<p>Prospective major: Biomedical engineering (BME) Comparative factors (in this order):
[ul]
[<em>]strength/reputation of program
[</em>]pre-med program strength (med school acceptance rates/reputation)
[<em>]research opportunities (availability/accessibility)
[</em>]quality of faculty
[<em>]class size
[</em>]quarter vs semester system
[<em>]location
[</em>]social scene
[/ul]</p>
<p>Please help me evaluate both schools on the above factors. Thanks. Please feel free to include any other objective or subjective comparisons as relevant.</p>
<p>Nobody in their right mind would pick Northwestern BME over Hopkins BME… (if they knew what they were talking about)</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins’ undergraduate and graduate biomedical engineering program is ranked NUMBER ONE in the nation for the past decade or so… I personally believe there is no comparison…</p>
<p>Northwestern is tied with JHU for undergraduate engineering overall for 14th btw…</p>
<p>lol. I am not even sure if Northwestern even has a biomedical engineering program… Ppl give up Stanford, MIT, and Ivies for JHU Biomedical engineering… JHU BME… only rivaled by Duke’s Pratt BME at the undergraduate level and probably MIT Bioengineering…</p>
<p>JHU BME are ridiculously smart… really really smart. They get the best research opportunites with the professors and a brand new Quad was pretty much built for BME’s and a new building was dedicated for them in 2007.</p>
<p>-Not quite sure, Phead can give you the JHU side of things</p>
<p>quality of faculty </p>
<p>-I’ve heard that the faculty at Northwestern is better for teaching undergraduates.</p>
<p>class size </p>
<p>-Northwestern has smaller class sizes</p>
<p>quarter vs semester system </p>
<p>-Up for you to decide. A quarter system is very rushed but if you don’t like a class or professor, you only have to suffer through it for a few weeks.</p>
<p>location/social scene
-Northwestern has a better location and better social life than JHU (just a subway ride away from Chicago)</p>
I would be extremely surprised if Hopkins had better med school placement than Northwestern (not even including HPME). The two are roughly comparable.</p>
<p>The difference between the BME programs at Northwestern and Hopkins is moot if the OP is pre-med. Both are strong programs.</p>
<p>You may want to factor in weather. I personally prefer Northwestern, but it gets COLD.</p>
<p>Pierre pretty much summed it up everything you need to know…</p>
<p>I’ve never been to Northwestern location so I cannot comment on the “pastoral settings” in Evanston, IL… It has access to Chicago, arguably the best city in the Midwest. Hopkins is located in a middle class affluent area in Baltimore. Baltimore has lots of nooks and crannies for you to explore and you will discover random parts of the city that offers great dining at an affordable price. Campus security at Hopkins is ranked the #1 in the nation by Reader’s Digest magazine so safety is typically never an issue…</p>
<p>Premed across the top universities usually have comparable premed programs… What distinguishes Hopkins’ is that does have one of the top 3 premed advising committees in the nation. Opportunities to conduct research and volunteer at a top ranked Public Health (#1), Medicine (#2), Nursing (#3), and Hospital (#1) in academic health center location is unsurpassed by any university. I personally know many freshman who were able to land lab positions during their first semester in college… Pretty sweet considering most other universities do not consider you unless you are a rising junior or at the bare minimum a sophomore…</p>
<p>My suggestion would be to apply and see if you can get in. JHU BME is selective because you specifically have to apply to get into the BME major… Best of luck… if you have anymore questions, feel free to ask away!</p>