Hello! I’m a rising college freshman deciding between my options. I’m hoping to gather more inputs regarding my schools and programs so that I can make an informed choice that I hopefully won’t regret. I’m pretty indecisive and tend to see the best in every choice, so I’d love some more clarity.
I’m trying to decide between UC Berkeley Bioengineering and UCLA Computational and Systems Biology for the most part. I’m equally split between going into industry, academia/research, or med school, and want the flexibility to explore the different paths. I’ve visited both schools and think both the campuses are nice. The location/vibe I feel to be slightly better at LA (and it’s a bit farther from home, which is a plus as well as the food/housing!), but I wasn’t there long enough to truly know how it’s like in those places nor do I know if it should be a deciding factor. At the same time, I feel engineering at Cal is stronger but I’m not sure about BioE specifically. I also have the option of switching into BioE at UCLA, but that is a maybe.
My main factors are research opportunities, academics, social life/environment, post-grad outcomes. I’m hoping for a good balance of resources, academic rigor, and fun/good social life. Also wondering if it’s better to do computational bio as opposed to BioE in this industry (and in that case, I’m considering CMU’s program too but not sure if worth the tuition). Tuition is same for both.
I’m also considering GTech BME but have not done so as much since the UC acceptances. However, I am open to bringing that into the mix as well (tuition is not a factor for that) as its program is good as well (but from my understanding, it’s more industry/med devices focused).
What do you want to study and where do you want to be?
You are overcomplicating when you say - main factors are research opportunities, academics, social life/environment, post-grad outcomes.
That’s great but that would be at all of them. Could there be outcome differences - sure - check the career reports. But you are 17 and the world will change - what is it that you want to study?
You also say - I don’t know if I want to go into industry or academia or rather you’re equally interested. You’re 17 - so you really don’t know what you’ll think in four years - just like you didn’t know at 13.
But you have listed an engineering major and some bio majors and have two computationally based majors.
What do you want to study and where do you want to be - assuming affordabilty.
Pick that school - major first…then location if the major you choose is offered at both schools.
Thank you all for the inputs! Definitely feel more reassured and am looking into the programs/departments in depth. Also, how much does your undergrad matter for grad school/PhD programs? And, I’ve heard that Bioengineering is a very broad degree in that you learn a lot of introductory knowledge in a variety of engineering/science disciplines in addition to biology–how much will it help me to specialize or concentrate or does that not matter too much at the undergrad level? Trying to navigate what I want–thank you!