JHU vs. WUSTL

tanman
Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:51:44 +0000

Just a comment on BME at Hopkins (from a senior in the program). While there are a few people in each class that might be competitive, study alone, and care only about grades and GPA, the majority of BMEs are not like that. In fact, it’s really hard to do well in BME unless you work well with other people. Our program is no doubt hard, but we all get each other through it. We enjoy what we’re learning because its challenging and fascinating. No one in BME is looking for the easy way through college - if they were they would have changed majors (or more likely, changed schools, since I would argue there is no “easy way” at a school like Hopkins) long ago. The students here (and at every other top school, as I’ve found out as I’ve traveled for interviews) love to complain about their workload, and joke about the “cutthroat”-ness, but from my experience, it’s more campus lore than reality.

To address the OP’s dilemna, frankly, both WashU and Hopkins are great schools and both have really good BME programs. I’m biased towards the Hopkins program because of my experience here (with great faculty who all teach undergrads, fantastic research opportunities, and a great way of getting freshmen involved in BME in the first weeks and months on campus) but I think you’ll have a great experience, academics wise, at either school. Your decision should really come down to the environment where you want to spend four years. Are your perceptions of the schools based on actual campus visits? Don’t trust everything you read online - if at all possible, go visit both campuses and see where you like the environment better. The Homewood (JHU) and Danforth (WashU) campuses are both beautiful. Ultimately, when I visited, I felt I “clicked” a lot better with the students and environment at Hopkins than anywhere else (including WashU) and I think it’s really a personal decision in that sense.