I am a high school senior graduating this May. I have been accepted to both Pitt BioE and Northeastern biomedical engineering.
I am from TX so both schools are quite far from home and is not a negative for me. I am planning to study on a pre-med track and go to medical school after getting my undergraduate degree.
Which has better academics/resources/opportunities for pre-med students? I know that Pitt has a strong med school, and strong ties to UPMC (which is right on campus), so are the undergrad research opportunities plentiful? Also, UPMC attracts students from nearby Carnegie Mellon, which makes me wonder about the competition for these spots.
I know Northeastern does not have a med school but it’s surrounded by hospitals also. Does the co-op program benefit a pre-med student? Does it provide you experience that med schools are looking for? Is it worth paying the high tuition at Northeastern?
Also I want an opinion on what school has the better bioengineering degree in terms of research and education.
Can anyone in the same/similar situation or currently at either school with similar track please help me. Thanks a lot in advance!
Northeastern’s co-op program provides great medical opportunities but no, it is not worth a significant premium compared to Pitt for premed, which also offers great medical resources.
What are the exact COA’s for each? If there is a significant difference and finances matter in any meaningful way, you should probably go with the cheaper option here since you will need money for medical school possibly.
If you are pretty confident in going the med school route, save the money and go Pitt IMO unless the 80K over 4 years won’t really affect your family in any way.
I didn’t apply for the Honors College at Pitt. My parents are able to pay the cost difference so the cheaper option is still preferable but the cost difference isn’t a big con for me. I have options that are under 50k such as A&M, Baylor (got scholarship, UT, and Purdue, but my personal top two are between Pitt and Northeastern.
I just wanted to know which school would be better for premed in the major I was accepted for without considering COA.
I don’t think you can go wrong with Pitt. Money aside Pitt is highly ranked in medical majors, the hospital is RIGHT there, the town has lots to do. Boston is great but save the money for med school, you’ll need it.
My Pitt junior civil engineering major works at an engineering firm who recruits engineers from both Pitt and Northeastern. We are from Texas and our daughter had similar choices. Pitt @$30,000 per year and Northeastern was going to come in around $50-55,000 per year. We didn’t think Northeastern offered anything worth $20,000 extra per year. All of her friends at Pitt in engineering have three semester co-op rotations.
mahi01, Let me know if you have decided to go with UPITT or NorthEastern. My son is also deciding this week before 5/1. It is a challenging choice for pre-med school. We also have to pay the difference of $25K more for NorthEastern but it looks like that it is big on co-op and has a rigorous Chemistry program. He got into Honor College at UPITT and is not minded to give up the privilege to go with the brand name - NorthEastern U.
Anyone knows if the pre-med programs at NorthEastern meet the requirements for Medical Schools?
Four years ago, my son had the choice of Pitt or Northeastern and was (at the time) a bio engineering major.
Pitt offered a full ride (chancellors) and it would’ve been about $15k/year for Northeastern.
He chose Pitt. He just loved it more- it wasn’t about $, it was about how he felt he would fit in at each school. I think that’s a personal decision!
(He switched to mechanical engineering his freshman year, but Pitt has so many research opportunities, even for freshmen students… He’s also heading to grad school (not at Pitt) and turned down an Ivy for his grad school choice. He’s an NSF grad fellow awardee too. Pitt has been awesome for his academic career!)
@mahi01 I agree with others that it would come down to a personal choice as you feel which school would be a best fit for you to learn and excel. My daughter is a rising sophomore with Pharmacy GAP from OOS and has been very happy with Pitt so far. She also had a research experience thru FER matching with a Med School Professor in Spring even though it got cut off in the end due to COVID-19. She is still spending online time with the Professor learning remotely this week after the semester ended last week, so we are very grateful for her opportunity to continue.
Not that it matters much in some people’s opinions, the program rankings are also in favor of Pitt when it comes to research related to BioE/BioMed. http://www.shanghairanking.com/Shanghairanking-Subject-Rankings/biomedical-engineering.html (this ranking is heavily geared towards reseach and publication).
US News also ranked Pitt #14 for 2019 when I looked last year, but they now block 2020 from free access, other than the new top 15 (Pitt might have fallen off a few spots).
In addition, NIH funding for research is always another way to look for opportunity to be involved, and Pitt again is a powerhouse, right in the Top 5 with other powerhouses https://www.genengnews.com/a-lists/top-50-nih-funded-institutions-of-2019/
I hope this gives you some more perspectives on Pitt.
I also want to thank @carachel2 for her advice on her posts and connections last year that was part of my daughter’s decision to choose Pitt. She turned down in-state options like UC San Diego and UC Irvine even though their overall undergrad rankings on US News are higher than Pitt. We still believe Pitt is the best decision she has made as it is the best fit for her career choice. Good luck with your final decision!
My DS had the same decision to make in 2011 and chose Pitt for his PharmD. (which seems like so long ago!). Reading through all of your comments two things that weren’t mentioned:
D1 sports–yes NE has them, but Pitt being part of the ACC is big if you are interested in sports at all–from a spectator perspective. Our family are all now Pitt fans and will be forever I would imagine! Going to Football and Basketball games were some of the highlights of his college experience and ours when we visited. (We live in upstate NY).
Pittsburgh vs Boston-- both great cities, but Pittsburgh is more affordable and easier to get around.
As far as the “name recognition” NE is a great school, but when it comes to anything medical related, Pitt has an incredible reputation. Having UPMC on campus gave our DS an incredible experience.
@jentam I’m so sorry for the late response. I haven’t been checking College Confidential for a long time. I did end up picking Pitt over Northeastern. The money was a big factor since med school will be expensive and the fact that Pitt had a med school associated with it as well as UPMC located so close to campus. Also I felt that I had more opportunities for research that I was interested in at Swanson. To me personally, Northeastern’s (IMO) questionable “brand” name didn’t feel like it had any pull at all for me for my future med school applications after close reflection.
Just to add to the Pitt bandwagon, I’d like to provide some anecdotal information regarding D1’s (a 2014 PharmD graduate) experience at Pitt:
In D1’s six years at Pitt, she published research papers in peer-reviewed journals, had three research fellowships, three paid research and/or intern positions (including paid positions during every one of her summer breaks), two project grants from national pharmaceutical organizations, three named fellowship positions, as well as internships and/or rotations from Honduras to Australia to Utah and elsewhere. She was admitted into a PGY-1 residency upon her PHarmD graduation, and subsequently, to a PGY-2 residency in psychiatric pharmacy and went on to become a Board-Certified BCPP . (I’m not sure how this statistic stands against other schools, but 33% of the Class of 2014 went on to fellowships and/or residencies.) Pitt Pharmacy opens doors and provides unparalleled opportunities for their students.
She’s currently a professor of pharmacy at a medical school in California.
Be sure to take everything into account when you decide on what school to attend. Pitt, especially in the health sciences, offers tremendous opportunities for students. Whether that’s worth any additional dollars vs. another pharmacy school is, of course, an individual decision…