<p>From the schools I've been accepted to, I've narrowed down my choices to Washington U in St Louis and USC (SoCal) and now I need some help! I'm planning on going into engineering (BME), if that makes a difference. Any comment at all would be great. Thanks!</p>
<p>I just wanted to refresh this because of the lack of response... I could really use some help.</p>
<p>If you are artsy, go WashU. If you like sports/school spirit, go USC.</p>
<p>Costs the same?</p>
<p>go WashU, if you want to study your ass off.</p>
<p>go WashU, if you want to have some fun and study at the same time</p>
<p>well cost..no idea</p>
<p>Washington St Louis is right up there with Brown, Cornell, Duke etc. USC is nowhere near there. This isn't really a choice, unless finances dictate otherwise.</p>
<p>USC has a very highly ranked [ top 10] engineering program, so if you were accepted at Vertibi I'd say go there[ the weather is much better than St Louis] On the other hand if you are not positive you will stick with the Engineering program,[ lots of kids do change their minds once they are in college, as the engineering is intense], Wash U has better overall liberal arts offerings than USC at this time.</p>
<p>^ Viterbi is ranked in Top 10 for general graduate engineering....USC's individual department rankings are weak (very strange). </p>
<p>I'd lean to WUSTL for BME (great medical science/pre-med school).
USNWR ranked undergrad BME programs. USC isn't on the list.</p>
<p>Biomedical / Biomedical Engineering
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
1 Johns Hopkins University (MD)
2 Duke University (NC)
3 Georgia Institute of Technology *
4 Univ. of California–San Diego *
5 University of Pennsylvania<br>
6 Massachusetts Inst. of Technology<br>
7 Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH)
8 Boston University<br>
9 Rice University (TX)
9 University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *
11 Northwestern University (IL)
12 University of Washington *
13 Stanford University (CA)
14 University of California–Berkeley *
15 Vanderbilt University (TN)
16 Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *
16 University of Virginia *
16 Washington University in St. Louis<br>
19 Tulane University (LA)
19 University of Texas–Austin *
21 Cornell University (NY)
21 University of Utah *
23 Columbia University (NY)</p>
<p>Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs
(At schools whose highest degree is a doctorate)
Rank/School Peer Assessment Score (5.0 = highest)</p>
<ol>
<li> Massachusetts Inst. of Technology 4.9 </li>
<li> Stanford University (CA) 4.7 </li>
<li> University of California–Berkeley * 4.7 </li>
<li> California Institute of Technology 4.6 </li>
<li> Georgia Institute of Technology * 4.5 </li>
<li> U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign * 4.5 </li>
<li> Cornell University (NY) 4.4 </li>
<li> University of Michigan–Ann Arbor * 4.4 </li>
<li> Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 4.2 </li>
<li> Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)* 4.2 </li>
<li> University of Texas–Austin * 4.2 </li>
<li> Princeton University (NJ) 4.1 </li>
<li> Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison * 4.0 </li>
<li> Johns Hopkins University (MD) 3.9 </li>
<li> Northwestern University (IL) 3.9 </li>
<li> Virginia Tech * 3.9 </li>
<li> Pennsylvania State U.–University Park * 3.8 </li>
<li> Rice University (TX) 3.8 </li>
<li> Texas A&M Univ.–College Station * 3.8 </li>
<li> Columbia University (NY) 3.7 </li>
<li> Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY) 3.7 </li>
<li> Univ. of California–Los Angeles * 3.7 </li>
<li> Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities * 3.7 </li>
<li> University of Washington * 3.7 </li>
<li> Duke University (NC) 3.6 </li>
<li> Ohio State University–Columbus * 3.6 </li>
<li> Univ. of California–San Diego * 3.6 </li>
<li> Univ. of Maryland–College Park * 3.6 </li>
<li> North Carolina State U.–Raleigh * 3.5 </li>
<li> University of Florida * 3.5 </li>
<li> University of Pennsylvania 3.5
29. Univ. of Southern California 3.5 </li>
<li> Harvard University (MA) 3.4 </li>
<li> University of California–Davis * 3.4 </li>
<li> University of Colorado–Boulder * 3.4 </li>
<li> University of Virginia * 3.4 </li>
<li> Arizona State University * 3.3 </li>
<li> Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH) 3.3 </li>
<li> Iowa State University * 3.3 </li>
<li> Lehigh University (PA) 3.3 </li>
<li> Univ. of California–Santa Barbara * 3.3 </li>
<li> Yale University (CT) 3.3 </li>
<li> Brown University (RI) 3.2 </li>
<li> Michigan State University * 3.2 </li>
<li> University of Notre Dame (IN) 3.2 </li>
<li> Vanderbilt University (TN) 3.2
43. Washington University in St. Louis 3.2</li>
</ol>
<p>sorry, missed the BME. Wash U is known to be a great college for those interested in premed.</p>
<p>does anyone have any non-ranking related advice? (not that it isn't really helpful, but sometimes that stuff can be fabricated/biased...)</p>
<p>menloparkmom,</p>
<p>I wouldn't put much stock in the general graduate engineering ranking. If you understand the methodology, you will see why. USC happens to be the best example why it's bogus since it has no individual department in the top-10. How can you be ranked #8 overall when you have no top-10 department? ;)</p>
<p>That said, USC probably still has a better engineering school than WashU. But for BME, I'd pick WashU.</p>
<p>
[quote]
does anyone have any non-ranking related advice? (not that it isn't really helpful, but sometimes that stuff can be fabricated/biased...)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sure. If you like warmer weather and strong school spirit centered around big time sports, go to USC.</p>
<p>If those things don't matter to you as much, WUSTL is a top ranked school with a very good pre-med/BME department.</p>
<p>Can you visit both? It helps a lot in making these decisions, as the environments are very different.</p>
<p>I think WashU has school pride in a different sense...</p>
<p>I was accepted, but I'm leaning towards Johns Hopkins at the moment, but I still totally love WashU.</p>
<p>When you visit, you have this really nice, relaxing midwestern feel all the while knowing that you're surrounded by serious scholars. They have a TON of things to do on campus and everyone that I've talked to that attends just can't get enough of it. They have DIII sports, which is probably why sports aren't a huge thing, but everyone that goes there simply LOVES it. </p>
<p>I look at Hopkins and although there is a handful of people that probably feel just as strongly, when you talk to people that go to WashU, all they talk about is how you should come, just because they want to share this experience with you that they think is so great.</p>
<p>I also really liked washu because they're very encouraging in terms of studying across schools..it's very easy to get approved for a double major in ceramics and environmental studies while on the pre-med track. The professors are also very friendly and pay very close attention to you as a student. </p>
<p>Oh, and the food is AMAZING. And the campus is also really gorgeous. The dorms are quite nice as well.</p>
<p>But seriously. The food is AMAYZING.</p>
<p>Wash U has one of the strongest student bodies in the country and if learning from and going to school with top quality peers is important to you, then the edge would go to WashU. I also think that Wash U's undergraduate classroom experience (as measured by things like class sizes and teaching reputation) would place it ahead of USC. Having said that, USC is a vastly improved college that is getting more competitive each year. The modest academic differences with Wash U would also be easily traded if you had a strong weather preference or a strong interest in top Division I athletics. For post-graduate job placement, both schools have good strength in the home regions, but neither is particularly strong outside of that.</p>
<p>Agree with Hawkette.</p>
<p>If Div 1 sports and weather are important to you, go with USC. If not, the tip would probably go to Wash U.</p>