<p>My daughter is a junior and interested in biomedical engineering. I have heard about bright women being encouraged by schools to apply to engineering programs. How does one go about putting themselves "out there"? She was originally interested in math, but has moved toward the practical applications of the engineering field. She is very pragmatic and concrete.</p>
<p>She'd like to stay in New England -- possibly NY as a stretch. </p>
<p>Any suggestions for schools? Currently considering the following:</p>
<p>WPI
RPI
Cornell
Tufts
Northeastern</p>
<p>Many many thanks!</p>
<p>Her stats -- don't really know the lingo and shorthand so here goes:</p>
<p>Public High School -- top 2 or 3 in Massachusetts -- no class rank (but if I had to guess I'd say she is top 10%--the school is full of overachievers)
Weighted GPA 4.1 this year so far, with slight upward trend
Varsity math team 3 years -- will be 4
Fed Challenge and life smarts -- will be 2 years
Rotary youth leadership conference
Academic Bowl team 3 years -- will be 4
Worked at local preschool in summer will be 2 years
Teaching assistant at a residential camp (at worcester polytechnic institute) last summer for 2 weeks, focussed on middle school girls who are interested in math and science -- will be 2 years
Girl Scouts -- working on the gold award which is sort of like the equivalent of eagle scout
NRA rated marksman at our local sportsman club and she is the club administrator for the youth program</p>
<p>PSATS just missed the NM level -- 96th percentile -- waiting on her SATs</p>
<p>And now there is an unusual activity: she is a volunteer ski instructor for children with disabilities at a mountain 120 miles from our home. She has over 700 hours already in her high school career -- will have close to (or over)1000 hours by graduation. It is a peer to peer program and is a total commitment from November to April. She is a mentor this year and next as well. Huge family commitment as well...so I am hoping that our many sacrifices to get her there will pay off beyond the intrinsic good will. Again, this is community service.</p>
<p>Taking 1 AP and 5 honors (including 1 virtual high school honors class -- environmental science and zoology) Next year she will take AP stats, AP calculus and hopes to take AP physics, and anatomy and physiology and an honors english.</p>
<p>BU, Harvard, MIT, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, JHU. The last two are not in NE but similar driving distance as Cornell. These are most selective schools except for BU along with NEU and WPI as your safety. Probably need a couple more matched schools to go along with RPI.</p>
<p>Would she consider NC? Duke has a strong program. Unfortunately the great programs are W. Coast. If she’d even consider it, UCSD would put her in the center of the most exciting biomedical research in the Country.</p>
<p>Thank you…the link was a great help in planning where will be visiting in the coming months. Anyone have ideas about how to go about hooking my daughter up with biomedical depts? Do you simply send emails to the admission offices or to depts?</p>
<p>I know a female undergrad at RIT in NY,biomedical engineering. She did really really well getting merit aid there, and has had some excellent summer/lab experiences so far (shes a junior).They are hungry for females.</p>
<p>Cornell does not offer an undergraduate major in biomedical engineering, although it is possible to do a minor in this field or to earn a master’s degree in it. There is a biological engineering major, but that may not be to your daughter’s taste.</p>
<p>I would check out Franklin W. Olin. They give full rides to every student who enrolls, and is said to have “engineers with social skills.” It is located in Needham, MA. It is a fairly new school, but has a great reputation.</p>
<p>Not in NE but not too far is Case Western in Cleveland which has an excellent bioengineering program (it’s probably the hardest courseload at the school) and very good scholarships.</p>
<p>Nephew will graduate from BU this spring with an undergraduate degree from the Biomedical Engineering Department. As far as we can tell, he’s had a great experience and already has had numerous job offers. He was offered significant finaid as well, although I don’t know how much was merit vs. need-based.</p>
<p>I don’t know, but we’re looking for the same in the midwest. DD is International Baccalaureate diploma candidate in 2010, and looking at Marquette and MSOE in Milwaukee, UIC, U of I, Bradley in Illinois. 30 on first ACT (took the second today), weighted GPA of 4.5. It’s mind-boggling. Any suggestions from anyone?</p>
<p>This is really helping us to formulate our visiting strategy in the coming months. Thank you so much for the info. </p>
<p>Definitely going to consider BU. We had ruled it out because my husband is a VP engineer and every hire he has made from BU has turned out to be a mistake…but we’ll go and take a look anyway. (archiemom, please don’t take offense–I.m sure it is just a fluke that my husband has been unlucky–and he is not hiring Biomeds – he is hiring ME’s)
Daughter is recovering from a severe concussion at the moment (had to postpone her ACT’s which were yesterday) and I will lay this all on her when she has caught up in her missing school work and can think clearly. (been the tiniest bit stressful here this week!)</p>
<p>Also look at Lehigh. Although it’s not in New England, Lehigh is known for its engineering sciences. Plus, it’s almost as cold as New England. ;)</p>
<p>Check out University of Rochester. D has experienced much success in their BME program. Research available at UR hospital. Students smart but not cut throat.</p>
<p>I would second the suggestion about URochester. The facilities there are unbelievable and I’ve read about some great successes there.
Also, WPI seems to be excellent. My friend’s son has been accepted there. I read the letter the biomed department sent him, wooing him as an accepted student. The biomed department seems to be outstanding with a myriad of opportunities for undergrad work and research.</p>
<p>Lehigh is so far away, but as long as there is snow, I may be able to make a case to her. The Univ of Rochester keeps coming up here, as well as in her school. I guess there is a history of her school being a favorite at Rochester. We sure have some visiting to do. SHe is going to RPI for the weekend over April break…so we shall see!</p>