thaibear

In my honest opinion, you can't really go wrong with a top 10 school and an excellent adviser who is well known in the field. Having an exceptional adviser is far more important than attending a brand-name school in my opinion. I'm pretty sure that there is barely any difference in terms of the quality of research and education among the top 10 schools in the field. My advice is to not be obsessed with the school's prestige. The quality of your PhD research and your adviser carry far more weight than the name of the school you attend for PhD.

Congrats on finalizing your decision! Guess I'll see you this fall!

Yeah, I was really struggling when I had to decide. I narrowed down my choices to UCSD vs. UW (my interests fit really well with the labs at both institutions) but decided to attend UCSD due to the uni's perfect weather and location.

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

@barbarr Congratulations! Where will you be attending this Fall?

Just got accepted to UCSD! I wish to specialize in tissue engineering and have now narrowed my options down to UCSD vs. University of Washington. Both the weathers in Seattle and San Diego are fine for me (as I'm accustomed to both types of weather). I really like the labs from both universities in terms of research interests and personality fit. UW seems to offer a better stipend than UCSD. So, I'm having a really hard time deciding where to go. Any suggestions from you guys are greatly appreciated!

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

@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!

@bmeupscotty My brother had an interview 4 years ago (he's graduating from Oxford BME this year), and he told me that they asked him questions like "What is the approximate size of this room (the room the interviewers are in)?" and "How many milk cartons can fit inside this room?" Don't stress about it too much though. If you don't know the answer to the question, it's okay to say that you do not know the answer. However, you should try your very best in answering their questions. The questions are designed to test the way you think rather than the actual answer. If possible, be sure to ask them about funding opportunities available for international students. UK universities usually provide funding for students within the EU only. By the way, do you know the name of your interviewers?

Just got an acceptance email from UW BioE!

Hello, I was not invited to the campus visit. In fact, I just got an acceptance letter last week... "Congratulations! We are pleased to inform you of your admission to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School program for Biomedical Engineering PHD. The University of Wisconsin is a renowned institution and you have been selected from a very qualified group of applicants."

POI at UCSD BioE just sent me an email 2 hours ago inviting me to do a Skype interview with him.

@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.

@bmeupscotty When did GaTech send out their acceptances? (Congratulations by the way.) I haven't heard from them since I applied.

Hi, I am pretty sure that JHU sends out interview invites over multiple days. To answer your question, my research area is biomaterials and tissue engineering. Good luck!