Recent Experience with Hopkins BME Undergrad

[Anonymous]

JHU BME is top program for a reason. If your kid was accepted to BME, where the acceptance rate is 2-3%, he/she will do fine. Trust me!
There will be a lot of learning but classes are not super tough and all classes have TAs to help.
~1/3 of BME students end up doing medical school and they are less collaborative but the rest are fine.
Unfortunately, JHU admitted students day was general and there was no session specific to BME. That's a major problem that Hopkins should resolve for next admission cycles. There was a junior BME student that was super nice to answer our questions but would have been nice to have BME stuff presenting the program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a parent of JHU freshman that it’s brutal. I think they were BME, but switched majors already and still struggling. The average class gpa is 3.4 and the kid despite going to all office hours, using all available tutoring, studying 12/day still can barely get a B in the hardest classes. The grade deflation is real.

I'm sorry, but this is really unlikely. Perhaps you got wrong info from your friend, PP, but it's hard to believe a BME admit is going to struggle to that degree in a less demanding major, even a STEM major. And no, the grade deflation is not that bad at JHU these days.

There are some admits who struggle because they came to a selective college very unprepared, for whatever reason. However, the BME program is quite selective and they tend to screen applicants pretty well. I really doubt your friend's kid was a BME major.

My bad, they are chemical engineering major.
I’m pretty sure the average gpa in her class was either 3.4 or 3.5 and her was just 0.1 above average.

So this shows the she wasn’t an outlier who came unprepared. I know that girl, she is extremely accomplished and studied extremely hard in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a parent of JHU freshman that it’s brutal. I think they were BME, but switched majors already and still struggling. The average class gpa is 3.4 and the kid despite going to all office hours, using all available tutoring, studying 12/day still can barely get a B in the hardest classes. The grade deflation is real.

I'm sorry, but this is really unlikely. Perhaps you got wrong info from your friend, PP, but it's hard to believe a BME admit is going to struggle to that degree in a less demanding major, even a STEM major. And no, the grade deflation is not that bad at JHU these days.

There are some admits who struggle because they came to a selective college very unprepared, for whatever reason. However, the BME program is quite selective and they tend to screen applicants pretty well. I really doubt your friend's kid was a BME major.

My bad, they are chemical engineering major.
I’m pretty sure the average gpa in her class was either 3.4 or 3.5 and her was just 0.1 above average.

So this shows the she wasn’t an outlier who came unprepared. I know that girl, she is extremely accomplished and studied extremely hard in high school.

The problem is that she had to "study extremely hard in high school". Kids who do well at JHU had no issues in high school

[Anonymous]

I don't know for sure, but the BME departments often come from the ChemE departments (I believe this is true of Hopkins). ChemE is a punishment major. Meaning they have by far the lowest grad averages. So it's not a pleasant experience. That said, if your child is truly interested in it, go for it.

I worked for many year in interdisciplinary sciences (bio, chem, materials science, chem E, BME). It's possible to do the same work in different majors too.

[Anonymous]

This is the time to use the admissions office. Contact them and ask to speak to a BME student. They’ll find one for you to talk to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a parent of JHU freshman that it’s brutal. I think they were BME, but switched majors already and still struggling. The average class gpa is 3.4 and the kid despite going to all office hours, using all available tutoring, studying 12/day still can barely get a B in the hardest classes. The grade deflation is real.

I'm sorry, but this is really unlikely. Perhaps you got wrong info from your friend, PP, but it's hard to believe a BME admit is going to struggle to that degree in a less demanding major, even a STEM major. And no, the grade deflation is not that bad at JHU these days.

There are some admits who struggle because they came to a selective college very unprepared, for whatever reason. However, the BME program is quite selective and they tend to screen applicants pretty well. I really doubt your friend's kid was a BME major.

My bad, they are chemical engineering major.
I’m pretty sure the average gpa in her class was either 3.4 or 3.5 and her was just 0.1 above average.

So this shows the she wasn’t an outlier who came unprepared. I know that girl, she is extremely accomplished and studied extremely hard in high school.

Fiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unless the alternative is BME or BioE at Harvard, MiT, Duke, Penn, Princeton, Columbia, pick JHU. If you have one of the other options, pick for fit. Go visit.
If Hopkins is the only top option it would be insane to turn it down.
DC is BioE at one of the ivies above. Good friend is Hopkins BME and finds the grading and collaboration is similar to the ivy. Lots of intense students but in a good way, all aim for top research jobs and most get one of their top three choices. On campus is extremely easy for every student to get research. They all had top summer positions after sophomore year.

Back to reality.

USNWR 2026 Top Undergraduate Schools for Biomedical Engineering

1. Georgia Tech
1. JHU
3. Duke
4. Stanford
5. MIT
6. UMichigan
8. UC Berkely

11. Penn
17. Columbia
20. Harvard
(Princeton - Not in Top 29)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know for sure, but the BME departments often come from the ChemE departments (I believe this is true of Hopkins). ChemE is a punishment major. Meaning they have by far the lowest grad averages. So it's not a pleasant experience. That said, if your child is truly interested in it, go for it.

I worked for many year in interdisciplinary sciences (bio, chem, materials science, chem E, BME). It's possible to do the same work in different majors too.

2026 USNWR Top Undergraduate Schools for Chemical Engineering

1. MIT
2. Georgia Tech
3. Berkely

24. JHU

[Anonymous]

Just talked to my current BME sophomore. She is headed to the movies with friends. This is a Tuesday at 9pm. Not too hard to be successful in BME if you're already a strong student (which most are)

[Anonymous]

As far as difficulty

ChemE >> BME

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard from a parent of JHU freshman that it’s brutal. I think they were BME, but switched majors already and still struggling. The average class gpa is 3.4 and the kid despite going to all office hours, using all available tutoring, studying 12/day still can barely get a B in the hardest classes. The grade deflation is real.

I'm sorry, but this is really unlikely. Perhaps you got wrong info from your friend, PP, but it's hard to believe a BME admit is going to struggle to that degree in a less demanding major, even a STEM major. And no, the grade deflation is not that bad at JHU these days.

There are some admits who struggle because they came to a selective college very unprepared, for whatever reason. However, the BME program is quite selective and they tend to screen applicants pretty well. I really doubt your friend's kid was a BME major.

My bad, they are chemical engineering major.
I’m pretty sure the average gpa in her class was either 3.4 or 3.5 and her was just 0.1 above average.

So this shows the she wasn’t an outlier who came unprepared. I know that girl, she is extremely accomplished and studied extremely hard in high school.

Sketchy claim. How on earth does this Freshman know the average GPA in her class? This is not public information. Did she take a poll? I don't think people routinely go around sharing such info with their peers, and even if they did, she wouldn't have enough data to make this claim.

Chem E is a tough major anywhere. JHU does not admit by major, except for BME, and it's not uncommon for students to find they chose a major that doesn't suit them. This is not specific to Hopkins. Being extremely accomplished and studying hard in high school does not necessarily mean you are a good fit for all majors everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a current senior BME at JHU (who also has 3 premed roommates). Absolutely loves JHU! Tons of study groups within BME and sounds like the kids are very supportive of one another. Is having a blast in Baltimore (sometimes I feel like too much). Not sure of her GPA, but she was never really a kid who stressed much. No problem getting research after freshman year and then an internship the next summer. Already has a job for after graduation. If your kid is someone who enjoys working with others, they will find their people at JHU. Of course there will always be outliers like a PP friend who is studying 12/day, but that has not been my DDs experience

OP here. Thank you for sharing your experience. Was it hard for your senior to get her internship since others in her class were all going for the same type of internship? Is the post-graduation job at the same place as the internship? People are saying that most BME majors need to get a master's in order to be employable - is your DD's plan to go back to grad school at some point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just talked to my current BME sophomore. She is headed to the movies with friends. This is a Tuesday at 9pm. Not too hard to be successful in BME if you're already a strong student (which most are)

OP here. Thank you for sharing your experience. This is reassuring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know for sure, but the BME departments often come from the ChemE departments (I believe this is true of Hopkins). ChemE is a punishment major. Meaning they have by far the lowest grad averages. So it's not a pleasant experience. That said, if your child is truly interested in it, go for it.

I worked for many year in interdisciplinary sciences (bio, chem, materials science, chem E, BME). It's possible to do the same work in different majors too.

2026 USNWR Top Undergraduate Schools for Chemical Engineering

1. MIT
2. Georgia Tech
3. Berkely

24. JHU

Not bad when most could have gone to Georgia Tech and Berkeley.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know for sure, but the BME departments often come from the ChemE departments (I believe this is true of Hopkins). ChemE is a punishment major. Meaning they have by far the lowest grad averages. So it's not a pleasant experience. That said, if your child is truly interested in it, go for it.

I worked for many year in interdisciplinary sciences (bio, chem, materials science, chem E, BME). It's possible to do the same work in different majors too.

2026 USNWR Top Undergraduate Schools for Chemical Engineering

1. MIT
2. Georgia Tech
3. Berkely

24. JHU

Not bad when most could have gone to Georgia Tech and Berkeley.

GT and Berkely both have single digit OOS acceptance rates.