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It seems like you should also consider whether or not the PhD is your end goal or if you are fine with a terminal Masters. If you want to do academia and research for sure, then it is a no brainer to do the PhD at UCLA. If you are just interested in going to industry and are ready to just finish school and start a career, then do the Masters. These are very different options in my opinion, and I worry less about the school rank and more about what it is you exactly want to do. And since one program is in chem and the other in enviro eng it seems like these are different fields and you should consider what it is you want to accomplish. Anyways, I am from Cali, and I actually have spent most my educational career at UCLA, and to me both UCLA and Stanford are well respected. Sure, Stanford's name is almost always ranked higher than UCLA, but not by miles or anything.

Damn...I'm hoping USC isn't done with acceptances yet. There hasn't really been much talk of USC and nobody has posted on the results survey so I just assumed there was nothing happening yet. It seems like not a lot of people around here are applying there?

Got my Northwestern rejection via website today (along with a lot of other people it seems). I am also definitely assuming JHU is a rejection so it looks like we are on the same boat. What a rough application year. I am going to keep my fingers crossed for USC since it doesn't sound like anyone has heard anything (positive or negative) yet from them. Seems like one of the last reasonable shots.

@Musikalgeak - congrats on the interview at UFL! Hope you get an offer. When did you hear from JHU and Northwestern??? That is the fist I have heard of anyone getting rejection news from those schools. Ahhh, I know I have 0 chance at JHU, I really wish they would send me a formal rejection as well.

Yeah Duke sounds awesome. I really like the work they are doing out there. And JHU is like the holy grail of BME so I can imagine how tough a decision is must be...just sucks that JHU is in baltimore! Haha, and yeah I am from cali so I totally agree with you on Stanford for location. That was one of my biggest draws there...I don't personally particularly like the culture on that campus because people seem a bit pretentious to me, but it is in a pretty ideal spot. hehe and not to rush you or anything, but if you are for sure not going to UMich, would you mind declining your offer? I think there are a few of us here that are in a gray area with them and could use any extra help if possible. Good luck on the JHU interviews!

NICE admits with Duke and UMich!! Congrats! Those are both solid schools for sure. You should def not be disappointed at all with those. I would be hard pressed to call those "2nd tier", maybe lower "1st tier" or something. And with an interview at JHU, you are looking at top schools. I really can't figure out who actually does get into MIT or HST...it doesn't even sound like people are getting interviews over there. Stanford also seems unusually tough this year for not being a top 5 BME school. I think we are all in a rough admit year this year. Sounds like numbers are abnormally high and I can only guess with the crappy economy and govt. cuts on research grants that competition is fierce. I'm guessing JHU would be your number 1 choice from your list of available options. If it came down to Duke and UMich do you know which you would go with?

Do you mind saying which places you got into, rejected, and interviews? You might have a shot at UCSD and Penn though because I think a number of people have gotten straight rejections (including myself) from those schools. I'm also a little disappointed with not getting some more interviews. My undergrad GPA was terrible, but it was in psychology and it was like 10 years ago. Since then I have taken all the undergrad engineering core classes, plus upper divs, plus a year's worth of graduate courses with about 3.8 GPA for a Masters in EE, but yet admissions people keep telling me I am being considered but most likely will get rejected because my undergrad GPA was low. It really surprises me just how ridiculous it is these days to get into good programs. For those that are getting into top programs (MIT, Caltech, UCSD, UCSF/UCB, JHU, etc), I give you all serious props and you must be rocks stars in bme.

I don't think it can hurt to e-mail profs for a Masters. You are going to have to write a thesis so you are going to still need an adviser just like a PhD applicant would. The only difference is that you aren't finding out if the POI has space and funding in their lab, you are just trying to see what type of work they are doing and if they would have potential thesis work for you to do. Plus, the POI you talk to might be on admissions committee, so it never hurts to make some contacts, get your name out there, and show some interest.

Man, your numbers aren't even really that low! It is just crazy how super competitive apps are this year. I talked to someone on the admissions committee at Boston University and heard they turned down a 5.0/5.0 GPA from MIT. So numbers really aren't exactly everything. Looks like you only applied to west coast schools? Is there any reason you didn't want to venture out? Unfortunately, basically all the BME PhD schools on the west coast are all highly ranked. Good luck on the rest of your schools, if it helps at all I already got a reject from UCSD so if you haven't heard anything from them you could be on some sort of waitlist. If you have to apply again next year, consider applying to schools outside the west coast and you should have a great shot at lots of places.

You have some good stats (except the GRE writing is abnormally low--not sure how much this will affect you, but it is below average even for engineers). Are those papers secondary authors? I would recommend trying to get a first author paper if you can, it doesn't HAVE to be published by the time you apply. Even if you can just start on a paper, you can at least list in your CV the paper as "in progress" or something. Do you eventually want a PhD or are you looking at a terminal Masters? Your stats would be good enough for a PhD program right now so you could skip the M.S. if that is all you care about. Otherwise, I don't know where you would have heard that getting into a Masters is harder than a PhD. That doesn't make any sense to me. I could only see this as being true if you are trying to get into a FUNDED Masters, in which case those are extremely rare and I can see it being tough to get into, not because of competition but just because of how rare those programs are. You should go through the "BME Applicant Profile" pages (there is a thread for each year, do a forum search to find the older ones) and check out the stats that other people post and the results they received from various schools. I would think your stats are good enough for a non-funded Masters at any of those schools you listed. You would even have a decent shot at a funded PhD at those schools, although I would definitely include some extra "safety" backups just in case. And you should definitely contact POIs before applying...I recommend e-mailing them around September (at the start of the next school year since they will have a good idea of whether or not they are accepting any more students for 2013). But yeah, you have about 8 months until apps are due so you should spend that time doing as much research and publishing as you can. Start writing your personal statement now, get feedback from lots of people. Start asking profs for letters of rec in the summer so they have a couple months to write it (they can be very slow in this). Also, I am terrible at this, but try to apply as early as you can before the deadline. This way your transcripts, GRE scores, letter of recs, etc will be all complete by the actual deadline and will be sure to get reviewed in time. Hope that helps a bit, good luck!

oh wow, I'm sorry to hear this. I am currently in the program and I think it has gotten a lot more competitive lately...I don't think they really rejected anyone when I started 3 years ago. If you give me some info on your background and stats I might be able to offer you some advice for getting in for spring.

I'm glad you found some of my advice helpful. I really feel you on this. And I can only imaging how hard this must be having to try and sort things out from India and online. It seems like the most important firs step for you is to figure out exactly what you want to do. There are actually quite a few paths you could take that involve physics, mech/elec and bio. For instance you could go down the artificial intelligence and machine learning route. Or you could do signal processing and study neuroimaging (which is what I do). You could do a program in medical engineering and medical physics (google: "MIT hst memp"). There are sooooo many careers that use a combination of all those disciplines you mentioned. BUT, in order for you to get into a good PhD program, you need to have a more clear idea of which program fits you the best and which direction you want to head down. In your application you are expected to mention specific people you would work with and what types of projects you see yourself doing with those people. So while you have lots of options and your schooling might slightly change directions along the way, you need to have a good idea of what direction you are heading towards in order to get accepted. They are less likely to accept people who can only say that they are interested in these broad fields but don't know exactly what they want to do. Now, how you figure all this out is probably the hardest thing for people. And since you are not in the US, it might even be trickier. I think continuing on with classes could be helpful and will at least help you recognize what types of fields you are better in. However, I always believe hands on experience is the most helpful. I don't know how feasible it is for you to try and find an RA (research assistant) job either around India or on a work visa for the U.S. But being an RA in a lab you would want to work for would help you in so many ways: you would get experience seeing what that particular field of research is doing, you will understand what it takes to be a research scientist, you will hopefully get to contribute to projects and publish, you will get to know lots of high up people, you could get a great letter of rec out of it, and most importantly, if you love that lab and want to do a PhD there, your adviser can most certainly help you get into the program. If doing something like that isn't possible for you, than it is going to be a bit more of a gamble. You should definitely read lots of articles from labs you think you might like and get a sense if that work excites you. It is much harder to really know for sure by doing it this way, but at least you can get a better idea of what is out there and if you are excited about anything. From there, you can try to just apply places and see if you get lucky. It would probably be worth applying to both Masters and PhD programs just in case.

@Musikalgeak - sounds like you and me are applying for a lot of the same spots...I too am going for BME PhD in neuroengineering. In fact, I applied everywhere you did except UFL and Caltech. I have no shot at Caltech and I had no idea UFL had a neuroengineering program, I wish I would have applied there as a safety. Here are my stats to compare: Undergrad Institution: Top 25 US school Major(s): Psychobiology GPA: 2.57 - embarrassingly low, I had no intention of doing any type of grad school and just wanted to pass classes. Obviously my weakest link, however this was about 10 years ago for me and I'm much more mature now Type of Student: US male Graduate Institution: Top 10 BME school Major(s): M.S. in Electrical Engineering (concentration in bioelectrics, thesis in BME lab) GPA in Major: 3.74 GRE Scores: Q: 770 V: 600 W: 5.5 Research Experience: 3 years full-time RA in neuroimaging/neuropsychology lab at a top 5 hospital/med school 1 year full-time RA in BME lab at Masters university Publications: 2 first author published abstracts 2 first author poster presentations at international conferences 2 first author papers (in review) 9 secondary authors in peer-reviewed journals 3 strong LORs from well known professors in neuroimaging and bme Applied for BME [PhD] at: UCSD, USC, UCLA, UCB/UCSF, Stanford, U Washington, Duke, MIT, U Michigan, UPenn, Columbia, Northwestern, JHU, U Pitts, Brown, U Minnesota, Boston U, CCNY Rejected: UCSD, UCB/UCSF, Stanford, U Washington, MIT, UPenn, U Minnesota Interviews: Columbia Accepted: Boston University (with funding) Yes, I applied to 18 schools. I'm tired of going through this process (my 3rd time) and I'm relatively older for an applicant so I didn't want to take any chances. I am pretty happy about BU and am glad I have a potential home. At this point, I am assuming all the other schools are going to reject me. I think maybe USC, Northwestern, Brown, UPitts, and CCNY are still not done with apps. I think UCLA, Duke, and JHU have already accepted or interviewed all their applicants. I was contacted by a U Michigan POI that wanted me in his lab but didn't have any power in making U Mich accept me. He basically said that it looks like I am getting rejected.

@werd814: what departments are you applying to? If it is engineering than Berkeley usually does carry a lot more weight than Harvard. But if it is more in general sciences, Harvard is pretty damn good. Plus, as you said, you can never go wrong with having the Harvard name. Haha and actually looking at your list of apps, ANY of those names will be extremely solid. I know you don't think UW carries as much weight as the ivys, BUT I am from the west coast and UW is extremely well regarded. I too am living in new england now so I can see why you don't see UW as alluring, but believe me, people from the west coast respect UW as much as just about any of the other programs you have listed. In fact, on the west coast, more random people would be able to tell you that UW is Seattle than they would be able to tell you what city Yale, Columbia, or Hopkins are located in. Sounds crazy, but I guarantee you this is true. If I were in your situation, I would probably choose Harvard if Berkeley offers no funding or at least so little that you would need to take loans. Also, how bad is the Harvard PI fit? Because if Berkeley's fit is like a 10 and Harvard was a 8 or 9, than Harvard probably still wins out. Now, if Berkeley were a 10 and Harvard is a 6, than you probably have some just cause picking Berkeley (even without funding).

I guess I was in a somewhat similar situation a few years ago. I was originally pre-med and due to many factors I ended up having a terrible gpa (<3.0) and then I decided to switch to engineering. I did some research for a year and decided to try applying for BME PHDs but was rejected everywhere. A year later, I found a special program at Boston University, called the LEAP program, which is designed for NON-engineering undergrads to spend time making up undergrad core engineering classes and then move onto completing a Masters degree in any of the engineering disciplines (I chose electrical engineering with a concentration in bioelectrics). It has now taken me 3 years to complete this degree, but I have done some good work, made some good connections and have been accepted to BU's BME PhD program with generous funding (BU is ranked top 10 in BME). I am also going to be interviewing at Columbia in a couple weeks. So for advice: 1. Get a Masters degree before trying to get a PhD. Since you don't have a background in engineering or research work it will be very difficult to get into a good PhD program. I would also HIGHLY advise you to get a Masters in a more technical discipline like electrical, mechanical, or computer engineering. SInce you don't have the traditional engineering background, it would be more helpful to do your Masters in a less sciency, more math/physics technical degree in order to complement your bio knowledge. Having this combined bio and math foundation will make you a stronger candidate. Some people would disagree with this, but believe me, I am 28 now and have gotten tons of professional and academic guidance on this. If your undergrad degree were specifically in BME, than getting a BME Masters would be fine. But if you just get a BME Masters, you won't get the strong technical aspect that the undergrads had to go through and PhD admissions will wonder if you can handle heavy math-based courses. 2. Do lots of research and PUBLISH. This is incredibly important for getting a PhD. They want to see that you have research ability and can write papers since this is your primary purpose in grad school. I currently have about 5 years of full-time research in top engineering and medical schools, 2 first author published abstracts, 2 poster presentations, 2 first author papers in review, and I am listed as a secondary author on about 10 other peer reviewed papers. I solely believe this is the only thing really going for me to help me get into these good PhD programs. These publications have been key to overcoming my very weak GPA. I also got out 3 great letters of reference from my advisers, whom are well known in both BME and neuroimaging, which is what I am pursuing. 3. Do well on the general GRE. You don't need a subject GRE if you are going for BME PhDs. Shoot for 780-800 on quantitative, 600+ on verbal, and 5.0+ on writing. These are the average scores listed for top BME PhD programs. Also, since you are international, you really need to shine since it is harder for you to get into US schools. Make sure your scores are strong. All in all, work on getting a good Masters and publish some papers while doing your thesis. That is probably the most useful thing you can do at this point if your goal is to get a BME PhD. You should actually consider the BU LEAP program I am in. You sound like a good fit for it and if you are eager to get started I believe the application period is still open for Fall 2012. Let me know if you have any other questions, best of luck!

According to US News, neither of those are ranked higher than 30 in chem, correct? So really I am sure they will be looked at similarly by potential employers. Perhaps you should consider where you want to work after you graduate. Networking is a big part of grad school and your adviser should know people in the industry and potentially help you find jobs. If you want to stay on the west coast it would make sense the UC Davis would be the way to go, otherwise CMU would probably be better for the east coast.

Your case seems like a pretty easy choice. The difference between 14 and 17, and even 14 to 20 is very minimal. Keep in mind a lot of the rankings are more of a range. So like a school ranked 14 could easily be reasonably thought of as 10-18, and a 17 rank could be a 13-21 range. So I personally don't think numbers that close really matter. At that point I would just choose which adviser is a better fit and which name brand gains more respect. Since you are applying for a M.S. I am guessing none of those are funded, but I would imagine cost should be a pretty big factor as well. I am still curious if anyone else has any input on my situation? Again, BU is ranked like 8 in BME and Columbia is closer to 20. But BU is like #40 in general grad engineering while Columbia is 16.

yeah it sounds like everything is wrapping up. I get the sense that if there are any schools left that haven't said anything one way or another, that it is a rejection. I am not sure if there are any schools that accept without interviews or open houses, it is pretty tough to find all that info.

Oh I actually indirectly factored most of those things into my considerations. But let me address these valid concerns: 1. Income taxes - As a full-time student you will not owe taxes in California. In fact, if you are currently not a student and just working, then next year for taxes you should actually get back almost all the money you are taxed this year in educational tax breaks. When I moved from Cali to Boston to start full-time graduate work, I was returned about $5,000 in the first tax season of being in school. 2. Health insurance - This is usually covered in tuition as it is required by the UC system that all student have valid health insurance. In fact, the health insurance through the UC system is very good. 3. There are no heating and no A/C costs in Southern Cali. Not to exaggerate too much, but the average temps for Southern Cali are lows in the 60's and highs in the upper 70's. Most the year stays between 72-78 degrees year round (especially in the winter). The estimates I used in calculating utility expenses was actually a bit higher than what I typically paid year round living with 1 other roommate. There no differences in utilities based on season in Southern Cal 4. Loan/credit card payments - This is actually VERY valid and I guess I just assumed the OP has no debt. But you are right, you would have to individually factor this into the equation. However, you should be aware that all student loans will be deferred while you are a full-time student so while it would be nice to start paying these off during grad school, it is not absolutely necessary, especially if money is already tight. Ok, I hope this addressed all the concerns. As you can see, these things don't really affect my previous calculations (minus the debt stuff is applicable). Again, to qualify my experience, I lived in LA for 8 years and moved 8 times (once every year) and lived in rented apartments spanning from more ghetto areas like Culver City to more expensive areas like Santa Monica and Redondo Beach. The prices I listed were very on par for any of these areas. I love LA and socal in general and have had to deal with finding apts and moving many many times. If you have any specific questions about general socal costs, please feel free to contact me, I would love to hep.

I am from California and went to school at UCLA. I lived in LA for 8 years and now I live in Boston for 3 years. I can say that the cost of living is very similar between these 2 cities. The key is to have roommates. In LA, the average cost of a pretty decent 2 bdrm place was about $1,600 a month. So if you have 1 roommate, expect to pay about $800/month + maybe $150 in utilities (cable internet/TV, electricity, gas). Let's just round up to $1000/month total. As much as people say "don't bring a car", I completely disagree. Southern Cali would absolutely suck without a car. Assuming you have your own car, expect to spend $300/month in insurance and gas. Let's also say you spend $100/month on a cell phone. That comes out to $1,400/month. Surely you can live off $600 a month for food? I think the figures I used are very much on par with what I was paying in Socal and if anything, I used slightly higher values to be safe. Is there anything else I missed? $2,000/month is very doable to live off of if you don't expect to be living the high life.

I am from California and all my family is there, but currently I am doing a Masters in Boston. I have loved every minute of it, but unfortunately, my father suffered a heart attack, caught pneumonia, and died a few months ago. Luckily, he survived the heart attack so I took the first flight home the next morning and saw my father for 1 day before he died. I am very thankful that I had got to say my goodbyes. It definitely sucks but it shouldn't be something that should stop you from living your life. You can't control when crappy things will happen. Go where you think you will be the most successful and I am sure if an emergency comes up you will be fine. I had lots of support back in Boston and all my professors had no problems with me taking a couple weeks off. Beest of luck to you and I am sure you will make the right choice.

I received an e-mail last Wednesday. The interview is on March 8-10. It is hard to find any info at all about their interviews and when they are so I have no idea if this is the first and only one or if there were some before or if there will be more later. It probably wouldn't be unreasonable to think they will be sending out more interviews this week, good luck!

Hi all, I posted this in the "Decisions Decisions" topic already, but I feel like my fellow BME applicants would have some better insights. Here is my scenario: I am currently accepted to the BME PhD at Boston University and I have an interview for BME PhD at Columbia coming up. Now BU is highly regarded within the BME field (top 10), but not as well respected as a graduate engineering school in general (top 50). However, Columbia is pretty much the opposite with only being top 20 in BME specifically, but top 15 for graduate engineering. Now, if I got into Columbia and I like both campuses, both advisers, etc exactly the same, I am torn on what would be a better choice. I am about 50/50 on whether I plan to stay in academia or goto industry. My personal feelings would be that if I went to industry Columbia would be more favored since it is Ivy and has a great reputation. However, if I were to stay in academia than all potential post-doc BME schools recognize BU as being extremely strong in BME. Can anyone confirm this opinion or offer any other insights? Thanks!

I have a similar but different question than the OP. I am currently accepted to the BME PhD at Boston University and I have an interview for BME PhD at Columbia coming up. Now BU is highly regarded within the BME field (top 10), but not as well respected as a graduate engineering school in general (top 50). However, Columbia is pretty much the opposite with only being top 20 in BME specifically, but top 15 for graduate engineering. Now, if I got into Columbia and I like both campuses, both advisers, etc exactly the same, I am torn on what would be a better choice. I am about 50/50 on whether I plan to stay in academia or goto industry. My personal feelings would be that if I went to industry Columbia would be more favored since it is Ivy and has a great reputation. However, if I were to stay in academia than all potential post-doc BME schools recognize BU as being extremely strong in BME. Can anyone confirm this opinion or offer any other insights? Thanks!

you sound like you are in decent shape for gaining acceptance to top PhD program. However, this year is shaping up to be an incredibly difficult year so I have no idea how hard next year will be. You should definitely write some papers from the research work you were doing. You need to get going on that now if you want any chance on them being published by this year fall if you are going to apply for Fall 2013 admission. Being able to demonstrate successful research skills by publishing is a huge plus in your application. It also might not be a bad idea to increase your GPA with extra classes, especially more math/stats types of classes. Often times people are weary of whether a bme person will have strong enough math/technical skills for a PhD program. Hope that helps a little, here are my stats so you can get an idea of how hard this year's admissions are: I did my undergrad in psychobio at UCLA with a 2.6 GPA (because I had no intention of doing grad school). I did about 1 year of research during undergrad, and then 3 years full-time research at UCLA after graduating. I have 2 first author published abstracts and poster presentations and about 10 other secondary authorships in peer reviewed journals. I currently have 3 first author papers under review. I then switched fields and obtained a Masters in Electrical Engineering with a 3.8 GPA from Boston University. I have 3 letters from well-known profs that I did my research with. My GRE scores are top 90% in all categories. I thought I would have a good chance at getting into some bme PhD programs but it has been tough. I have gained 1 acceptance at Boston University. I have gotten rejected from UCSD, UCB, UW, Stanford, UPenn, U Minnesota. I am still waiting on USC, Duke, UCLA, MIT, U Mich, Columbia, Northwestern, JHU, UPitts, Brown, CCNY. But I don't feel confident about getting into any of these schools. I will most likely take the BU acceptance. So really my undergrad GPA is my weakest link, but I fully explained the situation in my personal statement and got a 3.8 GPA in grad school. This is still not good enough to get in. You might want to try and get your GPA up closer to 3.8 and publish a few papers if you want to get into a top 10 program. Best of luck to you.