<p>I was accepted into Hopkins' Biomedical Engineering Program and Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. After visiting both campuses, I have a pretty good feel for the layout and proximity to other ammenities... But I was wondering about the respective academics. My goal is to go to a top 5 medical school. I have been doing some research and have a few concerns about both programs... I'll post them on their respective boards. </p>
<p>1) How do the classes at Northwestern measure up to those at Hopkins? I hear that Hopkins has a generally better reputation but then again the courses are rumored to be more difficult.</p>
<p>2) What is the success rate of NU graduates getting into top 5 medical schools?</p>
<p>3) Does the quarter system hurt or help in terms of internship opportunities (since other schools on semesters get out earlier and may take them first) and overall GPA?</p>
<p>4) How does the Biomedical Engineering Program at NU compare to Hopkins' (which is #1 in the country but averages a 3.2 GPA)?</p>
<p>For BME and premed, you should go to Hopkins. NU is a fine school but you are talking about a school in the top-3 in both category. I can't think of another school that can beat that.</p>
<p>One thing to consider is how the amount of competition at JHU will impact your college experience. Some people might not mind that aspect simply because JHU has such an incredible reputation for the major, but this definitely one of the reasons I myself am looking at going to NU over JHU BME. I'm not saying students at JHU don't have any fun, but I know my own personality and do not want to spend all 4 years of college studying constantly (or not studying and screwing myself over).
However, I've also read in the JHU forum that JHU is known for its crazy grade deflation - med schools are quite aware of this and perhaps won't penalize you as much for a low GPA at JHU as if you'd gotten a low GPA elsewhere.
With regards to the quarter system, I've read that if you have an internship that starts before school ends, NU lets you take your finals and finish earlier.</p>
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With regards to the quarter system, I've read that if you have an internship that starts before school ends, NU lets you take your finals and finish earlier.
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not really true. in most of my spring quarter classes, the professor made it explicitely clear on syllabus that there will be no excuse for missing final on the scheduled date. i'm sure the policy will differ professors, but most of my professors have been pretty reluctant to schedule a seperate exam for any individual.
What most of my friends do during summer is find a research position or take summer school at Northwestern since there are very few programs that actually don't conflict with our break period.</p>
<p>I don't think you'd be in great disadvantage in finding internships, if you are from good school. By starting late, you will also be one of the few that will still be around when others are gone. Some companies may like that. There are so many out there that there should be enough for anyone from quarter-system schools to find them. If that's not the case, then grads from NU, Dartmouth, Chicago, and Stanford would have severely lacked working experience and wouldn't have been so successful in getting jobs. NU also has many industry connections and that should mitigate any disadvantage. NU students are known to be very preprofessional and have working experience before they gradaute. So I wouldn't worry about it.</p>
<p>I was wondering if it's okay to go to a state school for pre-med. A lot of people I have talked to say that as long as you have a good GPA and MCAT score, it's okay to attend at a good state university as opposed to a more expensive private school. Is this true?</p>
<p>I think it really depends on the specific state school. Its pretty hard to compare Michigan- Anne Arbor to any of the SUNY's, even though the some of the SUNY's are fairly respectable. They're just not the same calibur.</p>
<p>You should also be looking for the best potential college experience, and shouldn't just pick a state school over others you may be more attracted to because you assume you'll do better there. </p>
<p>As for myself, I'm having a tough time deciding between USC full tuition, Northwestern, and Duke as a premed. USC would be slightly easier, but I want to get out of CA and experience something like Chicago, but hopefully I won't regret this while I'm in NU's intense orgo classes.</p>
<p>"I want to get out of CA and experience something like Chicago, but hopefully I won't regret this while I'm in NU's intense orgo classes."</p>
<p>Uh, I'm pretty sure you WILL regret it, but probably only in the short term. Remember the long term big picture and that might help you push through the misery.</p>