<p>Hey, it's boiled down to these two schools for me.</p>
<p>I am majoring in bioengineering/biomedical engineering and looking for which school would be the better choice. Although Duke is premier for biomedical enginnering, I don't want to be in a cutt-throat, competitive environment where it's a free-for-all. That is why I decided not to consider Cal because of its overly competitive environment and frequent all-nighters for many engineering students. I plan on attending medical school and I want to know the percentage of undergrads that enter med school from each university. Social life and extracurriculars are very important (there needs to be life other than academics). Also, my financial situations for both schools are relatively the same. Any replies/suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.</p>
<p>well not being a science major, or planning to go to med school, all i can say is:
you will DEFINITELY have a social life here!!!
and i'm not talking greek either, though it certainly is prevalent if that's your thing. seriously, there are about... a millionbajillion organizations to join. you won't even have heard of half of them by the time you graduate (seems to me, anyways). therefore there are soooo many people to meet.
and as trivial a fact as this may seem, all the dorms are in one place on the hill. therefore, it's VERY EASY to socialize with your classmates. there are places to eat (besides the dining halls) an easy walk from your room. the apartments are close as well. therefore the very architecture of ucla facilitates having a social life! :)
other factors you should investigate are: how much you value small class sizes, how much counseling (academic and career) is available at both schools, how easy it would be for you to get your classes at each school, what happens if you want to change majors (both within engineering or perhaps outside it), and what sorts of programs/activities interest you.
all i can tell you is that there is DEFINITELY "life other than academics" here. even for engineering majors xD</p>
<p>i dont think UCLA has an official biomedical engineering major, although we do have bioeng with specialization in biomedical.</p>
<p>anyways, i think you should go where you will be happier. both schools will be difficult (in terms of classes) and both are very well known. as liyana said, there is tons to do besides academics at UCLA. clubs, special presentations, and tons of students to socialize with.</p>
<p>I'm having the same debate with the same major, but between UCLA/Northwestern. =\ I'm not planning on med school, though, just grad school... maybe PhD?</p>
<p>i would go to Duke, and i actually had duke as my top choice but i got waitlisted. here's why basically.
Duke has an outstanding pre-med counseling program, so that 85% of their undergrads continue to medical school which is really high above the national average (which UCLA is close to)
your class sizes will be significantly smaller, meaning you can have more attention from counselors and what not. in addition, wherever you go, especially premed, there is going to be an outrageous amount of competition cause everyone seems to want to be a doctor, so expect competition wherever you go. i honestly would pick duke over UCLA, duke is an amazing school, has good rates, smaller so you can have more attention. UCLA is also amazing, but if youre going to consider UCLA over duke because of competition, you should think again cause UCLA will have just as much, if not more, competition.</p>
<p>oh when i had my interview with the alumni, shes actually in brentwood, she said duke has tons of clubs and activities to join, she said the social life is really great on campus, you can get really involved, and the basketball is really fun, seriously duke basketball (even though they didnt make final four this year) i heard its really, really great!</p>
<p>Do you think I would have a better chance of getting into med school by majoring in regular science than in engineering? Are gpa's generally higher in regular sciences?</p>
<p>tinaaaw, where did you get then "85%" from? honestly, don't chose a school because of their publicized admissions rate. that is just absurd because it doesn't matter enough to make a significant difference.</p>
<p>fine then, dont choose duke because it has an 85% acceptance rate, choose duke because its an awesome school, its big enough so its not boring, but small enough so you actually get some attention from your professors, and even though durham is a weird city, duke itself has everything and all you need (according to my alumni) for fun :) and, it has a forest. how awesome is that? haha</p>