I’m in the middle of choosing between UCSB’s CCS Biochem & Chem and Cal Poly SLO’s Biomedical Engineering major (others down the list are Hamilton College, UC Davis, and Whitman). I am considering medical school but am keeping options open, and wanted a take on what you guys might suggest with college. Financially, SLO and Whitman are highest while all others I’ve gotten good aid.
I like outdoor activities and want to continue my BME research endeavors in lab!
They’re different experiences. CP has smaller classes and no TA’s. The flip is that there’s less cutting edge research going on. The flip flip is that the research will be centered around undergrads so it’ll be less likely that you’ll just be doing technical work, like gel chromatographs over and over and over.
What major would you rather do (particularly if you do not get into medical school)?
What do the net prices look like at each school, and would any of them require undergraduate debt? Remember that medical school is very expensive.
Without question UCSB CCS.
Did you see this thread?
There’s a Biology professor at CCS in the thread @lkg4answers referred you to - he’s been super responsive to our questions- maybe check in with him?
The resources available to you for research at Hamilton would be phenomenal, of course. And you did extremely well to get into a school that accepts 10% of its RD applicants. Moreover, Hamilton would represent a very nice bargain for you:
However, whether Hamilton would be suitable for you curricularly or not depends on what approach you would like to take toward biomedical engineering — which can be described as a convergent field, for which a BME major may not be especially valuable as preparation. Along these lines, if you choose from the two public universities that are high on your list, I’d suggest UCSB based on the major for which you were accepted. Cal Poly SLO may be generally superior for undergraduate research opportunities, however.
Holy ■■■■, thank you so much for the replies guys - I didn’t think I’d get some so quickly and I was racking my head cause I was stressed about deciding.
Gonna respond to y’alls comments in a quick minute.
Again, thank you SO much everyone.
Hamilton is definitely my top contender, maybe topping SLO bc of their AMAZING 100% need-met aid. I was hoping to do something like tissue-engineering for BME, but am very open to anything. I was slightly concerned about Hamilton’s big writing requirement since I’m not a big writer, and was looking into Hamilton’s stem cell labs which weren’t numerous. I’d love to do research year-round and am looking around for something that offers it. Thanks for the article, and for responding!
Yeah, I have been sleuthing the threads along with Reddit and Quora, thanks for forwarding!
On a different note, would you have any thoughts with housing? I’ve heard from friends that housing is extremely expensive and competitive after the 1st year guarantee.
I would probably do something like neuroscience or biochem, but am open to anything… thus the liberal arts in my consideration list. I’d love to work somewhere in healthcare like physical therapy or physician’s assistant… I think.
Net price wise, none except for SLO will get me into debt.
How big of a difference in net prices are you seeing between the various schools?
Health professional school could be very expensive, so avoiding undergraduate debt and having some college money left over to reduce the debt at the end of health professional school can help you give more financial freedom in career and life choices.
If you do not go on to health professional school, the job prospects for biology-related majors are not that well paid, so avoiding debt helps. Biomedical engineering may be better than most biology-related majors, but not as good as many other kinds of engineering.
For preparation for tissue engineering, I believe you would benefit from the in-depth study of organic compounds (such as those principally based on the atoms of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur) and their interactions. If this sounds of interest, then you may be well suited for a major in biochemistry / molecular biology. The development of proficiency in laboratory techniques is integral to this major. As suggested earlier, a BME program may be too broad to offer you comparable depth in an area such as this.
Regarding research opportunities, these will depend on your own interests and initiative and on the resources, including the available faculty mentoring, of the college you attend. At Hamilton, for example, a significant percentage of students engage in on-campus summer research: Hamilton College - Academics - Student Research - Summer Research Programs.
I would contact CCS and ask them. I don’t know this as a fact but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some sort of arrangement for housing. Previously, freshmen lived in Pendola House in Manzanita Village. It looks like this year they are moving them to Santa Rosa which is much closer to CCS.
I hope all of your offers are sufficiently comparable in price so that you can make your final decision without undue concern for finances.
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