will likely find them wherever I go to college! 
One thing I’d like to suggest is that you change up the title to include the names of the school (Georgia Tech, UIUC, UVA, U Virginia) in the way that I have written here. People seem to be more likely to respond when a college is in the title. Furthermore, there should be a way to add “tags” to your post that indicate which areas in this forum this thread is related to. Hopefully, that will get this post some more traffic!
Best of luck in making your decision!
Considering the fact that many BME undergrads go to grad school to be competitive in the job market, does that change your opinion on finances?
Just a caveat: Payscale isn’t particularly accurate–it’s self reported and sample sizes/self-selection are concerns.
What is the net cost at each?
Where are you leaning @LizBay12 ?
Don’t trust Payscale.
Companies are not paying Va grads more than the others. Companies don’t determine salaries by school name…at all.
With UIUC being instate, it’s really almost crazy to pay OOS for just another state’s flagship.
A BME degree needs a grad degree to work in prosthestics. Those masters programs are often NOT funded…some are, but the more desirable ones aren’t.
Seems like it would be wiser to put your extra money towards the better grad program.
(one of my friend’s son recently graduated with his masters in BME. He has large loans for his grad degree. He had a choice of some funding at a lesser program, but chose the ranked program. He’s now employed, but not being paid as highly as they thought he would be. Just something to keep in mind if you want your son to avoid debt for grad school. )
@geoffreys21 I don’t have firsthand experience with BME, however I do have 2 children who are currently attending UIUC. We are also in-state (western Chicago suburb) and they have found it, a wonderful fit. There are a lot of opportunities to connect with smaller groups where you can make good friends while pursuing outside interests.
I suggest you and your son do a campus visit…even if you have been on campus before being admitted. Contact the college and see if he can shadow a student to a class or at least speak with a current student or two. Perhaps it would help to assuage any anxiety about the size of the school.
Also, if your son has any specific interests, he should check out the RSOs. There is a very long list from professional to philanthropy to athletics to social. https://illinois.collegiatelink.net/organizations
My daughter’s friend who is in Bioengineering and Biomechanics did the Illini 4000, where a group of students rode their bikes cross-country to raise funds in the fight against cancer and to support those dealing with it.
P.S. As a parent, the distance to U of I is fantastic. Selfishly, we love it! Good luck with your decision.
In general, one should never use a ranking without carefully reading the methodology.
By analyzing the methodology one can attempt to extract “meaning” from the ranking. This tends to be more useful than the notion of “accuracy” or “trust”.
The US News’s undergraduate engineering specialty rankings are the result of a survey of academic engineering departments that offer Phd degrees asking them to rank the overall engineering departments with which they are familiar, and to nominate particular specialty disciplines for recognition. Two surveys are sent to each school. There is no control over who fills out the surveys. The overall response rate is about 50%. There is no mention of how many departments were ranked or nominated per survey.
So basically the outcome is the result of an an uncontrolled survey of opinions with an unknown response profile from a population that represents a subset of the academic research community (with no representation from industry) all of whom have a strong vested interest in its outcome (because department reputation and funding can hinge on the rankings).
This would suggest that the results would probably just represent the number of Phd alumni of each school present in sample set with some contribution by the number of BA’s and the number of MA’s.
A quick test of this hypothesis is to compare the ranking of each school to the size of the Phd program.for the specialty.
School…Rank…# Phds/yr…#BAs/yr…#Masters/yr
GTech…3…28…214…17
UVa…18…13…85…4
UIUC…21…6…58…10
In industry, if the marketing department were to present such a market survey to the engineering department, the engineering department would politely suggest that the survey was a rather inefficient way to determine the size of each school’s Phd program and proceed to place it in the circular file…
I can see why UVa grads earn more than UIUC or Ga Tech. Many may end up in Northern Va where the pay is simply higher. Ga Tech grads may end up anywhere in the South, including areas with lower cost of living. UIUC may end up anywhere in the midwest, including areas with lower cost of living. It’s not that Ga Tech grads can’t get the jobs in Northern Virginia; they just may not be drawn to that geographic area. In other words, if three people were hired for the same position in the same corporation, one from each school, they would get comparable pay.
My BIL would argue that UVa is a great engineering school (he majored in electrical engineering there). I went to grad school at Ga Tech. I really liked my time there and Atlanta’s a great city for young adults. Lots of things to do.
Has he visited all three schools? I strongly recommend visiting and then choosing, not on reputation or rank, but on how he felt talking with the students, professors and the general environment. Also,take a look at the area around campus.
Hi @geoffreys21 , I am still quite undecided! As the others said, I would highly recommend a visit to each school. I have found that to be the most helpful way to compare one university to another. I also sent you a pm which should appear in the “inbox” tab on your home profile. Hope it’s helpful!