We have made our top 3 final choices for Bioengineering Major with more bias towards in state University of Washington(UW).
UW Engineering Undeclared(have to apply for major after engineering core classes) - Cost - 15-20K per year Purdue First Year Engineering program(same as above) - Cost - 41K per year Pitt Honors - Direct into Bioengineering major. - Cost - 34K per year
We eliminated uMass, university of Minn, Rutgers, WPI, RIT. Case deferred but waiting for regular decision and dont think we will go there as I can see it will be very expensive.
I think from cost UW makes most sense, but there is risk of not getting major after taking engineering core classes, same is true for Purdue.
What do you all think about these choices
From brand and internships/research./job opportunities would you say any school stands out compare to other ?
As long as all are ABET in bioengineering, then what matters?
Does cost matter? UW. But don’t forget, living off campus is a different cost than on campus and most kids tend to move off 2nd year.
Does being in a city matter? Then Pitt, followed by UW. Or not in a city matter? Then Purdue.
Travel / air convenience? UW then Pitt then Purdue.
Weather, etc.
Direct admit - sounds like you have one - Pitt.
Engineering is very - if you have ABET and they have a posting, you can get consideration for most opportunities - as I learned this year with my Alabama kid for full-time jobs (and previously for internships).
Rankings don’t matter - but for what it’s worth, US News ranks them all in the - not top 12 - but somewhere 13-33. I don’t have the subscription to see the actual - but clearly all are solid so whomever you choose will be fine…if it’s affordable and the student likes the environment.
From an outcome perspective, all 3 will give your child roughly the same chances. Ie, if your child gets in there and kicks butt and loves the school, then he’ll have a great opportunities for internships and job placement. If your child hates the school and flounders it won’t matter how good the reputation is.
So, make sure you visit them and your kid gets a feel for the school. Atmosphere, etc. Check out the research profile pages of the professors there and see if any of them spark an interest. Check out the dorms, and social scene.
All things being equal, I’d encourage my kid to go to UW for that price and the campus is beautiful
It is a tricky question because of the secondary admission.
UW BioE seems like a more risky secondary admit. In the most recent placement cycle, 89 students requested BioE as first choice, and only 56 students were placed in that major. If BioE is the only acceptable major, these odds seem a bit risky to me. https://www.engr.washington.edu/current/placement/data
Purdue BME requires secondary admission, but it appears to be more likely to get in to the major than UW BioE:
If your son/daughter is sure they want to do bioengineering and $34k per year is not an issue, I’d go with Pitt Honors. It’s a good school with good placement outcomes. The lack of certainty regarding major at the other two schools would be concerning to me if I definitely wanted to do bioengineering.
Looks like the following majors admitted more students than those who requested them as the first choice, indicating that they receive the rejects from other majors (placements, first choice requests in parentheses):
chemical (51, 37)
civil (51, 42)
electrical (188, 161)
environmental (23, 22)
industrial (43, 26)
If the student is willing to do one of these majors if rejected from bioengineering, then Washington may be more acceptable than if the student does not want any of these majors.
Good point, I am trying to find more information on what happens if you dont get admitted to BioE. is it you are forced to go into 2nd choice or you apply again. I am trying to find information from anyone that has previous experience of not getting to BiOE in the first attempt and what the process. Do we really spend 20K extra for Purdue per year and if that is worth it
If Washington’s secondary admission risk is too much of a concern, note that Pittsburgh is less expensive than Purdue and secondary admission requires only a 2.0 at Pittsburgh versus 3.2 at Purdue for automatic admission (otherwise competitive). I.e. Pittsburgh does better than Purdue on both cost and secondary admission.
If I was the parent… and my kid really wanted BioE and not those other majors at UW… I would encourage them to look very closely at the other two programs, Pitt and Purdue. Pitt is a strong program too!
UW ENGRUD is a great option for students who either want a less competitive major, or who are at least open to different possibilities within engineering. It looks risky for someone who is BioE or bust.
Many kids can change their minds about major when they get to college , even within engineering. Schools with general engineering type programs for the first year do give kids a chance to explore options before committing to a specific program. Your instate option sounds worth considering if money is an issue. Many , many kids attend their instate, ABET accredited colleges for engineering. Of course, many go OOS if those options are cheaper(not the case here) or the family is affluent and cost is not a concern .
Only your family can determine how much certainty about guaranteed admission to bioengineering is crucial here and how much you want to pay. Good luck with the decision.
Your student may also want to look at UW’s posted information on “Areas of Impact” across the different engineering majors: Explore Engineering
Here are their suggestions for students interested in “Health and medicine” and how those interests could be pursued within different majors at UW. For example, a student could study Materials with a concentration in Materials in Medicine and Biomimetics. Health and medicine | UW College of Engineering