<p>Our second son is currently applying to colleges. He intends to major in Biomedical Engineering. Most likely he will continue on for a graduate degree too. His main requirements for a school are 1) urban setting, 2) good academic school, and 3) strong BME program.</p>
<p>His stats
- 2180 on SAT
- 3.98 unweighted GPA, 4.06 weighted GPA (max GPA at his school would be 4.1)
- 7 AP courses (5s on the five completed courses)
- Many extracurricular activities (sports, community service)</p>
<p>Below is his current list of schools he is applying to. Any thoughts you have on these schools would be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>Rice University
Case Western Reserve University
Washington University in St Louis
Boston University
University of Minnesota
University of Illinois-Chicago
Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Alabama Birmingham (already accepted)</p>
<p>Seems to me like you’ve got a pretty good list. I’m guessing that University of Alabama Birmingham is your in state safety? Which probably also means it is the cheapest option. I would recommend visiting, so your son could know if he would be happy there.</p>
<p>As to the rest, they can beompetitive and expensive, but that’s no reason to think he won’t get in and get a decent scholarship/financial aid package! I would say visit them if you can to get a feel of the school (time and money makes this hard, I know). Also, financial aid vs price may come in to play, so see what you can get. I know that was one of the biggest deciding factors for me. </p>
<p>Also, you might want to look into Johns Hopkins. It seems to fit the criteria you listed. </p>
<p>UAB is actually OOS for us, but with the guaranteed scholarship money would be the cheapest option. He has visited Boston Univ, VCU and Case Western. The other schools we will visit once he is accepted and we see what sort of money they offer.</p>
<p>My son applied to Case because he also has a strong interest in music. One of the world’s best in his instrument, and a person he’s had the opportunity to study with, is “next door” at CIM. What we learned was pretty interesting. Both Cleveland and the school far exceeded our expectations. It’s a nicely maintained, relatively cohesive, smallish (if you don’t include the hospital complex) campus. Case was also very generous. with virtually identical stats to your son, ours was awarded $100k in Merit. This has wider ranging impact than just Case. Some schools will adjust merit based on awards from other schools as long as they see said school as a peer. RPI is an example. They outright say they will match peer schools of which Case is one. In the end he chose a public, but Case seems to be doing things right. As a side note, they have one of the oldest BME programs in the nation and they have LOTS of money available for UG research. Good luck! </p>
<p>We too liked Case very much for our musician / engineer. </p>
<p>Per scholarship matching, we knew that Carnegie Mellon matches peer schools, including RPI (but NOT Case). Didn’t know about RPI peer matching… interesting tidbit. (DS had a much better offer from Case than RPI, but he liked Case better anyway.) </p>
<p>Unless you graduate from JHU. My nephew is currently attending there as a BME major and he told me there are B.S, graduates getting six figures to start. But these people are probably published already.</p>
<p>UAB is outstanding as safety for anything related to health sciences and the medical field. As with all schools, don’t make a choice until after making a visit.</p>
<p>Yes, check out JHU. Also take a look at University of Rochester and Tulane. All are very strong in the biomedical field. Tulane gives excellent merit aid (but only if you show real enthusiasm… they don’t like being considered a safety).</p>
<p>I visited CWRU last month. It has very strong academics, no doubt about it. Not sure that I like the fact that they find it necessary to lock up all of the academic buildings during the weekend. Basically, I consider CWRU to be almost a total “nerd” school. Still, it is great for biomedical.</p>