Which is "harder": EE@MIT vs BME@JHU! AND EE@JHU vs. BME@MIT!

<p>I've been wondering about this for a few days now, lets see what you guys think!</p>

<p>Question 1: Which is harder to get a high GPA in, EE @ MIT or BME @ JHU?</p>

<p>Question 2: Also consider the converse, its harder to get a high GPA in what: EE @ JHU or BME @ MIT? </p>

<p>Note: This ins't simply a question of which major is harder, but rather which harder within the context of it being done at a #1 school compared to another school with another #1 major. Sorry if confusing. </p>

<p>Take it away. I need 2 answers, 1 for each question.
Thanks!</p>

<p>My first thought is just that I feel a little ill that people who are starting college now were born in 1990.</p>

<p>My second thought is that the only way to specifically answer your question is to have done both, which presumably none of us has done, so I don't think you're going to be able to get an actual answer. It shall remain a mystery. Pretty much, neither is easy.</p>

<p>I don't think anyone here will be able to answer that considering no one here has done the same program at both schools.</p>

<p>I see the quagmire of this situation, so perhaps I'll change this question to this:</p>

<p>How "hard" are these programs at these colleges:</p>

<ol>
<li>EE@MIT</li>
<li>BME@MIT</li>
<li>EE@JHU</li>
<li>BME@JHU</li>
</ol>

<p>I'm sure there are people here who have done at least one of those 4 programs at those schools, so maybe I'll get better responses.</p>

<p>Thanks to the above 2 posters--aibarr and JoeJoe05--for pointing this out!</p>

<p>I agree with aibar, it shall remain a mystery ;)</p>

<p>BME in general don't compare with EE in terms of difficulty (of course EE being much harder).</p>

<p>
[quote]
My second thought is that the only way to specifically answer your question is to have done both, which presumably none of us has done, so I don't think you're going to be able to get an actual answer. It shall remain a mystery. Pretty much, neither is easy.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, I don't think this is necessarily such a problem. After all, you can in principle compare two programs without having tried both. For example, I don't think anybody would seriously dispute that MIT EE is harder than, say, the 'jock majors' at the championship-contending Division 1 schools where the football players tend to hang out, even though practically nobody has ever done both. </p>

<p>Consider what Jim Harbaugh, former Michigan quarterback, said below. I think we can all agree that MIT EE is harder than the 'jock majors' at Michigan, even though few if any people have ever done both. Furthermore, Michigan is actually a pretty good school as far as championship-contending schools go, so you can imagine what happens with the players at places like, say, LSU or Florida State. The movie Forrest Gump relies on the sad truth that a guy who is on the border of mental retardation can nevertheless get a degree (from the University of Alabama) just because he can play football. Heck, in real life, NFL Pro-Bowl player Dexter Manley played 4 years at Oklahoma State before later on revealing that he didn't even know how to read. </p>

<p>*“Michigan is a good school and I got a good education there,” he said, “but the athletic department has ways to get borderline guys in and, when they’re in, they steer them to courses in sports communications. They’re adulated when they’re playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won’t hire them.” *</p>

<p>Dickey:</a> Harbaugh can resurrect the Cardinal - Examiner.com</p>

<p>*But here's what nobody is discussing: whether Harbaugh spoke the truth when he called out Michigan for admitting "borderline guys" and for steering athletes toward softer majors than the general student population.</p>

<p>All it takes to see that is a scan of the 2007 Michigan media guide. Only 30 players have listed majors, and 19 of them are pursuing degrees in something called "general studies." That's 20 percent of the team, and 63 percent of the players who have declared a major.</p>

<p>Yet a university spokesman said this week that less than 1 percent of the undergraduate student body is in the general studies degree program. The spokesman said there are fewer than 200 general studies students out of an undergrad population of nearly 25,000.</p>

<p>And that's not all. The other declared degree programs on the football team are: movement science (three players); sports management and communications (two); economics (two); P.E. (one); psychology (one); English (one); and American culture (one). There appears to be one undeclared player enrolled in the business school and another in the college of engineering.</p>

<p>Only one junior has declared a major, according to the guide (in movement science). In 18 years of covering college athletics, I've never seen virtually an entire junior class without a major.*</p>

<p>ESPN</a> - Numbers the major point in Harbaugh-Michigan crossfire - Columnist</p>

<p>lol such a question is extremely subjective</p>

<p>
[quote]
Well, I don't think this is necessarily such a problem. After all, you can in principle compare two programs without having tried both. For example, I don't think anybody would seriously dispute that MIT EE is harder than, say, the 'jock majors' at the championship-contending Division 1 schools where the football players tend to hang out, even though practically nobody has ever done both.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>We're talking about two difficult majors at two difficult schools, not sports communication. I'm saying it's too close to call in this case, not in all cases.</p>

<p>We've already been through the "most difficult major" thirty-five page knock-down/drag-out, and I'm not keen on resurrecting that.</p>

<p>I imagine lots of EEs would find BME harder and lots of BMEs would find EE harder.</p>

<p>At JHU a lot of students major in BME with a focus on Instrumentation/Sensors/etc which means they take a lot of EE classes. They say that the BME courses are more difficult/competitive than the EE courses.</p>

<p>You can come to JHU major in BME and be required to take 18 upper level EE credits (level 300+) and 3 lower level EE credits (200 level) plus your BME courses, and things all engineers have to take etc... </p>

<p>Anyone who thinks that BME is "easier" than any other major is a bit confused. Because BME is a interdisciplinary major, it is only as hard or as easy as the classes you take in those other majors. BME students @ JHU have to take like 8 BME classes (including labs & easy freshman courses) and the rest can be (and mostly will be) in other departments. And the 8 BME classes are not at all easy. </p>

<p>*I was told by some that the BME Systems & Controls course which is required for all BMEs and is a combination of Control Systems and Signals & Systems is harder than the comparable EE courses. (Some people took both at the same time one for the major and one for the concentration.)</p>

<p>If you have any Qs about BME @ JHU you can PM me if you'd like.</p>

<p>There is no "BME" major at MIT. There is a BME minor, and there is a BioE major (course 20). Also, an EE student can concentrate in bioEE if they wish.</p>

<p>I can only speak for the MIT programs (I didn't major in either one, but I certainly watched enough people who did). They are hard. It's MIT. All of the majors are hard. Trying to rank their hardness is kind of a pointless exercise, because there are different things that are hard about each. BioE has more requirements, and less-flexible requirements, than EE.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Well, I don't think this is necessarily such a problem. After all, you can in principle compare two programs without having tried both.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Then what is your opinion in regards to the OP's question?</p>

<p>Can't comment on the relative difficulty but JHU BME courses, to me, aren't that hard. MIT might be more rigorous in that your classmates would be more accomplished.</p>