<p>I am planning to major in the Biological Sciences/Biochemistry. I will certainly follow my undergraduate education with postgraduate education, but I am uncertain as to whether I will pursue a PhD, MD, or a joint program.</p>
<p>Basically, which of these three universities will offer me the best academic experience given my major, and which will offer me the best chances when applying to a top graduate or medical school?</p>
<p>In my opinion, </p>
<p>JHU</p>
<p>Main Reason:</p>
<h1>1 Research University in the world regarding medicine</h1>
<h1>2 Has great opportunities for researchers to study abroad in other countries as well (which is good, so you can develop a different perspective in the world through Ph.D program which is hard to come by)</h1>
<h1>3 Academic Wise, I'd say really strong in Biological/Biochem Sciences</h1>
<p>Thats just my 2 cents, take what you want from it... Though Cornell/Chicago is Great IMO AND!!! Cornell has Tri-institutional program degree (MD/Ph.D option without requiring a masters degree when getting Ph.D- i think thats how it works? some can correct me here)... i think JHU offers joint program in med school as well im not sure.... good luck in your decision man Chicago is great and Cornell is great to, but im sticking with my reasons for you to go to JHU :D lol</p>
<p>1) Go with the best financial package....All things being equal, given that you are pre-med it really is a slugfest between JHU and Chicago. Chicago is actually strong in the pre-med sciences. Personally, 1) Chicago, 2) JHU and 3) Cornell, these choices are really 1, 1A and 1AA. Check out your field rankings below.</p>
<p>I would take those with a grain of salt. Any ranking that does not have Hopkins number one for BME has to be questioned.</p>
<p>Those rankings are based on peer evaluations of doctoral programs... from 1993!</p>
<p>I always though UChicago was extremely strong in humanities, physics/astronomy, mathematics, government/politics, and economics/business.</p>
<p>I always thought that Cornell's strengths lie in hotel administration, electrical/mechanical engineering, applied mathematics, computer science, among others which I don't really know of.</p>
<p>I always though of Hopkins as being extremely strong in the hardcore sciences, pre-med, BME, public health, fairly strong in IR, humanities, and physics and astronomy.</p>
<p>Personally, I would never choose UChicago for sciences and I feel Cornell is geared more towards engineering/computer types.</p>
<p>I think that all three schools are excellent choices for what you are planning to study, but the three schools are very different and it gets down to a question of fit. I am familiar with all three schools as I have close family members, a child, and a spouse who went to all three. Hopkins is definitely more scientifically oriented and frankly quite cut throat in premed. I would say even more so than Cornell or Chicago. Chicago will require you to take the core curriculum so you may get a more well rounded education, but you may also have to take social science and humanity courses that you may not want to. Cornell is huge, so you will lose some of the personal attention that you would probably get at Hopkins or Chicago. Cornell is also in a more rural/small town environment. I happen to love both Baltimore and Chicago ( Chicago is really an incredible city and offers a lot of opportunities to students), but certain people love the feel of Ithaca. Check out all three if you can. They are really different. Also, the campuses are quite different. Hopkins is Georgian with lots of Brick, Chicago is Gothic ala Harry Potter and Oxford and Cambridge, and Cornell is also beautiful, but very large.</p>
<p>I agree with ^ except for the cutthroat part. Competitive, yes (in fact all three are) but cutthroat--I disagree. See the separate thread on cutthoatness and talk to current students. It is almost entirely urban myth.</p>
<p>I might be wrong about the cut throat part as my information comes from many years ago. However, at that time my wife was pre med at Johns Hopkins and later went to Yale. She said that life at Hopkins was incredibly cut throat, significantly more than at Yale, with people sabotaging her chem experiments, stealing her notes, etc. Things may have changed in the last several years, so I can only speak about the past.</p>
<p>uh yeah, things change, yet the "cutthroat" urban legend still lives on.. thanks to people like you quoting experience from "several years ago" I guess...</p>
<p>kinda like there is absolutely no social life at Uchicago and suicide is rampant at Cornell..</p>
<p>Urban legend it is... Competitive, yes, cuthroat, no. </p>
<p>Yesterday, a group of 20 students and I waited around for our Epidemiology TA to arrive at our extra help session... After fifteen minutes of waiting, we made the decision to work together as a group, wrote out the homework assignment on the chalk board, discussed our concerns, reviewed our answers, and completed the assignment, together. Everyone significantly contributed to the discussion, and despite the TA going MIA for the evening, the session went extremely well.</p>
<p>I've had similar experiences working together with students in chemistry and biology classes, reviewing notes after class, studying in groups, working together with lab partners, etc. The whole notion of the 'cut throat' environment at Hopkins really needs to be put to sleep, for good. :)</p>
<p>Further calling neparent on the carpet: </p>
<p>let your wife post for her own experience. I went to JHU >25 years ago and majored in natural sciences/ public health, all classes w premeds. Absolutley not a whiff of "cut throat", and completely doable to graduate with departmental honors while having a great time. So is your (wife's) experience many years ago, or several years ago? It's not clear from your post. What year? She transfered Yale? Why? or Was that graduate school? you just come across as an uniformed person with a bad attitude. Please inform us.</p>