<p>I got into all three for the PhD program in Biomedical Engineering. I actually also have UPitt and UW in Seattle to consider, but these three are at the top of my list. I have money at all schools with Cornell offering me the most. I grew up in the south and am somewhat intimidated by the snow, but I just wanted to know yalls opinion on where I should go.</p>
<p>Cornell is pretty, but take into account the fact that it’s located in Ithaca, which is absurdly isolated from the rest of the world. In the winter, it becomes downright unpleasant because of the weather. If you want to stay in the middle of things, consider Vandy, UPitt and UW-Seattle. To be honest I am huge on name-recognition, so if I were you I would go with Vandy no questions asked. However, if you live near Vandy and are sick of it, I’d look at UPitt.</p>
<p>Good luck! :)</p>
<p>^^ What he said. I can’t imagine a better place to be in a PhD program than Vanderbilt/Nashville. Send me a PM if you decide on Vandy and I’ll get you in touch with my daughter who is a grad student there and her husband who is a doc at Vandy.</p>
<p>I always had the impression that the UCSD program in biomedical engineering was top notch…or was that a while ago?</p>
<p>Although Cornell has by far the best engineering program among the 5 you named, biomedical is not one of Cornell’s strengths. For any other engineering field, I would recommend Cornell in a heartbeat. (Ithaca, by the way, is a very enjoyable small city.)</p>
<p>For biomedical, I would recommend UCSD.</p>
<p>From US News Best Graduate Schools:
Best Engineering Schools Specialty Rankings: Biomedical / Bioengineering
Ranked in 2009
1 Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) Baltimore, MD 4.8
2 Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 4.6
University of California–San Diego (Jacobs) La Jolla, CA 4.6
4 Duke University (Pratt) Durham, NC 4.4
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 4.2
University of Washington Seattle, WA 4.2
7 Rice University (Brown) Houston, TX 4.1
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 4.1
9 Boston University Boston, MA 4.0
10 Stanford University Stanford, CA 3.9
Washington University in St. Louis (Sever) St. Louis, MO 3.9
12 Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 3.7
University of California–Berkeley Berkeley, CA 3.7
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI 3.7
University of Pittsburgh (Swanson) Pittsburgh, PA 3.7
University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 3.7
17 Northwestern University (McCormick) Evanston, IL 3.6
University of Texas–Austin (Cockrell) Austin, TX 3.6
19 California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA 3.4
Columbia University (Fu Foundation) New York, NY 3.4
Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 3.4
22 Purdue University–West Lafayette West Lafayette, IN 3.3
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 3.3
University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 3.3
University of Wisconsin–Madison Madison, WI 3.3
26 University of California–Davis Davis, CA 3.2
27 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 3.1
Harvard University Cambridge, MA 3.1</p>
<p>“absurdly isolated from the rest of the world”
hmm…</p>
<p>Dude, when it takes 8 hours in unexpected, airline-bureaucracy-diddling-around delays BOTH WAYS to fly into Ithaca’s airport, and almost no other affordable airline that’ll take me in, I classify the location as “absurdly isolated”. Maybe I’m biased? :P</p>
<p>What you experienced was unusual. You should know better than to jump to conclusion like that based on so little experience. You aren’t thinking rationally. Ithaca is not at all isolated. Transportation was convenient and there was plenty to do for 4 years. Lots of good restaurants, theater, music, and so on. Its a great place.</p>
<p>thanks guys for the advice so far. i plan on goin into academia afterwards, so do you think ranking of the department will help me more? or the ranking and prestige of the university overall??</p>
<p>neither. Your advisor #1, your Dept. Chair #2. At this level, the world shrinks to a very small number of people who can shape your career.</p>