akim41

I know how you feel because I also went to Cal Poly SLO for undergrad. You have nothing to worry about! Like shingamiasuka mentioned, the success of your graduate application mainly depends on what you did and how you performed at school. I can assure you that you have a fair chance of getting into any of the top 10 engineering school as long as you have a relatively competitive application (GPA, GRE score, LORs, SOP, etc.). Keep in mind that I only applied to Master's programs. Just to give you a little more background, I applied and got into the MS programs of the following schools: Stanford (EE), Duke (Bioe), UPenn (Bioe), UMich (Bioe), Georgia Tech (EE), USC (Bioe), and UCLA (Bioe). Good luck!

I'm not exactly in the situation you're in but I decided on UPenn's bioengineering program primarily because it has a research group that I want to work with. I think it really comes down to whether or not the school has research groups or professors who are actively doing research in topics you're interested in. If UIUC can provide you with the research opportunities you're interested in, then I don't see why you wouldn't choose UIUC especially if they're offering you financial aid. Good luck on your decision.

I haven't applied yet. I'm mainly looking into off-campus housing because I heard off-campus housing is generally cheaper and nicer. I'm hoping to find a furnished place that's <$1000/month and close to campus.

Anyone committed to UPenn for Fall 2014?

Thanks for the reply! I wouldn't mind volunteering in the lab that I'm interested in. I just want to gain more research experience in the field of my interest. I think I might just do what you did and personally meet the professor and ask if I could volunteer in his lab since it doesn't seem like I will be receiving his response any time soon.

Hi everyone, I'm about to finish my undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and I will most likely be pursuing a Master's degree in bioengineering this fall. As I'm narrowing down my list of schools that I've been admitted to, I've been contacting potential lab directors at certain schools about joining their lab. I've sent them my cv and showed interest in their lab's research opportunities, but I'm just not sure if I should continue waiting for their response or email them and ask whether or not I would be a good candidate for their lab. Ideally, I want to go to a school that for sure will let me join a lab with research opportunities that fit my interest so it would be nice if I could hear back from the lab director before the decision deadline. I guess my questions are as follows: How do students pursuing a Master's degree typically join a lab? (most of the labs I'm interested in are mainly looking for phd candidates unfortunately) Do lab directors usually take a long time to review a candidate before letting them join the lab? If so, how long? Thank you,