Schools Similar to Vandy

<p>I will be applying ED to Vanderbilt this fall, but should I not be accepted I am looking for some similar schools.</p>

<p>So far I have found Washington University in St. Louis.</p>

<p>Schools should meet these criteria:</p>

<p>Similar size student body-basically medium size. I like that Vandy is big enough (1600/class) to meet new people, yet small enough to see people you know around campus.</p>

<p>Similar Campus-Vandy has a great balance of being in a great city with lots of opportunities, yet the campus it self has lots of green space.</p>

<p>Degree Program-Biomedical Engineering is a must-have.</p>

<p>Great Financial Aid-Vandy meets demonstrated need, other schools should have generous aid.</p>

<p>Washington University is very similar to Vandy
Other schools to Consider:
Rice University
John Hopkins( horrible financial aid )
Duke
University of Washington
UT Austin</p>

<p>you should be looking to apply to a couple of schools less selective than Vanderbilt, Duke or Rice or Wash U…they all have similar issues of more qualified applicants than seats in the freshman class. Carnegie Mellon</p>

<p>Hopkins and Duke are number one and two in Biomedical in the USA…that said…you can also get a huge bang for your buck at schools like Georgia Tech re job searching. So don’t underestmate the beauty of networking if you can do well at Virignia Tech, Georgia Tech and other good state engineering colleges etc. Also liberal arts colleges have plans with many engineering schools called 3/2 plans although most kids find it hard to leave as juniors. Bucknell has good engineering. Swarthmore has an engineering track in a fine liberal arts college. Also, if you can hack a military academy you can get a great boost in your career as an engineer.</p>

<p>I sincerely hope you can go to Vandy if you like it but advise you to have a list of reach colleges mixed with sure bets. Vandy is not a sure admission for anyone anymore. It is easier to get into Vandy Duke Emory than most Ivies but err on the cautious side and apply to other fine colleges that will take you for sure.</p>

<p>Also, so you recognize the actual odds of admission as you build your college list, remember to type in Common Data Set into the search windows at any college and you can pull up the actual numbers of males, females, ED applicants and ranges of test scores admitted in both the ED and RD rounds. You can also get this info on college blogs. Vanderbilt has a very fulsome college blog with very specific stats on it to help you get a strong reality check. Many other colleges like Hopkins also have excellent admissions run blogs. By looking at College Confidential dates in the previous year’s late March, early April postings you can get a reality check on the high stats kids that are waitlisted or rejected or admitted.<br>
Perspective is what you need. That and my mantra to “attach to your match college” if you want to be in a good state of mental health during your last year of high school…respect, visit and visualize yourself at a match college than throw in your best game to reach colleges and let the chips fall.</p>

<p>It seems like, now-a-days, other than the admit rate, one has no idea of their chances for admission to a top school. Emory does not have a full BME program of it’s so I guess it’s out. If you want that here, you must do it in the 3-2 program between Tech and Emory, and that’s kind of tough. A chem. major is more likely to complete all those requirements w/in 3 years. Fortunately, I know well, about 4 people that have done so successfully and only 1 was a chem. major. Weird enough, there is a kid that Transferred from BU BME to do this joint-program. He claimed he wanted a “more rounded” experience (I wonder if it’s true. Maybe BU was simply going to kick his you know what for all 4 years as a pre-med BME major while, as a pre-med here, he’ll have it a little easier as a normal bio major, but it really isn’t that easy). He doesn’t seem to regret it: [March</a> 1 | Emory Website](<a href=“Error 404 | Emory University | Atlanta GA”>Error 404 | Emory University | Atlanta GA) .
Needless to say, Georgia Tech has an excellent BME program. Despite what Faline said, I think could get away with doing less well (though they must at least do good, 3.1-3.2. Weird enough, there a 3.35+ will put you around or higher than the top quarter of the class as most gpas hover between that 3.0-3.2 region) at Tech and still end up w/great post-graduate prospects as most know that they have tougher grading standards than many institutions (though the work probably isn’t particular harder content wise than perhaps a place like Vandy for example). They also have an amazing co-op program that greatly enhances this. But w/that said, one should probably just start off at Tech. I personally think that one doing engineering should jump right into even though Mr. Patel seems to have a different opinion. I’ll agree to disagree as going hard on this opinion would expose a belief that I think my 4 friends in the 3-2 program are nuts.</p>

<p>Anyway Duke, Hopkins, and WashU, are most similar to Vandy academic wise (as in structure and programs offered. Whereas I think Duke and Vandy are a bit more similar atmospherically/socially). Needless to say, all 4 are extremely hard to get into (whereas, we, Emory, are just hard). I would look into schools like Carnegie Mellon and Case Western (these aren’t best safeties in terms of admission,especially Mellon, but they are sure better one than say Emory, USC, UVa, Berkeley, UNC,or UCLA. On top of that, Both have awesome for engineering of all sorts that seem less likely to admit even though they have similar or lower stats. than Mellon) for example.</p>

<p>Also, I think Duke is about as hard or harder than most Ivies to gain admission to regardless of the admit rate. It gets folks w/higher stats. than some of the Ivies w/lower admit rates (which moreso reflects the amount of applicants they get. The same could be said for places like Hopkins, Chicago, and maybe NU). I would venture to say the same about Vandy as well. It may be as hard or a little harder than those Ivies directly around it. And Emory shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence as those two in context of admissions, while our admissions seems random and sketch at times, one actually does have a much higher chance of getting in here than any Ivy (maybe other than Cornell, but they edge us out still) or Vandy, Rice and Duke. Regardless of this comparison, I would avoid applying to anything in the top 25 (maybe even 30. Perhaps do so if you are also in the 75% of some top 20 schools, and then go forth and be wary of yield protection practices) as a safety. It just simply isn’t a good idea. These schools are either getting significantly more apps, are reducing the number they admit, or doing like us, and keeping a decent admit rate but doing a “flavor of the month” admissions scheme (another poster in some thread described our admissions this way. I couldn’t agree more).</p>

<p>I am not sure if these schools have strong BME programs; however, on a social and academic level they’re comparable: Northwestern, UVa, and Wake. I believe FA is similar as well but not certain.</p>

<p>Speaking as someone who was originally enrolled at WashU and then accepted a waitlist offer at Vandy, I’m not so sure that they are very similar (ex. sports, political leaning, type of kids that attend). That said, they are both fabulous schools and I would have been happy at either. I also think that some schools that are very similar to Vandy are Princeton, Duke, Wake Forest, UVa (on the bigger side), Richmond (on the smaller side), Gettysburg. Good luck!</p>

<p>As a dad that has a son that just graduated BME at Vandy and a Daughter who just started Ga Tech. I can tell you that the atmosphere of the two campuses are completely different. GT is much bigger with huge differences of how they take care of their freshman and the type of classes ( size of the classes, type of students, you are more of a number at GT, etc.) It has more of a big school atmosphere. I will say that GT BME program is awesome, but Vandy’s program is more personal. Good Luck with getting in Vandy. By the way, my son got a great job right out of school in which the company is also going to pay for his masters. Thank you Vandy!!</p>

<p>Actually, seems like Vandy intro. courses are quite large (from what I saw via enrollment data, they are nearly as large as Tech’s at least in the life sciences; physics and math are huge at Tech. Tech has many more profs per course whereas Vandy will have less and it equals out), the only problem is Tech’s physics and math courses are extremely intense (this includes non-intro. math courses which are still huge) with consideration of the size of the sections and it can be difficult to merely pass those classes because of it. The grading curve is also significantly harsher.
However, Vandy bio classes for example look much harder (I’ve seen a Tech intro. bio exam and a Vandy intro. bio exam, and despite similar class sizes, Vandy kills Tech which resorts to co-instruction and multiple choice exams. I would hope that Vandy has better teaching to compensate, b/c it was pretty bad in Tech bio). Regardless of the differences or similarities, your daughter should do (or should be hopefully doing) well at Tech. It’s a tough, but rewarding environment. Many of my friends are doing very well in their BME program despite those tough frosh weedout courses.</p>

<p>If your stats are in the range for Vandy, Wash U and Duke, but you need $$, add Tulane to your list for merit aid AND FA options…</p>

<p>I’m almost certain they still have BME but Fallenchemist will know more…</p>

<p>Tulane can be very generous! There is merit money at Vandy/WashU and Duke but it is a rare occurrence to win it. The only way to win it however is to get in the game. Georgia Tech is a tough road with great outcomes. I live in the VA Tech corridor and am amazed by their networking potential re jobs in the DC corridor. And speaking of networks, you can’t beat VMI’s for job placement. Very impressive outcomes at Vandy and Duke re Navy ROTC in my circles as well. Oh and Go Dores for the great job trey1105’s son landed :)</p>

<p>daughter of a Ramblin’ Wreck civil engineer '59 (BEST fight song), Mom of a Vandy '13er</p>

<p>rodney is correct. Tulane’s BME program actually is very good. One of the first in the country actually, and still considered one of the better undergraduate programs.</p>

<p>My stats are about at the 25th percentile for Vandy, so I’d like to apply a few places that I have a better chance of admission at.</p>

<p>UVA is alot bigger but I’ve found it very similar to Vandy otherwise.</p>

<p>UVA and Vandy aren’t really similar in terms of BME. As an interdisciplinary major, BME is different at different schools. Vandy has outstanding imaging for example. Other schools are focused on prostheses, tissue engineering, etc. (This isn’t to say that those areas aren’t also at Vandy.) Look at the faculty, look at the curriculum, etc. Being so much smaller than UVA engineering, a student has a better chance of getting good research, developing strong relationships with faculty, etc. All good things for grad. school.</p>

<p>What schools are good in the tissue engineering sector?</p>