BME at JHU vs EECS at MIT

[international_student]

I am an international senior year student at electrical engineering department of my university. I have been admitted to BME department at Johns Hopkins as well as EECS department of MIT. The research I will be doing will be basically same (medical imaging). In a ranking-like basis MIT is at the top in EECS and JHU is at the top in BME.

In my country people usually did not hear much about JHU, so they consistently recommend MIT. I am really interested whether this is the case in US as well. ie, do people esteem more when you say that "I am at EECS at MIT", compared to saying "I am BME at JHU"?

I have arranged a visit to Boston and Baltimore at 4-11 April. What should I pay attention during this visit to make a proper decision?

How would you choose if you were in this poisition? Any feedbacks, comment are welcome..

[MemoTheGreat]

JHU all the way.

[mattchurgin]

I don't think you should worry about which one people think is more prestigious. Both schools are top 5 in those fields, so it shouldn't matter.

I would choose based on the following criteria:

-Which one has professors you would like to choose as a thesis advisor?

-Which one has research options you like better?

-Find out which one has happier grad students (this may be important since both schools are extremely stressful, from what I've heard)

-Which one is in an area you like better? Remember, you will be living there for at least 5 years and possibly more. Personally, I hate Baltimore and I LOVE Boston, so the choice would be a no-brainer for me.

Hope this helps,

Matt