kkimura

Hi everyone, I'm a bit on the fence with grad school right now. I'm in my final year of Engineering Physics at UBC, in the Mechatronics specialization. I've worked 8 of the last 12 months on co-op at a nearby company which is developing medical devices for cardiovascular surgery. I was on the biomedical R&D team, which makes me chuckle a bit, because the last time I took a course involving biology was in grade 9. My dilemma is this: I'm fairly certain when I graduate next year that they would offer me a full-time position, but my biology knowledge is very limited, so I feel like it would hinder me in the long run. So I'm looking at applying to grad schools in biomedical engineering. But I'd rather have the degree geared more toward the mechanical engineering side of things, so something like biomaterials, bioMEMS, biomechanics, etc. would be fitting for me. I'm looking at masters only -- don't want to go as far as a PhD. Of course, I could always just take the job too, gain some experience, then go to grad school after a few years... I'm looking at both Canada and the US, but my research hasn't gone too far yet. Looked at U of T and McGill in Canada, and looked at Stanford, MIT and Berkeley in the US, so far, although I'm not sure which I plan to actually apply to yet. 1) I'm not sure which schools are "realistic" based on my experience/achievements. 2) Are there any suggestions for schools I should look into? My knowledge of schools in the States is very limited. 3) Of the schools I've looked at, I'm quite interested in the IBBME at U of T. Does anyone here know much about it? 4) Or maybe I should just go straight to industry? My academics are quite strong, but I really don't want to pursue academia. At this point, I'm leaving all options open, but I do need to start making decisions soon. I'm not expecting people here to make the decision for me, but it'd be cool to have some outside advice. About me: -Engineering Physics Major - Mechatronics specialization -Not sure what my GPA is on a 4-point scale, as UBC just does it percentage-wise, but overall average is 88%, with a 91% average in my senior years (A, and A+ by UBC standards, respectively). -GRE: 800Q/560V. -No publications to my name, unfortunately -About 1 year of research experience accumulated: as mentioned, 8 months working in an industrial biomed R&D Team, and 4 months in an academic research lab on campus -A few small scholarships for being in the top 5% of my year, and two NSERC Undergrad Student Research Awards