Materials Science and Engineering Applicant Profiles for 2019 Admission

[mseapplicant]

On 1/21/2019 at 9:33 AM, Moods said:

Your profile looks great! I hope all goes well for you, and yes, please let us know where you end up going! Also, just curious, what kind of energy materials do you want to study?

Thanks! Interested in batteries, thermoelectrics, solar cells.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

On 1/8/2019 at 8:43 AM, eutectic_points said:

I'm also applying for materials science programs. I don't really believe in comparing profiles, but I was wondering if anybody has heard back from schools recently? 

 

I forgot to mention this when I first replied to you, but your name is cool. Very material science-y! I love it!

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

On 1/22/2019 at 1:34 PM, mseapplicant said:

batteries, thermoelectrics, solar cells.

Very neat! Some cool research being done in these areas! Please find better ways for these things! They are so cool, but need a lot of improvements as well! Make some super earth-friendly batteries!

[eutectic_points]

3 hours ago, Moods said:

I forgot to mention this when I first replied to you, but your name is cool. Very material science-y! I love it!

Aww thanks, that really means a lot to me!! Go materials science nerds!!!

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

On 1/16/2019 at 2:07 PM, skmse said:

Institutions/Programs: MSE PhD programs at: UPenn, Penn State, Cornell, NCSU, UW Madison, Minnosota, UC San Diego, Columbia, Brown, Boston University, RPI, Ohio State (will apply), UPitt (will apply), Northwestern (stretch), UIUC (stretch), UCSB (stretch) 

Have you heard anything from BU?

[benmaterials]

Anyone have any recruitment weekends planned?  I'm planning on going to GA Tech, UCSB, and UPenn.  Still waiting to hear back from Northwestern, Berkeley, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon.

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

11 hours ago, benmaterials said:

Anyone have any recruitment weekends planned?  I'm planning on going to GA Tech, UCSB, and UPenn.  Still waiting to hear back from Northwestern, Berkeley, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon.

That’s awesome! Congrats on those invites! I have only been invited to one so far at Boston University. 

[matscigradapp]

15 hours ago, benmaterials said:

Anyone have any recruitment weekends planned?  I'm planning on going to GA Tech, UCSB, and UPenn.  Still waiting to hear back from Northwestern, Berkeley, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon.

Planning on going to Cornell's weekend. Do you know if Georgia Tech has multiple visit recruitment weekends?

[benmaterials]

6 hours ago, Moods said:

That’s awesome! Congrats on those invites! I have only been invited to one so far at Boston University. 

I was just visiting a friend in Boston, and Boston U’s location is so nice!  That sounds like an awesome place to do grad school.

[benmaterials]

2 hours ago, matscigradapp said:

Planning on going to Cornell's weekend. Do you know if Georgia Tech has multiple visit recruitment weekends?

I do not know, but it’s in Feb, so there might be one in Mar too?  There’s probably another round of admits??  I have a friend from ASU who’s going to Cornell’s weekend.

[dangpongwu]

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): Top 5 in China, very good reputation in engineering

Major(s): Chemistry
Overall GPA: 3.84/4.30 

Demographics/Background: International

GRE Scores:
Q: 168 (94%) 
V: 153 (61%)
W: 3.5 (41%)

LOR: 2 letters from home institute, 1 letter from my summer research tutor in Sydney U, 1 strong letter from well-knowned professor in my field of interest (write to only 2 universities)

Research Experience:  2-3 years research experience.

almost 1.5 years at inorgainic synthesis laboratory - synthesize and characterize porous materials 

3 months at top electron microscopy group- solve structure using HRTEM, electron diffraction (tomography)

3 months at another microscopy group - sample preparation and elemental anlysis

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

no publication

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

several top scholarships from home institute 

 

Fellowships/Funding:

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.):  contacted 3 profs and received positive feedbacks

 

Research Interests:

Microscopy

 

Institutions/Programs:  all MSE PhD's 

APPLIED (6)  - Northwestern, UIUC, Wisconsin-Madison, Minnesota(Accepted), UC Irvine, Oxford(Interview) 

seems that international students are not in the first round of acceptance/rejection for UIUC and Wisc ? 

Edited January 30, 2019 by dangpongwu

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

9 hours ago, dangpongwu said:

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): Top 5 in China, very good reputation in engineering

Major(s): Chemistry
Overall GPA: 3.84/4.30 

Demographics/Background: International

GRE Scores:
Q: 168 (94%) 
V: 153 (61%)
W: 3.5 (41%)

LOR: 2 letters from home institute, 1 letter from my summer research tutor in Sydney U, 1 strong letter from well-knowned professor in my field of interest (write to only 2 universities)

Research Experience:  2-3 years research experience.

almost 1.5 years at inorgainic synthesis laboratory - synthesize and characterize porous materials 

3 months at top electron microscopy group- solve structure using HRTEM, electron diffraction (tomography)

3 months at another microscopy group - sample preparation and elemental anlysis

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

no publication

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

several top scholarships from home institute 

 

Fellowships/Funding:

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.):  contacted 3 profs and received positive feedbacks

 

Research Interests:

Microscopy

 

Institutions/Programs:  all MSE PhD's 

APPLIED (6)  - Northwestern, UIUC, Wisconsin-Madison, Minnesota(Accepted), UC Irvine, Oxford(Interview) 

seems that international students are not in the first round of acceptance/rejection for UIUC and Wisc ? 

Your application looks great! Congrats on being accepted to Minnesota and your interview with Oxford. I sadly have no idea about UIUC and Wisconsin. Good luck, though!

[dangpongwu]

8 hours ago, Moods said:

Your application looks great! Congrats on being accepted to Minnesota and your interview with Oxford. I sadly have no idea about UIUC and Wisconsin. Good luck, though!

Thank you very much! Good luck to you.

[skmse]

On 1/28/2019 at 5:44 PM, Moods said:

Have you heard anything from BU?

Hey! Yeah, I've been invited to the BU and NCSU open houses I can't make it to BU's Feb. 22nd visit weekend because of some other travel ? But I will likely be visiting them on March 1st. Are you going to the Feb 22nd one? 

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

20 hours ago, skmse said:

Hey! Yeah, I've been invited to the BU and NCSU open houses I can't make it to BU's Feb. 22nd visit weekend because of some other travel ? But I will likely be visiting them on March 1st. Are you going to the Feb 22nd one? 

Congrats!!! I hope you love NCSU! If you have any questions related to there, please let me know. I miss Raleigh every day! And oh man, it would have been great to meet you, but it’s all good. I am going to the Feb. 22nd one, but I hope your visit with them in March goes well! 

[Mataharii]

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): US public university (top 150 in ME, but very prestigious in polymer science where I've done much of my research)

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.98/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.72/4.00
Demographics/Background: Immigrated to US at 5 from Latin American country. US citizen.

GRE Scores:
Q:  161
V:  167 
W: 5.0 

LOR: 2 research supervisors + 1 professor in 3 upper level ME courses. 

Research Experience: 4 research internships (~3-4 months each), 3 at large companies, 1 at startup
2 years of additive manufacturing of polymers research in ME department
1+ year of polymer science research in Polymer Science department

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 2 conference papers, 1 poster, 1 presentation

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: NASA OSGC scholar, NSF undergraduate researcher, undergraduate university Honors College member, IDEAs (Increasing Diversity in Engineering Academics) ambassador, top 5% of graduating class in ME

 

Fellowships/Funding: Some offers received for internal university fellowships, no notice from external fellowships at this point.

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: Very active throughout my undergrad in various programs for diversity in STEM including mentorship, tutoring, outreach, and recruitment programs and projects.

 

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): my research advisor is regarded as one of the top polymer scientists in the world. I'm very lucky to be part of his group. 

 

Research Interests: Additive manufacturing of biomaterials

 

Institutions/Programs: Northwestern, Cornell, Ohio State University, and Carnegie Mellon; other applications were to ME programs.

 

Comments: Admitted to OSU, Cornell, and Carnegie Mellon so far. Plan to attend the visit weekends.

 

Good luck to everyone!

[benmaterials]

3 hours ago, Mataharii said:

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): US public university (top 150 in ME, but very prestigious in polymer science where I've done much of my research)

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.98/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.72/4.00
Demographics/Background: Immigrated to US at 5 from Latin American country. US citizen.

GRE Scores:
Q:  161
V:  167 
W: 5.0 

LOR: 2 research supervisors + 1 professor in 3 upper level ME courses. 

Research Experience: 4 research internships (~3-4 months each), 3 at large companies, 1 at startup
2 years of additive manufacturing of polymers research in ME department
1+ year of polymer science research in Polymer Science department

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 2 conference papers, 1 poster, 1 presentation

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: NASA OSGC scholar, NSF undergraduate researcher, undergraduate university Honors College member, IDEAs (Increasing Diversity in Engineering Academics) ambassador, top 5% of graduating class in ME

 

Fellowships/Funding: Some offers received for internal university fellowships, no notice from external fellowships at this point.

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: Very active throughout my undergrad in various programs for diversity in STEM including mentorship, tutoring, outreach, and recruitment programs and projects.

 

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): my research advisor is regarded as one of the top polymer scientists in the world. I'm very lucky to be part of his group. 

 

Research Interests: Additive manufacturing of biomaterials

 

Institutions/Programs: Northwestern, Cornell, Ohio State University, and Carnegie Mellon; other applications were to ME programs.

 

Comments: Admitted to OSU, Cornell, and Carnegie Mellon so far. Plan to attend the visit weekends.

 

Good luck to everyone!

Did you by chance apply to Harvard’s combined ME/MSE program?  They have a bunch of bio-inspired research and Jennifer Lewis’s lab does creative additive manufacturing (probably including biomaterials).

[Mataharii]

18 minutes ago, benmaterials said:

Did you by chance apply to Harvard’s combined ME/MSE program?  They have a bunch of bio-inspired research and Jennifer Lewis’s lab does creative additive manufacturing (probably including biomaterials).

I really considered it, especially because of Jennifer Lewis's lab actually! But I ended up deciding against it, mainly because she was the only PI I saw myself interested in there. I figured I should apply to places where there is a back up lab I'd be decently happy in, even if I do have one PI I like significantly more than others. It seems like a great program/lab though!

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

6 hours ago, Mataharii said:

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): US public university (top 150 in ME, but very prestigious in polymer science where I've done much of my research)

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.98/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.72/4.00
Demographics/Background: Immigrated to US at 5 from Latin American country. US citizen.

GRE Scores:
Q:  161
V:  167 
W: 5.0 

LOR: 2 research supervisors + 1 professor in 3 upper level ME courses. 

Research Experience: 4 research internships (~3-4 months each), 3 at large companies, 1 at startup
2 years of additive manufacturing of polymers research in ME department
1+ year of polymer science research in Polymer Science department

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 2 conference papers, 1 poster, 1 presentation

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: NASA OSGC scholar, NSF undergraduate researcher, undergraduate university Honors College member, IDEAs (Increasing Diversity in Engineering Academics) ambassador, top 5% of graduating class in ME

 

Fellowships/Funding: Some offers received for internal university fellowships, no notice from external fellowships at this point.

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: Very active throughout my undergrad in various programs for diversity in STEM including mentorship, tutoring, outreach, and recruitment programs and projects.

 

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): my research advisor is regarded as one of the top polymer scientists in the world. I'm very lucky to be part of his group. 

 

Research Interests: Additive manufacturing of biomaterials

 

Institutions/Programs: Northwestern, Cornell, Ohio State University, and Carnegie Mellon; other applications were to ME programs.

 

Comments: Admitted to OSU, Cornell, and Carnegie Mellon so far. Plan to attend the visit weekends.

 

Good luck to everyone!

Wow, your application profile is amazing! No wonder you have so many acceptances already! Congrats to you and I wish you the best when you decide on where to go! Have a good time at the visit weekends! Also, if you don't mind me asking, what Latin American country are you from? I only ask because I have a lot of family from Venezuela.

[Mataharii]

12 hours ago, Moods said:

Wow, your application profile is amazing! No wonder you have so many acceptances already! Congrats to you and I wish you the best when you decide on where to go! Have a good time at the visit weekends! Also, if you don't mind me asking, what Latin American country are you from? I only ask because I have a lot of family from Venezuela.

Thanks so much! I wish the best to you too, congrats on your acceptance to Boston U! We are from Argentina :) that’s cool though! We have several Venezuelan friends in the US

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

11 hours ago, Mataharii said:

Thanks so much! I wish the best to you too, congrats on your acceptance to Boston U! We are from Argentina :) that’s cool though! We have several Venezuelan friends in the US

Thanks! And that’s awesome! I want to visit Argentina one day! 

[chemphysbus]

Does anyone know if there's any options for when you can't make it to a visit weekend? I was accepted to Berkeley but unfortunately will be out of the country for a short-term study abroad program. I really wanted to visit because I'm quite torn about which school to choose (my profile and decisions are in my signature).

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

6 hours ago, chemphysbus said:

Does anyone know if there's any options for when you can't make it to a visit weekend? I was accepted to Berkeley but unfortunately will be out of the country for a short-term study abroad program. I really wanted to visit because I'm quite torn about which school to choose (my profile and decisions are in my signature).

I don’t know with Berkeley in particular, but I would let them know that you can’t make it to the visitation. Maybe with that, you can learn more about Berkeley by talking with professors and current grad student on the phone or on Skype. But I would definitely let them know that you wish you could go, but have other plans already. However, you would still really love to learn more about the program. Good luck, and congrats on all your acceptances! 

[benmaterials]

19 hours ago, chemphysbus said:

Does anyone know if there's any options for when you can't make it to a visit weekend? I was accepted to Berkeley but unfortunately will be out of the country for a short-term study abroad program. I really wanted to visit because I'm quite torn about which school to choose (my profile and decisions are in my signature).

Are you going to the first Northwestern visit weekend?  I'll be at that one.

[chemphysbus]

43 minutes ago, benmaterials said:

Are you going to the first Northwestern visit weekend?  I'll be at that one.

No, unfortunately that's the same weekend, so I'll be out of the country. Thankfully Northwestern has the second as well, so I'll be attending that one.