Pitt or U of Rochester for Biomedical Engineering

Hi wise CC members! Open to any and all input. My daughter is getting down to the wire and having trouble deciding between these two. She loves Rochester’s campus and smaller student body. She also sees Rochester as having a better overall academic reputation.

On the other hand, she far prefers Pittsburgh to Rochester, likes Pitt’s First Year Engineering program, likes Pitt’s more hands-on focus, has come to understand that Pitt engineering’s class sizes may actually be smaller than Rochester, thinks Pitt might have an easier entree to post graduation jobs in her field, and likes the idea of the Engineering LLC.

Oddly enough, what’s a huge plus for me – our sense that Pitt engineering is a more humane program than some of its counterparts at other universities – feels like a cop-out to her. Not that she wants rigor for rigor’s sake, but she somehow feels that she might be falling short if she chooses a school in part because it might be less grueling and more fun. (I know – it’s weird, but it also plays into her idea of Rochester being more prestigious).

Anyone have any thoughts between the two? Personal experience to share about the BME program at Rochester or the Bioengineering at Pitt? Thanks!

Is cost a factor? My daughter will be a BME major next year and she knows grad school will be a must, therefore she chose a school that gave her more merit money. Now we can help fund her graduate school education as well. Good luck with her decision!

You can always ask what recent grads are doing to see if there’s a significant difference, but I suspect both schools are fine.

Cost is not a factor, but thanks for the reminder to consider grad school costs. Creekland, we’ve had trouble getting good data on what recent bme grads from those school are doing. Would love to have more details on that as it would help.

Have you emailed department folks? Admissions isn’t usually the place to ask. They have no idea. Department professors or even grad students often know if you find any on their web pages. If they aren’t willing to share, it should be a caution flag.