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Hello all! Anyone here applying or thinking of applying for this fellowship? I'm a new fellow of this wonderful program and would be very happy to offer advice or answer questions if it's needed.

My advice is to start reading papers in your field of interest and see who the authors are. It'll be a good way to get familiar with the field AND figure out where you might want to apply at the same time. Good luck!

Hi Joshua! There are a number of excellent universities in Europe, and in general they all do take foreign students, including Americans. Generally, European PhD programs are shorter (about 3 years) but they often require that you have a Master's degree before entering. As long as you're focused on staying in academia, it should be fine to get your PhD from abroad, although you might have a trickier time if you wanted to go into industry upon graduating. I'm a bit biased, but you should check out the Max Planck Institutes in Germany (there are a few math-related ones, depending on your specific interests). Further, if you have an undergraduate research or academic advisor, they should be able to give you an idea of the reputable institutions abroad and your chances of admittance. Best of luck!

I think this is very valid. I have almost no formal computer science training, although I do program quite a bit for my research

Hey KMichele, Don't worry! My experience with federal loans is that there are often small hiccups or that they take a long time to get updated and cleared correctly. I doubt that the loan has been revoked - just call tomorrow and get it sorted out. Good luck!

my deadline to accept/decline the fellowship is april 13th. my guess is that they won't send out rejections (or acceptances!) to people on the waiting list until after that date. but.. given that the deadline is so soon, my guess is that they've contacted the first round of people already. sorry

One thing you might want to consider is the drop-out rate for each program. I don't know about Caltech, but I heard that at MIT only about 25% of the EE PhD candidates pass their quals. Something to consider!

they called me around .. 11am (EDT), but i had the impression they called me earlier in the day because i'm currently in europe (it was 5pm my time). i have no idea how many people they're calling. last name begins with c.. good luck!

@ghanada, there are a few other faculty members at penn doing neuroengineering work. If either of you are interested in names, PM me!

got a phone call today! so excited!

In general I agree, NeuroGal, but I've seen qualified CS people not do too well in their neuroscience PhD applications because the programs were worried that the students might not like neuroscience once they actually got a closer look. Doing something to show your commitment to the biological side of things (research, courses, whatever) would really help - just to prove that you know what you're getting into. Every school and program is different. Whether you'd be better off in the CS department or the neuroscience department of a particular school, and how flexible your coursework and research direction would be, varies from school to school and even within a school between the different professors. If you already know what kind of courses you want to take and what kind of research you want to do, that's great! You can try to specifically look for programs that suit your needs. Where do you want to do your PhD? A masters can be a wonderful way to strengthen your application (I got a masters before applying to PhD programs), if that's what you want to do.

It seems to me like you have a couple of options. You could apply to CS PhD programs (it seems like you have a pretty strong background there already) with the intent of researching something sort of biological, or you could apply to Neuroscience PhD programs with the intent of researching something sort of computational. Both options are feasible, but for the latter you might want to take some courses or do some research that shows your interest in the biological aspect of the field. My advice would be to look for professors that are doing work similar to what you want to do. If you can get in touch with them, talk to them about your ideas and ask them how you could make your application strong for a PhD program.

Brown has a wonderful, well-respected neuroscience program. And there are a few really big name neuroscientists there. I'm not sure which decision you should make, but I don't think you would find yourself in a bad position at Brown if your current POI doesn't work out.

Maybe I'm just confused.. but omitting information is not the same as lying. Unless they specifically asked for this information and you failed to give it, there isn't a problem, right? As an example, a personal problem left a blank spot on my CV for a good chunk of time. I never offered any explanation for this time in my applications, but if someone asked during interviews about it (some did, some didn't), I gave an honest answer. It depends very much on your own personal circumstances, but how did you handle the probably very long empty spot on your CV? Did you misrepresent what you were doing during that time, or did you simply not give an explanation unless asked?

@ghanada: yes, i'm also interested in neuroengineering, but not so much on the imaging side. feel free to PM me about particular POIs @banana: yep, see you at UW. be sure to introduce yourself!

this should give you a rough idea of how ETHZ and EPFL compare internationally: http://www.usnews.com/education/worlds-best-universities-rankings/best-universities-metallurgy-and-materials http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/engineering-and-IT.html good luck!

I guess that's just how the department works. It gives you a year of funding, basically to give you time to find a lab. After that, hopefully your lab funds you - so I guess money is a big factor in choosing labs, in the end. Yes - Since you went to the HST interviews, I'm guessing that means you've figured out who I am. Sorry about the rejection - did they give you any hints during the interviews about their concerns? For me, they were concerned maybe I couldn't handle the coursework. Congrats on Stanford though! If I'd gotten in there, I would definitely have chosen them over HST. Any insights from your interviews about what they were looking for?

It also depends very much on whether you'd rather go into academia or industry. It's very easy to get a European(/American) postdoc position with an American(/European) PhD, but it's generally much more difficult to break into a distant industry. Another thing to consider - are you prepared for the very involved process of applying to US graduate schools? This process is much more difficult than applying in Europe - you'll have to study for/take the GRE and possibly the TOEFL, fill out a bunch of forms (and pay for them!), etc. It's a lot of work. As for which universities in the US to choose, it depends on where you went to school as an undergraduate, how good your grades are, how much research you've done, etc. Your professors in Europe should be able to give you a good idea of how competitive you are, and maybe if any of your classmates have applied to the US you can look and see how they did. International students have a much harder time getting into US universities because getting funding is more difficult. It's possible your home country has some kind of fellowship to support your studies abroad - that will help a great deal. Good luck!

Thanks ghanada - although I guess I'm a bit surprised by your reaction. My GPA is pretty low compared to what I often see on this forum (i.e. >3.9), and I don't have any journal publications. My guess is that the people who got into Stanford this year had both of those things. I sort of expected the MIT BE rejection. Their program is very molecular/cellular, and that's not my background at all. It was probably stupid to apply there - HST is a much better fit. I admit I was pretty sad about the Stanford rejection though. In my interviews so far, it seems like a lot of very qualified people didn't get into Stanford. The few candidates I met who got an interview seemed absolutely stellar but more traditional (i.e. straight out of undergrad). I only have a few sample points though. Oh, yeah, and I'm American. Just wanted to be abroad for a few years before committing to 5ish years in one place. The dates in ()s up there are the dates I was notified about the interviews, not the dates of the interviews themselves. I've generally been hearing back about 1-2 weeks after the interviews, although the professors I'm talking to have been good about dropping appropriate hints. I'm waiting to visit UW (my last interview) before I decide anything. Also, hopefully I can hear back about the fellowships I've applied to before I have to make a decision. Either way, it's going to be very tough to decide. Sorry for bringing bad news about Brown. Have you been keeping up on the results page? Historically, it seems like Brown has been extremely slow about their rejections.

Thanks! The MEMP program does sound really good.. although honestly all the schools/labs I'm looking at are awesome and my decision is going to be very tough. I sent you a PM about the SOP. Anyone else who's curious about that can feel free to PM me.

Undergrad Institution: top BME school Major(s): BME Overall GPA: 3.67 Length of Degree: 3 years Position in Class: top 15% ish Type of Student: domestic, female Graduate Institution: well-respected international school Major(s): MS Neuroscience Overall GPA: 3.7 ish Length of Degree: 2 years Position in Class: first GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 800 V: 680 W: 5.5 Research Experience: 5ish years of research experience. No publications, but quite a few conference posters. My capstone engineering project generated some buzz in the lay press. I also wrote a master's thesis, for whatever that's worth. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Hertz finalist Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Statistics TA Special Bonus Points: Three probably excellent LORs - I really need to go and thank them next week profusely, probably with home-baked goods. One 'famous' PI, two other PIs with whom I've worked very closely. All international Applying to Where: Stanford University Bioengineering - rejected (2/6) MIT/Harvard HST - interview (2/2), accepted (3/9) - 1 year funding MIT Biological Engineering - rejected (2/16) Brown University Biomedical Engineering - interview (1/26), accepted (2/29) - 5 years funding University of Pennsylvania Bioengineering - interview (1/30) University of Washington Bioengineering - interview (1/28)

Sorry for not posting this earlier. I'm a bit paranoid, and my background makes me very easily identifiable. Anyway, I think we're late enough in the decision process now that the adcoms aren't going to find anything here that they don't already know. Academics BS BME from #1 school with 3.6 GPA (but I graduated early) MS Neuroscience from well-respected international institution, top in class GRE: 800Q 680V 5.5W Research 5ish years of research experience. No publications, but quite a few conference posters. My capstone engineering project generated some buzz in the lay press. I also wrote a master's thesis, for whatever that's worth. Other relevant info Three probably excellent LORs - I really need to go and thank them next week profusely, probably with home-baked goods. One 'famous' PI, two other PIs with whom I've worked very closely. All international Hertz Finalist Schools Stanford University Bioengineering - rejected (2/6) MIT/Harvard HST - interview (2/2), accepted (3/9) - 1 year funding MIT Biological Engineering - rejected (2/16) Brown University Biomedical Engineering - interview (1/26), accepted (2/29) - 5 years funding University of Pennsylvania Bioengineering - interview (1/30) University of Washington Bioengineering - interview (1/28)

Come on, you have to let those of us who were rejected have something to feel better about.. can't you tell us how awful it was and how we're SO lucky not to get an interview? (In all seriousness though, the few people I know at Stanford have described the atmosphere as 'laid back'. I'm glad you enjoyed it!) My gut reaction would have been blouse and dress pants are fine, but I have seen a surprising number of blazers and suits so far. Someone mentioned to me that engineering recruitment events tend to be a bit more formal than other academic disciplines, but I think it just really depends on the school. Some of my schools have requested formal jackets, others have said 'business casual' (which I'm taking to mean no jacket). IMO, the best policy is just to ask, and the second best policy is to wear what makes you feel comfortable - imagine being the only person with a jacket or the only person without one. For my part, I avoid wearing a formal jacket when it can be avoided (and I do believe this is much easier to get away with if you're female). Good luck!

Sort of.. we ranked them in order of preference, but my understanding is that it depended a lot on the faculty as well.

Have you checked your status on the website? UPenn has already sent out rejections/acceptances and they have three interview weekends (for funding) - one last weekend, one in early March, and one in late March. It's possible that you're on some kind of wait list, but if I were you I would call if the website doesn't have any useful information.