Duke vs. Northwestern in bioengineer

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
1

<p>I have been accepted to Northwestern and waitlisted by Duke. Both schools are great in the bio/biomed engineer field; however, my father urges me to passionately persuade Duke to reconsider me. He argues that Duke is more prominent to the biotech companies and that its biomed ranking is much higher than NU. Even though undergrad doesn't reflect much on job resumes, he argues that schools are protective of their students and if I go to Duke they will certainly pave my road to their grad research programs. </p>

<p>Personally, I'd choose NU because Chicago sounds like a great city while Durham looks like the middle of nowhere(i may be wrong, this is just the impression i got), but my dad does have some solid points (at least it sounds like it.)
Can someone help with my ambivalence???</p>

2

<p>Come to Northwestern! It’s true that schools watch out for their students and Northwestern has one of the highest job placement rates in the nation. Northwestern’s research continues to improve by leaps and bounds (new sciences building complete this summer!) and the engineering school has very strong ties with businesses in the Chicago area (co-op programs, internships, etc.) as well as medical centers such as the Feinberg school of medicine and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.</p>

<p>And yes, Chicago is an awesome city and I wouldn’t choose any other city to live in (besides maybe my hometown in Los Angeles California)</p>

3

<p>Northwestern affords several advantages. To name a few:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>In the words of Sam Lee, “unique kick*ss first-year curriculum-integrated, emphasis on design, hands-on, real-world projects for real-world clients.”</p></li>
<li><p>World-class city in Chicago with all the culture, beauty, things to do and resources you could possibly imagine.</p></li>
<li><p>Northwestern belongs to the iNet internship consortium. iNet consists of eight leading universities: Georgetown, MIT, NYU, Northwestern, Rice, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania and Yale.
From the Daily Northwestern, “Education is really important, but nothing can replace experiences outside of a school setting,” Medill freshman Grace Weitz said. “I think iNET will give as many people as possible that opportunity.”</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Students can choose possible internships by major and industry and employers who wish to recruit from a wider applicant pool can do so with iNET…</p>

<p>One of the reasons that we wanted to do it is that it gives geographical diversity for our students," said Lonnie Dunlap, director of University Career Services. “Stanford will open up wonderful internship opportunities from the West Coast to NU students.”…</p>

<p>Kenny Chandrasekera, a Yale student, said he thinks the consortium will be a great addition to Yale’s private internship program [Northwestern has a private internship program also].</p>

<p>“It is a good opportunity for those students who don’t have the resources to spend a summer away from home,” the freshman biomedical engineer said. “If a student from California is on the east coast, but needs an internship near home, Stanford’s participation will give that student that many more options.”</p>

<p>[According to the MIT iNet site, there are currently 900 employers listed providing internship opportunities.]</p>

<p>[The</a> Daily Northwestern - UCS teams with top schools to widen student opportunities](<a href=“http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=58276620-2ff2-41d5-96a4-4de60b781bc5]The”>http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=58276620-2ff2-41d5-96a4-4de60b781bc5)</p>

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<p>thx guys!!! great info
do you guys know anything about how a Duke and a Northwestern degree compare on resume??</p>

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<p>Both schools are enormously well respected; as are both engineering schools in particular (with NU’s possibly having a marginally superior ranking, but as I recall the difference was insignificant).
You are correct: Evanston and Chicago beat the heck out of Durham. On the other hand, many people think that Duke’s campus is more attractive.
That being said, you are talking about very small differences in terms of academics and reputation, so your decision should be based on where you’d rather be for the four years of your college life.</p>