Johns Hopkins BME Coursework

[dbm3252]

Hello, I am interviewing at Hopkins this semester for biomedical engineering and have a few questions to any current students about coursework.  I looked at the course requirements, and it looks like you are required to take 36 credits of coursework for your PhD; 18 life sciences and 18 math/engineering.  How many courses/credits do you take a semester?  This confusion comes from them mentioning that you are supposed to take first year med school curriculum, which adds up to well over 18 credits.  

Thank you!

[abcde12345]

I went to JHU for the first half of undergrad (EE major). I managed to get all A's my first two semesters with 17 and 19 credits, but had to study nonstop almost every day. The following semester, I took 18 credits, but decided to work a job and rush a professional fraternity. Grades dropped significantly (one A, mostly B+, one B).

Grad school classes may require more or less time than undergrad classes, not sure :/

JHU has such a beautiful campus, esp. in winter. BME facilities are also incredible.

Edited January 16, 2017 by George Zhang
clarify major

[Fischie22]

By my understanding, graduate students are 'full time' at 9 credits a semester. Typically the first 2 years will be taken to complete most of the coursework in a PhD. I am not sure that this is the case at JHU, but it is at other schools with similar credit req's.

You should likely look at their website for this information or, if you can't find it there, email the graduate program/office. JHU will have contact info for this on their graduate admissions or specific graduate program page.  You should likely figure out all the details of the program before an interview. 

[Extra Espresso]

In case someone else has this question, too, here's my answer:

I'm a current first year in BME at Hopkins. The website on the med school curriculum is frustratingly incorrect. It is correct that you need 36 total credit hours with 18 in biology and 18 in engineering. For biology, you can opt to take some of the medical schools courses or you can take graduate-level biology courses or a mixture of both. You are in no way required to take all of the first year medical courses! Each one is a significant number of hours, so most people who choose to take the med school courses only do two or three. The pairing of anatomy + immunology + histology or pharmacology is common, and so is SFM2 (macromolecules, cell physiology, metabolism, and genetics combined in one course) + immunology. If your focus is neuro, a lot of those students take the nervous system course which nearly covers all the hours and possibly immunology or a graduate course. You are welcome to take as many medical courses as you like, and some people (myself included) take more than the required biology hours, but most people just get the 18 hours and call it good. 

The engineering coursework is much more like what you're used to. Nearly all of the classes are 3 hours, so most people take 2 or 3 classes each semester they aren't doing medical coursework. It's common to finish all of your course requirements by the end of your second year, but some people wait longer because they want a lighter courseload or want to take a specific class that isn't always offered. You don't have to be done with classes to take the qualifying exam; you just have to have taken enough biology and engineering courses to make up the committee members. 

Edited January 17, 2017 by Extra Espresso

[Extra Espresso]

Also, it's perfectly fine to ask these kinds of questions at the interview, especially if the details on the website are confusing (like in this case). They'll also talk more about the coursework in one of the information sessions during the interview weekend.