<p>as the tiltle suggests- please help me decide!
I intend majoring in Chem E / Bio medical </p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>ironic that you asked the question since your username is “ivy search” lol</p>
<p>but to be honest upenn opens a lot more door than a school like georgia tech or even UIUC. </p>
<p>but if you are sure you want to go to the best engineering program, go to UIUC. You get as good an engineering program as you can find save MIT, stanford and you also get a very complete school overall.</p>
<p>Your bias holds no bounds.</p>
<p>As overall engineering schools, GT and UIUC are basically equals, with GT actually being ranked higher (but in truth, they’re interchangeable). The same thing holds with Chemical engineering programs: UIUC is ranked higher, but the schools are basically interchangeable and the rankings jump around from year to year. For biomedical, GT ranks much higher. The Biomedical program is joint with Emory’s Medical School and ranks Top 3.</p>
<p>Obviously, if you’re obsessed with Ivy Schools, Penn sticks out. The name carries far if your goal is professional school (Med, Business, Law) or a non-technical position, but not so much for engineering school.</p>
<p>^ It’s the same thing over and over with this bearcats guy. Like you said, Penn carries its weight around with Med, Business, and Law. GT is #2 for bio medical behind Hopkins and UIUC is #10 for chemical. Yet some how Penn is a better school for this person’s interests?</p>
<p>“but if you are sure you want to go to the best engineering program, go to UIUC. You get as good an engineering program as you can find save MIT, stanford and you also get a very complete school overall”</p>
<p>Bias? did I say UIUC is a better overall engineering school? No. I said you get a more “complete school overall”, which GT isnt. If one day engineering doesnt work out for OP, he would be better off transfering to other majors at UIUC than GT. It’s not like UIUC or GT are top 25 overall schools anyway but in terms of completeness (based on offerings, non-engineering department qualities) UIUC is definitely more complete than GTech, and this trumps the minimal difference in department rank, especially at undergrad level.</p>
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<p>Pretty sure this is you implying that UIUC is a better overall engineering school.</p>
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<p>Pretty sure this is you acting like you said something you didn’t. </p>
<p>Bearcats, do you just cut and paste the same response all across CC? This must be the fifth time i’ve read about the “overall completeness” of a school when it didn’t apply. What do you say to people on the Embry Riddle boards? “It’s a great school for AE but once you fail out or change your mind you’re dead in the water! I’d go somewhere for AE where the program isn’t as strong but where the school is better overall, just in case.” Believe it or not some people actually go to a school for a specific program not having the though in their head of “well if this doesn’t work out I can do such and such.” It’s really the wrong approach to have when trying to dedicate yourself to such a challenging area of study. If your plan is to be a doctor, would you only apply to a university that has a top medical program and law school program, just in case? For people who don’t know what they want to do, going to a good overall school with many great programs is a great way to future proof, but at some point a line has to be drawn in the sand.</p>
<p>thanks guys!!
looks like it will be uiuc/gtech
despite the username!!</p>
<p>All programs are very good, you probably can’t go wrong with any of them. However, personally I would be partial to UPenn due to it’s size and overall quality of student body. I can’t judge what kind of person you are and what you would be inclined to like but US News ranking should not be the only indication. And UPenn is right up there for biomed in the ranking. I am pretty sure that many of the freshmen class at UIUC will have students in the 3 digits range, most likely the same for GT. Both schools have very large engineering program, there are pluses and minuses for programs of that size. Ask yourself, is that something you are alright with? I think you should go visit them all and decide.</p>
<p>ttparent</p>
<p>thanks
I visited penn and am visiting gt soon.
Penn does have a good ranking for biomedical- e though
yes class size is of concern!
but i have heard that it is the case only in freshman and sophomore year-
anyone with experience , i would appreciate some advice, comments!</p>
<p>I can speak from my own experience at UIUC, and a couple friends at GT, that you will have large classes freshman year in your Gen Eds and math (~300-400 max for UIUC, ~100-200 max for GT), but all the classes within your major will be 50 people or less in my experience.</p>
<p>^ that is true of GT</p>
<p>I just pulled the GT student caps (maximum allowed to enroll) for Fall 2009 ChE classes:</p>
<p>The only senior classes that allow over 30 students are Unit Operations (36 student lecture, 12 student labs) and Process Control (60 student lecture, 15 student labs).</p>
<p>At the junior level, all classes are capped at 40 except Transport and Separations (both capped at 65 for some reason).</p>
<p>At the sophomore level, all classes are capped at 40, except for Thermo I and Numerical Methods (both capped at 65).</p>
<p>Those 65’s seem high, so I pulled the current enrollment for Spring 2009. Numerical has 35 students and Thermo has 45. So the 65 is probably just the room limit.</p>
<p>^ And here I thought that ol’ Burdell didn’t really exist. Who knew!</p>
<p>Burdell,</p>
<p>thanks a ton for looking up all the info!</p>
<p>i’m actually trying to figure the same thing out myself. (GT/ CMU for BME.)</p>
<p>personally i think that a degree where ever you go will be almost the same as long as you apply yourself. the difference is that Upenn and CMU would “open more doors” and help you connect and network with the right people. just my opinion</p>
<p>Would doing BME at Penn put me at a disadvantage since it is ranked at #5 (2 below GT)?
Also considering a masters degree and maybe an MBA after…</p>
<p>No! With rankings, it is better to look at them in terms of tiers. Example: for overall engineering, Tier 1 is MIT, Stanford, Cal, and Caltech. Tier 2 is UIUC, GaTech, etc.
A difference of two slots will make absolutley very little difference, as both will be in the same “tier” as both are fantastic programs. It would be different if it were like #3 vs. #35, but this is #3 vs. #5. With schools this close in rankings, financial considerations and feel for students + campus should be the deciding factor, not a difference of two slots in the rankings. </p>
<p>You said you are interested in an MBA. If so, Penn should be way more appealing. Not only does the prestige help in grad admissions + job/internship opportunities, but UPenn has Wharton! I don’t know what GaTech has, but few schools (UChicago, Northwestern, MIT, UMich, and a few others) rival Penn’s business and economics.</p>
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<p>First of all, I agree about comparable schools. Second, GT is ranked higher thank Cal Tech for overall engineering, and depending on the year, is higher than Berkeley.</p>
<p>Thanks for the correction. I am not here to start some war on rankings. Just providing an example based on what I (incorrectly) recalled.</p>
<p>senior, thanks for the input.
something for me to consider…</p>