Whitaker Fellowship and BME Ph.D Applications

[collegebum1989]

How does the Whitaker International Fellows and Scholars Program factor into for Biomedical Engineering PhD Applications?

I understand that it is a prestigious fellowship, but would doing research associated with a professor of a BME department of a university in the US, help with admissions into a PhD program with the professor as an advisor after the fellowship period?

Edited May 31, 2012 by collegebum1989

[ghanada]

hmm that fellowship is only 1 year right? Having it is definitely better than nothing, but I am not convinced that it will help you with admissions the way having full external funding for all years would. That is because advisers are usually funding your way so they would definitely favor someone with full external fellowship all years. And for lots of BME programs, the 1st year isn't funded by a professor, it is funded by the school until you find an adviser that agrees to fund for you--unless of course the school is on a "match" system in which case this is an agreement made from the start. So this means that 1st year funding wouldn't affect them at all and they wouldn't really save any money with you. I would just be VERY cautious of what schools offer you for admissions since they might not say anything about funding after your fellowship is over. You better make sure there will be an adviser to fund you after that 1st year. Make sure you get offers in writing and be weary of schools saying things like "after your 1st year you can apply for RA or TA fellowships". While that may be true, it isn't guaranteeing you anything and that would be pretty scary to me.

All of my PhD acceptances this year came with signed contracts that said I would be guaranteed X dollars for the duration of my studies. They were very specific in costs and breaking down my pay. Make sure you get something like that before accepting an admit.

In general, apply to LOTS of programs because competition is fierce right now. Check out the BME PhD Applicants thread in the engineering forum and you can see how strong the applicants were and the types of schools we got admitted to. I've heard of quite a few people getting 0 admits! I was super cautious and applied to 18 schools, but luckily got 3 admits. There were definitely times during the process when I was sure I wouldn't get in anywhere and would have to look for alternative careers. You just never know how it goes. The best thing you can do to prepare for apps is start contacting potential advisers. If they want you and have funds for you after you fellowship, you should have no problems gaining admission as long as you are a decently competitive applicant. Best of luck to you!

[collegebum1989]

That's a very interesting perspective on funding which I never even considered before! Thanks for the insight.

I was speaking more on an admissions standpoint. I understand that for PhD admissions it's more like you are being hired by the university to conduct research. My situation is a little different, because, the only reason I was able to conduct the work with the current professor is because I received the Whitaker Fellowship (with his letter of support) for the upcoming year. With the fellowship, I will be conducting an international study of a device he initially wanted to conduct anyway.

So, I got my foot in the door, and now I'm thinking if I could find a way to turn this fellowship research into a thesis. A lot of my friends have said that there are many ways to get into top programs through "back doors" such as having professors sponsoring students due to research matches. My question is, after this year, I will have conducted a year's worth of research for the professor, wouldn't it be make sense for him to sponsor me for a spot into a doctoral program since I have already conducted research affiliated with his institution. In terms of admissions, wouldn't this be favorable over someone who hasn't done any work related to his lab?

Second, credentials-wise, my undergrad GPA was low (3.2), but my masters GPA at an Ivy is 3.95. I wanted to know if the Whitaker in conjunction with the support of an internal faculty member could be the tipping point for doctoral admissions. I guess it really depends on the professor's circumstances.

[ghanada]

yeah, I meant for my reply to be directed toward PhD admissions. I was trying to say that since admissions depends on faculty sponsorship then your Whitaker fellowship doesn't necessarily give you an edge because your adviser would still have to pay for you just like everyone else. Now having FULL external funding for the duration of your studies WOULD DEFINITELY give you a huge leg up in admissions since you are paying for yourself. So bottom line, I don't think the Whitaker fellowship on its own will help you with admissions.

Now, I think I misunderstood your original post in that you are currently finishing this 1 year fellowship right now NOT as a student? I thought you haven't started the fellowship yet and that you would be applying to PhD programs with the fellowship so you would be bringing your own financial support for yourself for your 1st year. But in your case now, you aren't actually saving anyone any money if your fellowship is over. So the money part won't factor in to helping you at all in this way, but the fact that you actually did the fellowship and the experience you got from it WILL help your overall resume and strength as an applicant.

I didn't realize you were already completing this fellowship and have been working with a professor at a school you want to goto. If this is the case, I would think you should have no problem getting accepted into your school if your adviser wants to keep you on board and has money to fund you. That is exactly what happened with me at my Masters school. My thesis adviser wanted to keep me and had money so I was basically accepted on that alone.

Now if you want to go to a different school for the PhD than the fellowship itself will only help you in terms of what it adds to your resume. You will still be competing with other outstanding applicants trying to obtain a spot. Your credentials sound good so I would imagine as long as your current professor wants to keep you at that school you should have no issues gaining admission. If you want to go elsewhere my advice still stands that you should apply to LOTS of schools since there are really no "sure things" in terms of chances.

[collegebum1989]

Thank you for the insight again, I will try to apply for NSF along with applying this upcoming cycle. Not sure how the school works with graduate students since its not a traditional department. The PI who I will work for does not have any graduate students at the moment, which makes me suspect he won't the funds to support me.

[ghanada]

ohh hmm ok. Strange that your PI doesn't have any grad students. You should definitely talk to your PI about all this, I am sure he can give you a pretty straightforward answer. The only problem with NSF is that they don't tell you if you won the award until AFTER you are admitted to schools and made your choice. So really if you apply to outside schools, it sounds like you are going to be a regular applicant like everyone else, but the added benefit of having done a Whitaker Fellowship. With your credentials and research experience I am sure you will get into some good schools though. I still think contacting potential advisers before applying is always the best method. If your current adviser won't doesn't have funds for you, you should see if he has any connections to other people in your school that would have funds, OR even see if he has connections to other professors at outside schools. Building these connections will really make a huge difference in gaining admissions.

[collegebum1989]

Yeah, you're right. My circumstances may be different since I will be conducting an international pilot study. However, a brief search on his lab website and the student alumni from his previous researchers, only 1 out of 40 students became PhD students in the department, and it wasn't with him as his thesis adviser. He's also not in a traditional department, he's affiliated with a multi-institutional department, which is super prestigious. He has about 40 people in his research lab, many of whom are visiting international PhD students.

Even a student who has conducted research with him for about 3 years, published 10 papers, did not become a PhD student at the affiliated department. I'm beginning to think that his department may be an uber-competitive program and to be admitted into the doctoral program requires exceptional application beyond just a professor support. Although a strong recommendation letter from an affiliated faculty member, and an international pilot study could potentially boost my chances.

Thanks for all the help!