The application ship has sailed already + A fundamental/typical career confusion

[damnedghost]

Hi!

[For reference, I'm studying Biotechnology in an integrated program - which spans over Mol/Cell Bio, Bioprocess Engineering and introductory Biomed]

I'll try and keep it short - even though I have been thoroughly confused the past few days.

So, as it happens, I find that I'm very much inclined towards technology. I like understanding whatever that's put forth to me. I have been told by several professors, and some of my friends, that anything else apart from engineering/research won't suit me.

And here's the twist : Most of my undergrad life has been spent miserably with no real academic/research work done. [Reason's related to choking up, but hey, let's not make this a teary eyed story/confession]. I recently participated in an international competition - and was surprised at the amount of digging up I could do, when it came to learning something.

So, with 7 months to go for applying, I really do not think I'd be selected in any program, whatsoever. You could say I have no safety school on my list.

[What Next?]

So, what I'm looking at somewhere in the future is a great graduate program (Not from a Brand Name point of view, but from the quality of work). And that's because I'd want to do a PhD for the excitement and challenge, also because I'd want to be involved with Technology as a life pursuit.

So, what do I do? How do I go about making a profile for research? I'm from India, so I don't think being involved in random research projects around here could set me up to be selected in a worthwhile graduate program. The whole purpose of the graduate program is doing something that is engaging and worthwhile - not Primarily as a career pursuit.

I have had enough of misery. Why be miserable for five more years, and two-three years leading up to that?

Any advice? Any SPECIFIC advice? Step 1 is doing a good project for Master's. What next? Step 2 would be the Subject GRE, to compensate for my grades. (Not worth mentioning. As an amusing fact, I haven't checked my grades in the last one year.)

For example, working with a start up? Interning by collaborating online? (<--- has its own limitations if it comes to lab work, but work like systems biology could be great).

I'd be glad if any good advice comes along. I'd be even more glad if you have a similar experience/anecdote to share. Looking forward to your replies!

[ghanada]

I guess I was in a somewhat similar situation a few years ago. I was originally pre-med and due to many factors I ended up having a terrible gpa (<3.0) and then I decided to switch to engineering. I did some research for a year and decided to try applying for BME PHDs but was rejected everywhere. A year later, I found a special program at Boston University, called the LEAP program, which is designed for NON-engineering undergrads to spend time making up undergrad core engineering classes and then move onto completing a Masters degree in any of the engineering disciplines (I chose electrical engineering with a concentration in bioelectrics). It has now taken me 3 years to complete this degree, but I have done some good work, made some good connections and have been accepted to BU's BME PhD program with generous funding (BU is ranked top 10 in BME). I am also going to be interviewing at Columbia in a couple weeks.

So for advice:

1. Get a Masters degree before trying to get a PhD. Since you don't have a background in engineering or research work it will be very difficult to get into a good PhD program. I would also HIGHLY advise you to get a Masters in a more technical discipline like electrical, mechanical, or computer engineering. SInce you don't have the traditional engineering background, it would be more helpful to do your Masters in a less sciency, more math/physics technical degree in order to complement your bio knowledge. Having this combined bio and math foundation will make you a stronger candidate. Some people would disagree with this, but believe me, I am 28 now and have gotten tons of professional and academic guidance on this. If your undergrad degree were specifically in BME, than getting a BME Masters would be fine. But if you just get a BME Masters, you won't get the strong technical aspect that the undergrads had to go through and PhD admissions will wonder if you can handle heavy math-based courses.

2. Do lots of research and PUBLISH. This is incredibly important for getting a PhD. They want to see that you have research ability and can write papers since this is your primary purpose in grad school. I currently have about 5 years of full-time research in top engineering and medical schools, 2 first author published abstracts, 2 poster presentations, 2 first author papers in review, and I am listed as a secondary author on about 10 other peer reviewed papers. I solely believe this is the only thing really going for me to help me get into these good PhD programs. These publications have been key to overcoming my very weak GPA. I also got out 3 great letters of reference from my advisers, whom are well known in both BME and neuroimaging, which is what I am pursuing.

3. Do well on the general GRE. You don't need a subject GRE if you are going for BME PhDs. Shoot for 780-800 on quantitative, 600+ on verbal, and 5.0+ on writing. These are the average scores listed for top BME PhD programs. Also, since you are international, you really need to shine since it is harder for you to get into US schools. Make sure your scores are strong.

All in all, work on getting a good Masters and publish some papers while doing your thesis. That is probably the most useful thing you can do at this point if your goal is to get a BME PhD. You should actually consider the BU LEAP program I am in. You sound like a good fit for it and if you are eager to get started I believe the application period is still open for Fall 2012. Let me know if you have any other questions, best of luck!

[damnedghost]

Hey, that was really good!

Thanks for the advice.

I am already picking up on my math, doing traditional math courses/following textbooks. Also, I have joined some Computer Science courses on the much publicized Stanford online course platform - which will start later this March. I do not know if I'm inclined towards Biomedical Engineering, but right now, I'm not inclined towards anything. (The closest I could find in terms of an interest is BioMEMS, but only because they involve Physics, Mech/Elec and Bio!).

In the end, is it advisable to do some primitive research work online under a professor who would want to give a research project on meta-analysis or anything else which can be carried over the internet? I could use that as a stepping stone for more projects later on in a lab.

But hey, one way or the other, this has helped me. Thanks and regards!

[ghanada]

I'm glad you found some of my advice helpful. I really feel you on this. And I can only imaging how hard this must be having to try and sort things out from India and online. It seems like the most important firs step for you is to figure out exactly what you want to do. There are actually quite a few paths you could take that involve physics, mech/elec and bio. For instance you could go down the artificial intelligence and machine learning route. Or you could do signal processing and study neuroimaging (which is what I do). You could do a program in medical engineering and medical physics (google: "MIT hst memp"). There are sooooo many careers that use a combination of all those disciplines you mentioned. BUT, in order for you to get into a good PhD program, you need to have a more clear idea of which program fits you the best and which direction you want to head down. In your application you are expected to mention specific people you would work with and what types of projects you see yourself doing with those people. So while you have lots of options and your schooling might slightly change directions along the way, you need to have a good idea of what direction you are heading towards in order to get accepted. They are less likely to accept people who can only say that they are interested in these broad fields but don't know exactly what they want to do.

Now, how you figure all this out is probably the hardest thing for people. And since you are not in the US, it might even be trickier. I think continuing on with classes could be helpful and will at least help you recognize what types of fields you are better in. However, I always believe hands on experience is the most helpful. I don't know how feasible it is for you to try and find an RA (research assistant) job either around India or on a work visa for the U.S. But being an RA in a lab you would want to work for would help you in so many ways: you would get experience seeing what that particular field of research is doing, you will understand what it takes to be a research scientist, you will hopefully get to contribute to projects and publish, you will get to know lots of high up people, you could get a great letter of rec out of it, and most importantly, if you love that lab and want to do a PhD there, your adviser can most certainly help you get into the program.

If doing something like that isn't possible for you, than it is going to be a bit more of a gamble. You should definitely read lots of articles from labs you think you might like and get a sense if that work excites you. It is much harder to really know for sure by doing it this way, but at least you can get a better idea of what is out there and if you are excited about anything. From there, you can try to just apply places and see if you get lucky. It would probably be worth applying to both Masters and PhD programs just in case.