<p>I tend to think that it is more important to go to a good school then to attend a lesser school with the "current major of choice". My concern is that m D wants to study Engineering and specifically Bio Medical Engineering. Should she attend the best engineering school option or the school which happens to offer this specific major in the engineering department? I'm leading towards best engineering and forget the specific major. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>It may give her options in the future … I would ask many many alum of the lesser school.</p>
<p>We are looking at the better schools with the major my daughter prefers at the moment … assuming it is the whole experience that makes uG successful</p>
<p>If I understand the question, you want to know if someone who wants to major in biomedical engineering should attend a school which does not offer it, because it is a better overall school? Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. There are plenty of good schools which do offer that major, why not look at them?</p>
<p>I have thought about this general question too. One of son’s criteria for colleges is that the college offer classes in two languages that he wants to study. One is not an especially common language for students to study here–I would guess about half of the LACs we have looked at do not offer any classes in this language at all. And at many that do offer some classes, the classes are rather limited. If he were only concerned about the language instruction, a big university would offer the most. But he wants the small college, undergraduate focus of the LACs, so he has decided to sacrifice some language options. At least for now–he is pretty sure that he wants to go to grad school so he sees the lesser language opportunities as more of a deferral than a complete forgoing. I don’t know about engineering, though. Is your child thinking of graduate school?</p>
<p>She should go to the school that offers the major she’s interested in - especially for engineering. You can’t really generalize when it comes to ‘engineering’ - i.e. the material a mechanical engineer studies (aside from the basics) is completely different than what an electrical engineer studies, which is completely different than a Computer Science major, etc.</p>
<p>Sometimes one can get a less specific degree and still manage to end up in their desired field but they’d have to compete for jobs with people with more knowledge than them in the field. </p>
<p>Biomedical engineering is a little bit different since it combines some aspects of several other disciplines and it’s possible for those other disciplines to end up in the biomedical field. </p>
<p>Why not just target a college that offers her major and is also a good school? There are a number of them. If you let us know some of what she’s looking for, posters here will be able to recommend some possibilities. </p>
<p>If you were in California I’d recommend considering UCSD for this major.</p>
<p>Somewhere I heard that engineering has the highest “drop out” rate of any major - freshmen/sophmores changing their minds. Your D maybe firmly fixed on that path and this may not apply, but my advice is to make sure what ever college she goes to has a variety of good options for Plan B.</p>
<p>I am nothing like an expert on this, but my impression is that biomedical engineering is as much a separate discipline as a subset of engineering, so that for someone with a definite interest in BME to go to an engineering school that didn’t have a BME program could be a horrible mistake.</p>
<p>Already? </p>
<p>We had the same issue with two languages and film … the number of smaller schools was minimal! We then found schools that have self study language programs and ultimately decided that as long as the school has film, a strong study abroad program and a language dept with a variety of languages … showing depth, then she would be fine. Last year she learned Italian in 9 months while studying in Italy … much preferred this experience to the classroom learning.</p>
<p>Well, if the D seems to change her mind quite frequently and appears to be toying with the idea of BME… and you imagine she will drop that idea soon… I suppose she could go to the “best” Engineering school, even though it doesn’t offer BME.</p>
<p>But if she seems to have a serious interest in that field, I agree with others who think it would be absurd to choose a school which doesn’t offer it. </p>
<p>BTW, at some schools one has to apply specifically to BME… so a student cannot later decide to major in it (eg, Johns Hopkins). </p>
<p>My son is in EE and has ABSOLUTELY zero interest in BME. Conversely, a lot of BME majors have ABSOLUTELY zero interest in other engineering majors, such as mechE, civilE, EE, Computer E, aeronautical E.</p>
<p>Why send your D off to a great school, no matter how great, if she can’t pursue her interest?</p>
<p>The “best” school in one engineering discipline may not be best in another. There is a difference between good schools and lesser ones, but one could argue “best” based on which factors you considered. You want the best fit, this may mean the number 1 + (low number)x ranked school in many engineering fields but most likely to have high rankings in possible majors, including biomedical engineering. Never get stuck on the “best”, instead look for “good”. There is more than one school out there that will give her an excellent education in the field she chooses, consider the total college experience. You and she will be much more satisfied with her choice if you allow for more than the top school in the first tier- remember there are dozens of top/first tier schools.</p>
<p>Wis75,
Great post. We are starting to visit schools and she clearly wants to attend Notre Dame. But ND does not specifically offer BME. She attended an Introduction to Engineering program at UVA this summer and thinks BME is the right major. As the bill payer, I would like to see her at UVA (in state tuition). Thanks for your help</p>
<p>Why compromise? There are plenty of excellent colleges with the major your daughter thinks she wants. While many students eventually change majors, why take away her first choice before she even begins??</p>