<p>I live in Minnesota and I have been accepted to both the School of Engineering at WashU and the Institute of Technology Honors Program at the University of Minnesota. I am interested in Biomedical Engineering and I would like some input as to which school would be better for this major. Cost is a big issue for me and my family. I received 25k a year from WashU and full tuition at the U of M. Going to WashU would leave me with about 20k in student loans to pay off and my parents would have to pay about 2x more. My main question would be is there any crucial difference between these programs at the undergraduate level or is it better to save money for graduate school instead? Any input (especially from current WashU engineering majors) would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>The finances are very important of course, but only you can figure out how much value you place in the very different experience you would get at Wash U versus U Minn. If you feel you would really be unhappy at big state U and with lots of huge intro classes versus the smaller, more challenging classes at Wash U, then pick Wash U. If you like the bigger atmosphere and big time sports (I am a big fan of Tubby, btw), then certainly save the money and go to U Minn. The Wash U program is tough, make no mistake, and you will come out very well prepared. But to answer your question there is probably no inherently gaping difference between these two programs at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>School is a value proposition like many things, and since you are planning on an advanced degree there might not be enough extra benefit in going to Wash U to balance the value equation based on BME alone. Rather than focusing on the quality of the individual programs so much (I am sure U Minn is fine and you can go to top flight grad school as long as you do well) it is better to focus on the quality of your overall experience at two such different universities. Decide if being at a much smaller, private university is worth that much money to you in terms of the overall experience, because at the undergrad level it is hard for me to imagine there is a $70,000 difference or more per student between these 2 BME depts.</p>
<p>I am going to give a few hints about UMN that don’t get enough attention. I considered the school before deciding on WashU, but that wasn’t because UMN was a “bad” school. I just preferred the smaller, more “collegey” atmosphere.
I go to a magnet school in Illinois, so if kids go to a state school, they go to UIUC. They seem to shun UMN as inferior just because it’s rankings aren’t as high in US News. Sure, the GPA and test scores are a little lower. However, that’s just because a big range exists at UMN. There are a LOT of extremely high-level students. In the last 8 years, they have 5 Rhodes scholars (I think those are the numbers, sorry if I am mistaken).
UMN has a lot of great things: a wonderful Honors program. Great scholarship opportunities. It is in a great city (Minneapolis is wonderful!). Internships are pretty much required because they are so easy to get. It is one of the biggest research institutions in the nation. It is ranked as equal to Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, and UCLA and HIGHER than WashU, Cornell, and Princeton in Arizona State’s rankings of university performance (found here: <a href=“http://mup.asu.edu/research2008.pdf[/url]”>http://mup.asu.edu/research2008.pdf</a>). It is ranked one spot ahead of WashU at number 28 in the Academic Rankings of World Universities (found here: [ARWU2008](<a href=“http://www.arwu.org/rank2008/ARWU2008_A(EN).htm]ARWU2008[/url]”>http://www.arwu.org/rank2008/ARWU2008_A(EN).htm)</a>) Of course, these are just two rankings, but I think it is still to be looked at, as it counters US News.
I just wanted to point these out to make my point:
Pick UMN and save the money.</p>
<p>buuummmppp.</p>