<p>I was admitted to both Yale and the University of California San Diego with the Jacobs Engineering Scholarship--basically, I get a full ride, plus perks including priority registration and faculty mentorship/matching for research. I am getting no financial aid from Yale. </p>
<p>I plan to major in biomedical engineering (currently, mainly biochemical/biomolecular), and I am also considering pre-med. If not pre-med, I plan to attend graduate school. I'm also super interested in biomedical engineering's applications to the nervous system. I am visiting both college campuses again soon, which will probably affect my decision, but I like the Yale community better as of now. I am also from California, and though I like the weather, I'm also interested in seeing other parts of the country! </p>
<p>What effect does the department ranking (UCSD) versus "brand name" (Yale) have with respect to job prospects and medical school admissions? General advice? Things to consider? Thank you!</p>
<p>If your destination is medical school or engineering, UCSD’s lower price is likely the biggest factor that differs. $240,000 is a huge amount of money, no matter how you look at it; it can mean graduating medical school with that much less medical school debt, which can allow you to choose a medical specialty that you like without the financial pressure to choose the highest paying medical specialty to pay off a huge amount of medical school debt.</p>
<p>If your destination is Wall Street or elite consulting, Yale if you can afford it. These employers recruit heavily at HYP, selectively at a small number of other high-prestige schools, and minimally or not at all elsewhere.</p>
<p>Depends on the job. If you want to parlay an engineering degree into a high-paying job in investment banking or management consulting (as many Ivy League engineering students do), then the Yale brand name could count for a lot. As ucbalumnus said, major Wall Street firms seem to do most of their recruiting from a very small number of prestigious colleges. </p>
<p>For job prospects with West Coast engineering firms, I don’t know how department ranking (or college reputation more generally) figures into the decision-making. I doubt the Yale brand would make a big positive difference, but ask around. </p>
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<p>Neither department ranking nor “brand name” are likely to have much if any effect on med school admissions. Med school admissions are largely about GPA and MCAT scores. A mountain of debt would override any benefit you’d get from the Yale brand, per se, with respect to med school admissions.</p>
<p>If money were no object, and if we were talking about arts & sciences (not engineering), I’d say Yale is the clear choice. UCSD has huge enrollments in many undergraduate biology courses (<a href=“Student/Class Info”>Student/Class Info). However, med school is frightfully expensive, with little or no financial aid for most students (other than loans). </p>