Looking for some suggestions on ME schools with Bio-Mechanics.

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>My son is a rising senior who is interested in ME but wants to take it in the direction of Bio-Mechanics and would like to do research as an undergrad. Eventually he would like to work on Prosthetics, either in design or research after attending grad school for BME.</p>

<p>He is a good but not outstanding student 28 ACT (30 Math & Science) SAT scores are comparable. He is currently not interested in taking either test again. GPA is 4.43 W & 3.7 UW, top 5% at a decent public HS, taking a majority of Honors and AP classes. He will have 9 or 10 AP’s at graduation. He will be taking Calc BC and AP physics this year. His EC’s are decent, 3 sport athlete for first two years, one Varsity sport for the last two, 3 simultaneous part time jobs, many volunteer hours, multiple mission trips, Senior Leader, NHS, etc. His LOR's are great. We are residents of Illinois.</p>

<p>We are looking for schools that are fairly generous with merit aid for his current stats, and have already looked at the Guaranteed Merit Aid thread. The goal is to keep total out of pocket costs for his school in the 15-20K range since we will not qualify for any need based aid, and we have two kids in college. </p>

<p>Thankfully he is not a prestige kid, and will probably thrive just about anywhere as long as he can study what interests him. That being said his stated preference would be OOS. He doesn’t like our state flagship, and doesn’t want to attend the same U as his brother (time to spread his own wings). Also, he is looking to move out of the Chicago region. He wants to experience life in a different part of the country especially if there is better weather. He would like a medium to larger school with at least some sports scene, and would prefer urban/suburban, or a larger college town. </p>

<p>Current list of schools</p>

<p>Already applied to:
Iowa State (accepted, good ME but doesn’t appear to have bio-mechanics)
U of Iowa (applied – will receive decision early August)
U of Kansas (accepted)
Arizona State (applied and is applying to Barrett)</p>

<p>Will apply to:
UAB (and the Sci-Tech honors program)
Temple</p>

<p>We have not yet visited any of these schools due to some family medical issues in the spring and summer. We are planning trips for this fall-winter. Also, before anyone makes these suggestions, he has visited both UIUC and UMN- Twin Cities and didn’t like either one. UIUC – he gave no specific reason, UMN - too cold in winter.</p>

<p>Any other suggestions of schools doing good work in Bio-Mechanics?</p>

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<p>No suggestions so far? </p>

<p>He does have a very strong work ethic, so that should help him no matter where he attends.</p>

<p>How about can anyone recommend some good schools my son would likely be admitted to that offer a ME with Bio-mechanics and have good potential for undergrad research. We will filter any suggetions for affordability after we run the NPC. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

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<p>University of Pittsburgh has a highly rated Bioengineering program with a Biomechanics concentration. Your son could probably major in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Bioengineering to enroll in courses that include biomechanics, orthopedics and ergonomics. Pitt is a great school for bioengineering because of its excellent School of Medicine, proximity to UPMC hospitals and VA hospital and collaborations with CMU. Pitt assures that every student who wants an intership will be able to get one. There are many opportunities to be involved in research. In fact my son, who is a high school junior, is currently doing an internship at a joint Pitt-CMU institute where he helps program and conduct experiments on corneal prosthetics under the direction of a CMU professor. Starting Fall he will also work with another professor on experiments to develop limb prosthetics. My son will apply to either Pitt or CMU. The only drawback is that the cost of attendance will be higher than your budget because your son is out of state. If your son can raise his SAT or ACT scores he might qualify for merit aid. Among the list of schools in your list I think UAB would be a great choice.</p>

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<p>Thank you, I will have him look at Pitt I had forgotten about them. Currently UAB is his #1 choice, with Iowa & Kansas tied at #2. I believe he would probably prefer Pitt to either of those because of its location. </p>

<p>Any other suggestions?</p>