I am planning on applying early decision to UPenn. I want to either major in biology in the college of arts and sciences, or biomedical engineering in their engineering school, with hopes of going to medical school afterwards. During their tour, they said that their engineering school is only 33% women. Would I have a higher chance of getting accepted if I apply for the engineering schools vs the college of arts and sciences?
Generally speaking biomedical and chemical engineering have more women than other engineering majors. Try to do some digging if that’s true at U Penn but I would still say to apply to the program that best aligns to your strengths and interests.
I’d be very leery of debt that high if you plan on medical school. I’d also be leery of BME as, depending on the school, med school prerequisites aren’t fulfilled without taking additional classes, and it’ll be harder to keep your GPA up. IF you can, you’ll be in a great situation to succeed in med school. It just may impede acceptance.
In general I would say yes you will have a higher chance of getting into engineering. The information necessary to confirm that is probably available somewhere. But I would echo the sentiments that a BS in engineering probably isn’t the best prep for medical school. I found that the engineers going to med school tended to be the ones completing Ph.Ds in engineering. I would also look for inexpensive premed which could be the case at Penn depending on financial need (or if your family is at the other end of the financial spectrum and willing to pay).