<p>Which one is better at BME? EE? Mech?</p>
<p>yangalater - I have to give you the speech, LOL. Seriously, forget that stuff. Both schools are amazing academically, and at the undergrad level will give you everything you need. The main thing is, putting your prospective major aside, which do you like better? I know Wash U well, but have only been on the Penn campus twice. But from that experience, as well as from what I have read on here, it is safe to say they are very different environments. Penn is bigger, has an older campus, and the general take is that the students are “snobbier”. Also it is not in a good area of Philly. Wash U is a beautiful campus with more up-to-date buildings, yet gothic in style. It is in a very nice area of St. Louis County, and the entering class is smaller and easier to get to know. I know the Wash U kids are generally down to earth and the word is that there is a lot of helping each other out as opposed to cut throat competition.</p>
<p>Ok, that is all pro Wash U because that is my take on the two schools. It doesn’t mean too much because I don’t know Penn that well, although there was a posting on another thread not long ago where the guy said he picked Penn and wished he had gone to Wash U. Maybe you can find it. Anyway, the bottom line isn’t what I think or what he thinks, but what you think of the two places. If you haven’t visited both yet, really try to. If you can’t, just read as much as you can and make an assessment as to where you think you will like it better. But it is a real mistake to try and decide based on which one you think has the better engineering program. Who cares, if you are miserable at the school.</p>
<p>I did my undergraduate in ME at WashU and I’m currently doing my Masters in Robotics at Penn. Feel free to PM me any specific questions. Like fallenchemist said, you will get great academics at both schools so you could look at location, fit, etc. to help you decide.</p>
<p>Buffy - I know being a grad student is pretty different than being an undergrad, since I also did that. Still, would be curious about your impressions of Penn.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Penn, but the engineering department at WashU is largely focused on BME. For example, the chairman of the MASE (Mechanical, Aerospace, and Structural Engineering) department does research in a medically relevant field.</p>
<p>fallenchemist: You are definitely right about grad school being really different from undergrad. Still, I’ve enjoyed my time at Penn so far. Now is probably not the right time to ask me since I have so much work I feel like my head is going to explode 
I’ve had some great classes and some not so great classes, just like you’re bound to find at any school. There are pros and cons to living in the city, though I must say that if I was choosing a location to go for undergrad, I much prefer the campus atmosphere of WashU (lots of green, no streets running through main campus) to Penn. That being said, I really don’t know what it is like to be a Penn undergrad so I’m probably just comparing apples to oranges.</p>
<p>Buffy - Fair enough, thanks for the perspective, though. I think your comment about the campus is important. Living in Rhode Island, a lot of people ask me about Brown. That the streets just run through the campus is one of the things I tell them. Sure makes it different.</p>
<p>Hang in there, having been in your shoes I can assure you that your head in fact will not explode, and it gets a bit easier once you get through the course work and can focus on your research and thesis. Still stressful at times, but I think better. Good luck!!</p>
<p>Haha, I know I shouldn’t be comparing majors, but right now, it’s basically come down to that. </p>
<p>I like both of the school a lot. I was hoping money would decide, but it isn’t anymore, so I’ve run out of comparisons that allow me to choose.</p>
<p>yangalater - OK, that does make it tough, and I don’t know enough about engineering to help really. I can only point out again that the atmospheres at the 2 campuses are really different, as you can probably tell from the brief description by Buffy and other posts. Also there is the whole East Coast versus the Midwest thing. St. Louis is a nice enough place, and Forest Park across from the campus is fantastic and has the big art museum, a first rate zoo, planetarium, and other stuff. Penn and Philly are much more urban, and of course you are closer to DC, NYC, etc. Obviously the time you would have to take advantage of those cities would be limited, but at least they are there. The only thing comparable for St. Louis is Chicago, a cheap 1 hour plane ride away on Southwest. You seriously can get to the airport, fly to Chicago Midway for like $39 one way, take the train into Chicago, enjoy everything, flop someplace cheap, do more stuff the next day and fly home without spending a complete fortune. I guess I would just think that given how different these two locations are, both the campuses themselves and the cities, there ought to be something to help pick. Otherwise, you will have to harass engineering majors to get first-hand opinions, but frankly I am not sure how you could even use anecdotal accounts to reach a conclusion. You might just have to flip a coin. Good luck!!! I am sure you will do very well either place.</p>
<p>One tidbit that may make things different for you, or may not.</p>
<p>My friend had a UPenn alumni interview. During the interview, the interviewer actually said (paraphrasing) “I had a great time at Penn, but by far the favorite years of my life were spent at grad law school at Wash U.”</p>
<p>Which says a lot - doesn’t everyone HATE law school?</p>
<p>haha, well, thanks for the help guys. I’m still not sure yet though. haha.</p>