Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering Applicant Profiles for 2019 Admission

[sgaw10]

27 minutes ago, misslitty said:

Commenting to give some of y'all hope, because you're all far more qualified than I.  

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM):  Okay public uni, strong research institution for my field

Major(s): Biomedical Engineering (B.S.), Bioengineering (M.S.)
Minor(s): Chemistry
GPA in Major: Fuck, I have no idea
Overall GPA: Undergrad: 3.55/4.0, Grad: 4.0/4.0
Demographics/Background: White, female, American

GRE Scores:
Q: 161 (77%) 
V: 164 (94%)
W: 5.0 (92%)

LOR: 

3 incredibly strong LORs.  2 were from current and former PIs, and one was from my advisor/professor

Research Experience: 

Solo research project when I was 16 (published at same age), summer research internship and top university, 3 years research at current university 

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

2 publications (1st and 2nd author), 8 conference abstracts, which were a mix of poster and oral presentations

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Took 1st place poster at a conference, if that counts

 

Fellowships/Funding:

2 semesters of undergraduate research funding, travel grant to present at national conference, funding from local medical company, and graduate research assistantship

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Highly involved with outreach.  Have been volunteering with low-income families and women since I was 13, worked with scientific outreach programs that work with primary students, and my last job was solely outreach activities.

 

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.):

I can't emphasize enough how good one of my LOR was.  It was from the head of the dept at this incredible institution, who was also my PI.

 

Research Interests:

POC diagnostic development for low-resource areas (-:

 

Comments:

Have 3 acceptances! If I can do it, so can you!

Congrats. You have a nice profile for sure. Where did you apply?

[misslitty]

1 hour ago, sgaw10 said:

Congrats. You have a nice profile for sure. Where did you apply?

Thank you, but I feel like everyone on here is a FAR better applicant than I am!  I'm pretty sure my GPA will get my application trashed a lot of places.  I applied to MIT, University of Colorado, Oregon State, University of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Northeastern, UCLA, UC Riverside, Boston University, and Washington State.

Also, I'm in Utah's M.S. Bioengineering program now!  Who are interested in working with??

[sgaw10]

4 minutes ago, misslitty said:

Thank you, but I feel like everyone on here is a FAR better applicant than I am!  I'm pretty sure my GPA will get my application trashed a lot of places.  I applied to MIT, University of Colorado, Oregon State, University of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Northeastern, UCLA, UC Riverside, Boston University, and Washington State.

Also, I'm in Utah's M.S. Bioengineering program now!  Who are interested in working with??

My GPA is far worse than yours ?

I'm interested in Bowles and Yu. Can't remember the other two off the top of my head. Did you apply to only master's?

[misslitty]

Just now, sgaw10 said:

My GPA is far worse than yours ?

I'm interested in Bowles and Yu. Can't remember the other two off the top of my head. Did you apply to only master's?

Here's to hoping it doesn't matter that much!

I'm in Yu's class right now and took one from Bowles last year!  They're both really kind, but Yu is a lot more of an experienced PI, FWIW.  I'm doing the BS/MS now since it only pushed my graduation date back by a semester and it's paid for lol.  I'm applying for PhD for Fall 2019 and those are what the acceptances are for.

[sgaw10]

25 minutes ago, misslitty said:

Here's to hoping it doesn't matter that much!

I'm in Yu's class right now and took one from Bowles last year!  They're both really kind, but Yu is a lot more of an experienced PI, FWIW.  I'm doing the BS/MS now since it only pushed my graduation date back by a semester and it's paid for lol.  I'm applying for PhD for Fall 2019 and those are what the acceptances are for.

Oh, duh! I feel like an idiot now hahaha

[girlbui]

2 hours ago, misslitty said:

Thank you, but I feel like everyone on here is a FAR better applicant than I am!  I'm pretty sure my GPA will get my application trashed a lot of places.  I applied to MIT, University of Colorado, Oregon State, University of Wisconsin and Minnesota, Northeastern, UCLA, UC Riverside, Boston University, and Washington State.

Also, I'm in Utah's M.S. Bioengineering program now!  Who are interested in working with??

don't worry. My PI said GPA and GRE aren't as important as publications. I have a very bad GRE, good GPA though and I got interviews in several schools. 

[misslitty]

16 hours ago, girlbui said:

don't worry. My PI said GPA and GRE aren't as important as publications. I have a very bad GRE, good GPA though and I got interviews in several schools. 

That's honestly really comforting to hear.  I was CONVINCED I would be rejected from everywhere I applied.  I assume you're published?

[extramaniac]

16 hours ago, girlbui said:

don't worry. My PI said GPA and GRE aren't as important as publications. I have a very bad GRE, good GPA though and I got interviews in several schools. 

do you mind sharing your profile?

[StHoly]

1 hour ago, misslitty said:

That's honestly really comforting to hear.  I was CONVINCED I would be rejected from everywhere I applied.  I assume you're published?

May I know where are you accepted? 

[StHoly]

On 1/19/2019 at 4:35 PM, syntheticbio said:

Hello everyone! I hope you all hear some great news soon. I thought I could contribute to this discussion because I applied to 11 PhD programs at 8 schools for Fall 2018 and was rejected by all of them, so I at least know when some top schools notify their unsuccessful applicants. My chief research interest is in synthetic biology, and there seems to be some ambiguity about where synthetic bio fades into biological engineering/BioE/BME programs versus the more cutting-edge life sciences departments and programs.

Fall 2018 Results

MIT Biological Engineering PhD "The number of applicants for admissions to our program greatly exceeds the number that can be accommodated and it has been necessary to refuse admissions to some fine applicants such as yourself." (Rejected January 26, 2018)

 

 

 

 

 

I think this means I should be expecting rejections from MIT sometime soon T_T 

[ruiruiruij]

On 1/17/2019 at 10:57 AM, dontor said:

Does anyone know chances of Yale acceptance post POI interview? I know it depends on research fit, etc. but does anyone know how many people a POI might interview? thanks

I'm wondering the same question too. I got two profs to interview me and I thought one went bad.

[misslitty]

6 hours ago, StHoly said:

May I know where are you accepted? 

Oregon State, UC Riverside, and University of Minnesota ?

[sgaw10]

Feels like lots of news should come out this week...

[gummybear9]

3 minutes ago, sgaw10 said:

Feels like lots of news should come out this week...

Yeah, if I don't hear anything positive by the end of the week, I've decided it's time to start applying to jobs. 

If anyone has advice for post bacc programs... let me know. I'm going to apply to the NIH IRTA but I'm not eligible for all the schools that have PREP post baccs because I grew up low-income but not technically in poverty. And first-generation and queer students aren't underrepresented I guess? (I'm a little salty lol I feel like I should be eligible)

[girlbui]

20 hours ago, misslitty said:

That's honestly really comforting to hear.  I was CONVINCED I would be rejected from everywhere I applied.  I assume you're published?

 

20 hours ago, extramaniac said:

do you mind sharing your profile?

Here's my profile when I applied

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): In-state local university that is considered R1 

Major(s): BME
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 4.00/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.96/4.00
Demographics/Background: First generation college student, Asian

GRE Scores:
Q: 56%
V: 88%
W: 92%

LOR: 3 - Two PI's, 1 job manager

Research Experience: I'm an undergrad so I started lab freshman year. Also interned for a tech company in Palo Alto where I developed my invention

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 3 papers (all 2nd author) from a BME lab. Was going to write one as the first author from vasculature lab but she keeps saying, your paper is next but my PI takes forever.  1 Patent. Over 11 conference posters/abstracts (either 1st or co); I lost count

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List, full-ride scholarships 30k/year. Lots of random scholarships recognition. 2nd place best presentation in a conference. Grants to those 2 labs I mentioned above

Fellowships/Funding: I applied to zero before I applied to the school. I thought the school can just give me an internal fellowship. 

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Those research were jobs, I always got paid. 

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): No faculty connections. I didn't reach out first to any school before applying. 

 

Research Interests: biosensors, microfluidics

 

 

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

39 minutes ago, sgaw10 said:

Feels like lots of news should come out this week...

Sending good vibes to everyone! 

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

33 minutes ago, gummybear9 said:

Yeah, if I don't hear anything positive by the end of the week, I've decided it's time to start applying to jobs. 

If anyone has advice for post bacc programs... let me know. I'm going to apply to the NIH IRTA but I'm not eligible for all the schools that have PREP post baccs because I grew up low-income but not technically in poverty. And first-generation and queer students aren't underrepresented I guess? (I'm a little salty lol I feel like I should be eligible)

I think this is smart! I might try and do the same. I also agree the people who are first-generation and/or of the LGBTQ+ community should also be considered underrepresented. Kind of dumb that they aren’t. 

[dontor]

I'm still sort of salty with Stanford postponing announcements for interviews till march. I'm sort of hoping we are just interpreting it wrong.

[sgaw10]

Crossing my fingers for a Penn interview ?

[StHoly]

1 hour ago, gummybear9 said:

Yeah, if I don't hear anything positive by the end of the week, I've decided it's time to start applying to jobs. 

If anyone has advice for post bacc programs... let me know. I'm going to apply to the NIH IRTA but I'm not eligible for all the schools that have PREP post baccs because I grew up low-income but not technically in poverty. And first-generation and queer students aren't underrepresented I guess? (I'm a little salty lol I feel like I should be eligible)

Same

Good luck to all of us waitin for news! 

[Victorious Secret]

2 hours ago, dontor said:

I'm still sort of salty with Stanford postponing announcements for interviews till march. I'm sort of hoping we are just interpreting it wrong.

I think they put that up so we would stop emailing them and asking about it. Most likely they will come out in a few weeks and they are just backed up with everything. That's my guess anyway.

[dontor]

13 minutes ago, Victorious Secret said:

I think they put that up so we would stop emailing them and asking about it. Most likely they will come out in a few weeks and they are just backed up with everything. That's my guess anyway.

True, true

Normally Stanford has a 75% acceptance rate, I was thinking maybe this meant that anyone offered interviews would for sure get in being that late in March.

[sgaw10]

Had my first ever Skype interview today, and I think I did super well. The professor said my letters of rec were amazing, which was super comforting. Gives me hope for all of the places giving me the silent treatment right now ?

[Victorious Secret]

2 hours ago, dontor said:

True, true

Normally Stanford has a 75% acceptance rate, I was thinking maybe this meant that anyone offered interviews would for sure get in being that late in March.

I imagine that fewer people would be able to attend interviews given prior visits, spring break plans, etc. 

[girlbui]

20 minutes ago, Victorious Secret said:

I imagine that fewer people would be able to attend interviews given prior visits, spring break plans, etc. 

true, I was like . why are you giving me an interview in 3 weeks. I hate overlapping interviews.