<p>Hi, I just recently got accepted to both Duke's and UCSD's BME programs, and I'm extremely grateful since both are top notch programs. The only problem is...I can't decide which school to attend :( I've been living in southern California my whole life, so I was just wondering if any current Duke students can tell me what the Duke/Southern atmosphere is like. Also, any input from current Duke BME students would be welcome. I actually plan to double major in BME and either MechE or ChemE, so I was just wondering what your opinion on that was, and if the workload is actually manageable as a premed. Also, who else got into Duke BME and is planning to go? Nice to meet you!!</p>
<p>***Money is not really a factor for me since I have to pay the same to attend either Duke or UCSD. I did get Regents for UCSD though.</p>
<p>Duke doesn’t have ChemE but does have MechE, so your choice is obviously a bit limited at Duke. But since I’m a BME, I would say that Duke’s BME program is great!</p>
<p>As for the Duke/Southern atmosphere, you need to be more specific. Like weather? Or the general feel of the place? Or the student themselves?</p>
<p>I’d like to know more about: the climate (hot? humid? snow in winter?), the general atmosphere (do people go out of there way to be friendly or are they ignorant of newcomers, etc.), how’s Durham (security, atmosphere, collegetown?), do Pratt and Trinity students talk a lot or do they have their own social circles, how good are the professors and TA’s on a scale of 1-10/10, how feasible is it to get an undergrad research opportunity?, how are the advisors? </p>
<p>I also got accepted into Duke, UCSD and Cornell. I live close to San Diego and I love the warm weather. But I think I will choose Duke. Check this link and also youtube to get more info about the schools. </p>
<p>S got into Duke, Yale, UCSD/CAL/LA. We are also a little confused as to the BME program at Yale and Duke. Some say that Yale program is relatively new but is top notch and they are investing in it significant amounts and others say Duke is ranked in top 3.</p>
<p>Duke undergrad BME is #2 in the country the last I checked. </p>
<p>As for SilverWings’ questions I’ll answer what I can:</p>
<p>1) Generally the weather at Duke is pretty good. This past winter we had snow twice when school was in session but in the past the most we got was a slight dusting. This year’s winter also lasted somewhat longer than usually. But the spring and fall here are gorgeous and make you glad that you are alive to experience it (especially when you walk through the gardens to get to class)</p>
<p>2) Students at Duke are generally friendly and accepting of freshmen. If you join clubs and student organizations you’ll get to know and work with many upperclassmen. </p>
<p>3) Trinity and Pratt kids definitely talk to each other (all the time). The two schools actually don’t feel separate at all. Furthermore, given that over half of the engineering curriculum consist of trinity courses it’s hard to avoid interaction with trinity kids. I’d say in generally Duke student identify themselves more as “Duke students” than “trinity/pratt students” (unless of course you are talking about the amount of homework/labs you have)</p>
<p>4) I’ve generally found the professors at Duke to be very knowledgeable. Though their teaching quality is highly variable. Ratemyprofessor.com is a great tool as is talking with students who’ve taken a specific professor. Beyond that, you really can’t generalize much about the professors at Duke as a whole. As for the TA’s, I’m somewhat biased in that respect as I TA a BME circuits lab and have also TAed the intro egr matlab course. But all the TAs I’ve met are cool and they really try to help. Engineer TAs are mostly grad students but for trinity that can vary from department to department or course to course. Again, because each one is so different, it’s impossible rate them all on a single scale. It’d be like asking you to rate all you acquaintances on a scale of 1-10. </p>
<p>5) Like professors and TAs, advisors are hard to rate. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve had good ones. My present advisor is the PI in whose lab I work. He’s been fantastic. He invites the lab group to his house for thanksgiving dinners, he hosts weekly lunches to talk about stuff, he’s always available to talk whether in person or by email. In fact, this past week, I sent him an email at 4:47am asking him to look over my personal statement for med school and he sent a reply back with corrections at 5:43am along with a note telling me I shouldn’t be up so late (although he was in singapore so his local time is probably sometime in the evening). There have been numerous times when we’ve had email exchanges at 2 or 3 in the morning and he’s always replied in less than an hour to all my emails. So overall, I’m glad to have such a great advisor. Though on the other hand, some of my friends have had some not so great advisors also. So, again, very variable.</p>