<p>I got accepted to both, and I really loved penn's atmosphere when I stayed there this summer for a program. I'm not talking about bio/biomedical engineering, just undecided engineering. Which one should I go to?</p>
<p>Penn. Both engineering departments are similar (good, but not as eminent as the rest of the school, save for the bioengineering), so you should go to the one with the atmosphere that you enjoyed.</p>
<p>I believe JHU’s engineering program does rank higher than Penn’s, if you care… but I live near JHU, I’ve been there many, many times, and I would hesitate to recommend the school to anybody… much less over Penn. If you liked Penn’s atmosphere, you will want to kill yourself at Hopkins because it is the complete opposite there. Almost every student there is trying to be pre-med, and the atmosphere of the school is uber-competitive and uptight (think: stealing other student’s notes before an exam). As for the surrounding area, the city of Baltimore has its positives, but at the end of the day it looks like crap compared to Philly. Lastly, if financial aid is a factor for you, consider that JHU’s financial aid is known to be HORRIBLE. I can almost 100% guarantee that Penn will be cheaper than JHU.</p>
<p>Actually, Penn totally screwed me over for financial aid, and Hopkins gave me almost twice as much. I’m appealing my offer to Penn, and if they’ll give me some more money, I’m almost positive that I’ll be going there.</p>
<p>Also, is Hopkins bioengineering department the reason that it is ranked so much higher in engineering? I recently looked at a list that said it was ranked 13th overall, whereas Penn was ranked 29th.</p>
<p>The engineering rankings, as has been discussed in the engineering section of this website, are somewhat distorted when it comes to the Ivies. While the rankings do generally suffice for people who fully intend to enter the engineering industry, the Ivies (including Penn) place many of their eng students into disproportionately good jobs. Furthermore, especially at Penn, a good portion of the eng students ultimately end up in finance doing quant. analysis type work. However, as has been mentioned, if your intent is to go with bioengineering, then by all means choose the cheaper of the two schools, since both are ranked very high.</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn’t apply to biomed at Hopkins, so I wouldn’t be comparing the two. Also, if I ended up going to Penn I could pick switch my major to bioengineering, which you can’t do at Hopkins as far as I know</p>
<p>ccarm09 did you do SAAST? I am deciding whether to SAAST or the pre-college program at Penn. Do you recommend SAAST? I applied for biotechnology.</p>
<p>Actually I did do SAAST! It was definitely one of the best experiences of my life. I was in computer science, and I learned more during those three weeks than I have in almost any of my high school classes. Plus the people were awesome, as well as the RTAs. I highly recommend it.</p>
<p>For the record, SEAS grads have the highest median starting salary of any group of students at Penn.</p>
<p>I did SAAST back in 2006 and personally loved it. I was in Computer Science as well and I’m now considering SEAS along with Carnegie Mellon SCS and JHU…</p>
<p>Well consider this:</p>
<p>At previews I talked personally with the Head of the CBE department and I asked her about Hopkins since she had worked there since 1991 up until this past academic year.</p>
<p>Her response was that she is at Penn now.</p>
<p>also, my academic advisor was one of the coolest researchers at hopkins… but then penn hired his whole lab to come up here</p>
<p>^They should do that with some CMU CS profs :P…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ouch. Penn win.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Penn win again. I <3 money!</p>
<p>Hopkins: ["The</a> Wire" (2002)](<a href=“http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/]“The”>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/)
Penn: ["It's</a> Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (2005)](<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472954/]“It’s”>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472954/)</p>
<p>Haha, I’m not sure how those are relevant? haha. Hopkins has a big drug scene, and Penn is a crazy comedy?</p>