Vanderbilt vs. Berkeley OOS bioengineering

Hi guys! I got into both Vanderbilt and Berkeley for bio/biomedical engineering. I am OOS so the cost comes out to be the same. I was hoping you guys could help me with which one is better PURELY based on the bioengineering program(research opportunities, professors, long term opportunities, etc). I don’t want to include location, social life, etc in this particular thread. Thank you guys for your help! It’s a really tough choice.

I would personally choose Vanderbilt just because of the small school atmosphere and more attention in general, but both are known for significant grade deflation. However, Berkeley is a top class engineering school so honestly it’s a really touch choice where one can’t go wrong.

I’m not majoring in BME so I don’t have a first person account for this, but a lot of prospective students have asked me how Vandy’s BME program is. So I reached out to my BME friends and they all said that while BME is one of the more rigorous programs at Vanderbilt, they have enjoyed the academics and the research opportunities at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (and more specifically at VUSM- one of the best med schools in the country). I don’t know how big the BME program is at Berkeley, but it hovers around 60-70 students a year for Vandy’s undergraduate BME program, which may allow for a more intimate learning environment.

Here is the placement report for the Class of 2015.
http://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/docs/VUSE-Class-of-2015-Placement-Summary.pdf

This link has some specific research projects going on at the BME department. http://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/bme/research/index.php

Here are some summer research opportunities.
http://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/summer-research/SummerReOpps/BMESummerResearch/index.php

@Sophie1295 thanks a lot.

@DonkeyKong466 : Please name top research universities than Yale, Brown, and Stanford not known for much lower grades and tougher curves in STEM (and do not say Harvard because they pretty much grade the same as everywhere else and their courses are just flat out harder). And again, let us just say these schools are hard at STEM. I don’t know hardly any places that curve grades down. They just don’t curve at all or fit low grades to a curve (C+, B-, B is a common center at most schools. Berkeley can be a little worse since it is public and kind of be like Georgia Tech where there end up being a couple of VERY low grading sequences like maybe only solid C average or less in extreme cases.)

@CoffeeBean123 I have seen some of Vandy’s BME stuff and it looks pretty challenging, but at the same time, Berkeley may be rougher if only because many of the introductory courses (a common theme at places that are very top STEM public schools. The weeding culture is quite severe and you run across instructors who give insane exams and do not curve generously) there are a bit harder (challenging + large can be disasterous if you aren’t careful…access to help becomes more difficult) than most places if you are on the engineering track (as in the math and physics courses exclusively for engineering). Chemistry is also much less pleasant there if you have to take that. I imagine the actual engineering courses may end up similar because engineering programs are vetted by another accreditation (ABET I believe, but may have butchered it) board separate from other undergraduate entities meaning standards must be at some level and similar material must be covered. Selective schools (outside of MIT/Caltech tier) will likely just scale these to higher levels of theory and depth to challenge the students. I like the rigor of Berkeley’s curriculum and the research there but I really see the benefits of being in another challenging but smaller environment when it comes to STEM, especially engineering where smaller classes makes it more likely that the courses will be modeled after a work environment (with tons of projects and things of that nature). The thing I would maybe give Berkeley is overall “STEM culture” and location. There are likely to be many more events specifically engaging STEM undergraduates (beyond just simple professional development activities and some somewhat small clubs) at Berkeley (and schools with large and well-renowned engineering schools) that could be of interest. This tied in with the location gives Berkeley some advantages.

Freshman BME major here! You can DM me if you have any questions on specifics.