Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering Applications for 2020 Admission

[DreamOfferPlssssss]

7 hours ago, ImpatientApplier said:

I'll just add that  previous years' data may not be as relevant as usual, because they have a new system in place this year (where they did Skype interviews then invitations).

Best of luck either way!

So they didn't have skype interview previously? I just had skyped with a faculty this tuesday and was waiting for a campus visit invitation...

[AlwaysPPE]

4 hours ago, DreamOfferPlssssss said:

So they didn't have skype interview previously? I just had skyped with a faculty this tuesday and was waiting for a campus visit invitation...

Honestly, I don't for sure know. I thought they didn't before as that's what people here implied, but either way they could still be sending invites.

 

Especially if you've recently had a Skype interview, it doesn't make sense for that PI to spend time doing that if they weren't gonna send out any more right?

[WanderingNomad]

For anyone who applied, it looks like Washington just sent out their acceptances. 

[DreamOfferPlssssss]

9 minutes ago, ImpatientApplier said:

Honestly, I don't for sure know. I thought they didn't before as that's what people here implied, but either way they could still be sending invites.

 

Especially if you've recently had a Skype interview, it doesn't make sense for that PI to spend time doing that if they weren't gonna send out any more right?

thank you for your reply! but the point is that PI is from department of radiology so Im not sure if he is familiar with the BE admission procedure XD. anyway, I can only wait at this time... hope I can get the invitation. Seem like 90% of invited students will be admitted. and congrats to you!

[AlwaysPPE]

6 hours ago, DreamOfferPlssssss said:

thank you for your reply! but the point is that PI is from department of radiology so Im not sure if he is familiar with the BE admission procedure XD. anyway, I can only wait at this time... hope I can get the invitation. Seem like 90% of invited students will be admitted. and congrats to you!

Penn BE has what's called the "Graduate Group" which consists of all professors a BE admit can join the lab of, even if their primary appointment is outside BE. As long as that PI is on that list, I can't imagine they wouldn't be aware of admission procedures.

[HopeforNeuroPhd]

Hi, people invited for Hopkins BME interviews- any idea on the nature? Is it like you get into the lab of a PI or the program first and then decide a lab by rotations etc.? 

Edited February 1, 2020 by HopeforNeuroPhd

[Burr17]

Does anyone know when Stanford releases decisions for interviewed applicants? I have to make travel plans for another program's visit weekend that starts the day after Stanford's visit ends. Super annoying because I can't make travel arrangements until I know the decision. I'm really hoping they release them in the next week or so!

[bimblebee]

21 hours ago, Burr17 said:

Does anyone know when Stanford releases decisions for interviewed applicants? I have to make travel plans for another program's visit weekend that starts the day after Stanford's visit ends. Super annoying because I can't make travel arrangements until I know the decision. I'm really hoping they release them in the next week or so!

From the email sent by Stanford BE Department on Jan27: "Admissions decisions are typically available by mid-March. However, we will try to release them earlier. "

[5StarsDennisReynolds]

10 minutes ago, Baarbod said:

From the email sent by Stanford BE Department on Jan27: "Admissions decisions are typically available by mid-March. However, we will try to release them earlier. "

It seems like they sent a bunch of invites a few weeks ago, I'm not sure if they'll be sending any more

[Michelin]

Does anyone know if Harvard has sent out any acceptances, interviews, or rejections? 

[vjysd]

20 hours ago, Michelin said:

Does anyone know if Harvard has sent out any acceptances, interviews, or rejections? 

I reached out to their gsas admissions office and they told that the decisions should go out this week or next week.

[AtLeastOneAdmission]

So I guess UPenn can be crossed out if I haven't received an invitation for interview by now?

[Burr17]

2 hours ago, AtLeastOneAdmission said:

So I guess UPenn can be crossed out if I haven't received an invitation for interview by now?

I believe their on campus visit invites were all sent out. I too am assuming I’m rejected. I haven’t heard anything (besides the infamous online chat invite that we shall look forward to tomorrow night)

[nodog28]

12 hours ago, Burr17 said:

I believe their on campus visit invites were all sent out. I too am assuming I’m rejected. I haven’t heard anything (besides the infamous online chat invite that we shall look forward to tomorrow night)

I received an invite a week after the majority were sent out. Perhaps that means some people rejected their invite and so they sent out and more? This would mean they could potentially invite more people because they gave us three different weekends. Regardless, good luck!

[HangInThere]

Hey just wondering if there is any international students out there waiting. I am an international student who studied BME in the US. I applied 15 school but I only got hear back from 2 schools. (rejected by UCB, and waitlisted by UCSD). I was wondering there is a different in the admission process between domestic student and international student? 

[Itai]

44 minutes ago, HangInThere said:

Hey just wondering if there is any international students out there waiting. I am an international student who studied BME in the US. I applied 15 school but I only got hear back from 2 schools. (rejected by UCB, and waitlisted by UCSD). I was wondering there is a different in the admission process between domestic student and international student? 

Hey, International as well. There is some kind of difference since sometimes, it is harder to get funds for international students. Don't ask me why. I got no clue. Prof. from Columbia told me this piece of info during an interview.

[Anik_91]

23 minutes ago, Itai said:

Hey, International as well. There is some kind of difference since sometimes, it is harder to get funds for international students. Don't ask me why. I got no clue. Prof. from Columbia told me this piece of info during an interview.

It's just that tuition fee is up to 3 times more for international students compared to in-state/American students, hence it's harder to find funding that would support an international student. If you didn't get any scholarship/fellowship, then Principal Investigator has to agree to take you on and pay your tuition, stipend etc.

[AtLeastOneAdmission]

5 hours ago, HangInThere said:

Hey just wondering if there is any international students out there waiting. I am an international student who studied BME in the US. I applied 15 school but I only got hear back from 2 schools. (rejected by UCB, and waitlisted by UCSD). I was wondering there is a different in the admission process between domestic student and international student? 

Hi. International here as well. Haven't heard back from 6/7 schools I applied to. This waiting game is hard..

[2020bioE]

Yeah I also heard that some training grants provide funds that can only be used to support domestic students, but I do not know how true this is. Wishing you guys the best of luck. If none of you international students have heard much back yet I would wager the admission process is slightly different as all the profiles I've read on this site have been very strong. 

[AlwaysPPE]

2 hours ago, 2020bioE said:

Yeah I also heard that some training grants provide funds that can only be used to support domestic students, but I do not know how true this is. Wishing you guys the best of luck. If none of you international students have heard much back yet I would wager the admission process is slightly different as all the profiles I've read on this site have been very strong. 

 

8 hours ago, Anik_91 said:

It's just that tuition fee is up to 3 times more for international students compared to in-state/American students, hence it's harder to find funding that would support an international student. If you didn't get any scholarship/fellowship, then Principal Investigator has to agree to take you on and pay your tuition, stipend etc.

I am not quite sure if the admissions timeline would be different for international students, but certainly it is harder for departments to fund them.

While all out-of-state students pay the same much higher tuition (i.e. international and those who are from other states), this is only applicable for public universities, as they subsidize in-state students' tuition through state tax dollars. 

What actually makes international students much harder to support in practice is their grant ineligibility. They cannot apply for any federal grant (NSF, NIH, DOD, CDC, etc), this makes them unable to attain many lucrative fellowships for example (they can still be paid from general grants awarded to PIs). Since most of these top schools basically guarantee funding, international students are riskier investments as research/department funding may not always be stable.

Less important is also the fact international students are just that, non-US citizens. This means they are not as likely to stay in the US, get prestigious academic positions, or otherwise help build the reputation of a lab/university. Though I've never personally heard this reason alone be a deal breaker (not that I'd even know).

Back to admissions timeline, for all these reasons I guess it's possible some departments first go through US applicants? But I don't have any evidence to say one way or the other here.

[Itai]

1 hour ago, AlwaysPPE said:

Less important is also the fact international students are just that, non-US citizens. This means they are not as likely to stay in the US, get prestigious academic positions, or otherwise help build the reputation of a lab/university. Though I've never personally heard this reason alone be a deal breaker (not that I'd even know).

While I understand where your reasoning is coming from, I am not sure how accurate it is. As I see it, it is the other way around. 

First, the reputation of a lab is less of an issue as you are more likely to conduct significant research during your post-doc stage, which is usually done in a different lab (whether if it is done in the US or not). Second, think of international students as free international advertising for the graduate lab/institute. For example, It is a common practice to present the graduate institute before a talk/presentation/seminar. 

advertising -> more applications -> bigger pool to chose from -> ~better graduate students -> ~better research work

*My opinion is based on my recent personal experience (POI who were very excited about recruiting international students) and on other researchers from my country who went through a similar process (Ph.D. \ post-doc)

 

[thean]

8 hours ago, Itai said:

While I understand where your reasoning is coming from, I am not sure how accurate it is. As I see it, it is the other way around. 

First, the reputation of a lab is less of an issue as you are more likely to conduct significant research during your post-doc stage, which is usually done in a different lab (whether if it is done in the US or not). Second, think of international students as free international advertising for the graduate lab/institute. For example, It is a common practice to present the graduate institute before a talk/presentation/seminar. 

advertising -> more applications -> bigger pool to chose from -> ~better graduate students -> ~better research work

*My opinion is based on my recent personal experience (POI who were very excited about recruiting international students) and on other researchers from my country who went through a similar process (Ph.D. \ post-doc)

 

I think your second point is very true, especially in SE Asia region, I've learnt a lot more about top 20-50 US schools thanks to presenters introducing their grad schools in seminar talks. As an international student, I find it very difficult and confusing to understand US schools ranking and prestige, those seminars helped a lot.

Edited February 5, 2020 by thean

[AtLeastOneAdmission]

Does anyone know if Harvard BE admits only by interview? If i haven't received any invitation for interview in january, I am most probably rejected?

[vjysd]

Someone posted that they heard from Harvard PI about unofficial admit. Does anyone know if Harvard does 1 to 1 matching with faculty or admits into the program and the students decides an advisor over the first year?

[vjysd]

21 hours ago, HangInThere said:

Hey just wondering if there is any international students out there waiting. I am an international student who studied BME in the US. I applied 15 school but I only got hear back from 2 schools. (rejected by UCB, and waitlisted by UCSD). I was wondering there is a different in the admission process between domestic student and international student? 

Hey! As an international student myself, who went through the admissions last year and again this year, I can provide you the inside story. Last year I applied to 3 bioE programs and got interview at UPenn and JHU (I did my masters here) & rejected at UCB-UCSF. I went through interviews at both places and even though I was well qualified on paper for Neuroengineering training grants (NIH T**), I couldn't get admitted due to my international status. My only option was to get funded as a Research Assistant and join a lab from day 1. Unfortunately, Professors are hesitant to fund students directly and would rather have them rotate on a training grant/federal fellowships before funding them as RAs. It's a very tough situation to be in. Other engineering programs like EE/CS has departmental fellowships and TA opportunities to fund international students.

This year, I got an admitted to BU's BME program which has departmental fellowships irrespective of your citizenship status. I have an interview with UPenn again, which is dependent on getting an RAship. I'm still waiting to hear back from other schools. I wish I had better news, but it sucks to be international in NIH/NSF funded programs (BioE, Neuro etc.). I wish you good luck and hope this answer helps.