<p>Hi, I have been accepted to both Johns Hopkins and Duke for biomedical engineering. I know that Johns Hopkins is ranked first in terms of biomedical engineering, but which program and school do you prefer as a whole?<br>
Thanks</p>
<p>Congrats! Both are great choices. Johns Hopkins is ranked first in BME and Duke is ranked second. Not much of a difference at all - both are among the nation’s elite in the field. Make your decision based on other factors, particularly fit. Have you visited both? Will they cost you the same/did you receive any financial aid? Take a look at sample BME curricula as the JHU and Duke courses within the department have varying focuses (although you probably don’t know what interests you at this point). Both are known for great research opportunities so I don’t think that should really be a factor in the decision. Something like 70% of all JHU students conduct undergraduate research, while 90% of Duke *engineers *conduct undergraduate research (I don’t know Trinity’s numbers). I chose Duke BME over JHU since it just seemed like a better fit and that I’d be happier there - somebody else might come to the opposite conclusion (didn’t help JHU that when I visited it was relatively cold and rainy, only two days after visiting Duke when it was 70s and sunny).</p>
<p>Thanks, I haven’t visited Duke yet but plan on staying overnight for an admitted student weekend.</p>
<p>I suggest that you search posts by Tanman, or pm him. He has written frequently on the comparison. He did BME at JHU and is currently at Duke Medical School.</p>
<p>I’m a BME at hopkins and I have to say I LOVE it. Now, I’m just a freshman so I haven’t taken any of the supposedly ridiculous classes yet… but it’s really not that bad with work and all. There’s lots of nice people here too. Everyones friendly and we collaborate on a lot of our work. The upperclassmen all tell us that they end up getting closer and working together as the classes get harder. I’ve never encountered anyone here being cutthroat either. The main reason I love the BME program is design team though. I got to jump on an upperclassmen team as part of a class. Each team is designing a medical device to benefit people in some way. For our project, we’re probably going to market and sell our product through a startup we’re making. I’m just a freshman - no other school is going to let you get that involved as a freshman. Also, if you want to do research this is the place to be.</p>
<p>I can’t tell you much about Duke’s BME program, though. I didn’t even get into Duke -_-</p>
<p>^^^^^^stevenpd, truly incredible!</p>
<p>quick question, in your talks to the upperclassmen, are most going on to get a graduate degree?</p>
<p>what pecent do you think are going to go straight into a job with the BME degree?</p>
<p>Almost all the BME majors I have met at Duke have been really satisfied with their education, research opportunities and internship/job offerings. Almost all the top BME companies recruit on campus because of Duke BME’s reputation and the school’s location in the dynamic Research Triangle.</p>
<p>If you change your mind and want to go into business though, Duke will open many, many doors than JHU will in the realms of finance and consulting. You can basically do anything with you BME degree here a Duke: respected engineering graduate school, medical school, engineering job, investment banking, consulting, law school, Teach for America, etc. etc. etc. JHU won’t be able to provide all of these opportunities although the ones specific to the field itself will be great.</p>
<p>if you ever get into medical device sales, know that your physician, clinic and hospital clients will worship Hopkins because of the medical research emanating from there, whereas they’ll merely respect Duke.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters that Duke has a slight advantage outside the purely medical sphere, but disagree that they’re equal within the medical community… they’re not. In the medical world, there is Harvard, and Hopkins, then another 5-6 a step below.</p>
<p>Duke offer much more opportunities than JHU.</p>
<p>Duke>Hopkins</p>
<p>Overall, JHU is #13 and Duke is #9, at least in USNWR. That’s not a big difference. I think that it shouldn’t be the basis of your decision. </p>
<p>I would focus on the specific research opportunities in the two BME programs and what school you feel is a better fit socially.</p>
<p>I think its a purely social choice. Personally that social choice would lead me to Duke.</p>
<p>Duke posters seem to be more arrogant…that’s purely a social observation.</p>
<p>speaking of posters, has anyone ever spotted a Johns Hopkins poster?</p>
<p>(note: this is probably a good thing, by the way)</p>
<p>Like I said, I don’t know much about the Duke BME program so I’m not sure if their opportunities are better or worse - I just know I really love JHU BME. </p>
<p>For jobs like you asked - I personally don’t know anyone who’s going straight into a job from here. I do know we get emails ALL the time about companies like medtronic coming to speak, and we have career fairs where lots of places recruit BME’s. If you do decently well here, I’m pretty sure there’s a good number of companies that would gladly scoop you up right out of undergrad. In the next year or two I’m definitely going to utilize the companies coming here to try and get an internship. One senior told me some internships will pay you 20-25/hour over the summer. That’s some pretty good money in addition to getting some valued experience in the industry. </p>
<p>About half the people I know are going to graduate school while the other half is going to med school (granted I don’t know the entire senior class, I only know a handful from things like design team). For med school, theres something like a 90% acceptance rate for BME students. My friends have gotten into really great places too. Harvard med, a few into Hopkins med (believe it or not, its easier to get into Harvard than Hopkins with a Hopkins undergrad degree). And then places like Columbia and UCSF too. I think grad schools have a pretty high acceptance rate as well. </p>
<p>If you have any more questions feel free to ask. Also, if you want to talk with some of the seniors, email Cathy, she’s on the website. She gave me a BME’s email and I got to ask all my questions.</p>
<p>" Duke posters seem to be more arrogant…that’s purely a social observation. "</p>
<p>Touche</p>
<p>Well, both are close enough that I would pick Duke, because JHU’s life apparently sucks.</p>
<p>Again, I have plenty of friends and there’s a lot of really nice fun people here. I can’t imagine the social life anywhere else could be drastically better. There’s tons of great clubs and organizations, and greek life isn’t too bad either. There’s parties just about every weekend if that’s what you’re into. I was originally worried about the social life here too, but it’s nowhere near what people described. I guess you could say there are some quirky, nerdy people here, but to be honest, I like those people. Granted, there are some people who don’t like it here, but it’s a small handful and they tend to bring it upon themselves. in fact, a few of my friends were just discussing this. The people who don’t like it here are usually just negative people that don’t know how to sit down and do work when it needs to be done. You have to realize that coming here will involve some work and dedication to academics. I personally don’t find the work load bad at all, though.</p>
<p>Can’t go wrong with either, but I would say Duke. Duke is really well known in biomedical. But at the end of the day, both are so good, you might as well just go on fit.</p>
<p>“Can’t go wrong with either, but I would say Duke. Duke is really well known in biomedical.”</p>
<p>Yes it is, right after JHU.</p>