Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering Applicant Profiles for 2019 Admission

[jtro37]

7 hours ago, Ayub2306 said:

Nope! They are all Bio related.

Yeah they are related but that doesn't mean you can just apply to any of the departments. If you send a Biomedical Sciences application to a Biomedical Engineering Department, they will reject you and accept the people that want to do engineering. BME and BS might be similar in India, but in the U.S. institutions you're applying to, they are pretty different.

6 hours ago, Ayub2306 said:

Well, I guess I am not stupid enough that I just simply apply to any random discipline. My graduation was in biotechnology which can have a different curriculum in different countries. For example, MICaB program is Microbiology and Immunology related PhD and I had 5 such subjects in my semesters in college. I did 2 projects in Micro and Immuno. I also checked the curriculum of these universities. Also, it's not like I have done my graduation in Physics and then I am applying in Chemistry for my higher studies.

Secondly, please don't judge anyone just by seeing the number of rejections. There can be many reasons for that. 

Thirdly, you doubt my way of filling applications. Well for your kind information I got my degree converted by WES (Which is a US based organization for degree equivalency) and everything else got sorted thereafter.

I wasn't judging you based on your rejections. Clearly you're a competitive applicant, but the fact that you're applying to Biomedical Engineering programs and saying that you want to do Biomedical Sciences is an indication to me that you are sending applications to the wrong departments.

If you don't want to believe anyone here, maybe reach out to the programs that rejected you instead and find out why you got rejected

[pikipiki]

I just heard from Penn this morning that I got admitted to their masters! So far I have gotten in Northwestern, UMich, Penn and Wake Forest(?). IDK what's going on with Wake Forest cuz I received emails from their graduate direction saying the department was interested my application. Also, I had a call interview with my POI and he seemed to like me, but no official letter has been sent to me... Did anyone hear back from Wake Forest yet? 

[WaliaIbex]

Have UMD, Georgia Tech, and Duke (PhD) sent responses / invites to all of the people they plan to interview/accept? I haven't heard anything back yet from them yet, which I'm thinking is a reject at this point in the cycle. I know Duke sent out MS acceptances today.

By the way,  congrats to everyone for the excellent results so far in the cycle!

[sgaw10]

3 hours ago, WaliaIbex said:

Have UMD, Georgia Tech, and Duke (PhD) sent responses / invites to all of the people they plan to interview/accept? I haven't heard anything back yet from them yet, which I'm thinking is a reject at this point in the cycle. I know Duke sent out MS acceptances today.

By the way,  congrats to everyone for the excellent results so far in the cycle!

I'm with you on Duke, though I feel that nothing at this point is a bad sign. Oh well

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

I'm out, y'all. I am done playing this waiting game with schools. I plan on attending UConn this fall! Good luck everyone!

[Ayub2306]

13 hours ago, jtro37 said:

Yeah they are related but that doesn't mean you can just apply to any of the departments. If you send a Biomedical Sciences application to a Biomedical Engineering Department, they will reject you and accept the people that want to do engineering. BME and BS might be similar in India, but in the U.S. institutions you're applying to, they are pretty different.

I wasn't judging you based on your rejections. Clearly you're a competitive applicant, but the fact that you're applying to Biomedical Engineering programs and saying that you want to do Biomedical Sciences is an indication to me that you are sending applications to the wrong departments.

If you don't want to believe anyone here, maybe reach out to the programs that rejected you instead and find out why you got rejected

Well, let me make it clear that I didn't send wrong applications to wrong departments. This will never be accepted by the university itself. Also, I asked the reasons for rejection which was definitely not what you are thinking. My choice of program was not a problem anywhere. I know you were not doubting my abilities as an applicant but the way you said made you sound as if you are damn sure that this is the reason for my rejection which is not true.

Anyways, lets end this discussion here. I wish you good luck for your application profile.

Edited March 9, 2019 by Ayub2306
Wrong grammer

[sgaw10]

On 3/8/2019 at 9:31 PM, Moods said:

I'm out, y'all. I am done playing this waiting game with schools. I plan on attending UConn this fall! Good luck everyone!

Congrats! Must be a relief. Wish you the best of luck on your PhD journey.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

39 minutes ago, sgaw10 said:

Congrats! Must be a relief. Wish you the best of luck on your PhD journey.

Thank you! It is definitely a huge relief! I hope everyone gets to this point soon, and I wish everyone else the best of luck as well!

[starkid]

Out of nowhere, can I just say, what the helllllllll is wrong with UPenn? If you read their weekly Applied Grad Student Q&As, you'll see they absolutely refuse to commit to having decisions out by April 15th. That seems incredibly, incredibly nerve-wracking for someone with a few offers but Penn definitely has a chance to best #1 (…. like me). On one hand, their visit weekends are already over, but on the other hand, they said in the chat that they still have "a majority' of decisions left to make. WTFFFFF ?

 

That being said, barring Penn, University of Maryland was awesome. And then Delaware came through on their visit by showing off the so-new-they're-moving-in-next-year building. But Penn's holdout is stressful af. Thx bye

[sgaw10]

9 minutes ago, starkid said:

Out of nowhere, can I just say, what the helllllllll is wrong with UPenn? If you read their weekly Applied Grad Student Q&As, you'll see they absolutely refuse to commit to having decisions out by April 15th. That seems incredibly, incredibly nerve-wracking for someone with a few offers but Penn definitely has a chance to best #1 (…. like me). On one hand, their visit weekends are already over, but on the other hand, they said in the chat that they still have "a majority' of decisions left to make. WTFFFFF ?

 

That being said, barring Penn, University of Maryland was awesome. And then Delaware came through on their visit by showing off the so-new-they're-moving-in-next-year building. But Penn's holdout is stressful af. Thx bye

Yeah, its kind of annoying about Penn for sure. I wish they would just reject me now. And each week I just get that same email about their Thursday chat.

[BrownEukaryote]

19 hours ago, starkid said:

Out of nowhere, can I just say, what the helllllllll is wrong with UPenn? If you read their weekly Applied Grad Student Q&As, you'll see they absolutely refuse to commit to having decisions out by April 15th. That seems incredibly, incredibly nerve-wracking for someone with a few offers but Penn definitely has a chance to best #1 (…. like me). On one hand, their visit weekends are already over, but on the other hand, they said in the chat that they still have "a majority' of decisions left to make. WTFFFFF ?

 

That being said, barring Penn, University of Maryland was awesome. And then Delaware came through on their visit by showing off the so-new-they're-moving-in-next-year building. But Penn's holdout is stressful af. Thx bye

Absolutely agreeing on UPenn. A friend of mine got acceptance on 25th of April last year. That's so unfair of them (I can't comprehend why would they do this after charging a good amount of application fees as well)

[extramaniac]

I set up a meeting with a POI at a conference we both are attending next week. I haven't heard anything from the school (although they have sent invites out). Any advice on how I should approach this? Is it kind of a pseudo-interview for me?

[girlbui]

6 hours ago, BrownEukaryote said:

Absolutely agreeing on UPenn. A friend of mine got acceptance on 25th of April last year. That's so unfair of them (I can't comprehend why would they do this after charging a good amount of application fees as well)

I didn't apply to UPenn but that is weird. The official commitment is Apr 15 and why is that a case? Did you friend withdraw from their other commitment to attend UPenn? That would look bad if they want to go to an academic career. 

[namle]

I got admitted to the PhD ECE program of the University of Iowa. I'm waiting for decisions from the Bioengineering program of UPenn and BME program of UVA to make my final decision. I'm so tired of waiting now. Because I'm an international student, I think I'll need to accept UI's offer so that the visa process can be done in time. If any of the remaining programs sent me a late admission offer, I think I'll have to reconsider my school choice. I'm thinking of declining UI's offer after accepting it if UPenn or UVA accepts me afterwards, even if it's not a nice gesture. In the end my choice of grad program matters the most, which affects my future 5-7 years. Any thought?

[Anxiously Hopeful]

Did anyone get accepted to JHU and receive the welcome/funding letter from the department?

[girlbui]

8 hours ago, namle said:

I got admitted to the PhD ECE program of the University of Iowa. I'm waiting for decisions from the Bioengineering program of UPenn and BME program of UVA to make my final decision. I'm so tired of waiting now. Because I'm an international student, I think I'll need to accept UI's offer so that the visa process can be done in time. If any of the remaining programs sent me a late admission offer, I think I'll have to reconsider my school choice. I'm thinking of declining UI's offer after accepting it if UPenn or UVA accepts me afterwards, even if it's not a nice gesture. In the end my choice of grad program matters the most, which affects my future 5-7 years. Any thought?

Like I said, if you consider a career in academia, this is a No No. If you only want to work in the industry and never affiliate with the universities again then that’s fine. I asked my PI and this is what he said

Edited March 13, 2019 by girlbui

[vjysd]

8 hours ago, namle said:

I got admitted to the PhD ECE program of the University of Iowa. I'm waiting for decisions from the Bioengineering program of UPenn and BME program of UVA to make my final decision. I'm so tired of waiting now. Because I'm an international student, I think I'll need to accept UI's offer so that the visa process can be done in time. If any of the remaining programs sent me a late admission offer, I think I'll have to reconsider my school choice. I'm thinking of declining UI's offer after accepting it if UPenn or UVA accepts me afterwards, even if it's not a nice gesture. In the end my choice of grad program matters the most, which affects my future 5-7 years. Any thought?

I understand your frustration. I'm an international student and I went through this when I applied for Masters programs 3 years ago. In terms of getting VISA on time, you'll have plenty. All programs are obligated to let you know before April 15th and most programs don't start until late August.  

[drfigue]

I don’t see how it affects you if you want to consider academia, unless you would really like to work at the university you declined after accepting. (maybe??) I’m not encouraging anyone to do that (God, no!), but I know people who went through this, explained the situation, and are fine. It depends on the university involved, how much time between accepting and declining, and how you managed to communicate with POIs.

But my recommendation for @namle is to wait a little longer. I don’t know how that works for international students, but it would be rude if you accept now and, let’s say you hear back by April 14 from other school, you decline it. (A month after.) Maybe check how long does the visa process take and make a decision based on that. Also, wouldn’t the university you pick complete the visa process? You also need to think of that. I don’t think they would stop the process, but don’t give it as a fact that they will be okay with you backing out. Also, think of the people who are waitlisted at that program - maybe some of them really want it.

In conclusion, avoid explaining why you would like to decline an offer after accepting it by waiting a little longer. ?

Edited March 13, 2019 by drfigue

[bmerunner]

12 hours ago, Anxiously Hopeful said:

Did anyone get accepted to JHU and receive the welcome/funding letter from the department?

I heard that Fellowship offers were sent out yesterday, and RA offers will be sent out soon!

[girlbui]

13 hours ago, Anxiously Hopeful said:

Did anyone get accepted to JHU and receive the welcome/funding letter from the department?

Not sure, I didn't receive anything. I know there is also a waitlist

[BrownEukaryote]

On 3/13/2019 at 1:58 AM, girlbui said:

I didn't apply to UPenn but that is weird. The official commitment is Apr 15 and why is that a case? Did you friend withdraw from their other commitment to attend UPenn? That would look bad if they want to go to an academic career. 

He opted to apply for better schools in the next year and didn't accept any offers. 

[jtro37]

lol email from Gerogia Tech saying that a decision will be available after 5 today. Why can't they just let me know

[girlbui]

2 minutes ago, jtro37 said:

lol email from Gerogia Tech saying that a decision will be available after 5 today. Why can't they just let me know

Lol. Same thought. I for sure got rejected because I didn’t get an interview. Why be so secretive

[jtro37]

Just now, girlbui said:

Lol. Same thought. I for sure got rejected because I didn’t get an interview. Why be so secretive

Oh yeah I was definitely rejected or waitlisted. I already accepted an offer but I just want to get all my results back now. Ya know, for my ego

[drfigue]

7 minutes ago, girlbui said:

Lol. Same thought. I for sure got rejected because I didn’t get an interview. Why be so secretive

Same here. Lmao