<p>I plan on majoring in bme.
I realize that Hopkins has the best biomedical engineering program in the nation, but I have also heard rumors that hopkins students are extremely competitive and the school in general is really hard.
The bme program at WashU isn't as strong, but the people there seem to be nicer and enjoyable.
I go no financial acid/ scholarships to both, so money isnt a deciding factor.</p>
<p>For me (As I said, it is just me), it is Wash.U. because
- WUSTL gives an amazing Financial Aid whereas JHU does not
- WUSTL has much higher endowment. I am not a professional in this area but higher endowment might mean the schools has a higher potential in the future advancement.
- As far as I know, JHU is really competitive, and grade deflation.
- In my mind, Wash.U. has nice campus than JHU.
- At this moment, JHU maybe more prestigious 9mainly b/c of its med school) but I think things will change in the future.</p>
<p>Lol i’ve heard so many stories of the stiff competition and sabotage that goes on in JHU… My friend from HS is a fresh there now (Premed) and says the students compete a lot, always asking for the others grades and studyinga lot…
my girlfriend’s cousin was a grad student at JHU, and she told us this story of a peer of hers keeping a whole separate notebook of “notes” that had wrong information that he would let others borrow when the others missed class… … still shocks me</p>
<p>Humboldt, JHU’s prestige isn’t an “in-the-moment” thing. JHU has been prestigious for well over one hundred years now. Just as Brown might be ranked lower than some schools in USNWR, it is still one heck of a more prestigious school than WashU, Duke, etc…the same applies for Johns Hopkins. In most academic circles, Johns Hopkins’ name exceeds the reputations of WashU, Northwestern, Duke, and sometimes Penn/Brown/Dartmouth depending on who you ask and for what subject. </p>
<p>The “prestige” issue is not something that can be “overcome” simply with endowment or “a great medical school” etc. Johns Hopkins is reputed as stronger and has known to have been a stronger academic powerhouse than just about most of the academic institutions in this nation besides HYPSMC, Berkeley, and Chicago/Columbia/Cornell which it often shares a spotlight with. It will take WashU at least one to two more decades to climb up to the level of national recognition that Hopkins enjoys today.</p>
<p>Endowment has little to no REAL value in this argument, and if you knew more about how schools spend their money and where that money comes from, you would understand that as well. Even so, Hopkins has raised the second highest sum EVER in higher education with a whopping $3.74 Billion dollars over the span of 7+ years in their “Knowledge for the World” Campaign. The money is going towards building new facilities, endowing new professorships and deanships, financial aid, scholarships, and new programs/courses.</p>
<p>Overall, WashU is only very well known for its Medical School and possibly architecture in some circles with excellent, but not renowned programs in everything else.</p>
<p>Hopkins, however, is an academic powerhouse with top 10 programs in History, English, Writing (#1 arguably), International Studies (top 2 arguably), etc along with its number one programs in BME, Public Health, Medicine, Medical-Research, etc.</p>
<p>Academic rigor and reputation is not something that WashU’s large endowment can just buy. Top quality professors and researchers are still more attracted to the Hopkins name than the WashU name, and arguably, Hopkins has one of the best hard science and medical science attractive names next to Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, and Wisc. </p>
<p>Anyways, the point of my post was not to say Hopkins >>>>>>>WashU.
The point of my post was to refute some of the ludicrous statements of some of the posters here who believe WashU somehow trumps Hopkins very badly.
In all reality, they are peer schools. Pick where you are more comfortable.
FYI: The “Cut-Throat” stereotype is 100% not true about Hopkins and also, I have heard the same stereotype about WashU students as well: also not true :)</p>
<p>a good school will be competitive no matter where you go…pre-med will always be competitive, and i’m pretty sure competition will exist in bme at any top school. </p>
<p>i visited washu and i loved the campus. however, i did not like how other students put down jhu as cutthroat. i stayed at an overnight at jhu and everyone was unbelievably nice and raved about the academics. </p>
<p>will jhu be exhausting in terms of workload? yes. but everyone i have encountered (quite a few people from my high school in the past years go there) agrees that the work you do is well worth it. </p>
<p>think of it this way: if you go to jhu, you will expect it to be competitive and extremely difficult. no surprises. if you go to washu and bme turns out to be very competitive as well, you will def regret your decision.</p>
<p>Spongebob, you acknowledge that JHU BME is the best in the nation, but that it is extremely competetive and very hard. </p>
<p>Have you ever seen the movie A League of Their Own? Here is an important quote from coach Jimmy Dugan, played by Tom Hanks. "It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great. " He is talking about baseball, or in this case, woman’s softball, but the same statement could be applied to studying BME (or anything for that matter) at Hopkins. It may be tough while you are doing it, but it will stay with you far beyond your graduation.</p>
<p>Just a comment on BME at Hopkins (from a senior in the program). While there are a few people in each class that might be competitive, study alone, and care only about grades and GPA, the majority of BMEs are not like that. In fact, it’s really hard to do well in BME unless you work well with other people. Our program is no doubt hard, but we all get each other through it. We enjoy what we’re learning because its challenging and fascinating. No one in BME is looking for the easy way through college - if they were they would have changed majors (or more likely, changed schools, since I would argue there is no “easy way” at a school like Hopkins) long ago. The students here (and at every other top school, as I’ve found out as I’ve traveled for interviews) love to complain about their workload, and joke about the “cutthroat”-ness, but from my experience, it’s more campus lore than reality. </p>
<p>To address the OP’s dilemna, frankly, both WashU and Hopkins are great schools and both have really good BME programs. I’m biased towards the Hopkins program because of my experience here (with great faculty who all teach undergrads, fantastic research opportunities, and a great way of getting freshmen involved in BME in the first weeks and months on campus) but I think you’ll have a great experience, academics wise, at either school. Your decision should really come down to the environment where you want to spend four years. Are your perceptions of the schools based on actual campus visits? Don’t trust everything you read online - if at all possible, go visit both campuses and see where you like the environment better. The Homewood (JHU) and Danforth (WashU) campuses are both beautiful. Ultimately, when I visited, I felt I “clicked” a lot better with the students and environment at Hopkins than anywhere else (including WashU) and I think it’s really a personal decision in that sense.</p>
<p>thanks everyone!
i have heard so many mixed things about jhu. some say its fun, as tanman did, but some say that they work extremely hard for grades that are less than great. </p>
<p>i realize that any school’s premed program will be difficult, but i have specifically heard a lot of cut-throat things about hopkins. hopkins would be a lot more convenient for me since it is closer to where i live. i have visited both campus’ and i found washu’s to be more attractive and closer to the university experience i would want. i just cant decide!</p>
<p>I was in your shoes. I wanted to pick JHU, but was hesitant because of all the rumors I heard. But I know that posters are self-selecting and what I heard had to be taken with a grain of salt. For every negative comment, I had spoken to someone with the opposite view, and no, not just tour guides and reps from the admissions office. I also knew that whatever school I picked I would be working hard, really hard. In the end, JHU just felt more like me. I had had three visits to the campus and each time I could see myself there. I felt like that was the best fit. Since I’ve made my decision, I feel better and better about it.</p>
<p>Any college will be what you make of it and don’t attend or not attend a school based on rumors or hearsay for you may be washing away a once in a lifetime chance! </p>
<p>Visit, do your research, chat with students and the choice will be clear. </p>
<p>GL</p>
<p>I’m between the two schools and an in-state 7 year med program, and I’m definitely feeling the pressure as we get closer to the deadline. I’ve visited the Danforth campus twice–one at the beginning of the year, and once last week–and what strikes me in particular is the way in which the faculty seem to go out of their way to give Wash U a homey feel. Also, the students are remarkably friendly and the campus is very international. (Though I was there during the multicultural weekend… so it was remarkably international! haha.) The classes, even for undergraduates, have very nice technology–high tech panels, smartboards, etc; they’re very well-funded. I’m leaning towards Wash U, though Hopkins’ prestige is hard to turn down, and on top of that I have family in the area. That being said, I never had the time to visit Hopkins <i>after</i> being accepted.</p>
<p>The professors at both schools will be world-class and participating in loads of research. Baltimore and St. Louis will obv. have distinct feels to them, but either way, you’ll be a freshman in college, and will be surrounded by other freshmen with social needs, seeking out niches… if that makes sense. Good luck!</p>
<p>WUSTL is currently building a brand new building dedicated to BME, to be finished in Fall 2010, so you’ll be able to take full advantage of it after your first year of taking intro courses. </p>
<p>btw, food and dorms at washU > at hopkins, not saying that the ones at hopkins are bad by any means.</p>
<p>link: <a href=“http://bme.wustl.edu/About/News.asp?AnnouncementID=347[/url]”>http://bme.wustl.edu/About/News.asp?AnnouncementID=347</a></p>