Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering Applicant Profiles for 2019 Admission

[namle]

For those admitted at UPenn, can you share your POI names (or initials)?

[ruiruiruij]

59 minutes ago, namle said:

For those admitted at UPenn, can you share your POI names (or initials)?

Mine said coadivsed by D.M. and R.Z.

[bmerunner]

On 3/20/2019 at 11:23 PM, namle said:

For those admitted at UPenn, can you share your POI names (or initials)?

Co-advised by DT and JG

[Shani Sadeh]

Did anyone hear anything from Columbia's BME program? Been waiting for my decision for over a month 

[sgaw10]

Not gonna lie, this admissions cycle has been a bit more depressing than initially expected. I obviously knew I wasn't getting interviews at these places since I was ghosted for months, but having the official rejections letters stings. Just waiting on Columbia and Penn to send their rejections now, and probably also Rice in a few weeks...

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

1 hour ago, sgaw10 said:

Not gonna lie, this admissions cycle has been a bit more depressing than initially expected. I obviously knew I wasn't getting interviews at these places since I was ghosted for months, but having the official rejections letters stings. Just waiting on Columbia and Penn to send their rejections now, and probably also Rice in a few weeks...

I'm sorry you feel this way. I honestly was disappointed with my results as well. I got accepted to two places with funding, which I am really thankful for and definitely not complaining about them and feel kind of silly feeling disappointed by these results. But I definitely understand somewhat how you feel. It feels bad when I received those six rejection letters, but I learned that you can't really take it personally. It's hard to do, but once you do that, it feels less worse. Good luck, my friend.

[WaliaIbex]

28 minutes ago, IceCream & MatSci said:

I'm sorry you feel this way. I honestly was disappointed with my results as well. I got accepted to two places with funding, which I am really thankful for and definitely not complaining about them and feel kind of silly feeling disappointed by these results. But I definitely understand somewhat how you feel. It feels bad when I received those six rejection letters, but I learned that you can't really take it personally. It's hard to do, but once you do that, it feels less worse. Good luck, my friend.

Congrats on the GEM Fellowship! 

 

2 hours ago, sgaw10 said:

Not gonna lie, this admissions cycle has been a bit more depressing than initially expected. I obviously knew I wasn't getting interviews at these places since I was ghosted for months, but having the official rejections letters stings. Just waiting on Columbia and Penn to send their rejections now, and probably also Rice in a few weeks...

Same here. I'm really happy about the school I will be attending, but it was so scary with all of that silence when I thought I wasn't going to get in anywhere this cycle.

 

Let's make the best of it, though. We have a whole 5 (or 6) years of science to do and prove our excellence, and based on your profiles here, I'm sure we'll all do some great stuff! May all of our experiments go perfectly the first time, and all of our papers be accepted to Nature. ? 

[sgaw10]

2 hours ago, IceCream & MatSci said:

I'm sorry you feel this way. I honestly was disappointed with my results as well. I got accepted to two places with funding, which I am really thankful for and definitely not complaining about them and feel kind of silly feeling disappointed by these results. But I definitely understand somewhat how you feel. It feels bad when I received those six rejection letters, but I learned that you can't really take it personally. It's hard to do, but once you do that, it feels less worse. Good luck, my friend.

I'm sure we'll look back on all of those rejections later on in our careers and laugh, but they're definitely not fun. Hopefully you get the NSF to lift your spirits

[sgaw10]

1 hour ago, WaliaIbex said:

Same here. I'm really happy about the school I will be attending, but it was so scary with all of that silence when I thought I wasn't going to get in anywhere this cycle.

 

Let's make the best of it, though. We have a whole 5 (or 6) years of science to do and prove our excellence, and based on your profiles here, I'm sure we'll all do some great stuff! May all of our experiments go perfectly the first time, and all of our papers be accepted to Nature. ? 

I was also pretty close to not getting in anywhere, so I'm also grateful I'm wanted at one place. And yes, we must always remind ourselves that what we do in grad school is often more important than the school itself. Maybe we'll stumble across each other at a conference or something someday. 

[gummybear9]

I just got the official notification that I'm rejected from UCSD but can "revisit" it if I get the NSF. Or I could enter for the MS but that's unfunded so I can't. I had a feeling this was why they'd ghosted me until now but it's still kind of depressing. I'm pretty sure I won't get the NSF.

[XVIIA]

On 3/27/2019 at 2:09 PM, sgaw10 said:

I'm sure we'll look back on all of those rejections later on in our careers and laugh, but they're definitely not fun. Hopefully you get the NSF to lift your spirits

I applied last year, and I got a lot more rejections than I was expecting. It definitely stung. Even in my first year, though, I've started to realize the ways that the program I'm attending and (from a more limited perspective) the only other one that gave me an offer are more suited to me as a researcher than some of the programs that rejected me. For example, I knew what I wanted to research, but I've started to learn the nuances of that research area enough to see how I probably wouldn't have been as good of a fit for at least half of my rejections. I'm almost grateful to have been rejected, to be honest!

A few of my past rejections still sting a bit. One program is seemingly very similar to where I am now but lower ranked/less prestigious, and my pride is still a bit wounded by that rejection. I now find myself rooting against their sports teams on principle. ? But overall, my perspective has made me realize that some of my rejections were probably mutually beneficial. Obviously everyone's experience is different. I just wanted to throw my perspective in there in case it helps someone get less discouraged about some rejections in favor of being more excited for the programs that chose them!

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

On 3/27/2019 at 3:30 PM, WaliaIbex said:

Congrats on the GEM Fellowship! 

Thanks! Congrats to you too for getting one as well and for getting into UVA!

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

On 3/27/2019 at 5:09 PM, sgaw10 said:

I'm sure we'll look back on all of those rejections later on in our careers and laugh, but they're definitely not fun. Hopefully you get the NSF to lift your spirits

That's very true. I am keeping all of my rejections letters so I remember that things worked out this way for a reason. And thanks! I doubt I will get the NSF, but it would be more than amazing if I got it!

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

35 minutes ago, XVIIA said:

I applied last year, and I got a lot more rejections than I was expecting. It definitely stung. Even in my first year, though, I've started to realize the ways that the program I'm attending and (from a more limited perspective) the only other one that gave me an offer are more suited to me as a researcher than some of the programs that rejected me. For example, I knew what I wanted to research, but I've started to learn the nuances of that research area enough to see how I probably wouldn't have been as good of a fit for at least half of my rejections. I'm almost grateful to have been rejected, to be honest!

A few of my past rejections still sting a bit. One program is seemingly very similar to where I am now but lower ranked/less prestigious, and my pride is still a bit wounded by that rejection. I now find myself rooting against their sports teams on principle. ? But overall, my perspective has made me realize that some of my rejections were probably mutually beneficial. Obviously everyone's experience is different. I just wanted to throw my perspective in there in case it helps someone get less discouraged about some rejections in favor of being more excited for the programs that chose them!

Thanks for this! This was nice to hear.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

20 hours ago, gummybear9 said:

I just got the official notification that I'm rejected from UCSD but can "revisit" it if I get the NSF. Or I could enter for the MS but that's unfunded so I can't. I had a feeling this was why they'd ghosted me until now but it's still kind of depressing. I'm pretty sure I won't get the NSF.

I am sorry they said they would "revisit" it. Congrats on getting into UC Davis and UC Riverside, though! I hope those programs are a good fit for you.

[sgaw10]

1 hour ago, XVIIA said:

I applied last year, and I got a lot more rejections than I was expecting. It definitely stung. Even in my first year, though, I've started to realize the ways that the program I'm attending and (from a more limited perspective) the only other one that gave me an offer are more suited to me as a researcher than some of the programs that rejected me. For example, I knew what I wanted to research, but I've started to learn the nuances of that research area enough to see how I probably wouldn't have been as good of a fit for at least half of my rejections. I'm almost grateful to have been rejected, to be honest!

A few of my past rejections still sting a bit. One program is seemingly very similar to where I am now but lower ranked/less prestigious, and my pride is still a bit wounded by that rejection. I now find myself rooting against their sports teams on principle. ? But overall, my perspective has made me realize that some of my rejections were probably mutually beneficial. Obviously everyone's experience is different. I just wanted to throw my perspective in there in case it helps someone get less discouraged about some rejections in favor of being more excited for the programs that chose them!

Thanks for this tidbit. I'm sure I will, but I hope I adopt a similar attitude as you. It will likely become clearer since my undergraduate research has not been in my area of interest. I think I'm being picky at this point, but I'm very grateful for my one acceptance so far and would happily attend if I don't get off the waitlist at Rice. I still like to hold onto hope though...

And I think there's something to be said about the excitement of being accepted somewhere. I think our perspectives are warped by this forum, because in reality an extremely small number of people earn a PhD. And for a place to genuinely want you to come to their school to do that is pretty cool.

[drfigue]

14 hours ago, XVIIA said:

I applied last year, and I got a lot more rejections than I was expecting. It definitely stung. Even in my first year, though, I've started to realize the ways that the program I'm attending and (from a more limited perspective) the only other one that gave me an offer are more suited to me as a researcher than some of the programs that rejected me. For example, I knew what I wanted to research, but I've started to learn the nuances of that research area enough to see how I probably wouldn't have been as good of a fit for at least half of my rejections. I'm almost grateful to have been rejected, to be honest!

A few of my past rejections still sting a bit. One program is seemingly very similar to where I am now but lower ranked/less prestigious, and my pride is still a bit wounded by that rejection. I now find myself rooting against their sports teams on principle. ? But overall, my perspective has made me realize that some of my rejections were probably mutually beneficial. Obviously everyone's experience is different. I just wanted to throw my perspective in there in case it helps someone get less discouraged about some rejections in favor of being more excited for the programs that chose them!

Thanks!!! That’s very true, sometimes rejection means they are doing you a favor. Academia is pretty messed up, you want to go to a place where you’re appreciated.

[TITX]

Just wanna say that BME thread has kept me sane throughout this whole process... ❤️ lol

[girlbui]

Had anyone get a reimbursement for the UCB/UCSF visit? I got an online prepaid card but it says $0.00 balance. The issuer said that I had to type in a Unique Identifier. When I was activating my card, I did not see a field for that. 

[AnotherThrowawayAccount]

On 4/1/2019 at 1:59 PM, girlbui said:

Had anyone get a reimbursement for the UCB/UCSF visit? I got an online prepaid card but it says $0.00 balance. The issuer said that I had to type in a Unique Identifier. When I was activating my card, I did not see a field for that. 

I got the reimbursement. You have to activate your account and then it is filled.

 

You receive it as an online visa card balance. They let you transfer to a bank account, at a cost of $1.50 T_T

[girlbui]

1 hour ago, AnotherThrowawayAccount said:

I got the reimbursement. You have to activate your account and then it is filled.

 

You receive it as an online visa card balance. They let you transfer to a bank account, at a cost of $1.50 T_T

I figured out. They didn’t load my balance. My account is activated but my card said zero. I received a different email than my friend. Doesn’t say how much I got

[BrownEukaryote]

Did anyone visit both Boston and UCI?. I would love to know about the programs from someone who's been to these places before making my final decision (I could not visit because I am international).

I would also love to hear your opinion on these two schools in general.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

43 minutes ago, BrownEukaryote said:

Did anyone visit both Boston and UCI?. I would love to know about the programs from someone who's been to these places before making my final decision (I could not visit because I am international).

I would also love to hear your opinion on these two schools in general.

I visited Boston University for a PhD in Materials Science. If you have questions, just PM me.

[drfigue]

1 hour ago, BrownEukaryote said:

Did anyone visit both Boston and UCI?. I would love to know about the programs from someone who's been to these places before making my final decision (I could not visit because I am international).

I would also love to hear your opinion on these two schools in general.

I would focus on potential PIs and the people. Since you couldn't visit I'd send emails to students in each program. All stages. Ask for video calls, if possible, and observe their faces when you ask your questions. I know my face reaction would not lie. Look for red flags and discard --- it is a long commitment!

I wish I knew more from these schools to help you, but I don't. Good luck!

[Shani Sadeh]

Admitted to Columbia's BME masters program yesterday! Anyone else?