<p>Hi,
I am an International student, and have been rejected to all my US-Universities except Duke, where I was waitlisted (Pratt).
What I'm wondering about though is whether or not I should stay on the waitlist ...
I'm planning on taking a major in Engineering, but I am pretty unsure on what specific major I am going to choose.. If I decide to stay on the waitlist, and gets admitted, what major will I most likely end up with? What are Dukes specialities in Engineering?</p>
<p>EDIT:
My other options are to take Mechanical Engineering at University of Bath or Manchester in the UK. Or, if I get called in for military service, I might take a gap-year to do that.</p>
<p>I have read that Duke is one of the best at biomedical/medical Engineering (which is not exactly of my interest, which makes me wonder why I applied for Duke in the first place).
But are their Mechanical Engineering course still any good?</p>
<p>If I decided to take a gap-year, I would consider applying for other US-Universities (Michigan, Illinois, UT, Georgiatech etc.). But even though these are generally rated higher than Duke in Engineering ratings, would it make such a big difference? Or is Duke more prestigous so that businesses wouldn’t care anyway?</p>
<p>What kind of engineering are you going to do? Mechanical for sure? Because, as you pointed out urself already…unless u r going to do biomed engineering at Pratt…I would recommend you to apply for UMich, Carnegie Mellon, or even Purdue</p>
<p>I am not entirely sure I would go for Mechanical Engineering. I might just as well go for Aerospace/Aeronautical, Materials, Chemical or something else. But most likely not Biomed…</p>
<p>I think your biggest decision is if you want to go to the US or the UK this year, perform military service, or take a gap year. If you really want to be the US, go on the waitlist. In all honestly, the difference between mech eng and bme at Duke isn’t that grave despite the rankings. In both majors you’ll get quality teaching, amazing peers, and an opportunity for world-class research. The reason BME is ranked so much higher is because it’s much more well-known based on scientific breakthroughs/research. It was the *first *accredited BME dept in the country (1972). Majoring in ME at Duke opens just as many windows as BME and is very strong - don’t worry. </p>
<p>Having said that, if you want aeronautical engineering, obviously Duke isn’t a good choice b/c Duke doesn’t offer it. But Umich, Purdue, Ga Tech won’t offer a “better” atmosphere for mech e than Duke. They’re much larger and more established, but Duke provides a better student body, more opportunities for research on a per student basis, and more intimate atmosphere. Those are certainly strong schools as well and if you’re not sure what type of engineering you want to do, they have like 14 choices, so it’s more wide open. But, as I said, I think your bigger decision is when you want to start college and in what country. I would guess that 80% of people interesting in BME, ME, or ECE choose Duke over Umich, Purdue, Ga Tech etc. assuming cost is NOT a factor (just look at the average student’s stats at these universities, Duke’s is far superior). Other majors of course choose the larger state schools that offer them. And in-state students frequently choose to stay in-state for cost reasons. But Pratt isn’t just BME and three other lousy departments. Also, there is a LOT of materials (it is called the mech e and materials science department for a reason)/chemical engineering research going on at Duke. Not as much in the aerospace area, although even there I can find a professor who specializes in it - Earl Dowell in the MEMS dept. <a href=“News | Duke Pratt School of Engineering”>http://www.pratt.duke.edu/news/?id=935</a> So, if a particular major isn’t offered at Duke, you typically still can find the research focused on it in a related department since the research at Duke is very interdisciplinary. All the eng departments are VERY strong - except civil, which has like 10 students/year and Pratt students consider a Trinity major ;).</p>
<p>Thank You for your answer bluedog! It really helped to get a glimpse on what to expect if I get accepted to Duke.</p>
<p>I guess I will stay on the waitlist and hope for the best. And if I decide to do the military service, it might give me some time to think things over before reapplying to the US or going to the UK.</p>