I am going into my senior year of high school and currently, my top two schools that I have visited are Duke and Johns Hopkins. Both seem to be the optimal size, have beautiful campuses, and provide a healthy balance of engineering and liberal arts students. Also, since my choice of major is biomedical engineering, I love that both of these schools have top-notch programs in this field.
So, with regards to Duke BME, I am wondering how competitive it is. At JHU, I know that one must specifically indicate BME as his/her first choice of major and that a much more selective admissions process exists for a limited number of slots in the program. Am I correct that this is not the case at Duke? If applying for BME, am I admitted directly into this major, or am I simply admitted into the Pratt engineering school? Once in Pratt, am I guaranteed the ability to major in any engineering field (including BME)?
Thanks in advance for your replies! Are there any BME majors on here who can tell me more about the strengths/ weaknesses of this program at Duke?
Correct. You apply to Pratt and don’t have to declare a major until the end of your sophomore year. You can indicate a preference in your application, but they won’t “admit” you to the major and don’t make BME admissions more competitive than MechEng, for example. It’s not like Hopkins were you do need to be admitted to the program. Once you’re in Pratt, you can major in anything you want.
I was BME at Duke. Strengths = amazing faculty, students, research facilities, focus on undergrad, research opportunities (>90% of undergrads do research), collaboration with other departments and the medical school, collaboration between students, smaller intimate engineering school where BME is actually the largest major. Weaknesses = can be hard for people, not enough time to party. 
Also, Duke BME grads go on to a pretty broad spectrum of careers and grad school choices. This is a pro to me, but a lot of BME people do not go into engineering jobs/grad school, but do finance/consulting/IT etc. About 1/3 go to med school. The curriculum is also pretty intense and not as flexible as other majors, but that’s how engineering is everywhere (people still manage to double major or minor in something – I picked up a psych minor).
If you do a search on the forum, I’m sure there has been a lot more discussion (including from me). I found Duke BME to be amazing. Good luck!
Sorry to hijack this thread, but I have a question to @bluedog
Why would a student intending on going into finance choose to major in BME? Isn’t it a hard major compared to, e.g., econ? I am not questioning your point at all, it’s just that I am interested in what motivates said students to pursue such a rigorous major if the endpoint is a career in finance.
Thanks in advance.
^from anecdotal evidence, I’ve heard from a lot of Pratt kids that apparently a lot of elite firms are interested in hiring engineering majors.
@inshm2016. The other reason is that interests change in college…You may come in thinking you want to build medical devices, but come out thinking you want to use analytical problem solving skills in a different setting. And, yes, finance/consulting firms ARE interested in engineering students so the recruitment plays a factor. Engineering teaches you how to think and problem solve – banks and management consulting firms aren’t as worried about you knowing the subject matter itself as that’s easier to teach to somebody smart. Teaching somebody how to think on the other hand, is much much harder. But certainly there are easier paths. You could say the same thing for those interested in medical school. Majoring in BME is NOT the easiest way to go about that. Majoring in Psych would be much easier, yet some people still choose BME. But I think the biggest factor is my first sentence. (I went into IT consulting incidentally after graduating from BME).
The BME curriculum at Duke is also quite broad and doesn’t always lend itself to a super clear career. Sounds surprising to those who haven’t been through it as “biomedical engineering” sounds so advanced/specific, but it doesn’t really become that way until graduate school. Mechanical or civil engineers are honestly usually better equipped for a more diverse set of engineering-related careers. BME students are equipped for a diverse set of careers more generally, but on the engineering side, there aren’t as many opportunities that are specific to BME. (Often, a medical device company will hire an ECE or ME major in addition to BME, but an R&D job with a major manufacturer will only look to MEs and not BMEs unless they have specific experience that is more applicable). That is one of the criticisms of BME at an undergraduate level more generally nationwide. At Duke, because it’s so “elite/prestigious” and the students are top notch, the students go on to great things so you don’t notice it as much.