AlbertCollege

Hey guys, my brother just got into Georgia Tech for undergraduate. He doesn't know about most other schools because Georgia Tech responds really early. He is planning on majoring in Biomedical Engineering, he's not completely sure but it's very likely he will, if not, he's definitely going into the engineering field. What I'm asking is, it's a state school, is it good in terms of engineering compared to the other schools he applied to like MIT and Duke and JHU and similar schools to those? Georgia Tech hasn't given financial information yet but it's probably around 20k a year.

jetsfan289

uh its not mit, but georgia tech is really good. definitely a top engineering school in the south

AlbertCollege

Well he finds out about MIT on Wednesday but his top choices are MIT, Duke, JHU, Rice, and a few others.

ucbalumnus

In engineering, state schools are very prominent among the "top schools". Georgia Tech is such a state school. Indeed, some rankings consider Georgia Tech higher in bioengineering than some of the private schools you mention.

However, humanities and social studies are rather limited -- mainly economics, international studies, and history and social impacts of science and technology. This could be an issue for some students who have other humanities and social studies interests (although these specific areas of humanities and social studies are likely popular ones for engineering and science majors).

AlbertCollege

Also financial aid for my family provides about 15k a year so they're giving about 30-40k a year in terms of financial and tuition is only 25k so basically free tuition and boarding but my brother has his mind set on MIT, JHU, Duke, and Rice.

ucbalumnus

Have you/he figured out the net cost after non-loan financial aid and scholarships at each school?

Academically, it should not be considered a letdown to attend GT for bioengineering (or most other engineering), even in comparison to the other schools you mentioned.

nttATL

GT is a top engineering school in general and not just in the south. It's ranked #4 in the nation for best engineering schools, and #2 for bioengineering (graduate level).

I'm actually surprised that more people don't regard it as a "top school". I go to school there and it definitely has a "wow" factor, because it is known for being an extremely challenging school.

beyphy

I agree with ucbalumnus. Georgia tech is a specialized technical school. however, what it does, it does well. If you're brother's sure he wants to go into engineering, it wouldn't be a bad school to go to.

sirgerbil

GTech is the 2nd best Bio-Engineering school in the country. USNews ranks it above MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, and Duke, but Below JHU.

However, the way I understand it, if your brother is more interested in the Biology side of BioEng, JHU would be an excellent choice. If he's more into the engineering, GTech takes the lead slightly.

These schools are all top ten. (I think It's JHU at number 1, GTech at 2, Duke at 3, MIT at 8)

Naturally, you can't go wrong with any of these. It's all up to personal preference.

ucbalumnus

But the implication is that there is some large net cost differences involved.

bruno123

Better than Rice and Duke for engineering.

Imagineer

hah! I applied to the same schools as your brother (JHU, MIT, GA Tech, Duke, and many many more) for biomedical engineering. :P
check this out: Biomedical | Rankings | US News

@jetsfan289 "uh its not mit, but georgia tech is really good. definitely a top engineering school in the south."

GA Tech has arguably a better biomedical engineering program than MIT. Additionally, GA Tech founded their biomedical engineering program a year before MIT. MIT trumps most universities for most engineering majors, but GA Tech quite possibly has MIT beat in biomedical engineering.