<p>Haven't posted on this thing in a while, been trying to hold down the fort and keep my grades up so I can get some AP credits wherever I go. But basically, I want to do biomedical engineering, or chemical, at Cornell. I eventually want to go on to med school, and I really want to know which of the four schools that I am considering right now would provide me the best biomedical engineering/research experience and which would best set me up for medical school. Many thanks!!</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>They’re all fine but Cornell doesn’t offer a biomed engineering degree. You do bioengineering with a concentration in biomed</p>
<p>Personally, I’d choose Duke because they are very keen on advising. (Although my information is all hearsay).</p>
<p>I was very interested in Duke, but I’ve seen a lot of posts here that tell about how Duke “weeds out” people with their grading curves, preventing a large portion of pre-med students from ending up applying to Med school because of low GPA’s. Also, I was worried about my majoring in engineering, especially biomed, as pre-med. Is there any way to put it in perspective exactly how hard it is to do such a major and still get good enough grades to keep up a 3.5 or above GPA?</p>
<p>Duke BME, is one of the best in the country. I think its ranked 2nd only to Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>But will taking it at Duke be a big risk to my GPA and thus my med school acceptance chance?</p>
<p>I used to be worried about not being able to compete academically in college, but I realized that if you work really hard, the results will show.</p>
<p>You do engineering?</p>
<p>Engineering is going to be hard regardless of where you go among those schools. Go to the one you are happiest with. You aren’t going to end up with a sub-3.0 at one but a 4.0 at another. Weeding out is not an active process at most universities, its just the nature of college. Lots of people want to be doctors starting out, but can’t hack it/can’t focus enough/find other interests.</p>
<p>Small nit: I think UCSD beats Duke in BME. :)</p>
<p>OP: The professor who started gradeinflation . com was at Duke and started it bcos of the inflation in Durham.</p>
<p>mmmcdowe: You say that weeding out is not an active process at “most” universities. Are there universities where they actively select kids and prevent others from applying to med school?</p>
<p>bluebayou: I just went on gradeinflation.com, average Duke GPA from 1932 to now went from like 2.25 to 3.44! That’s insane. </p>
<p>Also, does anyone know where to find stats on Duke Biomed GPA’s?</p>
<p>Biggie: Yes, ask your school of choice if they write committee letters. If they do, ask them if they require a certain GPA or a resume review before agreeing to write it (they might need your resume to write it, but if they want to see your resume before agreeing it gives them the option to say no). If they say yes, that means they are actively weeding out those who don’t meet their standards and essentially forcing them to apply after graduating.</p>
<p>
Alums, even a few years out, still need committee letters. This policy is harsher than you describe – it essentially makes it impossible to apply at all.</p>