If you had to take 1 school off my list...

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Which one would it be?</p>

<p>I plan to study Engineering
Prefer small city or urban
Any size of student body that isn't microscopic
Want a diverse, well-balanced student body</p>

<ol>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Caltech</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>U Penn</li>
<li>Northwestern</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Michigan</li>
<li>Illinois</li>
<li>USC</li>
<li>Nebraska (in-state, financial+academic safety)</li>
</ol>

<p>I have an idea of which one I want to take off (hint: begins with C) but I want to see what others think first.</p>

2

<p>I say illinois.</p>

<p>Why?</p>

<p>Because there’s no use in having a bunch of safties and matches. Just have one of each and the rest reaches imo. a saftey is supposed to be a sure in afterall…</p>

3

<p>^^ disregard this person. UIllinois has a FANTASTIC engineering program on-par with many many top schools.</p>

<p>Get rid of UPenn. It doesn’t have that strong of an engineering program, and you don’t need another reach. Throw in something like Purdue, which has fantastic engineering and isn’t too hard to get into.
UIllinois is a wonderful school for engineering. The person who told/tells you to get rid of it is out of his/her mind.</p>

4

<p>Thank you for your kind comments sir. </p>

<p>Most people do not stick with whatever they wanted to do. TBH, I’m not very familiar with illinois, so it might be a great school for OP. What I said was just my opinion, and what I would do. What if I said you were out of your mind? Afterall, isn’t the Wharton+engineering double major thing extremely prestigious? </p>

<p>take my opinions with a grain of salt if you well, but there’s no need for ad hominem here.</p>

5

<p>^It (Jerome Fisher) is also IMPOSSIBLE to get into.</p>

<p>I would personally take NW off your list, as I’m not sure if it fits any of your criteria well.</p>

6

<p>Depends on your stats. I wouldn’t take Penn or Cornell off and leave Princeton and Stanford unless you’re top 5 in your class and have a 2300 minimum. Caltech is microscopic.</p>

<p>Aslo depends on finances. Can you afford the OOS state schools with no aid?</p>

7

<p>No, I can’t afford the OOS state schools with no aid. </p>

<p>I’m top 5% (not top 5), 33 ACT, 3.91GPA</p>

8

<p>CMU…money is crappy there</p>

9

<p>Take off Caltech, it’s got a microscopic undergrad student body and 90%+ are in-state admits, not exactly well-balanced.</p>

<p>Excellent selection in USC there ;)</p>

10

<p>Princeton, Stanford, Caltech and MIT are huge reaches so I would eliminate one of these. I’d also check the OOS schools to see if they offer much aid to OOS students. Many don’t.</p>

<p>I would consider another school or two that meets need and is less selective than the ivies.</p>

11

<p>I say take off Illinois or UMich and replace either with DUKKEEE! Unless, of course, you don’t think you can handle the #1 BME program in the country :wink: Pratt is pretty brutal.</p>

12

<p>Johns Hopkins is #1 for BME.</p>

<p>LOL.</p>

13

<p>hookem, Duke’s BME ranking has ranged anywhere from #6 to #2 in the past few years. NEVER #1.</p>

<h1>1 JOHNS HOPKINS BME has NEVER wavered that I know of :wink: just like the JHU Hospital has NEVER wavered for basically the past 30 years as #1 ;)</h1>

<p>nice try tho :D</p>

14

<p>Ignore the poster who suggested you ditch NU (Northwestern, not Nebraska!), as it nearly perfectly fits your criteria.</p>

<p>I’d ditch Cornell, because it’s in the middle of nowhere. U of I is also, and if they don’t have good fin. aid, then drop that one too.</p>

15

<p>^^ um…Cornell arguably has THE best Ivy-League Engineering and the best shot for this dude to get into a top-notch tier I engineering school because honestly, MIT, Stanford, Princeton are reaches for ANYBODY and EVERYBODY (except famous rich people who are also smart).</p>

16

<p>I would delete either Michigan or Illinois (probably Michigan) for financial reasons. They probably will not give an out of state person much aid if any, and you say that you need aid. If you need aid, your list needs to focus on that and it does not seem to. Places like Worchester Polytech, RPI, and Case Western are known for giving aid and are not excessively hard to get into. I think that USC is a good choice- known for good aid, and not excessively hard to get into.</p>

17

<p>I also think I should take Caltech off.</p>

<p>As much as I didn’t want it to be one, it turned out to be a “nerdy” school, with only one kind of person and no meaningful social life.
In addition, I think I have a very low chance of getting accepted, based on what the people at Caltech said about admissions.</p>

<p>Those are the 2 things I learned when I visited.</p>

18

<p>I would say Princeton or Caltech or UPenn or Michigan.
If the location is really THAT big of a deal then Cornell, but I wouldn’t do it if I was you.
I don’t really know much about Northwestern.</p>

<p>Princeton and UPenn because engineering isn’t necessarily their forte. Caltech is probably too small for you (plus, I’ve heard that they make you play some form of a sport because of depression rates.) Michigan… it just seems the least appropriate.</p>

19

<p>My mistake on Duke being #1 in BME, guys. What I MEANT to say to the OP was: if you want a school that’s #2 in BME ([Undergraduate</a> engineering specialties: Biomedical - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/spec-doct-biomedical]Undergraduate”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/spec-doct-biomedical)), but is more well-rounded in every way than JHU, pick Duke :p</p>

20

<p>I’m not interested in Biomedical Engineering. More like Materials Science/Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.</p>

<p>Also, I attended a 3 week long camp at Duke, and although I loved the campus, I felt like it didn’t fit me.</p>