heistotron
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Posts posted by heistotron
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On 5/31/2021 at 11:44 AM, galangal_gal said:
I'll start with my profile. I'd also love to know if anyone else is struggling with writing their SOPs lol.
Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): top 5 (US) in engineering/cheme
Major(s): Chemical engineering
GPA in Major: 4.00/4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00/4.00
Demographics/Background: domestic applicant, Asian female. applying straight from undergrad.
GRE Scores: I'm taking it later this summer but half the schools I'm applying to don't require it.
LOR: 2 from PIs I did research with, 1 from my internship mentor who is a PhD scientist.
Research Experience: 2 semesters in an environmental engineering lab, 2 semesters in a materials science lab, 1 semester in a mechanical engineering lab, 1 summer REU and 1 R&D internship at a well-known company.Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 3 presentations, no publications
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 1 technical award and 1 innovation award from the presentations
Fellowships/Funding: received about $25,000 in grants throughout undergrad.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: tutoring, volunteering at nonprofits
Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): no connections
Research Interests: biomaterials
Institutions/Programs: MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UW Seattle, U Minnesota, Northwestern, U Chicago, WUSTL
Comments: all of my programs are super competitive, I know, but if I don't get into any I will just find a research-related job to strengthen my application since I know I'm somewhat at a disadvantage applying straight out of undergrad.
Applied last year with a far worse profile and still got into a few top 10 programs, so I think you can bank on getting into the majority of your top choices. ChemE PhD admissions is highly competitive but your profile would be above average for admits even at places like MIT and the majority of admits are also direct from undergrad. I also didn't take the GRE.
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3 hours ago, Chlorine said:
I've gotten into the schools for chemical engineering PhD (learning Catalysis) and would appreciate any input regarding all of your opinions on the PhD school selection standard.
My goal is to work in academia eventually, but I am also open to work in industry. I know the ranking changes every year but I think Delaware is 6, Purdue 15, U Penn 15, and Boulder around 18 (US News 2018) in chemical engineering. Since these are all top 20, is there a large significance between Delaware (top 10) and Purdue (top 20), for example? Or should I take care more about general engineering ranking (Purdue), or more general ranking (U Penn)? Or should I only consider the faculty and research area, regardless of the aforementioned ranking things?
I appreciate your opinion in advance!
For PhD programs, departmental reputation > general university reputation in terms of research/industry/academia prospects and student body quality.
US News Rankings are generally more reflective of academic perceptions of departmental quality than most other rankings, but they still fluctuate from year to year so I wouldn't worry too much about the actual ranking. In terms of research quality & industrial prospects, there is likely minimal difference between Delaware v.s. Purdue, but if you're planning on academia the program at Delaware is definitely more prestigious and the faculty even more well-connected.
Going by departmental reputation, your programs would roughly go: Delaware > Penn > Boulder > Purdue (with Delaware being a cut above all the others and Boulder being closer to Penn than Purdue as Boulder's been closer to top 10 than top 20 and steadily climbing upwards still these days).
I don't think Boulder is too hot on catalysis (could be wrong) but it's definitely one of Delaware's strong points and UPenn has some good faculty there as well. At this point if it's all the same to you Delaware would be the best choice overall as it will best set you up for academia (while having unparalleled industrial connections with DuPont, Dow etc.) and Penn as a second choice as it's departmental reputation is comparable to the other choices and its brand name is an extra icing on the cake for general networking purposes(ChemE academia will still respect Delaware > Penn though).
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4 hours ago, zoees said:
I just got recommended for MS at UCSD and waitlisted at UF within 3 minutes of each other, wow. Anyone know the likelihood of getting off the UF waitlist?
I'm not sure what the chances are of getting off a wait-list from a BME PhD Program in normal times, and how that might change at current times. Hopefully things will work out soon enough - one of my friends that was wait-list at a top 20 bioengineering program was told that he would be notified about final wait-list decisions by early April.
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13 hours ago, jienigui said:
Will all BU offers come out? Anyone still waiting for the decisions?
According to results page it's been more than a couple weeks since their last PhD offers went out, and it looks like the number of acceptance posts are comparable/if not exceeding previous years. There were people who heard back today from the PhD program and they were wait-listed. However, it looks like they're still releasing Masters offers. Sorry not to have better news ?
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9 hours ago, idklol said:
Just wanted to hear some words from the reject side of things...I applied for BME schools and I've been rejected by 5 schools (including my own), and had a PI interview that was then rejected (so basically a 6th reject), and the 2 schools I'm waiting on are Georgia Tech and CMU but it seems late now to receive an interview request. Any general advice for a sadboi reject? What should I do next year? How do people come back strong from complete rejection during the next cycle? I don't have anything lined up for next year yet but my ultimate goal is a PhD
Someone mentioned you could do a post-bacc and that's a worthwhile situation. I'd also start applying for jobs, especially engineering/technician/research associate/quality control roles, ideally in biotech companies, as any full-time work experience greatly strengthens an app. You can even poke around in your department/home institution labs to see if anyone would be willing to hire you as a lab technician for full-time. The next time you apply, I'd also apply to more schools, including more lower-ranked programs. BME looked extremely competitive this year so and it's hard to say you didn't get in solely because you didn't have the credentials, so applying to more programs will help with this.
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4 hours ago, sleepy_fugacity said:
I don't see more than 1 result for Michigan posted yet. Did they release several results last week?
Based on Gradcafe history, looks like UMichigan ChemE has a habit of admitting a few people every week from mid-Dec until mid-late March.
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17 hours ago, sunshinewater said:
Someone said they got a phone call from UCSB. Is this the normal timeline? The deadline was hardly 10 days ago!
Did anyone else hear from UCSB? Any International students?
You're right I'm not sure if this is their regular timeline, and I did resort to Gradcafe for that one post. That being said I have heard of people receiving interviews/admits even within ~5 days of the final application deadline and some programs do this to varying degrees e.g. UC Berkeley.
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Iowa State, Michigan, and UC Santa Barbara results are out I believe.
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13 hours ago, ohboyherewegoagain said:
Hey everyone, I'm applying for Fall 2021 admission and I recently received an interview invite for Harvard Bioengineering. Interview slated for December 20th (happening way faster than I anticipated!) From what I read online the interview process seems pretty decentralized so I'm not sure if this is THE interview or just an informal chat-type deal. I'm also really interested in the joint HST program so maybe that'll help me there? I don't know ach
Good luck everyone
Congrats! How is this possible though - don't SEAS PhD applications just closed 5PM yesterday?
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Both GPA and the quality of research experience fall under a continuum - there aren't strict cutoffs for GPA in most top programs. That being said while most students in top 20 programs will have GPAs above 3.5, it's still likely the case a 3.7 is more competitive and would help more than a 3.5 for example. But admission committees are unlikely to be concerned about a 3.7 versus a 3.65.
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On 7/4/2020 at 9:50 AM, Uma4783 said:
Thanks for replying heistotron. I really love colorado's program. What backgrounds do those people have if you don't mind me asking? (if you know). What kind of research did they do in school? Or did they go into industry first? Are they on this forum? Sorry for all the questions lol.
PM'd to avoid doxxing.
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13 hours ago, polymer engineer said:
This was posted in last year's forum. Found it really helpful so wanted to share with this group as well! https://imgur.com/a/Tng2r
This is great! I do want to note though, that for a lot of schools outside the top 5, accepted GPA doesn't necessarily mean enrolled GPA (which is usually lower). Understandably, the strongest candidates (usually with very high GPAs) will be admitted at a lot of programs, but are less likely to commit if it's not a UC Berkeley/Caltech/MIT etc.
Thus, even schools in the lower top 10 e.g. UT Austin may see a drop between accepted GPA and enrolled GPA, as candidates who are not as strong and without as much offers are more likely to commit. In their 2017-2018 data, UT Austin's average accepted GPA was a 3.88, but had an enrolled GPA of 3.83. Source: https://gradschool.utexas.edu/admissions/where-to-begin/admissions-and-enrollment-statistics
Mind you, they're not big drops to begin with at a top 10 program like UT Austin, but less competitive programs are more likely to see bigger differences between average and enrolled GPAs. What this means is, if you see an average accepted GPA that makes you hesitate to apply to a program, more often than not your chances aren't as bad as you think. Finally, people that post results + stats on Gradcafe also heavily skew towards the most competitive/highest achievers and may not fully represent the applicant pool. Still, there are some exceptions like MIT in the provided link with an average GPA that's pretty much in line with official stats.
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3 hours ago, polymer engineer said:
Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): Virginia Tech
Major(s): Chemical Engineering, Focus in Polymers
Minor(s): none
GPA in Major: 3.61/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.51/4.00 *upward trajectory, >3.8 my last two years
Demographics/Background: male, white, US citizen
GRE Scores: haven't taken it yet but I'm targeting >= 165 V/Q, and 4.5 W
Q: 169 (highest practice score taken so far)
V: 155 (highest practice score taken so far)
W: 5 (highest practice score taken so far)
LOR: 1 research advisor in undergrad (strong), 1 PhD scientist I know in industry, 1 post doc or PI from research experience post college
Research Experience: 2 years undergrad (polymers, additive manufacturing, rheology), 3 years industry (porous membranes, surface science), 3 months university lab (neuroscience)
Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 co first author publication, 1 poster presentation at graduate student assembly, a couple posters and presentations in industry
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Scholarship (x2), Deans list student
Fellowships/Funding: n/a
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: EHS internship, Project manager for research group in industry, tutored calc and chemistry, STEM mentor for high school science projects
Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: rode bicycle across US for charity
Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.):
Research Interests: biomaterials, regenerative medicine, polymers
Institutions/Programs: Duke (BioE), UFlorida (ChemE), UT Austin (ChemE), Northwestern (BioE), Penn State (BioE)
Comments:
I can't help but think places like Columbia/UPenn would be great in terms of tissue engineering research. They both have strong BME programs and their proximity to medical campuses only help (from my understanding a lot of faculty are funded by NIH grants).
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I'll start:
Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): R1 Public, US News Top 100 for National Universities (top 50 for ChemE grad schools)
Major(s): Chemical Engineering
Minor(s): Biological Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.84/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.79/4.00
Demographics/Background: International Male, Asian
GRE Scores: haven't taken; practice tests consistently 165Q
Q: xxx (xx%)
V: xxx (xx%)
W: x.x (xx%)
LOR: 1x strong (from main PI), 1x good (from summer REU), haven't decided 3rd (probably from instructor I TA'd for)
Research Experience: 2.5 years materials science research in undergrad, 1 summer REU in biocatalysisPublications/Abstracts/Presentations: 5x posters (including regional & national conferences), 1x oral presentation
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2x poster prizes, year-long research fellowship & travel award from my home university, engineering scholarship
Fellowships/Funding: Ineligible for everything as international ?
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: ChemE tutor and TA'd a couple classes,
Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: N/A
Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): One of my recommenders did their postdoc at MIT, but I feel this holds true for a lot of recommenders
Research Interests: Catalysis (either protein based e.g. biocatalysis or materials-based e.g. zeolites, porous materials)
Institutions/Programs: All for PhD in ChemE
Loooooong shot (UC Berkeley already discourages internationals from applying to begin with) :
- UC Berkeley
- MIT
If lucky:
- UC Santa Barbara
- UMinnesota
- UW Madison
- UT Austin
- Northwestern
- Columbia
- UPenn
- Johns Hopkins
Should have a reasonable shot at:
- Cornell
- CU Boulder
- UWashington
- UArkansas
- UVA
*How I feel about my chances are based off of discussions with my advisor, as well as having seen admission stats/class profiles at programs that release them
Comments:
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On 5/24/2020 at 11:15 AM, daromi said:
I can't say whether or not you could get into a top tier university, but generally that shouldn't stop you from applying. In the application process you want to apply to to 2-3 dream schools, 2-3 realistic, and 2-3 fall back schools. Minimum GPA and GRE scroes are required just for your application to get looked at but they ultimately don't decide whether you get accepted. What schools are really looking for is research potential and your experience speaks to that greatly. A publication will definitely help you a lot! With a GPA of 3.7 and good GRE scores I would encourage you to apply to schools like U Colorado if that's where you want to attend.
I have a GPA of 3.5 (with strong upward trajectory) and I plan to apply to UT Austin and I feel like I have a decent shot of getting in based on my research experience if that says anything.
On 5/12/2020 at 7:28 AM, Uma4783 said:Hello guys. I am a junior chemical engineering major, am not applying for PhD until Fall 2021 however as I am doing a 5 year BS/MS. Having difficulties deciding what tier I would apply to.
At the time of applying I will have two posters, 3 years in the same lab, one research internship, plus part of my MS thesis, and maybe a pub if everything goes perfectly. Not sure yet about GRE but I assume it will be okay.
The main issue is my GPA, I will have a 3.7 cumulative and engineering at the time of application but that is after 3 retakes and 2 pass/fail (this is for COVID semester). Is this enough to prevent me from applying to high tier schools. I was thinking University of Colorado?
Thanks for any help lol.
I agree with @daromi A 3.5GPA seems to be the "cutoff" for the most tippity top schools and even so, upward trajectories are very favorable and the entire application is still likely to be considered holistically. Anecdotally, I know a couple people with <3.6GPAs and no publications still get into CU Boulder's PhD program in ChemE -- your chances for CU Boulder seem to be very solid.
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With the looming recession it'll be good to cut down on costs. The ballpark cost difference between your two programs looks to be about $70k (Northeastern total) v.s. $160k (JHU total). Northeastern BME is no Johns Hopkins, but it's still a very well-respected program with strong industrial placement & connections. And if you later decide on pursuing further grad school through a PhD/MD, then you'll be glad you have $90k less in loans than you'd have had otherwise.
I don't know what to comment in terms of coursework difficulty, but I would think that doing well at Northeastern in terms of coursework and even research perhaps will set you up very well for getting into top PhD programs in BME or solid jobs in industry.
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20 hours ago, shoyemiademola said:
Unrelated but what research field do you guys think is most popular among ChemE departments?
Curious as well. My uni's department (R1) has a fairly even mix of cancer biology, biofuels, catalysis, computational and modeling, materials, polymers, and even process optimization. The one thing my department does not have is electrochemistry (afaik this field is becoming more and more uncommon amongst ChemE departments).
Amongst applicants, I'd wager the most popular research field would be some form of bio-engineering, whether it be in biomaterials, biocatalysis, protein engineering/therapeutics, and synthetic biology.
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Stats are Ok but there are much bigger questions. What are your research interests? Are you aiming for masters or PhD programs? You definitely have very reasonable odds at chemical engineering programs ranked 50-100 and I would apply to a few higher ranked ones as well. But most important thing is to figure out what you actually want to work on and that's not something people can easily recommend without you providing more info.
How bad is my situation? Applying for bioengineering/BME PhD programs
in Engineering
Posted
Dipping in GPA anytime in the past year would probably be looked at with a lot more leniency than at any time, to an extent, so you have that going for you at least.
Talking to people from top 5-10 BioE programs, a 3.59 is roughly around the "minimum" GPA that they'd still consider acceptable for a traditional student. The fact that you have first authored paper, extensive research experience, and even a biotech internship makes you extremely competitive, so I would definitely not not consider applying to the top programs. That being said, it's still worth noting that some of the tippy top programs e.g. MIT/Caltech/Berkeley are still very GPA centric even with their claims of holistic admissions and not caring as much about GPA. All that really translates to is they're not necessarily looking for someone with a 4.0, but all else being equal (to the extent you can have something like this) a highly qualified applicant with a 4.0 is more likely to edge out someone with barely a 3.8. Fortunately, head-to-head matchups rarely if ever happens and not having a very high GPA is far from a disqualifier, but it still does put you at a disadvantage since there are a lot of people with both high GPAs and extensive research experience (if not necessarily first-authored papers). What this means application-wise, is that I would apply to an equal number of programs between the top 10 and top 20, and still apply to at least 3 programs at top 30 or below as programs you'd have a much better shot of getting into. I know all too many people even with high GPAs and lots of research experience apply to programs ranked 1-10 and getting 0 admits since luck is still a factor in the end.
You can definitely update applications with fall grades, especially for BioE programs that don't issue interview invites/acceptances until mid January at the least, but from my general understanding this would still have little to no effect.