Which one do you think will give best experience and good prospects for path to medicine? Same major in all : BME
- UC Berkeley Bio-Engineer major with pre-med track.
Cost : About 30k -32k.
Got regent scholarship and as a regent scholar, one gets priority consideration for classes, Faculty mentor, Guaranteed housing for 4 years etc.Below link gives information about it:
http://financialaid.berkeley.edu/regents-and-chancellors-scholarship
- USC trustee scholar [ full tuition] .
Cost : About 18-20k
Also , named as “Viterbi Undergraduate Fellow” which gives additional benefits apart from free tuition such as
- Paid research starting first semester,
- Priority consideration for :
- Viterbi Summer Overseas Program where they take select undergrads for summer Semester mostly to European cities including Rome, London, Paris. Student get ahead of classes by enrolling in summer program abroad.
- iPodia[international classroom] : connects with partner institutions around the world.
- Viterbi student innovation Institute Undergraduate Fellow Program
- Special event invitations: Exposure to visiting entrepreneurs, extra time with recruiters , industry network event etc.
- Early access to Masters degree. Apply to progressive Degree program as early as Sophomore year
- W.V.T Rusch Honors Program : Honors Colloquium to attend lectures and network with leaders in field of engineering.
- Johns Hopkins : BME
Cost : About 72k [ No merit aid]
- #1 ranked for BME program in US
- Great research opportunities
USC no question. JH premed is brutally competitive and your GPA is critically important to your med school applications. And there is NOTHING like the Trustee experience at USC.
You will be treated like gold.
Save the $$ to pay for Med school.
@menlopark , my son ruled out JHU but still having hard time to decide among UC Berkeley regents and USC trustee. He has been to both schools and he has checked out classes and know each school pros and cons well. It is just a week left now for him to decide.
BTW, do you know how many students at USC land into top medical schools. How was your son/daughter experience and their path to medical school, premed advising etc. How many of their friends got in top 10 medical schools from USC? I asked pre-med office at USC but the answer to me is it is higher than national average. It doesn’t tell where the kids are going for med schools.
My son very well understands that statistics is not a guarantee for your own success as it is upto each individual to set their own path for success but some prior acceptances do give an idea as to how top medical school treat USC kids.If one has same credentials from USC and UCB, Is UCB given higher weight-age?
I will really appreciate your quick response as decision date is nearby. Thanks for your time to answer me!
There is NO reason, imho, to pay MORE for a public U, than a great Private college that will cost you less!!!
UC’s tuition costs will continue to go up each year, but regardless of any tuition increases at USC, the Trustee Scholarship covers them.
“If one has same credentials from USC and UCB, Is UCB given higher weight-age?”
Absolutely not.
The kid that graduate 2012 from USC engineering as a valedictorian from USC engineering school is going to UCSD. Not top 10 but top 15 medical schools. I don’t know if she applied OOS. This year a friend at work with kids GPA from UCLA about 3.85 and above is wait listed at UCI and USC. Probably has to go through another cycle. Medical school admissions are getting harder, not easier.
@DrGoogle , The kid who graduated in 2012 from USC , Did he do biomedical engineering?
Go to USC. The cost is less, and the Trustee benefits are much better than the Regents benefits. From everything I’ve heard about BME at the 2 schools, Berkeley is more competitive (ie. harder) for gpa and med school admissions.
It’s a she, yes she majored in Biomedical Engineering.
@DrGoogle, Thanks for your response. Good to hear that BME also, one can get 4.0 by putting in hard work. It is doable. Do you also advise to pick USC trustee over UCB regent? My son has strong interest for med school and given that , I hear that USC is better choice. He has visited both campus and liked both. Each has its pros.
He wants to stay BioE but as possibility if one [JUTS IN CASE] change his mind after 1st year, UCB EECS is a possibility but less flexible to switch. Being regent, may be he can choose pre-requisite and switch if needed.
In USC, however, flexibility is not an issue. Their CE & CS undergrad is not among top 10 but I think that their masters is among top 10.
Since, he is being given early access to progressive masters as part of his Viterbi Fellowship [on top of trustee scholarship], he can come out with masters in CE and CS in 4 or 5 years.
Given it rightnow, he is not interested in CS at all. He has very strong interest towards med school.
It’s doable but those students probably never see the sunlight either. My daughter was in the scholarship floor, almost everybody was trustee or at least presidential. Another kid who was valedictorian of Dornsife, also premed, and she never saw him ever. So if it’s tough at USC, no doubt it’s probably worse at Berkeley.
I think USC makes sense because he can switch major easily. From what I’ve read on this forum, even L&S CS has 70-80% transfer rejection. Not sure about EECS, but my guess is it’s worse . Also one doesn’t have to be at top CS school to do well in CS jobs. At my second daughter’s college, almost all the sophomores in the panel for admit day have Google internships for summer.
@DrGoogle, Thanks for your response. I agree that for CS. you don’t have to come from top CS school. In the end, it is a person’s learning, knowledge etc. plays an important part.
What did your first daughter do at USC? How was her overall experience at USC?
She studied Cinema. She loves USC and is a very loyal alumni. She went from a very shy introverted kid to a very social and independent kid. USC is definitely very good for kids who want to start their own business. She started a production company while at USC and is now employing other USC graduates. For her, USC and the people who run USC have been very helpful in every way, she can’t say enough good thing about them.