Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): Average Canadian School, but decently well-known for research
Major(s): (Combined Degree)
BSc in Chemical Engineering with a Biomedical Engineering Specialization BSc in Pure & Applied Mathematics Minor(s): N/A GPA in Major: 3.92/4.00 (Chem Engg) 3.99/4.00 (Math) Overall GPA: 3.94/4.00 Demographics/Background: 1st Gen Middle Eastern, but I guess that makes me white according to the Americans lol
GRE Scores: Q: 169 (96%) V: 164 (94%) W: 5.5 (98%) LOR: 1 from a well-known prof I did a summer studentship with, 1 from a chem engg prof I've gotten to know very well over 3 courses, and 1 from a math prof I took 3 courses with and TA'd with. Considering replacing one of the latter two with my boss from my 16 month R&D internship?
Research Experience: 4 months at a Bioprocessing Lab that ended in a conference poster, 16 month R&D internship for a polymers company, and final year thesis in biomedical engineering.
Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 poster presentation at a conference. Is it worth mentioning technical memos published internally within the R&D company I worked for?
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: A great deal of undergraduate scholarships (around 6, none of which were particularly huge in payout) and a summer studentship award.
Fellowships/Funding: Applying to some in Canada, but I don't think those are available for me in the US...
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA'ing for the math department this year, and tutored at the student success centre for my Uni for a year.
Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: I did both of the above degrees in a matter of 4 years by taking 7 courses most semesters, and 8 courses one summer. Will graduate with 84 courses of credit.
Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): Not as of yet.. Will reach out to faculty this week.
Research Interests: Simulation and modelling of clinically relevant problems - computational medicine, computational biology, and transport phenomena.
Institutions/Programs: Applying to "reasonable" schools within Canada, and all of my "dream" schools in the US:
Johns Hopkins
Caltech
Stanford
UCB
UCSB
UCLA
MIT
GA Tech
UPenn
UT Austin
Minnesota
CMU
Comments: Looking for an honest evaluation of my chance at a PhD admittance at these schools.. I'm kinda worried about the lack of research experience in using computational tools in biomed. My summer studentship was in stem cell culture scale up and my senior thesis is on biomaterials and iPSC maturation. The R&D job did involve a great deal of Python programming and simulation, but it was all plastics related. Thoughts, suggestions, feedback??