Which School Do I Choose?

I have been accepted to: University of Washington (honors), Johns Hopkins (non-BME), University of Pennsylvania (school of applied science), Washington University in Saint Louis (6k a year scholarship), and Cornell (school of engineering).

Some highschool stats: 1540 SAT, 3.96 GPA

I’m intending to do something in the bioengineering field or something similar.
Climate, location, size, don’t mean very much to me. I can adapt.
I plan on going to graduate school of some kind, maybe a master’s in engineering and then an MBA later.
I’m leaning towards University of Washington because I am a resident of WA so the tuition is much cheaper, and graduate schools don’t look at the name of the school a whole lot (but a bit).

The deadlines for deciding are coming up very soon, and I’m still undecided. Please, anyone, help me with some advice.

<p>Definately NOT UW. You can't really go wrong with any of the others. I know you need at least 3.5 and 1400 for UW honors, but you can expect to meet a lot of below average students there. I personally know a few people who got in with states around 900 SAT combined and 3.3 uw. UW has an awesome medical school, but only 5% of the people who get accepted are UW graduates. You'll have a better chance of getting into UW's med school if you goto any of the other schools you mentioned. Since you live in WA, I assume you have seen how ugly UW's surrounding area is. Lots of drugs.</p>

<p>Well, UW is suppose to have a decent bioengineering program, better than most of the rest of the better named schools. And yes, there will be a huge range of kids going there, I'm just not sure how much it would affect me if the students there are not all at the same caliber as the other schools. I have heard that the smartest kids at UW would probably be equivalent to the smartest kids at WU, it's just that the UW would have a lot more of the other ones.</p>

<p>bump, any advice for me?</p>

<p>Congratulations on your acceptances. I'd choose Cornell.</p>

<p>thanks, any particular reason? I've heard it has the best engineering program of the bunch.</p>

<p>of the schools you have listed, here's the USNews Graduate rankings for "biomedical engineering":
1. JHU
5. U Wash
8. Penn</p>

<p>I see that you are not accepted to JHU's BME? That would be the program to accept. Yes, UW is next on the list, but Penn has a solid program. I like both campuses myself. I agree with the previous reply that UW might not be the best feeder relative to others. You may want to call UW about their department's stats here.</p>

<p>I'd go with Penn...</p>

<p>Go to Cornell, I always thought it was the best out of those for what you want to do (just my opinion!).</p>

<p>yes...Cornell is very good for bm type majors...</p>

<p>JHU isn't all that great (at least it doesn't have the reputation) for anything other than bme...</p>

<p>I'd choose Penn because of the setting...big city, big, beautiful campus....Upstate NY just isn't my thing...So if you can handle the quiet towns - go with Cornell for sure...
If money will become an issue....take the scholarship at WUSTL.</p>

<p>Check the stats of UW's admission rates for it's BME undergrads, if they're high it is a good bet. The selectvity for specific majors at the big state schools can really change the picture. I know U of I is a good state U. It is a very good/excellent engineering school with a much higer selectivity and a really great BME program with a crazy admit rate, I think they take something liek 20 freshman.</p>

<p>Thanks for the comments guys. So UW is 11th in the nation in BME according to usnews. It admits about 45 students a year, but I think I would be able to get in. Upenn is 7th, and JHU is 1st (Wash U and Cornell aren't on the ranking, which goes up to 25). Although JHU did not admit me for BME, they said they would let me do anything else, like biomaterials or biomolecular (which in other schools is part of the BME major, so go figure), however, I would somewhat feel pidgeonholed if I went with JHU because they let me do these more specific majors but not the Big Cahuna (BME).</p>

<p>Also, the 11th ranking for UW doesn't take into account the honors status (if that matters at all in terms of BME) and UW is currently expanding the program drastically with a brand new building which will be ready by the time I get there.</p>

<p>any other thoughts?</p>

<p>Well.....it seems like you're pretty much decided on UW.</p>

<p>Like I said in the beginning, I'm leaning towards it, but I'm really asking for people to shed some more light on the issue, or tell me how I'm wrong. Thanks y'all.</p>

<p>Penn for me;</p>

<p>You can do business at Wharton.
ranked #5 and #8, whats the difference?
Penn has a much better recognition overall.</p>

<p>But I'm not too sure how a honors program will affect it.</p>

<p>Although I would be able to take classes from Wharton, I was admitted into the applied science school (kicking myself for not applying to Wharton's), and transferring to Wharton is near impossible. Also, Upenn has a much lower overall engineering ranking, but yea, there is the name.</p>

<p>any other thoughts? please?</p>