Please evaluate my profile for PhD program in Fall 2019

[zomhud]

Hello,

I have received my undergraduate degree in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. However, currently I am working as a Research Assistant in the Biomedical Engineering department, working on biomaterials. I have seen both MSE and BME departments work on biomaterials in most of the universities. Is it possible for me to get admitted if I apply to Biomedical Engineering for PhD? Or should I stick to MSE and look for groups who work with biomaterials?

[zomhud]

Hello,

Please evaluate my profile below and suggest some suitable universities for me. Any kind of suggestion will be welcomed. Please keep in mind that full fund is necessary for me. Without fund and RA/TAship I cannot continue my study.

Undergraduate: Materials and Metallurgical Engineering. CGPA: 3.61/4.00 (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology)

GRE: Quant: 162 Verbal: 146 AWA: 4.0

IELTS: Reading: 9 Listening: 7.5 Writing: 7 Speaking: 7.5

Publications: 1 published, 1 under review (both are in peer-reviewed International journal)

Research Experience: Working as a research assistant since December 2017. I am supposed to work till next May. So there is possibility of 1/2 more publications.

Let me know if you need any more information.

Thanks in advance.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

Hey @mmseazon006!

I recently graduated as well with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, and I am applying to various MSE and BME PhD graduate programs for biomaterials (in particular using biomaterials in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications). You definitely don't have to have a BME degree to enter into BME for a PhD. It helps to have an engineering degree, but sometimes you may be required to take additional classes beyond the requirements if yo enter the program with some missing initial required previous coursework, such as a biology class. I think that depends on the school's specifics, though, and you can usually find that on their website. You can stick with MSE, if you want. I chose a mixture depending on if the professors were doing research I was interested in -- sometimes it was BME and sometimes it was MSE.

I think your profile is good. You are getting good research experience, your GPA looks good, and you have a great quantitative GRE score. I don't know much about the IELTS, so I can't provide much on that. When looking at schools, you want to make sure they are a right fit for you and vice versa. Even if you had an amazing profile with top scores and a top GPA and have tons of research experience and top-notch LORs from well-known people in your field of study, you most likely won't get picked if you don't establish that "fit".

For universities, I suggest looking at professors you want to do work with, funding amounts (thankfully, engineering usually provides funding for PhDs), the graduate program itself (the type and amount of required classes, time dedicated to research), and the university's locations (is it in a city or a small town? Where would prefer to live for 4-7 years?) and amenities (such as clubs/organizations, training programs, lab facilities, internship opportunities, grad students activities, etc). Maybe to get you started you can look at schools I am applying, which are listed below. I can't help you much beyond that because biomaterials is a huge field and I don't know what you are particularly interested in within that field. Also, there are many universities doing biomaterials research and I honestly don't know all of them.

I hope this helps in some way, though! Good luck!

Edited October 23, 2018 by Moods 2.0

[zomhud]

@Moods

Thank you very much for your reply. I am also looking for the biomaterials in tissue engineering. Thanks for this to point out, I didn't take this with much importance.

I saw your university choices, but I think most of these are out of my league. U-Michigan, Boston, CalTech, Northwestern are in the top 10 or 15 at most I guess, I don't think my profile is not good for those unis. I am looking for profs and mailed few of them. Let's see what happens. And good luck with your admission.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

@mmseazon006 No problem! I am glad to help! I would suggest applying to maybe one or two top universities because you never know. I don't have the greatest profile (my GRE scores aren't the greatest and I could have more research experience), but I thought it was worth a shot anyways. Of course, apply to places you are comfortable with. Other universities I suggest looking into are Wake Forest University, Rice, Drexel, North Carolina State University (they have a joint BME department with UNC-Chapel Hill), Indiana University, Northeastern, Tufts University, Florida State University, and University of Colorado Boulder.

 

[zomhud]

@Moods Thanks a lot for the suggestions! I will definitely look into the universities you have mentioned.