Which college do I choose??

sngl · April 19, 2005, 11:32pm

I have been accepted to: University of Washington (honors), Johns Hopkins (non-BME), University of Pennsylvania (school of applied science), Washington University in Saint Louis (6k a year scholarship), and Cornell (school of engineering).

Some highschool stats: 1540 SAT, 3.96 GPA

I'm intending to do something in the bioengineering field or something similar.
Climate, location, size, don't mean very much to me. I can adapt.
I plan on going to graduate school of some kind, maybe a master's in engineering and then an MBA later.
I'm leaning towards University of Washington because I am a resident of WA so the tuition is much cheaper, and graduate schools don't look at the name of the school a whole lot (but a bit).

The deadlines for deciding are coming up very soon, and I'm still undecided. Please, anyone, help me with some advice.

CC_Admin · April 20, 2005, 12:46am

oy, another bioengineering guy, half of the people doing engineering these days like bME and BE for some reason.

sngl · April 24, 2005, 4:08am

yea, it seems that way

Alexandre · April 24, 2005, 6:29am

That is one difficult decision. If going to other schools are going to put you in a financial pinch, I recommend Udub. It is a great university and has top programs in the Biological and Bioengineering fields. However, if you can afford Cornell, JHU or Penn, go for them. I definitely do not recommend paying $170,000 for Washington University when you can get a Udub education for $70,000, even if your parents are well off. But for the other three privates, it may be worth it...assuming your financial situation allows it without handicapping you too much.

sngl · April 24, 2005, 8:09pm

Thanks for the comments guys. So UW is 11th in the nation in BME according to usnews. It admits about 45 students a year, but I think I would be able to get in. In BME, Upenn is 7th (but the lowest rank of the schools in overall engineering), and JHU is 1st (Wash U and Cornell aren't on the ranking, which goes up to 25). Also, the 11th ranking for UW doesn't take into account the honors status (if that matters at all in terms of BME) and UW is currently expanding the program drastically with a brand new building which will be ready by the time I get there.

I'm still leaning towards UW, but can someone please show me the error of my ways? Thanks.

ohnoes · April 24, 2005, 8:16pm

I would trust your instincts and go to UW. It's a good combination of social life, relative cheapness, and a solid education. The BME field is changing so rapidly that there is no telling what the rankings will look like in 10 years, so just go with the most affordable/best overall school.

sngl · April 26, 2005, 2:55am

any other thoughts?

Poog · April 26, 2005, 3:58am

Go to Hopkins if you can afford it, and you don't want to go to grad school. Hopkins has a great reputation. Otherwise, go for UW.

oldman · April 26, 2005, 10:25am

Discount the rankings and go where you believe you'll be most content. How do you know you will end up in a "bio" field....things change.....have fun!