I’m trying to decide between attending Northeastern University in the Honors Program to study bioengineering or attending the University of Florida in the Honors Program to study biomedical engineering.
I plan on continuing on to medical school after my undergraduate years so I would like to know if anyone has any info or has experienced personally the process of majoring in BME and continuing on to medical school from either school. (Advantages and disadvantages would help!)
**side note: the pricey tuition of Northeastern would not be a factor as I was lucky enough to receive enough scholarship money to actually make it more affordable than the in-state tuition for the University of Florida.
NEU has an amazing co-op program which will offer tons of hands on experience in the medical field, being in one of the largest medical hubs in the US. If you’re a fan of the co-op model, I think NEU is the clear choice.
Beyond co-op, with medical school, the cheaper one is the better one usually. Both will offer fine academics - I would focus on price, your opinion of co-op and the opportunities in Boston, and other fit factors. Unless you really don’t see yourself at NEU, I say go there 
What are you looking for in a college socially?
Thanks for your advice @PengsPhils ! As for socially, I think would rather be surrounded by a more intellectual student body than a partying student body, which, I believe, puts NU (being in Boston) another step above UF?
@ZKlax11 I would say so. Not to say that there isn’t an intellectual crowd at UF, but just that it is a much bigger portion of NU comparatively. I’m actually originally from Florida, and the student body impressions I have from both back that up 100%.
Thanks so much for your help! I appreciate the insight @PengsPhils – would you happen to know anything about the co-op program Northeastern in particular? Specifically, as a bioengineering major, would I be able to obtain a clinical or medical research co-op opportunity (to help for med school) or would I be limited to engineering co-ops?
I know a lot about the co-op program as a current NEU student, but mostly for CS - I know lots of engineers working at top companies (the JPL, Intuit, iRobot), and I know lots of medically directed students who are certainly taking advantage of Boston’s medical hub (one working in Mass General for her first co-op) - I don’t have any bioengineering friends, but the combination seems to be pretty natural to me, especially with how much medical research there is around here.
In general, the co-op program is amazing and absolutely 100% the real deal. The best jobs / availability by field are in CS, Business, Engineering, and Medical. I’m guessing being in a major that overlaps with two of those will bode well.
If you have any specific questions on general co-op I’d be happy to help
My friend is a bioengineering major doing research at Genzyme, so somewhere in between the engineering and the medical aspects yeah. She loves it, for what it’s worth.
I’d always pick the less competitive, cheaper option in general but especially if you want to go to med school. In this case, the higher ranked school is cheaper. I’d definitely pick NU especially with co-op unless you don’t want to be that far from family (assuming the price difference is negligible).
Thanks so much guys! @PengsPhils @novafan1225 Going to visit NU within the next two weeks to get a feel for campus and Boston and then make a decision