<p>What is it about the Ivy League that seems to be such a big draw for you? Are you wanting them because they're tops in the engineering world or is it just the name game (which, sadly, is still a big draw)? My prediction is that you'll need your undergrad years to help you settle on (and solidify) your professional goals. Not to conclude that high schoolers can't have their say, but it seems to be kind of pointless to start planning for that now.</p>
<p>fwiw, i come from a family of engineers and entered ucsd as bioengineering:premedical. it took less than a quarter for me to flee EBU1&2 and never return again.</p>
<p>The Ivy draws for me are both the "name prestige" and the "top-tier environment" where you get challenged by a much larger pool of people who out perform you. Of course, schools like Duke and JHU also have top bioengineering programs. </p>
<p>EBU 1 and 2 are the engineering buildings. </p>
<p>Also, just because I like to nitpick, if you're talking about law, med, or business schools, you don't typically refer to them as grad school. They're professional schools. </p>
<p>Now, the problem with trying to get into a top 10 graduate or professional school in any discipline from a lower ranked undergrad university seems to be the lack of opportunities at lower ranked schools compared to higher ranked schools. UCSD may be "relatively low ranked," but there are plenty of opportunities for research and tons of big shot professors here, especially in the bioengineering department. So as long as you keep your GPA high and take advantage of the opportunities available to you, you should have a good chance of getting into a top 10 university in whatever field you do choose.</p>
<p>"The Ivy draws for me are both the "name prestige" and the "top-tier environment" where you get challenged by a much larger pool of people who out perform you."</p>
<p>For your own good you should start to realize both of these are very idiotic.</p>
<p>The things you should be looking for is funding (private and government), faculty research (current), easiness of gaining a foothold in said research, and prices of housing around campus (haha).</p>
<p>Anything besides that you can ignore. All the IVY brands and rankings are there for simple-minded high school kids who don't actually know what they want out of a college...So they can just try and get into the highest ranked by some arbitrary magazine. And that includes even the top students who think they know everything about college. Hell if it was up to me, I'd ban college rankings so they actually had to choose based on merit.</p>
<p>When it comes time to pick a graduate school (Non-Professional), the last thing that is of concern is the ranking on USNEWS. For example, I'm going for a Chemistry PhD, and I couldn't care less where the colleges are placed on the rankings. I take the time to read up on more than just a number. They can be 100th for all I care, as long as they fit my criteria.</p>
<p>"it took less than a quarter for me to flee EBU1&2 and never return again."</p>
<p>How's that? You just take the seminar or something?</p>
<p>I understand that rankings mean little, and realize this may be "idiotic". But what's wrong with just wanting to go to a big name school? It's not like they're bad schools... it's just been my dream to go to one.</p>
<p>^What's wrong is that you're marginalizing the value of a UCSD education in the company of people (like me) who are butt-hurt about being stuck at UCSD.</p>
<p>Nope, I sat in on one of the fall-quarter UD BENG lectures and was positive that I didn't want to do any of that stuff. Then I started BENG1 (the seminar that's supposed to get the freshmen all excited about their major) and REALLY made up my mind.</p>
<p>roflkeke -- yay, chem PhD program! I just graduated and look fondly back on all my hours in York & NSB. which programs are you looking at?</p>
<p>"it's been my dream to go to one" -- then why not just go? college is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you need to do what you feel is best. go to the ivy league if you want! but by posting in a UCSD forum, you've got to expect that we're going to defend out school and our choice. you'll have fun at either place. and if you're going to be that bigshot ivy league engineering graduate you seem to be making yourself out to be, then money shouldn't be an issue -- loans will be paid off in no time :)</p>
<p>No clue yet, just started to look. I'm not applying this year, so I have time.</p>
<p>I'm leaning towards an inorganic program, but I keep wanting to pick an organic one. I like both, hopefully this year I'll decide which more. Damn these choices.</p>
<p>chemistry is a very difficult major as well. :eek: </p>
<p>bioengineering can't be all that tougher than chemistry, can it? </p>
<p>coincidentally, i have a friend who is majoring in chemistry at one school and another friend who is majoring in biomedical engineering at another school. :D</p>
<p>Bioengineering can be harder or easier depending on what you look at. If you have to engineer an organic system that synthesis a certain protein inside a living organism...Well maybe give that to the bioengineer. </p>
<p>But if you want to know exactly why that protein is made (And not another one) and how come that specific quantity and etc...Maybe ask a chemist. Each thing is hard in itself. To try and compare the two would be like comparing apples to potatoes.</p>
<p>Now which major is harder, I couldn't really tell you. And to speculate on which is easier would be dumb.</p>
<p>Hell, you can't even speculate over which major is easier: Chemistry or Russian Literature. Different people find different things easy and hard.</p>
<p>actually i'd probably hand off the second part of that problem to a biochemist .... most of the "hardcore" chemists i know have an irrational fear of anything pertaining to biological systems. :) good example though!</p>
<p>im assuming this top15 school the OP is referring to is Michigan, which is a very fine school. but why don't you wait until UC decisions roll around before asking this question. Culture at UMich and UCSD are very different. Find out where you want to spend 4 yrs. The academic rigor among the top UCs and UMich are probably marginal. but know that as long as you do well at ANY of these schools, doors will open for sure.</p>
<p>Haha wow since when was UCSD a "lower tier" school? If you do well at UCSD, you can get into one of those Godly ivy schools, but probably by then you'll realize that it doesn't matter if it's an ivy or not. Especially for graduate school, all that matters is your mentor, the name of the school is neither here nor there. I worked with a world renowned researcher at UCSD who went to a practically unknown graduate school just because of one man's research, and he is now the leader in his field. Ivy league, shmivy league.</p>
<p>UCSD does not have national recognition. The only UC that truly does is UC Berkeley and UCLA somewhat. UCSD does have recognition in the sciences among ACADEMICS but not among recruiters or people in HR.</p>
<p>^Uhm, so when Genentech or BioGen are recruiting someone to be a bioengineer for a project, they'd pick the kid from Cal because he's from Cal instead of UCSD because he's from UCSD? It's true that Cal and LA have the bigger name recognition overall, but UCSD's bioengineering is remarkably strong (heck it STARTED in 'SD), and its engineering as a whole doesn't lag significantly behind Berkeley or LA. A recruiter knows his professional circle, and choosing someone from UCLA for a bioengineering position (It's ranked 43rd by USNews and its not even accredited from ABET, although neither is Berkeley's program) over someone from UCSD is something generally unimaginable.</p>
<p>LOL @ UCSD being a "relatively low-tiered school". Does that mean you consider HYPS "mid-tier"? UCSD is ranked as the 7th best public school in the country (by no means relatively low-tiered). But let me humour you... In reality, for grad school/med school/law school/etc., your undergrad institution matters very little. Yes, a Harvard grad would look a lot better than a UCSD grad, but chances are, they were better anyway, or else they wouldn't have gotten into Harvard in the first place. But when you're comparing UCSD vs. UCLA, grad school adcoms won't make much of a distinction between the two because the caliber of students is pretty similar. Someone who does really well at UCSD is going to fare much better in grad school admission than someone who only does mediocre in UCLA (even someone who does mediocre in Berkeley probably won't get as much attn as someone who does exceedingly well in UCSD).</p>
<p>You also asked about engineering. Out of the UC's, UCSD would be the place to go. It's ranked #11 in engineering (out of ALL schools, public AND private). In general it's phenomenal in sciences/engineering. Although the average high school student probably wouldn't realize this, grad school adcoms are far better informed and recognize it as a top science/engineering school (I know this first-hand). Furthermore, if you're talking about something like bioengineering, UCSD is consistently in the top 3 in the country. If you ever wanted to do bioengineering in grad school, chances are you'll aim to stay at UCSD anyway (or go for Hopkins or MIT). If you are engineering-bound, it would be ridiculous to go to a place like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Penn for grad school, as those are NOT engineering-oriented schools.</p>
<p>Don't base your decision of which undergrad to attend based on reputation and chances toward grad school. Your chances for grad school will be much higher in place where you do well. If you do crappy in a really good school, it will just show that you weren't capable of handling it.</p>