Senior in Biomedical Engineering (BME) here to answer any questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Johns Hopkins University
1

<p>Hey everyone!</p>

<p>Just thought I'd drop by the JHU forum and help answer any questions you may have about Hopkins or Biomedical Engineering. Let me tell you a little about myself:</p>

<p>I went to Naperville Central High School in Illinois. It's a pretty good public school in the Chicago suburbs, and I graduated in the top 5%. My grades and ECs weren't that great, but my test scores were solid. I was a decent math/science type of guy, but didn't really care for other subjects.</p>

<p>I applied last minute (Jan 2nd) for BME at Hopkins, since I wasn't sure I was interested. I did not get into BME right off the bat, but was admitted as undecided and assigned an adviser in the ECE/EE department. I started out taking some ChemE classes, but didn't really like it, and by that time, I knew BME was what I wanted to do.</p>

<p>I took BME Design Team Spring of Freshman year, and was officially admitted into the BME program for Sophomore year. I truly love BME, and am excited to be the first class to take the new curriculum. My concentration is in Computational Biology, but I'd love to discuss any other concentration with you as well.</p>

<p>Sophomore year, I pledged Sigma Chi, and it is one of the best decisions I made in college. I am also somewhat involved in other clubs, most notably serving on the Executive Board of the Hopkins Medical Device Network, a relatively new student organization.</p>

<p>I have been pretty successful in BME, it's not as cut-throat as people are lead to believe. I love Design Team in particular, to me, it is the quintessential BME class. My grades vary wildly between tests since I'm not the most devoted student, and I've gotten anywhere from the top score in the class to failing scores (before curve). I like to explore, so I've taken a ton of classes outside of BME -- I've managed to rack up 163 credit hours by the end of Junior Year, but still don't have enough to get my BME degree. I am very curious and have tried to expose myself to classes in as many departments as possible. I no longer consider myself a purely math/science type of guy.</p>

<p>Next year, I will be co-leading a Design Team, and am spending my summer looking for an amazing project. I am also working part-time at the Center for Educational Resources. My position is Senior Programmer, and I do web development with all sorts of languages and tools. I am also working at a web startup that was conceived by two JHU BME alumni.</p>

<p>I love BME and Hopkins, and have convinced a few people to apply and attend, including my younger sister. Unfortunately, I have not explored the city thoroughly, but have heard of all sorts of quirky and interesting places to go. </p>

<p>I look forward to your questions!</p>

2

<p>Hello!</p>

<p>First of all, thanks for offering your time to answer some questions.</p>

<p>Though I'm not going into BME, I would still like to ask a question if you don't mind. I can't help reading some of these "chance" threads and admit to posting one myself; however, is the "chances" pool of posters representative of a typical JHU student? [Noone is typical, but that's the best word I can think of right now.] I participate in extracurriculars, volunteer programs, amongst other things, but it seems others are founders of clubs, ranked 3rd in the nation for some competition, conducted research at a university, etc. I have a profound passion that I am dedicated to and my extracurriculars will show that. I am wondering if that is what is taken into account.</p>

<p>I apologize if this is irrelevant.</p>

3

<p>Sorry to invade this thread...
... but "mtrinh91" let me provide you with some advice.</p>

<p>IGNORE CHANCES THREADS. They are useless. They do not predict the admissions process and they do not reflect someone's true application. There is no way you can summarize a complete college application in a chances thread ... take it from, someone who has been doing this for a living for a long time. CHANCES THREADS REVEAL NOTHING.</p>

<p>If you want to learn about "typical" JHU students I suggest you either visit campus and hang out for a while or check out these sites:</p>

<p>H.I. Student Profiles: <a href="http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/profiles/profiles.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://apply.jhu.edu/hi/profiles/profiles.html&lt;/a>
Meet JHU Students threads: <a href="http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showforum=2%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showforum=2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Thanks! I started to realize this too and figured an individual is more than purely statistics and awards. The chances threads were intimidating, but I will no longer take them seriously. Thanks again for your help.</p>

5

<p>What kind of book do you suggest for notetaking? Binders, spiral notebooks, index cards, composition books...?</p>

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<p>mtrinh91, I agree with AdmissionsDaniel for the most part. The admissions process is complex and takes a lot of things into account that people do not share in chance threads. However, you did mention that you are very passionate and dedicated to your extracurriculars. That is great! This gives you an opportunity to reveal a personal side of you, and show how you are able to contribute to something you truly care about. </p>

<p>YanksDolphins, don't take this as a lame excuse for an answer, but go with what works best for you. You definitely should try new things, and I personally find that each class is different.</p>

<p>For example, many students take notes on their computer. There are some pretty good programs, but depending on the class, some programs work better than others.</p>

<p>Some classes require special composition books (e.g. physics lab), but you really can't go wrong with a spiral notebook in most other cases. </p>

<p>On the other hand, for a class like Organic Chemistry, the binder and index card combination is pretty good. This allows you to shuffle things around depending on what you need to study, and divide reactions into categories.</p>

<p>My recommendation is that for paper notes, a binder is the most flexible, since you can basically use it as a normal notebook, or switch to another system halfway through the class.</p>

7

<p>Hi joshuwaliu. My D is very interested in Biomedical Engineering. JHU actually is her first choice because it is currently ranked #1 in BME. I just want to know why you chose JHU for BME and maybe give an insight as to why JHU is "better" in BME than other good, prestigious schools.
Thanks.</p>

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<p>Hey Joshuwaliu,</p>

<p>I'm a senior in high school and interested in taking BME. I just wanted to know what subjects (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) are really stressed in BME? I took AP Chem in my sophmore year and HATED it, but I don't mind physics and biology. Is there a lot of chem/organic chem involved in BME?</p>

<p>Also, could you explain the different concentrations within BME?</p>

<p>Thanks,
Paras</p>

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<p>Hey Joshuwaliu,</p>

<p>First and foremost, i cannot thank you enough in starting this thread. Like pdoshi88, i'm a senior in high school very much interested in the BME program at JHU (i've decided to apply there early decision). My grades range from average to above average and i have extra-curriculars that i feel very strongly about. My question to you is how do the statistics of acceptance for ED compare to that of regular decision when considering the department of BME at jhu?</p>

<p>I would greatly appreciate any response.</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

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<p>Hey guys, I don't know if the OP is still around, but I'm a BME junior, so I figure I can (try to) answer your questions.</p>

<p>pdoshi88: BME is really a combination of all the basic sciences as well as engineering. Depending on what concentration you pick, you'll probably see more advanced classes in one field versus another (for example, cell/tissue engineering concentrations will take more chemical engineering and materials type classes where as instrumentation concentrations will take circuits etc). As far as chem, all BME's (and all engineers in general) have to take a year of Chem and a semester of Orgo (two semesters if you're premed). But beyond that, Chemistry is a fairly important part of other classes. I haven't taken the Junior year courses yet (including Physiological Foundations, which is the "meat" of the BME curriculum), but in our sophomore "Molecules and Cells" class that's required for all BME's, Chemistry is a huge part of what we cover. Things like hydrophobicity/philicity are the reason for cell membrane organization; ion concentrations and pH's determine molecular transport rates; chemical properties determine things like protein folding and molecular affinity etc. You don't necessarily cover the exact same concepts as in intro chem, but you need to have a good understanding of Chem to figure out what is going on. Basic things from Chem like rate laws are really expanded out into biological models.</p>

<p>As for focus areas, here's how the department presented it: [ul]
[<em>]Biological Systems Engineering: Do you want to focus on understanding, at a fundamental level, how biological systems work?
[</em>]Computational Biology: Do you want to focus on the use of mathematical theory or computers to solve complex biological and medical problems?
[<em>]Sensors, Microsystems and Instrumentation: Do you want to build devices that facilitate research or clinical medicine?
[</em>]Cell/Tissue Engineering and Biomaterials: Do you want to create replacement cells, tissues and organs?[/ul]</p>

<p>The current focus area system is only 2 years old and they are still sorting out some of the details. For example, there was a major change announced last April in what actually constituted a focus area. But if you want a general overview of the curriculum, see this</a> presentation <a href=".pdf">i</a>* and [url=<a href="http://www.bme.jhu.edu/academics/ugrad/ugrad_curriculum.html%5Dthis"&gt;http://www.bme.jhu.edu/academics/ugrad/ugrad_curriculum.html]this&lt;/a> curriculum overview<a href="The%20information%20about%20focus%20area%20requirements%20on%20that%20page%20is%20incorrect!">/url</a></p>

<p>faris786: Sorry, I'm not sure about the numerical statistics. Admissions_Daniel is probably the only person who can answer that, but I don't think they release that sort of information. I have no idea whether my BME friends were ED or RD, so I can't answer anecdotally either. If I had to guess, however, I would say that they're probably fairly similar. Since BME is the only major you actually have to apply to and there are so many qualified people who apply, I would think that the standard they look for is probably consistent between ED and RD.</p>

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<p>Faris786:</p>

<p>You might want to check out this site:</p>

<p><a href="http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/webex/Apply_earlynatudoc_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/webex/Apply_earlynatudoc_brief.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Although its not specific to BME, its helpful</p>

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<p>Great post as always tanman ... that should help a lot of prospective BME applicants.</p>

<p>As far as the stats regarding acceptance into BME overall and for ED, we do not release such stats. They change from year-to-year, and our policy is to release only admissions data for the overall applicant pool, not broken down by majors.</p>

<p>Finally ... just a comment about the link provided by pdoshi88. This data provided about ED acceptance could be taken out of context. Remember Hopkins received just under 1000 applications for ED last year, and nearly 15,000 total applications overall. Personally, I think the most important column on that chart is "Freshman enrolled through early plans" and the list should be sorted that way and not by the "difference in acceptance rates." A 51% acceptance rate on 1000 applications versus a 25% acceptance rate for 14000 applications does not mean it is easier to be admitted ED (as I have commented about numerous times before).</p>

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<p>AdmissionsDaniel</p>

<p>Do you think its harder to apply straight into BME as a high school senior or just apply to the college of engineering (as undecided engineering) and then move into the BME program as a freshman/sophmore?</p>

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<p>I would have to say it's a lot harder to try to move into BME after you're already at Hopkins. Whether they even let people try to transfer in depends on how many freshman enroll and how many people drop the major. My freshman year, about a dozen people were allowed to transfer in, but from what I've heard, there were no transfers this year (by transfers, I mean from within JHU to BME, not from outside the University). And with this year's freshman BME class at 140 instead of their goal of 110 (rough numbers from the BME department), I highly doubt there will be anyone transfering in at the end of this year. So if you're interested in BME when you're applying, definitely apply for the major</p>

15

<p>tanman beat me to the answer again ...</p>

<p>pdoshi88: it is nearly impossible for a student to transfer into BME after enrolling at Hopkins. If you want to study BME at Hopkins you really need to apply to the program at the time of your application (for the reasons tanman discussed).</p>

16

<p>thank you for your responses tanman and admissionsdaniel.</p>

<p>This is a similar question but...Say I apply to Hopkins and I declare my major as Biomedical Engineering versus declaring undecided in the College of engineering...do you think its easier to get in as undecided?</p>

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<p>If you apply BME, you can either get accepted to BME, accepted to the University but not to BME, waitlisted or rejected. So even if you apply BME and don't get in, you're still being considered for admission to the University in general where your chances would be the same as applying as engineering undecided.</p>

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<p>The major(s) you select on your application do not impact your chances for admission. Choosing one major over another OR selecting an A&S major versus an ENG major OR choosing undecided will not improve nor decrease your chances for admission. </p>

<p>This is true of BME applicants too because of what tanman said ... BME applicants are first admitted to the University as a whole and then re-reviewed for admission to the BME program. Chances for admission to BME are highly selective, whereas admission to the University is the same for all applicants.</p>

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<p>Thanks a lot for your responses, they've really helped me out.</p>

<p>I've got one last general question....My school does not weight AP different than Honors classes (An A in an AP class is equivalent to an A in an Honors class, GPA wise)...Do colleges calculate their own GPA, weighting AP's more than honors courses?</p>

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<p>Read this entire discussion thread ... it will answer your questions about GPA, rigor, etc. </p>

<p><a href="http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showtopic=287%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://z14.invisionfree.com/Hopkins_Forums/index.php?showtopic=287&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>