<p>yeah...so this is very last minute. anyway, i still can't decide between hopkins and penn engineering. i've look at a lot of stuff to compare them and some of the stuff i have seen having to do with the courses seem alike. however, there is an obvious difference in ranking with hopkins at 14 and penn at 30 for undergraduate engineering. i'd still like a lot of input though. about anything. social life, activities, research, difficulty, etc.</p>
<p>Hopkins class is literally 1/2 the size of Penn (2400 @ penn v. 1200 @ Hopkins) which makes an enormous difference I feel. Penn engineering is fine, but I thinkg overall Hopkins engineers get a deeper focus. They get more attention when it comes to their classroom experiences and their research projects. Good luck with your decision either way.</p>
<p>One thing that might be a factor to consider is the ability to change your mind about your major. At our Penn Info Session, we were told that if you decide you don't want to be in the school you were accepted to, you have to transfer into one of the other schools and you are competing against transfers from all over the United States. </p>
<p>At Hopkins, we were told that to change your major you just go down to Administration and fill out a form; it's that easy. </p>
<p>So that was a factor for my son- although he is pretty sure what he wants to major in, he wants the option to change his mind. </p>
<p>If you're at all unsure about your commitment to Engineering, you might want to double check Penn's policies.</p>
<p>My son ended up not applying to Penn (didn't really care for it) and just sent in a deposit at Hopkins after doing an Admitted Student's Overnight visit.</p>
<p>That's a great point - Penn has a lot of hurdles for students to jump through if they are some place where they don't want to be. Hopkins (outside of BME) is very open to change and having students explore before the select their majors.</p>
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Hopkins class is literally 1/2 the size of Penn (2400 @ penn v. 1200 @ Hopkins)
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<p>This is meaningless when taken out of context of Penn's undergraduate schools. Out of that class of 2400, just over 400 are in the engineering school.</p>
<p>Additionally, it is very easy for SEAS students to transfer into the liberal arts College (which is what most would be doing). Penn has made it easy on purpose because otherwise kids who failed at engineering would fail out of Penn and take a heavy toll on Penn's graduation rate.</p>
<p>The point is there are 4 undergraduate schools @ Penn; 2 @ Hopkins.</p>