I was accepted to both schools. However, I am not garunteed a spot in the BME program at UCSD due to its capped status. I would have to re-apply after freshman year and entry to the program is based on screening courses GPA. Whereas at CWRU, I am garunteed a spot in BME.
Please help, if you knows anything about either schools and the BME program there. If you know about UCSD’s capped majors and how difficult it is to get accepted, your advice will be much needed.
It’s really, really hard to transfer into BE at UCSD. You will need close to a 3.9/4.0 to have a chance. It’s a very strong program, but very competitive to get into and if you’re set on that major, you may want to pick CWRU. If you were admitted to UCSD as bio/bioinformatics or biochemistry, I’d still strongly consider those programs over CWRU BME.
this ^
How would you consider that Biochemistry at UCSD is better than bioengineering at CWRU? I’d be interested to hear since my son is in the same situation; he’s accepted into UCSD biochemistry and CWRU, UCI. UCD, and other schools for biomedical engineering. Coming from a biochemistry/molecular biology background myself, I feel that biomedical engineering offers way more opportunities with an undergrad degree, as compared to biochem which only leads to graduate school path. And there is very little wiggle room at UCSD to switch majors.
If either of you are choosing BME as pre-meds, I’d avoid UCSD. The competition is cut throat and they only place about 1/3 into medical school.
@galate1 Nowadays, the ceiling for a BS is pretty low everywhere; I think regardless of your son’s choice in major he will have to consider grad school to advance his career. The problem with a BS in bioengineering is that even if you’re doing it from a program like Johns Hopkins or UCSD, you’re severely limiting your flexibility with potential employers. For the record, I’m a Bioengineering: Biotechnology major at UCSD. The first thing we learn in the first upper div bioengineering is that trained research scientists (i.e. biochemists) are going to be better at experimental design and experimentation, and data scientists/informaticians (CS majors) will be better at the subsequent analysis. Bioengineers occupy a space between the two–according to this professor, we’re best at goodness-of-fit analysis–making us sort of jacks-of-all-trades, masters of none.
As such, if you want to work with medical devices you may be better suited to electrical engineering. If you want to work in pharmaceuticals you may want to pursue a pharm chem degree. That’s not to say that bioengineers aren’t well equipped–we’re taught with a much greater emphasis on medicine and biology than other engineers (obviously) and the classes have a strong focus on preparing students for both industry and premed studies. If you like the flexibility of being able to choose between the two paths, CWRU (or Irvine or Davis) might be a solid choice. If you’re interested enough in Biochemistry to give up BME, UCSD’s program will be on balance stronger than the other options. There are astronomically more chances to participate in research and get a job nearby in La Jolla. Feel free to ask me any other questions you might have. Parting shot: not sure what @eyemgh means unless he’s just saying bioengineering is hard. Yes, it’s hard. No, people aren’t feeding each other wrong answers or copying entire programs like you hear about at several other large public schools. It’s more collaborative and friendly and I’ve never felt that cutthroat is a good descriptor for the program.
@DoctorP, UCSD has a very poor track record at placing grads into medical school. Roughly 1 in 3 applicants get in. Compare that to Pomona where over 90% who apply get in. Is it because Pomona is “better”? Maybe, but it doubt it. It’s likely because, like many small selective schools, Pomona doesn’t grade on the curve and this has significant grade inflation. At UCSD, and other large schools that grade on the curve, there is significant competition to get the few As that are handed out. I’m not speaking about BME only, but UCSD in general. Grades and MCAT rule in med school admission. If there are only a few top grades to be had, someone has to lose.