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AS an international students who got a Master's degree in US, I applied for 15 different PhD programs this year and got 4 rejections, 2 wait-list and just 1 interview now. I am so stressful recently, I sent emails to those silent schools and got a general reply, "decisions have not yet been made", I do no really know what these mean, I kind of feel they were just wait a date to send all rejections at one time. As I found on the Grad Cafe, usually people got interviews no later than Feb, so I am so sad at this time.

I am an international student, applying to UCSD's BMS program, and I submitted the pre-application. Has anyone heard back yet? I know it's still early in October, but I can't help but worry.

Hi, I am a new user. I hope I am asking this in the right section, if not, please guide me to the appropriate place. I completed by Bachelor's degree in Pharmacy (5-years course) and also earned a Master's degree in Pharmacy (major: Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology). I applied to six programs in the Fall-2019 semester and got rejected by all six. My GRE score is Q162, V162 and AWA4.0. My TOEFL score is 112 (R30, L30, S23 and W29). I have no publications but worked on about six research projects. I hope to publish two works in the next 3-4 months. I applied to Universities like University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University, University of Illinois at Chicago and Purdue University. I know I was too ambitious considering that my profile is not strong. So, I don't wanna make the same mistakes again and want to apply to Schools that may actually consider me for a graduate assistantship. If any of you guys have any School in mind, please share with me. The School doesn't have to be in USA but I would need some sort of assistantship or scholarship to attend the program.

I'm an international student from India and I've been offered admission to Duke and USC for an MS in BME. I've spoken to a lot of people from both colleges, and I seem to get the general idea that USC is a great place primarily because of its location in California where there are a lot of BT/Biomed companies. But I'm still pretty torn between them, since Duke has a great program and offers me the flexibility to really explore what I like. As somebody who wants to enter the industry, I'm not sure if I should pick the much lower ranked program/good location, or great program/okay location. Any sights?

I'm looking to do research in cell biology, and trying to decide between my top two choices. Just looking for input on institutional prestige in the medical/biomedical fields - my sense is that Yale overall has greater name value but for medicine and related fields, Hopkins does a bit better. Any advice would be welcome!

Hi all, Hope everything is well for all of you! Congrats for those who got their invitations and offers! I'm not sure if there's anyone in looking at this post and is at the same stage as me: got nothing but only rejection letters (5/9). I applied for 9 PhD programs and haven't heard from Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and UCB, but I see in the cafe that many people have got their invitations, and the interview dates are reasonably close. (One of the disadvatages I have is that I'm an international student, thus we are considered separately because of funding issue.) As a result, I need to move on and work on my plan B. With all the advice I've got from friends, grad students and professors, I don't feel ready to make a solid plan by myself. Thus, I'm posting this up, and, hopefully, we can all share some ideas on how to make an alternative plan. So here's something about me (I'm not sure how detailed should I go for, please let me know if it's not appropriate): I'm currently a senior, international student at UMass Amherst. I'm finishing a dual degree in biology and mathematics (applied/stats track). I have a 3.977/4.000 GPA, and received 40k+ scholarships over the years. In addition to my academic live, I also have 3 years of experience tutoring and 2 years of volunteering (BBBS kid mentoring program). I've only taken GRE once, and I have Q168, V151 and 3.5 (I'll definitely make this looks better if I apply next cycle or later). I'm in the honors college and doing a thesis. I have been in a plant genetics lab since the second month of freshman year, where I had various experience with wet lab experiments and bioinformatics/systems biology analysis. I am co-authoring a paper that will be submitted in February which is about analyzing and interpreting an RNAseq dataset. I'm working with this PI for the 4th year and he said that wrote me a very promising letter. In addition to working with plants, I also had research experience during summers working with mammalian telomeres and interned at MRL at Boston on immuno-oncology targets. As for the computational aspect, my work on analyzing data in lab required me to use R, python and bash scripting. I also had intermediate/entry/entry levels of experience with SAS/Matlab/Java from project-based math/stats courses. My original plan is to go straightly for umbrella PhD programs, which covered computational biology or systems biology. I want to use my advantage where I can do both biology and mathematics and to work in interdisciplinary fields. My passion originated from doing experiments, so I still want to keep up with my web lab skills (i.e. doing gene editing according to the results from computational analysis) which I think would also be valuable when I look for jobs later. For long term goal, I would like to work in the R&D parts of the pharmaceutical industry. From the conversations I had with my co-workers during my internship, career-wise, it would be very helpful to have a PhD degree. Also, I don't want to limit myself to plant biology, so I need the transaction to focus on other systems. Also I want to keep all the lab work I deal with in vitro. However, since the plan going for PhD directly didn't work out well, I need to start thinking alternatives. I think my CV would look better in a year or two when the paper is published (there's another one data analysis based that I'm working on as the first author). Also, there's a gap in between the data analysis I do in the bio lab and what I learned from my math/stats courses: I didn't have experience developing computational/statistical tools. I think it may be a solid plan to do something to fill in that gap. The first thing I'm thinking of is getting a master in biostats. Although the deadlines for submitting applications have passed for a lot of good schools, I'm exploring options that are still available (i.e. Brown, UMich, UMinnesota, UCD, UPittsburgh, CWRU and UMass). One question I have is how much a biostat master degree would help if I want to go back to applying biomedical/compuational PhD programs? I do believe a master in biostats will open a lot of doors if I want to look for jobs, also if I want to switch to tracks such as data science. From what I have seen, all biostats programs offer the opportunity to do a thesis, however, if I want to apply to PhDs during the second year of my master, I don't think the thesis will be ready for publishing and I'm not sure how much points that will add to my application. So should I go for a thesis if I end up going to a master program? The good thing is that, if I stay in the same school, I can finish the master with only one additional year. That being said, if I apply for PhD programs in the next application cycle, a thesis would definitely not in time. Yet, all the courses I take will be very coding heavy and project-oriented so would expand my skill-sets on the computational aspects dramatically. I'm not sure how many bio/mcb master programs are still available now. If not going for biostat programs, I hope to get into schools that may help with my applications later. So please let me know if there's any program worth going for a try. I know the last option I have is the MCB MS at my school, which there's no doubt that I'll get into. One of the reasons I didn't think much of this option is that I need to take classes during the PhD programs anyway so I'd rather do something that I can learn more with the same amount of time and effort. Another option is looking for jobs and gets experiences while working. As an international undergrad, I think it's hard for me to look for jobs in the US (although I have the 36 months OPT available), especially jobs that I can learn as much as a master program. It's hard to imagine finding a job that will allow me to do things that I don't know before (I'm still thinking about filling the gap in my experience/skills). With everything going on in the U.S., I was advised that it's not such a bad idea to look for PhD programs in Europe, since I'll be international anyway. However I have no idea how this would work, so please let me know how I should start looking and what I should be expecting if going to graduate programs in Europe. One addtional note is about grad school funding. My parents are funding me for undergrad (although I tried very hard to get as many scholarships as possible), and they can and are willing to fund for my tuition for master and PhD. However, I find it very not helpful when programs as me to bring my own funding while applying for PhD programs. I completed my undergrad in the U.S. so I'm not eligible for a lot of funding from my own country, also I don't want to sign contracts that force me to go back to work for a few years right after graduation (I'm not against going back but I want to keep all options available). And, to my knowledge, there's no scholarship that I can apply to before being admitted to a program (NSF grant requires citizenship). That leaves me no option to bring my own funding while applying, which makes me less competitive among international or all applicants. I appologized that this is getting way longer that I planned for. Thank you if you have read this far. I'm just going to summary some major questions that I need help with: 1. What can I do better if I apply to PhD programs in the future? (Umbrella programs aiming for computation-based track). Are there any not famous but good phd programs that I can still apply for? I know WPI is still rolling and have a lab that may fit my interest according to a professor I talked to. 2. Is it worth it going for a master in biostats? Is a thesis helpful if it won't be ready as a submitted paper? How much help would it give to a future PhD application (systems bio/computational bio)? What specific programs that are still available? Would I be competitive for such programs? 3. Are there any worthy bio-based (i.e. mcb) master programs still open? 4. Guidelines for looking for jobs as an international undergrad. Is it possible that I can learn how to do more complicated computational analysis even if I had little experience with it before? (Although I can learn from colleagues, I imagine companies will want me to do things that I'm already good at.) 5. Where can I find possible fundings for grad school as an international student? The search engines don't really help much before one is admitted to a program. 6. Any other advice or question? 7. Thanks for reading all these! All the best luck for all of you!

Has anyone heard anything about interviews for the OxCam NIH Partnership program?

I am trying to decide between which two Biotechnology programs to attend in the fall. The first program is the NYU Biotechnology and Entrepreneurship Program which is great because of its interdisciplinary curriculum in both biotechnology and business. They also offerered me a generous scholarship. On visiting the campus and speaking with faculty it seems promising. I was selected for an additional scholarship and feel like the financial aid office is forthcoming with working with me to cover tuition costs. The research areas are good with opportunities to do research at the renowned memorial Sloan Kettering cancer center. Their career center also seems to be very effective with support for internships, interviews, jobs and whatnot and NY is at the center of it all. There is however no denying that cost of living and accommodation in the city is ridiculously high. On the other hand, Northwestern University's Biotechnology program comes with a minor in Engineering management/ Entrepreneurship with a similar flexibility to NYU but with a seemingly greater concentration on developing wet lab skills. It's location in Evanston, IL a Chicago school town is nice and it's a large campus. On visiting the campus, the faculty also seem welcoming and they have interesting personal development courses, site-visits to biotechnology companies on the east coast for networking, career fairs and great internship assistance. The tuition is much higher than that of NYU and the scholarship while generous, doesn't cover much. I would have to look to loans and aid to cover the chunk. The research areas are also nice with opportunities to work in regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and cancer biology at the northwestern school of medicine. At this point, I don't know which school to consider because I would gladly go to any of them as they are both great schools and I'm privileged to be considered for both. I don't know if Northwestern is worth taking out large loans for in comparison to NYU that the tuition is mostly covered by scholarship. I can't imagine which program would make me stand out with limitless opportunities at the end of the duration. I need any suggestions, opinions, ideas and help that would enable me to see some light.. Thank you!!

I am mostly looking at four programs that accepted me: UCSF, Princeton, Columbia, UCSD I mostly narrowed it down to UCSF vs Princeton, but I am still considering the other two. Leaning towards UCSF. It's almost ironic since UCSF and Princeton are basically polar opposites (huge medical school vs. no med school, no undegrads vs. undegrad focus, basic science vs. a lot of translational etc). I'm really undecided because I'm not sure if I want to do translational or basic (granted, UCSF has both and Princeton just basic). My main concerns are the cost of living in SF, that UCSF is just a medical center, and that Princeton is richer and more presitiougs (although UCSF is better when it comes to bio). UCSF pro Top-notch program Huge choice of PIs and labs Excellent research in genetics, genomics, RNA (my field of choice) Bay Area - connections with other great schools and industry (still undecided on industry vs San Francisco con Just a medical campus, no engineering or physics etc (although Berkeley connection) Crazy expensive (stipend is 37K, but SF is crazy expensive) Lesser known school outside of bio circles Princeton pro Fewer professors, but all of them are top in their field and full of funding. Quality over quantity. Excellent training, smaller program Tons of money and funding Would have more money and be able to save (stipend is 35K) Could work in a bioengineering lab since it's a complete university Prestigious name school (although in Bio UCSF is more well known con No Med school, no translational research Fewer lab choices (only 40-50 faculty) Less research in genetics, genomics, RNA (my field of choice) (but one could argue that it's just grad school, you can go into your field of choice later) Columbia In many ways like Princeton, but with a Med School. I just didn't click at the interview as much as I did at Princeton. Opinions? How does the faculty/research compare to Princeton? My interviews were meh, so I had a bad impression. But maybe I was just unlucky. Also, crazy expensive (39k, but nyc is nyc). UCSD Kinda like uCSF, but not as good. The two good things are tat it is a full university (with physics, chemistry, engineering etc) and that SD is way cheaper than SF (stipedn is 33).

Congratulation to all of you who have been accepted into your MFA program. My MFA journey will continue in Florence Italy. What are the things you are doing now to prepare you for the next 2-3 years? How do you go about your thesis research?

Is there anyone that had an interview at Uconn's health center for their biomedical sciences PhD program, and NOT heard back yet? I know they sent out some acceptances and rejections, but I have not heard anything.

Hi, I will be applying to colleges to attend during Fall 2019. My focus is mainly on Canadian Universities. Current GPA - 8.22/10 Internships - 2 Summer Internships. 1) Training in Communication systems and satellites in a public sector office 2) Training in Process Control and Sensors in a major Newsprint industry Workshops - Attended 2 robotic workshops each of 1 week long Currently doing my BTech in Electronics and Instrumentation pre-final year. But I'm very much interested in Biomedical Instrumentation and I've taken up the subject as an elective in the current semester. I will be writing my IELTS this June. Is GRE necessary if I'm applying for Canadian and Ireland universities? Also, with this profile do I have any chances with universities like McGill and UBC?

So I'm currently trying to choose between Duke's M.S. in BME program, and UMich's M.S. in BME program based on (in the following order) 1. Availability of jobs --> I'm not too keen on working for a huge company? I'd rather work for a mid-sized company, well funded, that allows me to gain some useful and hands-on experience. I've heard that UMich BME has some issues when it comes to finding good BME internships and jobs (compared to Duke and its proximity to the RTP). Is this true? 2. Availability of funding 3. Flexibility wrt concentration 4. Durham vs. Ann Arbor Anybody have any tips?

I applied to Columbia’s PhD program for biomedical engineering and got an interview invite. It’s my top choice and I didn’t think it was going to work out, so I was ecstatic to hear from them. Since I got the email though, my stress levels have steadily gone up as I realized that this interview was a step in the right direction but no guarantee of admission. I want to be as well-prepared as possible, and I was wondering if anyone had advice/information on how Columbia’s interview process goes? Should I expect to talk about my own research experience or POI’s? Is it more casual or will it involve an intense technical interview? Are my chances of getting in relatively high or is it like a 50/50? Anything that would help me figure out where I stand and/or how to best prepare for this would be appreciated!

can anyone help with this homework question? Your project is focused on the studies of interactions of the mouse protein tyrosine kinase XYZ with other cellular proteins. Here is what you know about XYZ: It is a cytosolic protein, which is approximately 750 amino acid residues-long. It phosphorylates a wide spectrum of cellular proteins. XYZ is phosphorylated itself on several tyrosine residues. The phosphorylation of XYZ is essential for the functions of this kinase, although details are unknown. There are also reasons to believe that XYZ is glycosylated. Your goal is to identify as many proteins interacting with XYZ as possible. Design the optimal and the second-best experimental strategies for achieving your goal. Be specific about what you are going to do without describing minor details of the proposed experiments. Explain why you have chosen these strategies and not the others. (12 pts) Would your strategy be different if your goal was to determine whether or not XYZ interacts with ABC, a well-known cytosolic protein? (3 pts) (TWO pages is the limit for your answer, including all figures, if figures are used.)

Hi everyone, So, I'm a bit confused (aren't we all?). I applied to a program and was contacted by a PI that thinks I am a good fit for his lab and said, in his email, phone interview, and in person interview, that he has a spot available for me (actually, he's looking for two students - he is funded) and that I'd be a great fit due to our similar research background. I went through several interviews with him and others, interviews went really well and received positive feedback. However, the decisions were supposed to be sent out late last week and others, in different concentrations in the same program, that interviewed heard back with positive news - I haven't heard anything. However, this PI emailed me again (same day everyone heard the good news) and told me (without my asking) that he hadn't heard from the program, yet. So, am I insane for worrying (a distinct possibility) I may be chasing something that doesn't exist, or am I really being led on and I've been rejected behind closed doors? I have a Masters (3.9 GPA) in a related field. 3 years research experience. 2 theses (thesiseses? ) 1 publication 1 undergraduate grant proposal 2 presentations, 2 more coming in the next 2 months. 2 years teaching experience. The others who have heard their acceptances are in different concentrations, but I believe the *overall program* decides who gets in or not. The whole situation is odd, considering the overwhelming positive feedback I've received save for the crucial, "Hey, you're in and funded!". Any thoughts, opinions, misgivings are welcome. Cheers.

Has anybody (or anybody you know of) heard back from ETH Zurich for Msc. in BME? They're supposed to send out decisions before March 15th, but I see that a lot of other branches have received theirs already, so I was wondering.

Has anyone heard back from Stanford's MS Bioengineering program? Almost to the end of march and haven't seen anything about the masters acceptances.

Can someone suggest me for any low-cost online courses associated with biomedical engineering? Since i don't have any research papers i planned to rise my sop using online courses. Will online courses really help in improving my sop??

So. I have wanted to go the direct-track PhD path for a while now, but I am afraid my stats simply won't be competitive for the programs I'm looking at. At this point I'm most worried about my GRE scores. I had planned on applying to the BME PhD programs at UMN, UF, UM, UR, and CMU. Although CMU was a stretch to begin with, it's downright unrealistic at this point. I had only considered it because one of my LOR writers has worked with many of the profs in their department, so I'd hoped that would carry extra weight. Most likely not gonna apply there now. Regardless, I have: a 3.5 GPA; this will potentially be lower depending on how applications decide it should be calculated. Research experience in two labs plus a short time in a lab in Europe; broadly, my research background is in both stem cells and nanomaterials. However, I have nothing published and haven't presented at any professional conference or other event. Had a job throughout undergrad; I have basic machinist skills, have helped with lab management, and have design experience with a few different types of lab instrumentation and equipment.I work in a university-affiliated machine shop and under a chemical hygiene officer. Should be able to get 3 shining LORs: one from an advisor who has had me in class, another from a prof who has worked with me some in research, academics, and as part of my job, and a third from an as of yet undecided source. Could be a boss, another professor, the department chair, or possibly even the dean of the college. We will see what I can get and what my advisor thinks. SOP and essays will most likely be quality stuff, as I'm a good writer for the most part. They're currently in the works. And finally, a GRE score of 162V and only 156Q. My writing score isn't in yet because I took them so recently. So to sum up, I have a lackluster GPA, a mediocre (maybe even downright bad) GRE quant score that probably won't fly in any engineering program, but some potentially notable experiences and skills. But I can't really judge those objectively, and I feel like they may not even be strongly considered by an admissions board. I'm not asking to rate my chances of getting in; what I need to know is if I should even try. If there's no reasonable chance of getting into these programs, I can focus my energies on other endeavors, like getting a proper job. Alternatively, I've considered trying for a Master's first or even trying for a different but less quant-heavy field, like biology. I've even wondered if I should retake the GRE in December, and ask each department if they'd consider a second score if I sent it after the deadline. I know I could do better if I practiced those stupid problems a little better, but again, would a 160Q (or maybe above, if I'm lucky) even help considering everything else?

I am really confused in selecting a specialization course for my graduate program. What is the difference between a M.S. Biomedical engineering and selecting any specialization courses. Can i do specialization course by selecting M.S biomedical engineering? Please help me with the doubt...

Hello everyone ! I am an international student, applying to PhD program in Biological and biomedical sciences in USA. I would like to ask about " Writing samples", what are they? I have a master degree thesis, is it suitable to post? Should I post" the introduction, aim of the work, materials and methods, results and discussion" parts? Should i include references or not? Also, can anyone provide me with "samples" of relevant "writing samples" ? Thanks a lot

Looking for inputs on my profile and whether it matches with the school list; I'm really lost as to how ambitious I should be... So basically, what are my chances at the schools I'm applying to? Specifically Northeastern. Undergrad Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham (Good Med School, below average engineering)Major(s): Mechanical EngineeringMinor(s): NAGPA in Major: Not sure but slightly above overall GPAOverall GPA: 3.52Position in Class: I'd estimate top 20% of classType of Student: Hispanic/Middle Eastern Male, CitizenGRE Scores (revised/old version):Q: 162 (81%)V: 154 (65%)W: 4.0 (60%)B: NAResearch Experience: Conference paper in Mechanical Engineering, Started Bio-printing project with Materials Engineering Lab in August (won't have paper by application deadline, but will get some lab experience). Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 3 Dean's List, 1 President's ListPertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for 1 year in a lower-level engineering class, 2 manufacturing engineering internships, *Should I include these in my resume: Co-owner of a restaurant, Youth group leader Applying to Where: Northeastern University - Bioengineering - Biomedical Devices Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Biomedical Engineering - Tissue Mechanics and Mechanobiology Tufts University - Bioengineering - Biomechanical Devices Dartmouth University - Engineering Sciences - Biomedical Devices University of Connecticutt - Biomedical Engineering - Biomechanics University of Alabama at Birmingham - Biomedical Engineering - Biomedical Devices Stevens Institute of Technology - Biomedical Engineering - Bioinstrumentation I'm thinking of adding one more 'safe' school, what's y'alls opinion on that? Comments: My first-choice school is by far Northeastern. Can anyone tell me if I'm a good candidate for the M.S. Bioengineering Program over there?

Hello all, I am an undergraduate student from India with bachelors in Biotechnology and a GPA of 3.8/4. I am in a quandary: whether go for Biomedical Engineering or for Environmental Science ( I have a predisposition towards it). Please help me know the job prospects after graduation. Are these fields of study in demand? Would i be able to secure a job after my graduation ? Should I go for Biomedical or for Environmental Science?

I am a final year undergrad EE student from India, I have keen interest in BME and have worked on building wearable sensors. In your opinion, Which grad schools around the world are pushing the envelope of research in the area of wearable diagnostic sensors?