Hi! I was recently admitted to a couple masters program in biomedical engineering and I narrowed it down to two universities: Tuft University and University of Toronto. I wanted to ask the community’s experience in the medical research department of both university or even just your thoughts on each university and why they are a great choice. I’ve heard great things from my friends about Tufts University especially when it comes to the medical industry but haven’t been able to found much about University of Toronto.
@Daisaku Do you have any questions in particular? Are you Canadian or American? Have you visited either school or city? What are your career objectives?
U of T is a powerhouse in medical research. Tufts is a much smaller university.
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HI @bouders. Thank you for the response. I’m an international student coming from Thailand. I’ve visited Boston before and did enjoy my time there. I’m assuming Ontario is relatively similar except more quiet(?) which is something I enjoy too. Career objectives wise I’m looking to work in the Tissue engineering field after finishing my studies for around 4-5 years and maybe return to Thailand to start my own biomedical business back here as we are still very underdeveloped in this industry.
Some questions I have would be:
- Smaller as in student population or the size of the university. Does the population number have an effect on the quality of the university?
- My plans are either going to Toronto and pursuing all the way to PhD or to go to Tufts Masters and apply for a PhD at either MIT or Harvard. Any thoughts on either pathways?
- Careers in BME-wise, is there much of a difference when working in this field in the states or in Canada? I personally want to be able to see the broad picture of the BME in Tissue Engineering and possibly also pharmaceutical sides if I the opportunity.
Toronto is a fantastic city, the major city of Canada. It’s got some of the energy of New York City. U Toronto is the leading U of Canada. I feel that you cannot go wrong in either school. But you need to consider how easily you can get admitted to either country. The post-Trump mess with student visas still hasn’t been straightened out, and Covid has thrown a monkey wrench into the process. Also, it would be much easier to get Canadian residency than US residency, if that’s on your agenda. Once you have the credentials to work in Biomed engineering, a US company that wants you could get you a work visa, and that can lead to US citizenship, if you want it.
I would not automatically think that Tufts is better for your situation than U Toronto. You need to make sure that you can get a student visa and get admitted to the country, for each school, before you make your decision.
Toronto is a much bigger city than Boston. Toronto is the 4th largest city in North America, Boston is at #66. U of T is a much bigger university in student population and in research. There are over 1600 principal investigators in the Faculty of Medicine at U of T, for example. Tufts has 99. The biomedical engineering department at U of T has 40 faculty, Tufts has 11.
Pursuing research as a non-citizen is tough as you won’t be eligible for most grants. If you want to go all the way to a PhD, make sure that the position is funded.
If you are considering a PhD, I would make sure that the MS program is designed as a pre-PhD program. Some masters programs are designed as terminal degrees and will not really help with PhD program acceptance.