JHU vs CMU vs USC vs UCLA

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm having a really hard time shortening this list and ultimately making a decision but I only have about a week left to do so. I plan on majoring in bioengineering and possibly double-major (unlikely) or minor in some business-related field so I'm looking for a school that has both a very strong engineering program and business program. </p>

<p>I'm aware JHU has one of the best BME programs in the nations but unfortunately I didn't get into that program, but they do have a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering major that is quite similar, just not as focused on medicine (or so I've heard). </p>

<p>USC is the only one giving me money as I'm an international student, but that really isn't too big of a deciding factor for me. </p>

<p>After college I'm planning on either doing something in the biotech industry or going full-out into business. Any input or advice would be appreciated, thanks .</p>

2

<p>bump, anyone?</p>

3

<p>USC. Viterbi is great for engineering, and so is Marshall for business. Both provide you with great resources and an amazing network of connections as well. USC encourages double majoring, so if that is the route you wish to take it should be relatively doable.</p>

4

<p>What are the financial considerations?</p>

5

<p>Don't fret about not being admitted to BME at Hopkins--The chemical and biomolecular engineering major will do you just fine. If money is not a major consideration, I'd recommend JHU in a heartbeat.</p>

6

<p>UCLA PhD, USC is the only one giving me money - about 22k a year, and while that is nice to have, I'm not really restricted from going to the other schools because of financial reasons. </p>

<p>The only thing that's turning me off from JHU is the lack of a business school. :/ There is a business minor though... but I'm not sure what business employers think of that.</p>

7

<p>I would say it is between JHU and UCLA and I would go with which location you prefer. CMU is a specialty school for the most part mostly known for the hard sciences and USC is nowhere near the intellectual caliber of UCLA or JHU.</p>

<p>I would ask yourself if you want to live in DC and make your contacts on the East Coast or UCLA and make your contacts on the West Coast. Don't worry about JHU's lack of business school, employers and MBA programs know it is a GREAT university. I would prefer to live in L.A. but purely on academics I would go with 1) JHU, 2) UCLA, 3) CMU and 4) USC</p>

8

<p>Hopkins does have a brand new business school. Its Carey Business School was just dedicated on Friday. The new dean was dean at USC's business school.</p>

9

<p>Not so fast, for BioEngineering, USC ranks better than CMU and UCLA.</p>

<p>US News 2009 Graduate Engineering Rankings</p>

<p>Ranked in 2008
*1 Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) Baltimore, MD 4.7 *
2 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.6
University of California--San Diego (Jacobs) La Jolla, CA 4.6
4 Duke University Durham, NC 4.5
5 University of Washington Seattle, WA 4.3
6 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.2
7 Boston University Boston, MA 4.0
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 4.0
9 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 3.9
Rice University (Brown) Houston, TX 3.9
11 University of California--Berkeley Berkeley, CA 3.8
University of Michigan--Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 3.8
13 Northwestern University (McCormick) Evanston, IL 3.7
Stanford University Stanford, CA 3.7
15 University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 3.6
University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 3.6
17 Washington University in St. Louis (Sever) St. Louis, MO 3.5
18 Columbia University (Fu Foundation) New York, NY 3.4
University of Texas--Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 3.4
20 Purdue University--West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 3.3
University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 3.3
University of Wisconsin--Madison Madison, WI 3.3
Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 3.3
24 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 3.2
25 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 3.1
University of Minnesota--Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 3.1
27 Pennsylvania State University--University Park University Park, PA 3.0
Texas A&M University--College Station (Look) College Station, TX 3.0
University of California--Davis Davis, CA 3.0
*University of Southern California (Viterbi) Los Angeles, CA 3.0 *
31 North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 2.9
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY 2.9
33 Arizona State University (Fulton) Tempe, AZ 2.8
CUNY--City College (Grove) New York, NY 2.8
*Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA 2.8 *
Drexel University Philadelphia, PA 2.8
Marquette University Milwaukee, WI 2.8
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey--New Brunswick Piscataway, NJ 2.8
Yale University New Haven, CT 2.8
40 University of California--Irvine (Samueli) Irvine, CA 2.7
University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 2.7
University of Maryland--College Park (Clark) College Park, MD 2.7
University of Rochester Rochester, NY 2.7
44 Brown University Providence, RI 2.6
Clemson University Clemson, SC 2.6
SUNY--Stony Brook Stony Brook, NY 2.6
University of Alabama--Birmingham Birmingham, AL 2.6
*University of California--Los Angeles (Samueli) Los Angeles, CA 2.6 *
University of Illinois--Chicago Chicago, IL 2.6
50 University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 2.5

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10

<p>Point taken Columbia, I was looking at overall engineering rankings not specific. So JHU seems like the obvious choice.</p>

11

<p>Keep in mind that if you went to CMU, even though there's a fantastic business program, you'd have to take Biomed as a secondary engineering major to another of the more "traditional" engineering fields (Chemical, Civil, Electrical & Computer, Materials, or Mechanical). You could probably minor in Biomed, major in some engineering, and do a double in business, (or double in the two engineerings and double in business), but I wouldn't count on the ability to triple major at CMU.</p>

12

<p>Yeah, that was one of the things holding me back from CMU.</p>

<p>bonanza, I did see that they had a new business school but it doesn't seem like a typical business school for undergraduates. The website says: "The undergraduate degree programs are designed as transfer programs for adult working students who have completed approximately 60 college credits by the time they start their Bachelor of Science in Business and Management program."</p>

<p>BS</a> in Business Admission</p>

<p>I'm not really sure how that works if I'm not an "adult working student."</p>

13

<p>I think Johns Hopkins is the choice here. With UCLA the second option.</p>

14

<p>UCLA Ph.D., what is your specialty? Just curious.</p>

15

<p>UCLA doesn't fit OP's career path, not strong in bioengineering, no business degree and not easy to double major. UCLA should be the first one out if it is not the cheapest option.</p>

16

<p>I reread your first post, and you said you either want to do something in the biotech industry, or go fully into industry. Any reasons for not doing a business major at CMU with a minor in Biomed? As far as I'm aware, you don't need anything else in the engineering school to get one of those.</p>

17

<p>Based on your interests, USC Marshall and Viterbi are both great programs, and USC strongly encourages students to double major. There are also many minors in Marshall if you want to specialize in something as specific as marketing, real estate, or finance.</p>