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violinist21

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Everything posted by violinist21

  1. Really? That made me feel a lot better. I personally think the GRE is complete BS because it did not measure ANY of my abilities as a BME. Yet the top schools have specific cutoffs for the scores which makes me think it's not even worth applying. May I ask how/why you decided to pursue M.S vs. PhD? I am honestly having a really tough time with this decision...
  2. I haven't experience life outside of New England and upon graduating from college I am considering to possibly move out of here. I have been thinking of the following areas/countries New England: Mass, Rhode Island, Connecticut Mid-Atlantic States: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia East-Central: Ohio and Michigan South: South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia I was wondering of you can offer any help to classify them according to 1) Cost of living and 2) Availability of BME jobs, and maybe 3) Lifestyle of people in these areas? (For example, along the lines of life in MA is very fast paced - life in OK is more relaxed..) I have lived in the city most of my life, but I am not big into nightlife etc. I like simple, "country" living better. Any help/suggestions?
  3. I am interested in working in industry in the design of medical devices (ideally working in a design team). I will be graduating with a B.S in Biomedical Engineering this May. I have extensive research experience in academia for an undergraduate but no industry experience so far (because I originally thought I wanted to stay in academia, but I have changed my mind). I have a very good GPA, but I'm not sure if that matters as much. I have been pondering on the following questions: 1) Is it possible to find a good, meaningful job in medical device design with just a B.S (in industry, not academia, and not as a research technician)? How important is higher education in this field? Is the M.S or Ph.D the best choice in the long run? Can a Ph.D be considered over-qualified for these types of jobs? 2) Is it best to get a job and get experience in industry first and THEN pursue higher education (if it is important) or to go straight to the higher education after college? Are there any companies that provide financial help for employees to pursue higher education while working? 3) How important is the school ranking for the M.S or Ph.D when it comes to getting the job? I know this is a lot of questions but if you can offer your input with any of these I would be very grateful as I am having a very hard time with this decision. Thank you.
  4. I am looking to apply to BME Master's programs. I am a senior at RPI with a very strong GPA (3.98) and a lot of research experience, including 1 publication (maybe 2 by December). But I took the GRE a week ago and did very badly on it = 75% on Quant. and 72% on Qual. which is extremely low for most good BME programs. I did not study for it and I don't have time to study before the applications are sent in order to increase my score significantly, so I know when schools look at the GRE score I won't get accepted. My question is are there any BME schools that offer Master's programs but don't require the GRE scores? (I am looking at either M.E or M.S). My goal is to work in industry preferably as a design engineer. I have researched this on my own so far but have only come across U of Washington in St. Louis that does not require them. Are there any others?
  5. I shall follow your suggestions. Thank you! And APOcooter - I completely relate. I have my own techniques for things like factoring for example, and they work, but they take way too long compares to the pace of GRE. this stuff is so trivial compared to the advanced calc that I have learned in recent years, so I feel really dumb for getting questions wrong...
  6. May I ask what your GRE scores were and what background you had when you applied? (trying to decide if I can either think about applying to these schools.) Thanks!
  7. Thank you for your replies everyone. So my biggest question was, do you have any suggestions on HOW to study effectively to get my score up considering that I am confident when I say that I already know the concepts behind all the questions (a.k.a there's nothing new to LEARN per sei) but am unable to solve them in that rushed environment?
  8. So I just got back from the test center and I am incredibly upset. Quantitative 157 and verbal 154. I'm not too concerned with the verbal because I'm going into BME and English is not my first language (though I know its very very low to get accepted into any good programs....) But for the quantitative I am very disappointed. It is 71 percentile, when I need to be aiming for at least 88% from what I've read. I am still wondering what happened because math tends to be one my strongest suits... I found myself not being confident in most of the answers I was submitting, rushing through problems and even running out of time on the last 3-4 questions in each math section. And the bigger issue is I cannot identify a single area that I have problems with so that I can study that in depth. I have a very strong math background coming from an engineering degree and I really thought I did much better than this in a practice exam I took 2 months ago. Granted, I didn't study much before the test, I only looked over a review guide quickly. But I am pretty sure I know the conceptsthat they cover, its just a matter of being able to learn the tricks of this particular exam - how to choose the quickest approach and not fumble around. Any suggestions on how to prepare for the next time I take the GRE considering how bad this time went? Thanks
  9. I was wondering if ETS allows you to mix the score you send to schools, so for example if I wanted to send the scores of Quantitative section from one test date and the scores of the Qualitatiive sections from another test date...is this possible or do you have to choose 1 date for all?
  10. I just saw these replies. Thank you all. I have been looking at the top names in BME from USNews, problem is these big names are scaring the crap out of me...I don't know if I can handle being in very stressful environment (which I imagine is what top labs in the country are like) for 6+ years even if I was to get in...and deep down I don't think I would get into Hopkins, GATech, U of PA, MIT etc ... Which is why I was thinking toward a school like Yale - the research there seems very interesting to me, it's a school with a good name in general but yet I don't think it would have that stress level that comes with knowing that you are around the top people in BME and your performance needs to always be excellent and you just can't slip up if you want to succeed. So that was my reasoning. I am also considering only doing a Master's and not a PhD mostly because I don't see myself staying in academia (becoming a professor). I would like to eventually have a job in industry because recently I am finding academia to be stressful. And I am not sure if this is the case, but from my research it seems like to get a good position in industry having experience is just as, if not more, important than the degree itself. Any thoughts or suggestions? Would you say this is this correct? In what factors should I base my decision on what to do next? As you can see, I am pretty lost. Thanks for your input.
  11. I would like to know from the perspective of others how my chances look. I would like to apply to PhD programs in BME at Yale, Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Cornell, U of PA and possibly other very reputable schools. So far Yale is my top choice. I will have a BS in Biomedical Engineering from RPI, possibly with a minor in Biology, if schedule works out. I have a GPA of 3.97, 4.0 in my major. I am tying for 2nd in my class rank. I am president of my school's BMES chapter. I have been participating in research internships since my senior year of high school. I did an REU at Case Western, and a SURF at RPI these last 2 summers. I do not have a publication but I am working towards one, which may or may not be submitted for review at least before grad school applications are sent out. I have presented posters at the BMES conference the last two years. I am in 3 honors societies (BME honor society, engineering honor society, leadership honor society). I believe my recommendation letters will say very good things, but they are not from top names in BME. My communications skills are not very strong and English is not my first language (although I am a US citizen) I have not taken the GRE yet, I have been taking practice tests on which I am not pleased with my results, especially for the verbal sections. I would say I will probably be getting 85-90% in Math and maybe 80% in Verbal as estimates. I have a very good idea of what I want to study. (Drug delivery/tissue engineering with a focus in neural regeneration) I know people who are applying to these top schools have resumes with several publications, research under famous PI's, and they comes from Ivy League schools for their undergrad. They will have perfect GRE scores and considering I am not doing so hot in these GRE practice tests, is it worth it to invest in a GRE course from Kaplan or Princeton Review to strengthen my application? If so which would you suggest? Any other advice? Thank you all.
  12. Hello all, I am going to start my senior this year graduating with B.S in Biomedical engineering and I am considering my options for the future. I am interested in the field of drug delivery and tissue engineering and would like to do work on cancer therapies. I am articularly interested in projects related to brain cancer, leukemias, lymphomas. However I am having trouble finding schools and research advisors that focus specifically on this area. Can you help me with some suggestions based on your experience/knowledge? I would like to find a program in this areas of work that will get me excited otherwise I won't be able to handle a doctorate program. Thank you.
  13. Really? Awesome. That means I have more time to prepare for the GRE. Thank you.
  14. Thank you. Say I register for the GRE on Nov. 1 (I am planning on taking it multiple times but you can only take it every 60 days). Will this be enough time to get the GRE score for the fellowship app?
  15. Does anyone know when it is? I have been roaming the nsf website for a few hours now and haven't found a date...
  16. Hello all, I will be a senior in Biomedical Engineering and am planning on applying to PhD programs for Biomedical Engineering. I have a GPA of 3.97, rank#2 in my class, with 3+ years of research experience. I have a general idea of my field of interest. I am not sure where I want to apply yet but my advisor thinks I should aim for the top 10 ranked schools (Harvard, MIT, Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, Washington University in St. Louis etc...) That said I am currently freaking out that I don't even have a shot at these schools...I just took a free practice GRE from Kaplan. I wasn't able to see the total score but I saw that in general for both math and verbal sections I was only getting about 60-70% of questions right. This seems really low for the competitiveness of the top 10 programs ... So I have a few questions: 1) Does ETS offer a timed practice exam for the GRE so I can get a more realistic idea of the difficulty of the exam? If so can anyone direct me to it? I am having trouble finding anything... 2) I know my vocabulary is not strong at all since English is not my first language, so I absolutely need studying and practice with vocab. I am currently working (slowly) with the Kaplan GRE flashcards. Anyone have any suggestions on how to retain these thousands of big words the majority of which I have never seen before? 3) Most importantly, what is the best way to spend my time right now? Should I focus on GRE alone for a few weeks and get that out of the way first or should I start working on personal statements/proposals. I feel like I am late on the application process...I haven't started writing anything...I am currently working 2 jobs, 1 full time 1 part time so I haven't had a lot of time on my hands but with these recent Kaplan results I think I may have to quit 1 job and start spending more time studying and writing... Thank you for any feedback.
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