[Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering Applications for 2020 Admission]

4 hours ago, 5StarsDennisReynolds said:

From the results page, it seems so I guess there is some chance they might send some more!

Yeah... Got email about interviews at Stanford yesterday, it says we have to select interview slots (Zoom interviews) by 17 Jan Friday, and interviews slots are from 22 Jan - 24 Jan, and I think everyone is assigned to interview with 4 PI/student for 30min each. There might be another round of interviews though, since the visit date for admitted students are not until early March. 

Also heard back today from UCSF/Berkeley as well, interviews are February 5-7 or February 26-28. Interviewees are also requested to prepare a 3-5min research presentation. Seems like I might not be able to make both weekends though... I wonder has anyone tried to request for interviews over Skype and how does that usually work?

[2020 Stanford Biosciences]

1 hour ago, idealhelium said:

Honestly wasn't aware of how challenging it is for international applicants until learning it the hard way this year haha.. 

I saw your post on the larger biology thread - congratulations on your Harvard BBS interview! Your profile seemed really outstanding, would you mind if I pm you some specific questions? 

Yup sure, would be happy to!

[Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering Applications for 2020 Admission]

On 1/7/2020 at 11:08 AM, Red_Ranger said:

Also received an interview for MIT BE yesterday. Only one interview weekend. I think they will continue to send them throughout january. Not sure though. 

About a week ago before the official notifications yesterday, I received an email from a professor notifying me. 

Congrats! Do you mind sharing when is the interview weekend for BE?

[2020 Stanford Biosciences]

23 hours ago, Walfred said:

It is very hard for international applicants to be accepted by top rank institutions in Biomedical fields without publication or exceptional shining recommendation. 

Stanford bioscience receives around 1000 international applicants all programs add up each year, about 10% has decent grades, recommendations, and publications vs Less than 10 will be granted an offer. 

Yeah... This is true. I emailed the Director of the biophysics program at Stanford, and his reply was "If you are an international student, I highly recommend applying through BioE if you think that that program will be a good match. Both Biophysics and Biochemistry have a limited number of slots (1) for international students, while BioE’s funding has no constraints."

I don't know if it applies to the other biosciences programs, but I would think it's somewhere similar. I guess it's not impossible (and always worth a shot, part of it is definitely luck), but it's a little hard.

[2020 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

10 hours ago, ToMe said:

Thanks for the info.

To be honest I was just grasping at straws, but I did kind of know that not receiving an email probably meant a rejection. I am disappointed however that they have not sent a rejection email (and my application status is also still ‘submitted‘). Oh well, thank you guys!

Would you mind sharing your application info? And are you an international with Or without a US degree? Thanks!

I suppose I will stop lurking...

Undergrad Institution: Ivy

Major: Biochemistry and Statistics
Minor: NA
GPA in Major: NA
Overall GPA: 3.9
Type of Student: International, Asian

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 170
V: 161
W: 5.0

Research Experience:  (All during undergrad)

• 2.5 years in a molecular biology lab
• 1 semester in biostatistics
• 1 summer + 1 semester in pharmacology
• ~9 months in organic chemistry

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

• 1 co-first author paper, another 2 papers in preparation (one 2nd author and one 3rd author, not from the same lab)
• 4 conference poster presentation
• Some awards in high school but don't think it matters

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

• Currently working as a software engineer in big tech (less than a year)
• one internship experience in big pharma, one internship in big tech, another internship in biotech startup
• Teaching assistant for a few classes
• Residential counsellor
• Leadership in some clubs in undergrad, some volunteer experience

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

NA

Special Bonus Points: 

• 1 very strong rec from molecular biology PI
• 1 strong rec from pharmacology PI
• 1 decent rec from biostatistics PI (I only met him twice during my time in his lab, but we are submitting a paper together so hopefully it isn't too bad, I don't know)
• 1 strong rec from professor whom I worked with for extracurriculars, can speak on leadership

Applying to Where:

• Harvard BBS (interview 12/18)
• Harvard Systems Biology (interview 12/18)
• MIT Biological Engineering
• HST MEMP
• Caltech Bioengineering (interview 12/18)
• Stanford Bioengineering
• UC Berkeley - UCSF Bioengineering

I'm interested in synthetic biology, don't really have any experience in this area though.  

My PI (who's on the admissions committee for many years) said that international students are harder, but not significantly if you studied in the US. There's less funding for internationals but most schools do reserve some funding for internationals. He says that the LOR is the most important part, and they don't really pay very much attention to the personal statement (it's more for sanity check that you're a nice person and know what you're getting in for) so I shouldn't stress about it . 

Regarding funding for specific programs for international applicants, different biology departments seem to have varying amount of funding for internationals. Sometimes the biomedical program can only fund 1 international student every year, but another sister program (like bioengineering) can fund many internationals, even as you can probably work for the same PIs in the end. I emailed a few schools to check on their funding for international applicants before I applied. 

[2020 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

11 hours ago, ToMe said:

So apparently Harvard BBS is not anticipating sending out any more interview invites. Have any internationals gotten an interview?! So far there’s only Americans in the results listing...

And has anyone received a rejection email? In the past they have sent out rejection emails in December..

International applicant here, received interview invite last week for Harvard BBS (probably same time as everyone else). Not sure if they send it out in waves though.