UNC vs NC State Honors for Biomedical Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
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Hey everyone,
I posted this on the college selection thread but need more input so I’m trying here. I was accepted to both UNC and NCSU’s Biomedical Engineering Programs (I’m in-state). For UNC, I was offered a $5,000 Summer Study Abroad Fellowship through Excel@Carolina. For State, I was offered admission to their Summer Start program, Honors Program, and Scholars program.

I expect to qualify for equal amounts of aid from both schools, and even if not, the difference shouldn’t be enough to be an issue.

NC State has a better engineering program as a whole, and I really am in love with their Centennial Campus, and I like the overall STEM focus/feel at NC State. I also feel like I might achieve a better GPA there, which would work in my favor for medical/graduate school since I’m planning to go into either. Also, I prefer Raleigh to Chapel Hill, and I like that I have the option to live off campus freshman year at State. They have more BME concentrations and are accredited.

Chapel Hill has the prestige factor, along with an overall stronger student body, which I like. UNC also has Gillings for Biostatistics, something State doesn’t offer but I’m really interested in. The UNC campus is gorgeous, and is a bit smaller than State. Also, even if their Biomedical Engineering program isn’t the very best, I am planning to get a masters/PhD in engineering no matter where I go, so I could attend UNC for undergrad then State (or anywhere else with a better BME program) for grad school. UNC also assured me the Study Abroad fellowship.

Both school’s are great options and I have no idea how I’m going to turn down either. I’m tempted to choose UNC simply due to their high(er) retention rate and rankings, but NC State’s engineering and pre-health programs are also too great to turn down. Thoughts?

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hoping someone chimes in too. I knew a UNC student who was BME took physics as a minor and went to an Ivy master mechanical engineering program. She said anyone interested in engineering should go state. If you truly have no interest in other engineering (mechanical, electrical, industrial etc…) than your choice is probably more toward UNC. It’s very hard even for kids interested in engineering to turn down UNC for state, although that’s what at least one student said true engineers should do.

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anon145 made a excellent point. What happens if you decide to switch to a different field of engineering or want to expand you engineering knowledge beyond BME? At State, you will have more engineering options. At UNC you will be extremely limited and will likely need to transfer to State.

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Hi I’m interested in what you were saying about NCSUs biomed engineering program! I didn’t know that they had that and I want to know how you got in? Same goes to the UNC study abroad. I’m currently a high school junior and very interested in both schools, especially UNC and planning to major in biology or chemistry, however this could change. Could you please help me out!? Any more valuable info from these schools and their special programs or just info in general?

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This program is actually a joint program between the two schools, so of course you were accepted at both. Like they said, if you are at all interested in any other type of engineering, you’d probably want to go to NCSU. Congrats!