<p>Hey guys, I know that there are a couple of threads like this, talking about premed at MIT, but I just wanted to hear some fresh opinions. </p>
<p>I'm planning on doing a bioengineering degree on a premed track at either MIT or Northwestern. I was wondering which school I should go to, in order to be able to go to medical school, but still have a strong background in bioengineering. </p>
<p>Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Well, I don't know what to say. I've taken college classes at MIT as well as Northwestern, so I'm familiar with both places. A degree from MIT with the same GPA is obviously worth more than Northwestern because of the whole prestige factor. </p>
<p>However, I've known people from U of I who got into Wash U. Med School so I think if you can get outstanding MCAT scores (which you probably can if you got into MIT) than you probably can go wherever you want.</p>
<p>A few questions:
are you from the midwest?
how much value to place in english and the arts? (I know you don't want to major in it; I just mean in general.)
what did you think of MIT's campus?</p>
<p>Northwestern has a pretty established biomedical engineering program. MIT's one is a younger one if I am not mistaken but it's MIT, so any engineering is likely gonna be top-notch.</p>
<p>Med school placement, however, isn't MIT's forte. The grade deflation can be prety damaging. NU's med school placement is around 80% or so and higher than MIT's. Of course, a 3.5 from MIT is gonna be more respected than 3.5 from NU. But the problem is it's probably quite a bit harder to get good GPA at MIT.</p>
<p>MIT's placement varies between about 70% and 75% -- that's not significantly lower than Northwestern's.</p>
<p>Ultimately I think the whole grade deflation thing is overblown. If you want to come to MIT and major in BE, the odds are great that you will also be able to get into medical school. Don't worry about a five percentage point difference in acceptance rates -- go to the school that you like best, and which makes you the happiest. That's the school where you will succeed.</p>
<p>Placement statistics don't tell you:
1) the caliber of the medical schools they were placed into
2) what MCAT scores the people had</p>
<p>So it's hard to compare them.</p>