Bioengineering at Berkeley: What are my chances?

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Hi folks!

I'm willing to apply for a PhD in Bioengineering this year. My top wish is UC Berkeley. What would you think my chances are given my profile?

I graduated in Germany with a MSc in Computer Science from one of their best universities. My GPA is strong (I have not calculated it still, because it's a bit complicated, but it should be above 3.5).

My research and work experience is:

- 2 years in a Biotech company doing bioinformatics research.

- 6 months as research scholar at the university in Germany working on a bioinformatics project.

- 6 months at UPenn as research scholar - again bioinformatics.

- 3 years at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (again bioinformatics and some wet lab).

- 1 month at Harvard as research scholar doing bioinformatics .

- 2 Semesters teaching Introduction to Comp. Biology at a major university.

- 1 year in a bioinformatics company.

- 2 years in a software company.

I co-authored six scientific papers that were publish in journals with relatively high impact factors. I also attended two major conferences on bioinformatics.

I did not take the TOEFL and GRE yet.

Do you think I have a chance to get into Berkeley's Bioengineering PhD program?

What should I score on GRE & TOEFL?

I'm thinking to apply also to Stanford, UCLA, UC San Diego, U of Southern California, Caltech, UC Santa Cruz and UC Irvine. What do you think my chances are?

Could you recommend me an University in California that has lower admission criteria which I could use as escape in case I don't get admitted to one of the above?

Thank you all in advance for your advice!

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Come on, guys! Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions will be appreciated!

[Moghi]

Hi,

since nobody has answered to you, I will give it a shot.

I think you profile is quite good and that you have a chance at being admitted. However, admissions are never a given.

Some things you should think about :

- Why not try a Phd in CS since it was your major in Germany ? (I understand that you're intersted in BioTech but perhaps it's not incompatible)

- Try contacting a professor at Berkeley and discuss your project with him/her, since it is the University that interests you the most

- Why Berkeley ? Do you have a particular reason ?

Anyway, if you want something, try it, and if it's not working, at least it wouldn't be for lack of trying

For the scores, just remember that they are mostly used for preselection.

Just try to have :

- at least 100 for the TOEFL

- And for the GRE :

Q 800 is always better (not under 780)

V at 600 would be good

And for Phd, I understand that AWA should be quite high (4.5, 5 ? can't tell)

Anyway, the most important part of your application will be your SOP, and then your LOR.

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Thank you so much for your reply, Moghi!

I really appreciate it! I'm not very familiar with the way how American universities evaluate applicants and that was a great help for me!

There are several things I don't like about Phd's in Computer Science. First, they are centered around CS (not surprisingly:D) which means that I have to take mostly CS courses and deepen my knowledge in this area. And my wish is to learn more about Biology and Biotechnology and apply CS or other engineering principles to them. I don't want really to focus that much on, say, improving existing algorithms or analyzing statistical methods. Second, many Phd's in CS (like the one in Berkeley) require GRE Subject in CS. Which.. frankly, I'm not that eager to take .. I think that it may actually diminish my chances if I don't score well.

Anyway, I chose Bioengineering because it is the perfect intersection between Computer Science, Biology and Engineering that I'm looking for. And Berkeley is my first choice, because I really liked their program (which is joint with UCSF). And I'd definitely love to be part of their community.

I was asking myself one more thing. Stanford and other universities require that you have taken some classes in Physics, Chemistry and Biology (always introductory classes) to be eligible to apply. I wonder how strict is this requirement. What if, for example, I haven't take a Chemistry class in my BS or MSc? Would they accept a class like this from the high school?

Tokpe

[Moghi]

Thank you so much for your reply, Moghi!

I really appreciate it! I'm not very familiar with the way how American universities evaluate applicants and that was a great help for me!

There are several things I don't like about Phd's in Computer Science. First, they are centered around CS (not surprisingly:D) which means that I have to take mostly CS courses and deepen my knowledge in this area. And my wish is to learn more about Biology and Biotechnology and apply CS or other engineering principles to them. I don't want really to focus that much on, say, improving existing algorithms or analyzing statistical methods. Second, many Phd's in CS (like the one in Berkeley) require GRE Subject in CS. Which.. frankly, I'm not that eager to take .. I think that it may actually diminish my chances if I don't score well.

Anyway, I chose Bioengineering because it is the perfect intersection between Computer Science, Biology and Engineering that I'm looking for. And Berkeley is my first choice, because I really liked their program (which is joint with UCSF). And I'd definitely love to be part of their community.

I was asking myself one more thing. Stanford and other universities require that you have taken some classes in Physics, Chemistry and Biology (always introductory classes) to be eligible to apply. I wonder how strict is this requirement. What if, for example, I haven't take a Chemistry class in my BS or MSc? Would they accept a class like this from the high school?

Tokpe

I really can't answer : I only applied for an MS. I think you could find more topics about your concerns on the forum.

I understand why you didn't choose to apply for CS. My best advice would be for you to contact universities and ask them directly if what you want to do is possible.

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Hey, I nailed TOEFL iBT at 112. I just found out my scores and I'm very happy

I'm going to take GRE in a couple of months. It will be definitely harder for me since I'm not a native speaker. To be honest, GRE looks to me quite ridiculous. What are they testing? My IQ? If it was in my mothers tongue it would be a piece of cake, but now it turns into a really tough English exam (I mean the Verbal part, Math should be OK). Anyway, don't want to complain:) Just gonna study hard and see what happens.

[campingisintense]

Hey, I nailed TOEFL iBT at 112. I just found out my scores and I'm very happy

I'm going to take GRE in a couple of months. It will be definitely harder for me since I'm not a native speaker. To be honest, GRE looks to me quite ridiculous. What are they testing? My IQ? If it was in my mothers tongue it would be a piece of cake, but now it turns into a really tough English exam (I mean the Verbal part, Math should be OK). Anyway, don't want to complain:) Just gonna study hard and see what happens.

Who are you interested in working with? Sjolander? Ian Holmes? Someone at UCSF? Or do you want to branch out to other areas?

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I just got back from my GRE exam. Unofficial scores:

770 Q

600 V

I'm optimistic about the AWA section, since I managed to write a lot of coherent stuff.

I switched my first choice to Stanford's Biomedical Informatics Ph.D. I think it reflects better my profile. Do you think I have a better chance to get in there?

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Today I received my official GRE scores:

Q 770 87 %

V 600 86%

AWA 5.0 84%

It could be better, but I don't plan to retake. What do you think?