Newly admitted BME M.S. student in need of advice

[Dicer87]

Hi all,

This is my first time posting on this forum, so please bear with me. I am currently a newly admitted M.S. student at a few lower-tier schools for biomedical engineering. I recently struck out for all of my Ph.D applications to nearly 20 schools. My stats are posted below and will help explain why this happened. I am wondering if going to a lower-tiered master's program will be worth it at all and increase my chances for getting into a higher-ranked program. I am not saying anything negative about the schools I've been accepted to. I just realize that there are more opportunities in the schools I do want to eventually go to. I am most interested in drug delivery/biomaterials but have always been open to neuroengineering as an interesting subject.

My stats:

2.991 ugpa from UC Berkeley - B.S. Bioengineering

1440 GRE - 800 quant. and 640 verbal with 4.5 AW

2.5 years undergraduate research experience with nanoparticle delivery systems

- 1 publication (2nd author)

2 years as a research associate in a developmental biology lab at UCSF after graduation

- working on small molecule screens and characterizing zebrafish mutants

No fancy academic awards since most of them tend to be awarded for high gpa

Schools I've been accepted to and now considering:

1) UC Riverside (M.S.)

2) University of Illinois, Chicago (M.S.)

3) NYU-Polytechnic University (M.S.) - Most likely not attending

I just don't want to have wasted my time/money going after a master's degree that would ultimately not help me. In the most recent cycle, I sent out around 20 Ph.D. applications that resulted in only one interview which fell through. I am currently leaning on UC Riverside since it is much cheaper (as I am a CA resident), and I figure its proximity to UCLA/USC would mark it more favorably for collaborations and networking. But it's a newer/smaller program than UIC which also has its pros and cons.

I would appreciate any advice you guys can give me. Thanks.

[emmm]

I think that UC-Riverside sounds like a good option. It is not a no-name school, and doing well could help mitigate the effects of that UG GPA.

[Dicer87]

My only concern is whether to stick with the choices I have now and just kick ass there before going on for my Ph.D. My other choice (and riskier in my opinion) is to wait for the next admissions cycle to apply to more highly ranked schools for their M.S. programs. However, I do realize that a lot of Ph.D. rejects are offered M.S. spots if the school just doesn't have enough funding that year for them.

Another question regards prestige. Even if I go to Riverside and kick ass there in terms of gpa, would that still be enough to get my application looked at...let's say one of the Top 10 or Top 20 schools?

[beanbagchairs]

Hi, I am in BME. I'd say go for UC Riverside. I am kind of shocked that you did not get any offer considering that 2.5 yrs undergrad research and 2 yrs being a research associate at UCSF is a deadly combo, which surely will mitigate your low GPA. Are you sure that there isnt a glitch in your app (unfit school selection, weak SOP, LORs)? Yes, I think if you do well at UC Riverside, you'll definitely have a shot at top 10 or top 20.

[Dicer87]

Hi, I am in BME. I'd say go for UC Riverside. I am kind of shocked that you did not get any offer considering that 2.5 yrs undergrad research and 2 yrs being a research associate at UCSF is a deadly combo, which surely will mitigate your low GPA. Are you sure that there isnt a glitch in your app (unfit school selection, weak SOP, LORs)? Yes, I think if you do well at UC Riverside, you'll definitely have a shot at top 10 or top 20.

Well, I do have to take into account that my research associate career was spent in a developmental biology zebrafish lab. I can see how the adcoms didn't think the research I was conducting was relevant (although I did work on high-throughput drug screens). As for a glitch in my application, I do not think I had such a weak link. My SOP probably wasn't as strong as possible but it certainly did not qualify as weak. As for school selection, I wasn't an idiot and only applied to all top 20 programs. I was very particular and had only 8 schools from the top 20 and the rest distributed among the top 75. I know that two of my LORs (undergrad research and UCSF prof) are very good, while the third is just one from a prof I took multiple classes and did well in. I hope the only things wrong with my application are my weak gpa and perhaps not enough relevant research experience.

[beanbagchairs]

I see. Kick ass at Riverside and you'll be on your way to Top 10/20. Good luck!

[Dicer87]

I see. Kick ass at Riverside and you'll be on your way to Top 10/20. Good luck!

Gawd...I hope you're right. I don't want to go through all of this just to find out that it still wasn't enough. But I figure it'll be slightly easier getting a job with an M.S. as opposed to just a B.S

[emmm]

I wonder if the application is just not making it past the initial screening process because of the GPA. I would hope that with an MS, the undergraduate GPA would not be the only one used to determine whether or not to look further. I agree that the rest of the qualifications look very strong.