<p>I was (luckily!) 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>I was wondering what people's experiences with Yale engineering, especially biomedical engineering have been--how are the classes and research opportunities? Also, what effect does the department ranking versus "brand name" have with respect to job prospects and medical school admissions? Any general advice or things to consider? Thank you! </p>
<p>No financial help from Yale? I’m surprised. Did you apply for financial aid? I would call their financial office and negotiate. I would tell them you want to take advantage of the opportunity they are offering but UC San Diego offered you XYZ. Since you plan to go on to graduate school, you are sensitive about the expense and ask them what else can they do for you. They DO NOT want to lose a top student to UCSD. </p>
<p>UCSD Engineering is better than Yale Engineering…OF course if you are swayed by the Ivy league, it is a different thing…No Yale will likely not negotiate if your parents EFC makes them ineligible for aid…it is need based, not merit based.</p>
<p>@fall2016parent, while UCSD engineering may be ranked higher than Yale, you can’t be serious… at yale, I guarantee that you’re surrounded by better prospective engineers (Yale does not lower its engineering standards; that 6% admit rate still applies). I’m not a huge prestige person, but this is where I get a bit frustrated at times. The name Yale (regardless of its program) will open doors that UCSD certainly will not. This is not applicable to this particular case, but, money issues not taken into account, choosing UCSD over Yale is almost crazy, regardless of largely meaningless undergraduate engineering rankings. </p>
<p>Ok…I do take back “UCSD engineering better than Yale”…at this undergrad stage, it is useless to compare rankings. However, I do believe Engineering is a field that does not need a prestige level. The amount of opportunities one can get from UCSD engineering would be same as Yale…and yes…no one really cares where you went to college …once you graduate. This hype is all due to overzealous CC and us rankings…go where you find your fit …and if parents are willing to pay 240K for engineering at Yale over free UCSD, that is a personal choice…</p>
<p>You can probably do just as much with both degrees – honestly if you end up needing money for graduate school or take out loans to go to Yale, you’ll probably regret it later. Prestige does not impact your post-Yale (or fill in the blank with any elite school) career unless you wish to work at elite companies (google), wall street, et al. </p>
<p>The perks you listed for UCSD are things that every student gets at Yale. Your cohort at Yale will probably be stronger, but if you decide to become an engineer after graduation, there might be more recruiters coming to UCSD because Yale’s cohort is smaller. If you decide to go into finance, consulting or a lot of tech companies, you’ll find it almost impossible to break in from UCSD even though Yale is heavily recruited. </p>
<p>Even though you want to go to grad school now, keep in mind this will likely change sometime during college. Think about whether your family can afford to go to Yale, and if you think that you’re more inclined to go to graduate school/medical school/something other than pure engineering, Yale is probably the better choice if you can pay the fees. </p>