Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering Applicant Profiles for 2019 Admission

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

1 hour ago, StHoly said:

I got accepted to UConn and I accepted the offer. Is it normal to not get a funding letter from them? I heard the funding will come after or am I wrong? I am beyond excited but I don't think I can pay for 5 years of tuition. 

I was recommended by my current PI, he is a new UConn Associate Professor and starting up his lab this Fall. He assured me there will be funding and stipend but should I freak out now or wait? 

I just got my funding letter from them today and I accepted my offer from them in March. You could contact the department and see when you might receive the letter. You will more than likely not pay tuition. You get a tuition waiver when you get a graduate assistantship. The only thing you will have to pay is student fees and health care, but since the grad students at UConn have a union, things are cheaper for grad students than most other schools. So, the fees would be about $600 per semester, I think, and the healthcare will be about $400 per school year, I remember correctly. It's not too bad and you can have the school automatically take that out of your stipend before you receive the money.

I think it should be fine. I know it may be hard to trust his word, but I feel grad school will require us to do a lot of trusting. You could always email your PI about the funding letter as well.

Good luck and I can't believe we will be in the same cohort! So excited! Go Huskies!

[sgaw10]

3 hours ago, StHoly said:

I got accepted to UConn and I accepted the offer. Is it normal to not get a funding letter from them? I heard the funding will come after or am I wrong? I am beyond excited but I don't think I can pay for 5 years of tuition. 

I was recommended by my current PI, he is a new UConn Associate Professor and starting up his lab this Fall. He assured me there will be funding and stipend but should I freak out now or wait? 

Congratulations! So glad it's worked out for you, and it sounds like they want you there for sure.

[StHoly]

1 hour ago, sgaw10 said:

Congratulations! So glad it's worked out for you, and it sounds like they want you there for sure.

Thank you very much! I'm honestly glad that I am moving forward! I have not been in a right place before the acceptance! Congratulation on your WashU BME as well! I wish you all the best and everyone here!

[extramaniac]

lol just "received" my "rejection" from penn after being "invited" to a "chat" yesterday despite the deadline to choose a school on monday. worst graduate admissions office of any school I applied to. wait till after the deadline to "give" a decision and be completely unreceptive to any sort of emails. fuck them

Edited April 18, 2019 by extramaniac

[sgaw10]

1 minute ago, extramaniac said:

lol just "received" my "rejection" from penn after being "invited" to a "chat" yesterday despite the deadline to choose a school on monday. worst graduate admissions office of any school I applied to. wait till after the deadline to "give" a decision and be completely unreceptive to any sort of emails. fuck them

Also just received it. I regret sending my application there.

[StHoly]

I haven't gotten any response from Columbia at all.. Is that normal? I havent gotten notification that it has been reviewed etc... I feel like they are not gonna review it and just reject my application. :/

 

 

[sgaw10]

44 minutes ago, StHoly said:

I haven't gotten any response from Columbia at all.. Is that normal? I havent gotten notification that it has been reviewed etc... I feel like they are not gonna review it and just reject my application. ?

 

 

Neither have I, besides an interview invitation on Tuesday that was a "technical error." Wish they could at least send me a rejection, too.

[vjysd]

4 hours ago, extramaniac said:

lol just "received" my "rejection" from penn after being "invited" to a "chat" yesterday despite the deadline to choose a school on monday. worst graduate admissions office of any school I applied to. wait till after the deadline to "give" a decision and be completely unreceptive to any sort of emails. fuck them

 

4 hours ago, sgaw10 said:

Also just received it. I regret sending my application there.

And the fact that they can't commit to giving all decisions by a certain date makes me angry. During every "chat" the Asst. director of grad admissions says they're still making decisions. I've been waiting since I interviewed during their first weekend over 2 months ago!

[sgaw10]

2 minutes ago, vjysd said:

 

And the fact that they can't commit to giving all decisions by a certain date makes me angry. During every "chat" the Asst. director of grad admissions says they're still making decisions. I've been waiting since I interviewed during their first weekend over 2 months ago!

Wow. At this rate they might have all of this cycle's decisions out by the deadline for fall 2020 apps...

[jtro37]

Professor at Penn reached out to chat about joining his lab. Apparently I was waitlisted there but he has an opening. Would've been good to know there was a chance instead of hearing nothing for 5 months

[I'mStillhere]

2 hours ago, jtro37 said:

Professor at Penn reached out to chat about joining his lab. Apparently I was waitlisted there but he has an opening. Would've been good to know there was a chance instead of hearing nothing for 5 months

Still haven't heard back from them either, I suppose this must be the case for me as well?? It's pretty late in the game though, are you going to consider the offer at this point?

[jtro37]

13 hours ago, I'mStillhere said:

Still haven't heard back from them either, I suppose this must be the case for me as well?? It's pretty late in the game though, are you going to consider the offer at this point?

Yeah I'd say you might hear from then if that's the case.

I already accepted an offer and don't feel like burning bridges lol. Plus after getting GRFP, TAMU gave me additional funding and I don't think I'd get a better offer from Penn. Also the guy from Penn doesn't do much in the field I wanna go into

[I'mStillhere]

20 minutes ago, jtro37 said:

Yeah I'd say you might hear from then if that's the case.

I already accepted an offer and don't feel like burning bridges lol. Plus after getting GRFP, TAMU gave me additional funding and I don't think I'd get a better offer from Penn. Also the guy from Penn doesn't do much in the field I wanna go into

Congrats on your acceptance and funding!! And yeah, that is pretty much exactly how I feel. Which is actually surprising, because Penn was at the top of my list when this whole process began. It's funny how that really does get all muddled during this. As it turns out, I may have been fixating on rank a little too much.

[jtro37]

2 hours ago, I'mStillhere said:

Congrats on your acceptance and funding!! And yeah, that is pretty much exactly how I feel. Which is actually surprising, because Penn was at the top of my list when this whole process began. It's funny how that really does get all muddled during this. As it turns out, I may have been fixating on rank a little too much.

Yeah Penn was 2nd choice for me. But I totally feel the same way about the rank thing

[sgaw10]

2 hours ago, I'mStillhere said:

Congrats on your acceptance and funding!! And yeah, that is pretty much exactly how I feel. Which is actually surprising, because Penn was at the top of my list when this whole process began. It's funny how that really does get all muddled during this. As it turns out, I may have been fixating on rank a little too much.

I feel the exact same way. Penn and Columbia were my top picks going into the application process. They ghosted me for ages, and I still haven't even received a rejection from Columbia yet. I love their locations and think my research fit was spot on, but in the end I'm grateful for what happened.

Once you're in the top 20 or so, there's not much of a difference. There are amazing resources at all of these institutions. And when it comes down to it, if you don't have a supportive advisor or the willpower to be productive during the PhD, then rank alone won't get you very far.

[Natalie Bell]

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): 

Major(s): Engineering with a concentration in biomedical engineering
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major: 3.5/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.4/4.00
Demographics/Background: White Female

GRE Scores:
Q: 155 (xx%)
V: 147 (xx%)
W: 4.0 (xx%)
*Forgot the percentile

Re-taking the GRE in a week!! 

LOR: Very strong.... I am having a tough time deciding who to use for which programs.

Research Experience: 

NIH Summer Intern for two summers --> 3 projects

Research Assistant at ECU in biology department  --> 1 project

Research Assistant at ECU in chemistry department  --> 3 projects

Research Assistant at ECU in engineering department --> 2 projects

Research Assistant at ECU in engineering department --> 1 project

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

1 patent

1 conference paper (oral presentation)

2 papers in review

8 poster abstracts

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

3rd best conference paper (Health Systems track)

3rd best poster (NIH)

Fellowships/Funding:

NIH IRTA Grant --> 2 years

Travel award REU

Travel award engineering 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Mentoring an undergrad in the lab

Mentoring a high school research student on her capstone project

Editor and chief of national toxicology program's molecular toxicology newsletter

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

there is more ... will update later

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

 

Research Interests:

Biomedical engineering applications to toxicology, so developing testing assays or looking at Pharma engineering techniques. 

Institutions/Programs:

MIT

Johns Hopkins

University of California at Irvine 

Rice University

UT Southwestern Medical

Cornell

Duke University

UNC/NC State

Wake Forest/Va Tech

WPI

Tufts

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