I would appreciate any help/advice

[AquaBear]

TL;DR: Low GPA, Great Research/LORs + Publications, Co-Op Experience, SOP in-progress, List of programs needs-to-be-finalized.

Hi all,

Been lurking on GC for quite a while, a little in awe over all your guys' stats/success stories. Hopefully I can pick your collective brains for some help/advice for my situation.

Applying to: Still TBD; looking for a Ph.D in Biophysics or M.S./M.Eng. in Bio(medical) Engineering - any recommendations would be awesome! Currently considering: UT Austin, UT Southwest, UC Santa Barbara, Berkeley (Ph.D with current lab), Stanford, JHU, Utah, and CU Boulder

Education:

University of California, Berkeley:

Major: B.S. Bioengineering (2.65 cumulative GPA, ~2.8 major GPA) <-- Major deficiency in my application; too low to recover from?

GRE: 165V, 163Q, 5.5AW (translates to ~700V, 780Q, 5.5/6 AW) [is my Quant. score too low?]

Research Experience:

Lots of research experience since high school, not all in the same lab.

• High school internship at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA. Power systems/ChemE research for lunar/martian applications
  
• NSF internship at UC Riverside my frosh summer, biophysics/biomechanics research
  
• 1.5 years at a highly-regarded HHMI faculty member's lab at Berkeley - Biophysics/MCB/cellular mechanics research
  
• 1+ year at highly-regarded microfluidics/biophysics/mechanical engineering lab - 2 publications in submission in high/medium-high impact journals [Amazing PI loves me, inspired me to go into grad school, outstanding recommendation]
  

Work Experience:

Just finished up a 6-month co-op with a major (multi-billion $ revenue) biomedical device company in the LA area (wanted to get a feel for industry, since I am fairly certain I don't want to go into academia following graduate school). Picked up Six Sigma Lean and Mistake Proofing certifications, LOTS of first-hand engineering design and development experience. Great experience. Company policy prohibits individuals from providing recommendation letters, but I could possibly use a program manager and a senior engineer as references if necessary.

Extracurriculars: Strong leadership in nanotechnology club on campus

Letters of Recommendation: 2 or 3 excellent recommendations from past PIs/professor, 1 outstanding recommendation from my current PI

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My GPA does not really indicate any sort of trend, maybe slight upward? One cause I can think of for my performance is that until my junior year I tried to pursue both research + pre-med coursework on top of my normal engineering classes (no longer pre-med, obviously!). I don't have any excuses for my grades - I try pretty hard in my classes (could probably do a lot more, as is easily visible) but I think my interests (and bulk of dedication) are geared toward my research. My SOP will reflect the above statement, unless you guys feel it isn't relevant to mention?

I have one semester remaining, so I'll be cracking down on the books and can hopefully raise my GPA a little bit (obviously will not hit a 3.0 overall though).

I know my prospect of a Ph.D is pretty much shot with that, I am hoping my strong research background and LORs will help get me into a good MS/M.Eng program. Eventually, I'm hoping to get an MBA and continue in industry.

With a Ph.D, I am aiming for perhaps working in startups where specific technical knowledge will be required (early R&D efforts, etc.). No academia, not a fan.

I realize my application is kind of perplexing...trust me, I know, welcome to my life! Any advice/help anyone could offer would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

- AquaBear

Edited July 18, 2012 by AquaBear

[emmm]

It sounds as though your best chance might be to stay on with your current PI, if his work fits your interests. He already knows you and most likely won't care much about your GPA. Many schools have a minimum GPA for admitted students, and to accept someone who does meet that cutoff means the department will have to ask for an exception. Someone who doesn't know you would be less willing to do this (I think), especially when the field you want to enter is so competitive that finding qualified students to accept is not a problem.

[ankurshah]

hmmm.. if am in your position i would try to continue in the same lab. If not then you would wanna ask ur PI a place he would suggest. Every dept has a min GPA to apply .. check the official req from the site and unofficial by talking to someone in the admisoin's in that school.

[AquaBear]

hmmm.. if am in your position i would try to continue in the same lab. If not then you would wanna ask ur PI a place he would suggest. Every dept has a min GPA to apply .. check the official req from the site and unofficial by talking to someone in the admisoin's in that school.

It sounds as though your best chance might be to stay on with your current PI, if his work fits your interests. He already knows you and most likely won't care much about your GPA. Many schools have a minimum GPA for admitted students, and to accept someone who does meet that cutoff means the department will have to ask for an exception. Someone who doesn't know you would be less willing to do this (I think), especially when the field you want to enter is so competitive that finding qualified students to accept is not a problem.

I am trying to work with my current PI, since her lab is a great fit for me. In addition, three of my potential LORs are written by professors in the biophysics group at Berkeley, which can only help. However, I doubt I can get an exception in any other school, even with great LORs and my research background, hence my query for MS/M.Eng suggestions.

Let me know, and thanks for the replies!

[ghanada]

I was in a similar situation myself. I had 2.57 undergrad GPA (originally pre-med) with almost identical GRE scores. I did a lot of research, got many first and secondary pubs out, and got great letters of rec. I did a MS first, upped my GPA to 3.8, and then got into a BME PhD at University of Michigan.

If you can stay at Berkeley with your current PI, DO THAT! Even if you do a Masters and up your GPA to 4.0 you will still have a difficult time getting into top 10 programs (ie Berkeley, Sanford, JHU). I heard from admissions committee members that I did not get acceptance at some top 10 schools because my undergrad GPA was so low, even though I graduated 6 years ago and since retook tons of classes and got a Masters with near perfect GPA. At the time of apps I had 5 first authorships and about 6 secondary authorships. Basically, be aware that you will NEVER escape your undergrad GPA...all you can do is increase the other parts of your resume and hope that some people are willing to overlook your uGPA. I also found out that committee members NOT in my field used my undergrad GPA as an excuse to not accept me and take less qualified people that matched their field. So I was fortunate enough to find an advisor at a top 10 school that needed exactly my skill set and wasn't concerned with my undergrad GPA and he basically made the BME dept chair accept me. I was VERY lucky and know that it could have gone ether way.

You should have a fairly good shot at getting into some of those MS programs you mentioned. The acceptance rate for an unfunded Masters is MUCH higher than PhD and they are more likely to overlook your GPA since you have a very strong research upside. Since your MS will be unfunded, my advice to you would be to goto a 2 year program at a Cali school where you can get in-state tuition to save money. Then apply for PhDs during your second year or even after 2 years when you finish the Masters and take 1 year off. You will want to give yourself more time to up your GPA and show that you can handle grad courses. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP YOUR GPA CLOSE TO 4.0! No excuses, do whatever it takes to have a stellar GPA so you can argue your intelligence and dedication in your SOP for PhD apps.

If you need any further specific advice, message me since I was in your exact situation.

[emmm]

Wow, ghanada, your story would be really depressing if it hadn't worked out for you (It only takes one school saying YES!). Congratulations! I just don't understand why the undergraduate GPA retains such importance after so many years and other experiences.

Edited July 20, 2012 by emmm

[ghanada]

Wow, ghanada, your story would be really depressing if it hadn't worked out for you (It only takes one school saying YES!). Congratulations! I just don't understand why the undergraduate GPA retains such importance after so many years and other experiences.

yeah, I honestly was a bit depressed during the beginning of app season getting so many rejections. I really thought I did everything in my power to make up for my bad undergrad GPA and I thought I could be a good candidate at these schools. But the reality is, and this is what I heard from professors, that at the top tier schools my credentials are very good, but so are everyone elses. So those that are getting accepted have just as good as credentials as me, but they don't have my crappy undergrad GPA. So when it comes down to it, they can either accept me or someone just as good as me without any negatives. That is how ridiculously difficult it is to get into these top of the top programs.

With that said, I only applied to top 25 programs, but I applied to 18 schools. I got accepted at UMich, BU, and Columbia. So all in all I got some great acceptances, and I couldn't be happier. But at the same time the only reason I got these acceptances were because I either had established strong contacts early on or people needed me specifically for my previous research skills set. The rejections were all from schools that I couldn't establish a meaningful contact with a POI or from schools that were more rotation based and didn't allow their faculty to push people through.

But really I think that is just how it always goes for the really competitive programs. You either have an immaculate resume or you know people that help you get in. Otherwise, if you are solid but have a slight negative, it will be a toss up every time.

[farhanqureshi]

I will add what I think is some useful first hand experience to the above narrative with my own "story".

Last application cycle I was looking for admission to the top M.Eng in manufacturing programs across the U.S. including some M.S. in manufacturing and industrial engineering programs as back-ups. At the top of my list was the MIT MENGM program for obvious reasons namely MIT is MIT.

As such I spent and put a lot of money and effort respectively into making the most of my application. Not least of which included a 10k mile trip from Sydney to Boston and a week of classes spent with the current year's students.

My rationale for doing this was as follows:

a) Make an impression and show my utmost desire to be admitted to the program.

Find out who is involved in the admissions process. And,

c) Level off against the current students and see who and what the program involved (what kind of people were getting accepted?)

What I found was this...

a) I was very well received and I fit in just perfectly with the current students even intimidating some of them by the extent of which I had gone to make my application.

I found out there was two admissions committees. One was non-program related to be "unbiased" and this was the first to look at the application. Second was the Program Director for the MENGM and other Professors who taught manufacturing at MIT in what I'll call the second committee.

c) The students weren't nearly as freakish as I'd imagined and ended up making some friends in my short trip. I.e. I could say I was better in some aspects and they in some others, so I did feel a good 'fit' not to mention most of them actually thought I was a shoe in.

I didn't get into MIT. But the simple reason I finally deduced without a doubt, mimics the feedback of the above posters and that which I received from Admissions members and Program Directors of University of Michigan (my eventual top admitted school). I.e. Undegraduate GPA.

Actually being 1st ranked in the Manufacturing program (Yes, I like manufacturing! ) at the Top Engineering School in Australia (based on 2006 figures, when I started my UG there) was of no avail. I even received a prize not to mention honors 1st class. I recently presented a publication at UC Berkeley and that was my third University representative trip overseas. [if your really interested all of my career highlights are at farhanqureshi.com!!]

I'm not disappointed with my overall result, and I will attend what I believe to be the most comprehensive and best manufacturing school in the States i.e. UMich. On top of this I received a fellowship for a coursework degree which are few and far in between, especially for full fee paying internationals like myself.

But with the effort I went to to try to get into MIT and their MENGM it really does come down to the numbers and even if you are better than many of the other applicants and the best fit, that first admissions committee is more than likely not going to care with 999 other applications to review. As much as it matters I was most likely assured to get in if my application got past that first committee. "Missed by thaat much" - Get Smart.

And on that note thanks for reading if you made it this far.. welcoming any comments.

Thanks,

Farhan