I was admitted to USC Viterbi with the Presidential scholarship, Johns Hopkins BME program, and Michigan’s Nuclear Engineering program. I’m having a very tough time deciding between the 3, as both Hopkins BME and Michigan Nuclear are ranked #1 in their respective categories, but USC offered me a great scholarship.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to USC, but I know that they’re not as highly ranked as the other two schools. Does anyone have insight for the student life at JHU and U Mich as compared to USC? Will USC’s lower reputation as opposed to engineering big-names JHU and U-M really make a big difference if I apply to graduate school or enter industry after I graduate?
My friend’s younger brother is a senior at JHU this year. When he was a freshman he could never get anyone to go do anything (go out to eat, go to a movie, etc.) - all of his friends/dormmates were always studying. He was a hard worker too, but wanted to let off steam every once in awhile. It took him some time to find some people who were trying to strike a balance like him, so they are there…maybe just a little harder to find than at other schools.
How long did it take him to find people like that?
If your family can comfortably afford it, go where you feel the most comfortable.
If you want any kind of sports scene and access to a more socially diverse school. I would narrow to Michigan and USC.
The differences in quality and perceived prestige are so narrow it’s impossible to measure.
In love Michigan and Ann Arbor. I love your major. Sounds fascinating. The Midwest has awesome people.
USC is a special place too. The quality of academics is the same as Michigan all day long. The weather is nicer and you will have lots of new and interesting people to meet. It’s connections and alumni network are much stronger than Michigan in California. The state is its own global economic power. If you want to stay out there and get into the start up works or tech. It’s an obvious choice too.
The money is huge additional benefit. That would be a total tie breaker for me.
Scrap the rankings, in general, but especially at this level of excellence.
Make a clear headed and sound decision. And once again congrats. You have amazing opportunities.
Will you have to take out loans to attend Michigan or JHU ?
What is your COA for each school ?
Both JHU & Michigan are great for those interested in research. JHU has a reputation as a very serious academic environment.
What major do you really want to do?
I will take out some loans but they will be relatively small and I’m planning on working over the summers to pay them off. In short all of the colleges are affordable but USC is significantly cheaper than the other 2 (44K a year vs 70K for hopkins and michigan). I’m very fortunate because parents saved up for my college education over their entire lives
I’m a native Minnesotan so I know that Midwestern people are pretty great. I’m not sure if I’m a huge fan of the East Coast vibe at JHU though. I toured their campus and I was the only one there who wasn’t either Asian or (no offense to them) preppy East coast kid. This might not have been a representative sample of the student body over in Hopkins, so correct me if I’m wrong.
USC seems like the easy choice here with the scholarship. It also has the best social scene of any of the three, especially compared to Hopkins.
If anyone has attended USC or knows someone who did, are there many research opportunities for undergrad students there?
My majors for all 3 schools interest me. It might be ideal to also get premed as well though because I haven’t completely made up my mind if I want to go to grad school, or medical school. Hopkins BME, Michigan nuclear engineering, and maybe even USC’s EE can be worked into premed, which is why I’m stuck between the 3.
Recent Hopkins engineering alum here. It’s not as bad as some make it seem - my BME friends had fun (went to weekly parties or to downtown bars/clubs) and still went to top med schools. You will definitely work hard as an engineering major at any of the 3 schools.
“It also has the best social scene of any of the three, especially compared…”
I’d say Michigan’s “social scene” is easily the equal of USC’s.
USC is an excellent university, and with $100k savings over 4 years, I think it is the obvious choice.
I think it took my friend’s son a semester to find some other students who were interested in taking a break from studying with him. They weren’t in his dorm and he met one doing a service project and that led to meeting more.
(Students willing to devote some of their time to service projects may be people who know how to allocate their time well? And are able to set some time aside to breathe.)
Aug2019, do you think the extra priciness of JHU paid off in terms of the education/research opportunities that your son received?
Wow JHU will be vastly different from the other two which will be more like each other. JHU won’t have a rah rah vibe. On average, Hopkins students will be more serious.JHU does not really have a "east coast"vibe. But I think on average, the students will be more serious about scholarship. I’d not describe the JHU student body as preppy at all.
It was my friend’s son and I don’t know if there’s really any way to genuinely know. He got a really good education and after traveling next year he plans to go to grad school. He’s done very well at JHU but I do think he would have done very well anywhere.
Thank you everyone for the (very helpful) replies! Right now I’m trying to decide between Hopkins and USC (I ruled Michigan out by a narrow margin). Right now I just need to decide whether I want premed or not. If I do, Hopkins seems like the obvious choice. If I want to go into engineering, I’ll pick USC.
Do any of you have experiences with being undecided between the two areas of study? Is it easy to switch from one to the other if you have a sudden change of heart?
“ If I want to go into engineering, I’ll pick USC.”
JHU is strong in engineering as well.