bmeupscotty

Okay, I'll bite.
Undergrad Institution: Top 15 private research university
Major(s): BME with honors
Minor(s): Scientific Computing
GPA in Major: 3.89/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.86/4.00
Demographics/Background: Female, domestic

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 168 (98%)
W: 4.0 (60% whoops?)

LOR: 1 strong letter from the director of my current lab- she's psychiatry, not BME but she's very well known for neuroimaging and has a long history of mentoring successful students; 1 very strong letter from the associate director of the lab who I work very closely with. He has PhD in comp sci and I'm planning on having him focus on different things than my first letter; last one I'm hoping to get from the professor I worked under for my senior honors project. I also took classes with him so he can speak to my academic performance as well.

Research Experience: 1 summer REU with magnetic resonance spectroscopy, 1 year (honors project) using diffusion MRI on ex vivo canine muscle for fiber tracking, a little over 1 year (though will be 2 by the time I leave) post-grad working full-time as a research assistant in a neuroimaging lab working on diffusion, structural, and functional MRI analysis
 
Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 second author conference paper at a well known international imaging conference that will be published in Spinger's Lecture Notes on Computer Science (conference papers are peer reviewed and well respected in the comp sci community, btw), and possibly in a special issue of a journal. I actually wrote this paper even though I'm second on it, but I'm going to have my LOR address this. Also presented a poster on this at a Harvard Medical School research day.
 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Magna Cum Laude, Dean's List every semester
 
Fellowships/Funding: None right now
 
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 
 
Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:
 
Research Interests: If you couldn't guess already, medical image processing and analysis (especially MRI), but not sure quite yet what I specifically want to do in the field...
 
Institutions/Programs: JHU (BME), UPenn (BioE), WashU in St. Louis (BME), Georgia Tech/Emory (BME), Oxford (DPhil in Biomedical Imaging)
 
Comments: A little concerned about applying only to 5 programs that are well very competitive... but I'm particularly interested in these because they all have a ton of researchers I could see myself working with and they give you time to find an adviser. And most (except Georgia Tech) have you do rotations in different labs, which is nice.
 
Good luck everyone!

Just accepted my offer at UW, Seattle! It was a tough choice but I'm really excited about the upcoming PhD life. Congrats to everyone who's decided on their offer and all the best to the folks who're still waiting!

congrats! I do a bit of collaboration with some of the BE labs - theyre great!

Officially accepted UPenn's offer! Super excited! 

I'm going to U of Pittsburgh! Great neural engineering with great professors and matched with my top choice lab.

Accepted an offer from MIT's HST program (which was my top choice from the beginning lol)! 

Just decided to join UCSD this fall! I hope that I've made the right decision. 

Also see this post re: safety schools
For the record, this person was rejected from everywhere they applied last year and was responding to someone who told them they'd be rejected everywhere again. They've gotten at least one acceptance and an additional interview this year.
There's not anything wrong with applying to fewer programs if you're sure those are the ones with research and professors and resources that you want to work with. On the other hand, don't restrict yourself to only "top" schools if there are others that are doing what you want to do, as those might actually be better for the subfield you're interested in or just be a better fit for you.

Congratulations! In MY opinion, WashU, GaTech/Emory, and UNC/NCSU's bioengineering programs are better than that of Oxford anyway hehe  

Oh hey that's me. Like you, I basically put together too few applications. It was also done last minute when I first applied because I was going back and forth on whether I wanted to pursue a PhD due to all the negative aspects of academia. Ultimately I decided the opportunities a PhD can provide is what I wanted.
To add to that, one of my mentors made a point that even if you're qualified, part of graduate admissions is random. Your essay might have been worded in a way that irked someone on the admissions committee. There might be 20 other people who applied the same year you did and had waay more research experience/paper authorships than you did. Who knows.
Research experience counts more because at the end of the day that's what a PhD is about. It's about doing research and the PhD is the pathway to get there. Think of it as a means to an end. There is more to life than school and many other life/career trajectories you can't possibly predict. That's my philosophy at least. If you get a research  job and get into the nitty gritty of it you may realize you don't want to do that for the rest of your life...or you might realize you really want to. Then you can apply again the next year!

Hello all! Good luck with all of your interviews and decisions! I was in your shoes two years ago, and I definitely don't want to relive that stress. But, interviewing was a great experience and really helped me narrow down what I was interested in and what type of people I wanted to work with.
If you have any questions about programs, let me know! I obviously know the most about JHU, but I did go on several interviews to other programs. 

Somebody's an All-Star....
 
ีUniversity Of Wisconsin - Madison Physics, PhD (F18) Rejected via Other on 14 Feb 2018 ♦ A 14 Feb 2018 Some-body once told me my study habits were going to role me. I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed. I was lookin kinda dumb with my application done and the night I hit myself in the fore-head, cuz My scores were nowhere near good enough for this school. rip, I so badly wanted to go here. Didn't oficially get rejected but at this point I have given up hope.

@bmeupscotty Each professor has her/his own style of interviewing, so knowing your interviewers beforehand means winning half the battle. Since you have already been accepted into two of the top BME schools in the U.S., I'm sure that the Oxford interview wouldn't be much of a problem. My brother told me that they also asked him scientific questions related to his field of interest (he gave a bunch of wrong answers, but he still managed to get in :D). Since your field is imaging, you MIGHT be asked a few questions regarding some imaging techniques (ultrasound, MRI, PET, CT-scan). Best of luck! 

@thaibear Thanks for the info! That makes me feel much better about the math questions. I'll definitely ask about funding-- that's always been a big maybe with applying there. I'd LOVE to go, but I've known from the start it might very well not be possible. I don't know yet who I'll be interviewing with, but I'll post again once I know!

Legitimately shocked. Just got straight up accepted to georgia Tech (bioengineering with home school at ECE)

Got an interview invite from UPenn! Hope everyone is checking their spam folders because that's where this one went for me 

Got an interview invite from UPenn! Hope everyone is checking their spam folders because that's where this one went for me 

@bmeupscotty I'm excited for you! GaTech is one of my top choices
Oh! Since you have applied to Oxford's PhD BME Program, feel free to ask me anything. My brother is currently attending that program, and I have received tons of info from him. 

Same here! I'm going on Jan 25!

Hey guys, i've noticed that interviews are coming out now. I've started another thread for people to post interview dates, so that we can stay up-to-date from each other and possibly avoid time conflicts among all the interview weekends! Best of luck everyone!
 
https://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/100057-fall-2018-bebme-bioengineeringbiomedical-engineering-interview-dates/

Congrats!

Hey Folks,
 
I applied last year, and I know these waiting days and the interviews can be stressful for you guys. Let me know if you have any question about applications and interviews.
For the starters, don't worry much about GRE .

Your research experience is great and you've applied to a range of schools. So long as your letters of rec are positive and your statement of purpose is solid, I think you'll be fine. Don't let the trolls get you down. Good luck!

Got my first interview invitation today! Email came from the Director of Graduate Studies at WashU in St. Louis. Possible dates are January 25-27 or February 15-17. So excited! Good luck everyone!