<p>I'm trying to decide between biological engineering at Cornell and biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins. I've been looking around online and asking people about these schools, but it's still hard to decide.</p>
<p>I know that Johns Hopkins is ranked #1 for its BME program but I understand this ranking is for graduate school according to US News. I am wondering how it good the program is for undergraduates. I have heard that the university places less emphasis on its undergraduate students in contrast to Cornell. I don't know to what degree this is true so I am hoping that someone could clarify this for me. More specifically, I would like to know if this lower emphasis on undergraduate students would affect how the BME program ranks at the undergraduate level. I think it would be natural to focus more on the graduate program since that is the one that is usually being ranked, but I hope this is not a practice that is used by JHU to an extremity.
Cornell has a very good engineering school, which ranks higher than Whiting. On the other hand, if I attend JHU the medical component for BME might be better. I want to be pre-med, so I believe a program with a stronger medical component like in JHU would be better. However, I am wondering to what degree this would be necessary at the undergraduate level.
Can someone also tell me how many years on average can be taken off of the usual four-year undergraduate education for BME at JHU using AP and transfer credits from college courses taken during high school (I took these after school and during summer at a junior college)?
My last question is about the 5-year combined BS and MS program at JHU. The part about JHU that really attracted me was this program. I didn't find too many details about how this works on the website. Could someone explain how this works? What does JHU usually look for when deciding to let people go into this program? How many students are admitted? I'm very unfamiliar with how college works, could someone please explain all of this to me?</p>
<p>Thanks,
Jasper</p>
<p>One last thing, if there is anyone who is also trying to decide between Cornell and Johns Hopkins, could you please tell me what you think?</p>
<p>This is interesting to me because I looked at both schools (I am graduating from JHU this spring) and I am in BS/MSE program here (finishing in four years in MechE). </p>
<p>[Disclaimer: I only know for certain about my major. More than likely, most of these things will be the same.]</p>
<p>Usually in the five year combined programs, you start taking grad classes your senior year and continue into the year after. The requirements are the same as for anyone in the masters program in your field. I recommend doing a masters with thesis, because it is generally looked upon higher than a coursework masters.</p>
<p>You will have a really hard time shortening your time in any engineering program with APs. (I personally didn't have any coming in since I didn't take the tests because I didn't want to risk getting in over my head.) You can get out of basic math and science with APs, but they aren't going to help you with engineering classes, many of which must be taught in sequence. This may be slightly different for you since I believe BMEs have a little more freedom to alter their curriculum (minors and concentratons). Take a long look at the requirements for the major. Transfer credits will only help if the description is nearly identical to that for a required class. Again, look at the advising manual for BME or call someone in the department to ask.</p>
<p>The best thing about Hopkins is the availability of undergraduate research. You get an amazing opportunity to do research from day one if you want. Every prof I've ever met is excited to work with undergrads. I also know a good number of people who do research based at other JHU institutions (med schoo, etc). One of my friends does bio-mechanics related research at APL, for example.</p>
<p>"I know that Johns Hopkins is ranked #1 for its BME program but I understand this ranking is for graduate school according to US News"</p>
<p>Actually it's #1 for graduate and undergraduate. The graduate ranking for US News came out for 2008 just recently and JHU is still #1 in bme and it's been #1 in undergrad for a while.</p>
<p>Like scorp said, both the undergraduate and graduate BME programs at Hopkins have been ranked #1 for a while. I think (like you said) that the undergrad ranking stems from the connection the medical campus and the opportunities that that creates for all students. </p>
<p>Depending in what credits you come in with and how well you plan out your schedule, it is possible to finish BME in 3 or 3.5 years. Normally, the "core" BME curriculum lasts until the first semester of senior year, so if you plan out your schedule and finish up all your engineering electives (including a semester of senior design) by then, graduating a semester early isn't <em>that</em> difficult (relatively speaking).</p>
<p>If you want to try to graduate a year early, you'll basically need to have enough credits to skip most of the normal freshman classes and start off with the BME core (which normally starts sophomore year) as a freshman. I came in with quite a bit of AP credit and actually considered doing this, but I decided to take random other classes instead - freshman year, I took two semesters of French, a business class and an econ class, all of which have nothing to do with my major, but they were just interesting classes. That said, if you come in with credit for Bio, Chem, Physics and Calculus, you might be able to take a year off of your degree. It's fairly rare because most people who are able to do it decide to pursue a second major etc.</p>
<p>As for the BS/MS program, I do know a couple people in it, but I'm not sure of the details of the program - you could try emailing the person listed as the Masters program coordinator on this</a> page.</p>
<p>Finally, if you're choosing between Cornell and Hopkins, have you had the chance to visit both campuses? I applied to both universities and visited them both during senior year. The feel of both campuses is pretty different and you have to pick where you want to live for the next four years. Both campuses are really nice, but Cornell has a rural, small-town feeling while Hopkins is pretty urban and active. Baltimore's also a lot larger city than Ithaca so Ithaca seemed more quiet and laid back while you'll always see the hustle and bustle of a big city like Baltimore. At the same time, that means Cornell had more of a college-town feeling than Baltimore/Charles Village does, though the administration here is trying to improve that. When I visited Cornell, I met with a faculty member in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering program and he took my dad and I to lunch in some college-town type area right near campus (blanking on the name right now)</p>
<p>Just to clarify, are you talking about the Biological</a> Engineering program or the Chemical</a> and Biomolecular Engineering program at Cornell? Because the Biological engineering program there is very different from the BME program here. The program is very much environmentally based, with the focus on things like natural resources, food supplies, agriculture etc, not on things like cell/tissue engineering, bioinstrumentation etc. Cornell's ChemE program has a Biomedical Engineering concentration and the University also has a BME minor that are a lot more similar to the BME program at Hopkins.</p>
<p>oh, I'm talking about biological engineering at cornell and biomedical engineering at johns hopkins, I guess it's kind of confusing because biomedical engineering and biomolecular engineering are both BME
oh, thanks to everyone for the advice</p>
<p>I'm not too familiar with how things work at colleges. I get to choose my classes for freshman year and plan out my schedule after I find out what AP credits and transfer credits JHU accepts, right?</p>
<p>Not sure if this will help at all with your decision, but I posted this on a different thread a while ago and think it is appropriate here as well. JHU is top in BME both at the grad and undergrad levels and have been leading the charge in those areas for many years. The JHU BME program has been so impressive that it has spread throughout the rest of the Whiting School of Engineering. Here is what I wrote a while ago:</p>
<p>"To me, it is amazing how much the strength of the BME program has expanded to so many of the other departments in the Whiting School:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Chemical Engineering has the tremendous Biomolecular program - so good that it is now part of the Department name. The Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering track is fantastic.</p></li>
<li><p>Materials Science has Biomaterials.</p></li>
<li><p>Mechanical Engineering and/or Engineering Mechanics has Biomechanics, with 5 different areas of specialization.</p></li>
<li><p>Computer Science as well as Electrical and Computer Engineering provide the opportunities to pursue bioinformatics, robotics, computer integrated
surgery, natural language and image processing, and other nanotech areas.</p></li>
<li><p>There are even options within Environmental Engineering.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I guess Civil Engineering might be the only department that has yet to reap the benefits of Hopkins strength across all related bioengineering disciplines."</p>