<p>My brother graduated from JHU BME undergrad two days ago and he has accepted a spot in the JHU Ph.D. program for the fall. His interests are in Brain-Computer-Incerfaces, Prostheses, and other such Neuroengineering applications. </p>
<p>He was also accepted to MIT's Biological Engineering and Stanford's Bioengineering. </p>
<p>I'm also interested in the same type of stuff as my brother (I know sounds lame, we both doing the same thing, but I really do find it rewarding and satisfying), and I have an almost similar academic record--a bit better b/c he helped me avoid the mistakes he made in some of his classes, and how to get publications earlier on, haha. </p>
<p>I will be graduating from JHU BME next spring, which school do you think I should attend (assume for a moment I get into the same ones as my brother)? I have similar interests in Neuroengineering as my brother. I will be applying to MIT, Stanford, Duke, JHU, etc. Is it advisable for me to stay at JHU for 10 years (4 B.S. + Potential 6 for Ph.D.)? JHU has the best BME program in the country, so is it ok for both my B.S. and Ph.D. be from there, so should I look elsewhere? If elsewhere, which do you recommend and why?</p>
<p>I’m looking for opinions to see if I should apply to other schools. I have the best shot of getting into the PhD program for my Undergraduate school, JHU, because I have a lot of contacts here and labs I have worked in willing to fund my degree. I want to know if its a bad thing for me to get both BS and PhD from the same school (considering JHU BME = #1). </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s ‘bad’ to get your PhD from the same school as your undergrad, but I also think it’s slightly better to get your undergrad and PhD degrees at different places. Hopkins is definitely a great place, but you might benefit from generating more professional contacts that will help you when it comes time to look for faculty, postdoc or industry positions. But if it were me, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose Hopkins if it offered the best opportunities for my research interests.</p>
<p>The schools you mentioned are obviously all top notch, but if I were you I wouldn’t limit myself to those or worry too much about rankings. You mention that Hopkins has the ‘best’ program in the country, which according to US news is true, but in reality there is absolutely no way to rank programs against each other so precisely. Every lab at every school will be different, so you should think about the range of opportunities that are offered within your subfield at each university. </p>
<p>If I were in your position, I would also think about whether I wanted to spend 5-6 more years in Baltimore :)</p>
<p>If he is interested in Brain-Computer-Incerfaces, Prostheses, and other such Neuroengineering applications, I would have to say maybe MIT. Of course, Im an undergrad at MIT so I am biased. But I know for a fact that there is really cool research going on between the BioE and Brain and Cog. Department. Not to mention profs. in Brain and Cog and the Media Lab.</p>