UCSD vs. University of Michigan BME/Bioengineering

[HappyBubbles]

Hello everyone,

I am presently trying to decide between UC San Diego and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Bioengineering/BME programs. I visited San Diego first, and visited Michigan shortly after. It's a decision I've been trying to make for some time, and it's gotten very difficult. I'd appreciate any help that anyone can give. 

Positives for University of Michigan:

• Because admissions is a matched-based, I already know which Professors I would work for. I am perfectly happy with their research, and I am happy with my interactions with all 3 of them. In fact, my interactions with one of the professors so far went so well that it is a major factor in my reason for actually wanting to matriculate. This is in contrast to UCSD, where I will not be able to interact in depth/in person with the Professors until the rotations next year, as they were extremely busy (interview interactions were fairly short).
• From my interactions with many of the Professors, it seemed that they greatly encouraged their students to pursue extracurricular activities and be functional outside the lab. Additionally, several of the graduate students informed me that they rarely needed to work more than 8 hours a day. In contrast, at San Diego, a few graduate students told me that many of their friends seemed to "vanish" into the labs, and it wasn't rare for them to spend weeks-months sleeping at 10 PM and waking up at 4 AM for projects/experiments.
• I have been guaranteed funding for the specific projects that I would work on by the Professors mentioned above.
• The department seems to be more "close-knit", and many professors mentioned some joint departmental activities, like weekly Journal Clubs and the like. At San Diego, a few professors informed me that the department rarely gathered, as everyone was very busy.

Positives for San Diego:

• San Diego is packed with biotech companies, and seems to offer a substantially greater amount of post-graduation opportunities. Additionally, many of the graduate students and professors mentioned collaboration with many companies as well as the medical school system. This is fairly important for me, as I am hoping to transition into industry following graduation.
• San Diego weather. I grew up in the Midwest and went to school out East. It was my first time in San Diego, you can guess the rest.
• I had the chance to interact with MANY more of the UCSD graduate students, and they were VERY enjoyable to be around (despite many of them claiming their schedules were very tight). At Michigan, I only seemed to meet the graduate students on the welcoming/recruitment committee, and only met a few from the individual labs. Graduate students unaffiliated with recruitment didn't seem to show up at all.
• I am a marine biology enthusiast, and it is my second "academic hobby" besides Biomedical Engineering. I spend a good amount of my free time also reading marine biology journals. At UCSD, I would be living next to the Ocean and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In fact, I believe that even if I went to Michigan for my graduate education, I would like to eventually end up on the West Coast (likely for work), because of this hobby.
• UCSD is ranked #2 overall, while Michigan is ranked #12, which, again, is somewhat important for me when considering opportunities in industry post-graduation.

Can anyone who is a part of either of these programs chime in? After I visited San Diego, I thought my decision was made, but the visit to Michigan has really made this difficult.

Thanks.

Edited March 6, 2016 by HappyBubbles

[madbiochemist]

I did an REU at UCSD (I worked in the Sanford Consortium, if you toured that). Many of the graduate students left lab at 2 or 3 on Friday to go surfing in the summers. Sure, there will be rough weeks (or months), but I think some of that also depends on your PI wherever you go. 

[lifeeeeee]

On March 6, 2016 at 1:46 PM, HappyBubbles said:

 

if you decide not to go Michigan, please turn them down as soon as you can, cuz I'm still waiting from them... Thank you very much. I do appreciate.