PHD Bioengineering/Biomedical engineering applications Fall 2014 profiles

[dlew714]

Hi all, 

 

it's my first time posting but I have been following this thread ever since early Jan. Thank you all for the informative discussions

 

I applied to Georgia Tech too and so far haven't heard anything back. As I looked at this thread earlier today, I went up to check the status, and it was still "To department for Review". Wondering if I should shoot them an Email and ask about my decision. I know their recruitment weekend is coming up so I am not putting too much hope on this one. Or maybe I will get a rej letter tomorrow or Monday lol

 

Also, is there anyone still waiting to hear from Northwestern? According to the results, people have received acceptances in late Jan. Losing hope here too....

 

I, too, have been following this thread for a while but have not posted anything yet.  I am waiting to hear from Northwestern as well so you are definitely not the only one!  Anyone else still waiting to hear from Yale or Illinois?

 

As far as other schools go, I have definitely been hit hard by this rejection train that others are experiencing.  I did get into a school that does not offer direct entry PhD programs for an MSE in BME and am considering going there if I do not have other options that I like.  I was wondering what kind of successes people have had with pursuing an MSE first, and then applying to PhD programs?  My GPA is lower than most people here and I do not have any publications, but my GRE scores are high, and I attended an Ivy League school where I did 2 years of research.  

[thisisnk]

I, too, have been following this thread for a while but have not posted anything yet.  I am waiting to hear from Northwestern as well so you are definitely not the only one!  Anyone else still waiting to hear from Yale or Illinois?

 

As far as other schools go, I have definitely been hit hard by this rejection train that others are experiencing.  I did get into a school that does not offer direct entry PhD programs for an MSE in BME and am considering going there if I do not have other options that I like.  I was wondering what kind of successes people have had with pursuing an MSE first, and then applying to PhD programs?  My GPA is lower than most people here and I do not have any publications, but my GRE scores are high, and I attended an Ivy League school where I did 2 years of research.  

 

I am waiting to hear from Yale, Northwestern, Harvard, and Purdue. Considering I did my MS at Purdue, I'm not too worried about getting accepted there but I am starting to get really worried about the rest!

[T.J]

So if I haven't heard from upenn so far - is it going to be most likely a reject?

[T.J]

Sorry, I don't want to be negative, but I am guessing most likely so. They had two interview weekends, so unless most of those applicants reject, they may open it to waitlist. You may still have a chance if most reject so I wish you the best of luck.

ok. Great! thanks for the info. I guess i will be prepared for the worst!

[AxyC]

How were the UPenn interviews for those that went? Did you get matched with the professors you requested on your form or did you get others? I have been reading publications for the ones I am interested in but am worried I may be getting profs I know nothing about. Did you also like Philly location? I am worried about getting apartments in a shady part of a city, and I don't know if they offer on campus housing for grad students.

Were they technical in nature or mainly a discussion about research goals, past experience, etc?

 

UPenn was awesome!

I got some profs I wanted to talk to and some that I didn't request. The profs can request you as well. You can ask Kathy about who is on your list - she told me when I emailed her about it.

The interviews I had were not very technical in nature at all... Also you get your itinerary thursday when you arrive, and you don't interview until Friday so you have the evening to prepare. 

Philly was decent. It's not my favorite city by far but I felt pretty safe and comfortable there. More importantly, the UPenn bioe department was fantastic. I wouldn't worry about living area b/c they actually do apartment tours in all the common living areas in the city (center city, graduate hospital, and west philly, and university city) on Saturday morning/afternoon. 

 

My interviews were mostly them telling me about their research and them asking me what I am interested in doing. Let me know if you have any other questions (reply here or PM me!) I would be glad to share more about my experience at UPenn last weekend. 

 

So if I haven't heard from upenn so far - is it going to be most likely a reject?

Yeaaahh... to agree with the other person, probably so? The interviews are this week and last week. Unless they have a waitlist of some form and you are on it. I would ask Kathy Venit (the secretary about it). She's very nice and responds pretty quickly to email. 

[AxyC]

AxyC, did they let you know you were accepted? I know some schools literally tell you that you are accepted if you go to the open house. They use the interview weekend to gauge students' interests and then let them know if they are in.

Also, about how many other students attended your open house? I am just nervous if I may get rejected.. I keep hearing that if you have an interview you have a high chance of being admitted, but I am kind of worried.

For penn it's special, you only get admitted if you have a research match with a professor based on your feedback and his/her feedback on your interview. I corresponded with my person of interest and he said he would love to take me on, but that of course they cannot tell us anything definitive until after recruitment is over. The feeling I was getting is that you are basically in if you like a prof and they like you back. also the all people you are allowed to interview with have funding to share with incoming students, which was a nice little security blanket to hold on to.

There were 17 my week.

Also honestly I wouldn't waste any time worrying, just go there and talk to the students and professors, and see if you hit it off or not. If you don't, you won't want to go there anyway haha :)'

Let me know if you have any other questions about the penn interview!

[tuckbro]

AxyC, did they let you know you were accepted? I know some schools literally tell you that you are accepted if you go to the open house. They use the interview weekend to gauge students' interests and then let them know if they are in.

 

Also, about how many other students attended your open house? I am just nervous if I may get rejected.. I keep hearing that if you have an interview you have a high chance of being admitted, but I am kind of worried.

I was told that formal offers/rejects to interviewed candidates will come out mid March, but as AxyC says, you will have a pretty good idea if you have a shot at an offer after your inteviews.  They are very collaborative in nature.  For me, I only had three interviews and two were not a fit for my research, although they were excellent conversations.  So I only have one option for a possible offer.  Also, each person I met with told me how many people they had funding for 1,2, 4 etc...  If their lab is not a fit for your research then you really do not want to go there anyway, so don't sweat it.

 

The area was better than I expected and I really liked the people and the collaborative nature of the program.  Good luck!

[ghanada]

For anyone awaiting updates from UMich, I hate to say it, but I would assume rejection. The last interview weekend is settled and I'm pretty sure the roster is set. Best of luck to everyone!

[GroundTurth]

University of Pittsburgh anyone ? I know that they were having an interview weekend this week. Any news from that? 

Edited March 3, 2014 by GroundTurth

[darkacai]

I think if you haven't heard back from schools that passed out interviews, you are either stuck with MS program (unless u already hold MS) or rejected.

 

CMU - rejected PhD, gave MS option

UPittsburgh - nothing, but people received interview

Columbia - nothing, but people received interview

Berkeley - rejected, they spammed interview, rejection, acceptance all together

UCLA - admitted "possibly" to PhD, but no interview??? RSVP for open house 3/7

Cornell - some interview, but nearly nothing

 

Duke - applied MS, nothing

JHU - applied MS, nothing

 

I think i'm already set on going to UCLA though. even though i only got notification from 3/8 schools...

Edited March 3, 2014 by darkacai

[GroundTurth]

I think if you haven't heard back from schools that passed out interviews, you are either stuck with MS program (unless u already hold MS) or rejected.

 

CMU - rejected PhD, gave MS option

UPittsburgh - nothing, but people received interview

Columbia - nothing, but people received interview

Berkeley - rejected, they spammed interview, rejection, acceptance all together

UCLA - admitted "possibly" to PhD, but no interview??? RSVP for open house 3/7

Cornell - some interview, but nearly nothing

 

Duke - applied MS, nothing

JHU - applied MS, nothing

 

I think i'm already set on going to UCLA though. even though i only got notification from 3/8 schools...

well you are most probably right... I will rephrase my questions, Anyone was at the UPITT interviews and is rejecting his admission ?

[guazhaochi]

Anyone know when is Ga Tech's campus visit/open house?

 

I received an Email saying that if I secure a scholarship, I will be accepted into the G Tech/Emory BME PhD program, and they are going to help me with that.

Just wondering if I will be able to catch their visit weekend.

[AxyC]

Got a call today - officially accepted to Stanford! For those that are curious, I did 2 interviews via phone/Skype with professors and did not attend the on-campus interview/visit weekend.

 

Anyone know when is Ga Tech's campus visit/open house?

 

I received an Email saying that if I secure a scholarship, I will be accepted into the G Tech/Emory BME PhD program, and they are going to help me with that.

Just wondering if I will be able to catch their visit weekend.

 

March 12-14th!

Good luck on the scholarship search!

[tuckbro]

Got a call today - officially accepted to Stanford! For those that are curious, I did 2 interviews via phone/Skype with professors and did not attend the on-campus interview/visit weekend.

 

 

March 12-14th!

Good luck on the scholarship search!

Congrats on Stanford!

[hayo]

Anyone know when is Ga Tech's campus visit/open house?

 

I received an Email saying that if I secure a scholarship, I will be accepted into the G Tech/Emory BME PhD program, and they are going to help me with that.

Just wondering if I will be able to catch their visit weekend.

Hey guazhaochi, I think we are in the same situation... I sent you a message through grad cafe a couple of days ago.

I really want to visit GaTech, but do you think people in our situation will also be invited? 

[guazhaochi]

Hey guazhaochi, I think we are in the same situation... I sent you a message through grad cafe a couple of days ago.

I really want to visit GaTech, but do you think people in our situation will also be invited? 

Hey hayo, so I emailed them back a few days ago, saying that I would like to apply for the scholarship and indicated my field of interest and potential advisors. They are working on my application for the scholarship and just now, I got an official offer, which contains nothing on campus visit, but AxyC said it's March 12th - 14th, so I guess we will not be going on those trips

 

hayo, are you going to secure a scholarship and give it a try for Georgia Tech (if you don't mind sharing)?

Edited March 5, 2014 by guazhaochi

[guazhaochi]

Got a call today - officially accepted to Stanford! For those that are curious, I did 2 interviews via phone/Skype with professors and did not attend the on-campus interview/visit weekend.

 

 

March 12-14th!

Good luck on the scholarship search!

Thanks Congrats on Stanford!!

[frances089]

Hey all,

 

I'm just catching up on the last couple weeks of posts here and I saw some people also asking about Yale. I got an email from them today - assuming rejection, but I was actually waitlisted! So that was a pleasant surprise. Kind of useless since I won't know if I actually got in until after April 15, but still makes me feel good about myself, haha :-)  It seems in the past, early March has been waitlist/rejection time for Yale and interview requests come out more in late Jan/Feb.

 

Also for those asking about Northwestern - I received my acceptance at the end of January, but the professor I spoke with did say that I was in the "first round of acceptances." I don't know if that necessarily means there is a second wave, but it's possible. The recruitment weekend I was invited to is March 13-15, but it's possible they have more than one.

 

Good luck to everyone on interviews, visits, and making decisions!

 

-Frances

[hayo]

Hey hayo, so I emailed them back a few days ago, saying that I would like to apply for the scholarship and indicated my field of interest and potential advisors. They are working on my application for the scholarship and just now, I got an official offer, which contains nothing on campus visit, but AxyC said it's March 12th - 14th, so I guess we will not be going on those trips

 

hayo, are you going to secure a scholarship and give it a try for Georgia Tech (if you don't mind sharing)?

 

I am really hesitating to apply to the scholarship (the CSC scholarship, right?), because seems like there are a lot of restrictions and limitations that come together with receiving the scholarship... 

I thought this topic is probably not interesting to other people (non-Chinese citizens?), so I started a private group on gradcafe. I think if you navigate to the up right corner of the website and click on the little envelope button, you will be able to see the message. 

[GroundTurth]

Upitt started...

[thisisnk]

Do we all agree Harvard SEAS sent out all their acceptances already? I didn't see anyone posting much about it on this forum. I saw a few interview and acceptances on the results, but no real discussion here about it. 

 

I emailed the department few weeks ago and this is what they said:

 

Thank you for your applying to the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)! 

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) will notify all applicants of the official admissions status no later than by mid-March.  In the interim, I encourage you to log on to the online application portal.  Per the Council of Graduate Schools, students who are admitted by graduate programs in the US are asked to submit a formal decision by April 15th.

 

I wish you the very best as you explore your options for pursuing graduate study!Thank you for your applying to the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)! 

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) will notify all applicants of the official admissions status no later than by mid-March.  In the interim, I encourage you to log on to the online application portal.  Per the Council of Graduate Schools, students who are admitted by graduate programs in the US are asked to submit a formal decision by April 15th.

 

I wish you the very best as you explore your options for pursuing graduate study!

 

so i guess we will know by next week!

I don't want to sound so negative but at this point, I feel like I am most likely rejected from all the schools that haven't contacted me.

[T.J]

Do you think Cornell has finished sending out all admits?

[guazhaochi]

Hey all,

 

I'm just catching up on the last couple weeks of posts here and I saw some people also asking about Yale. I got an email from them today - assuming rejection, but I was actually waitlisted! So that was a pleasant surprise. Kind of useless since I won't know if I actually got in until after April 15, but still makes me feel good about myself, haha :-)  It seems in the past, early March has been waitlist/rejection time for Yale and interview requests come out more in late Jan/Feb.

 

Also for those asking about Northwestern - I received my acceptance at the end of January, but the professor I spoke with did say that I was in the "first round of acceptances." I don't know if that necessarily means there is a second wave, but it's possible. The recruitment weekend I was invited to is March 13-15, but it's possible they have more than one.

 

Good luck to everyone on interviews, visits, and making decisions!

 

-Frances

Thanks for the updates on Northwestern. I am assuming it's a reject already XD

[T.J]

Upenn reject! Cornell, Upitt, Vtech & rutgers left! Atleast the wait is getting over... [yawn]. I cant wait to leave to penn state actually. I still have got 5 more months :| !

[dbzvl]

I think if you haven't heard back from schools that passed out interviews, you are either stuck with MS program (unless u already hold MS) or rejected.

 

CMU - rejected PhD, gave MS option

UPittsburgh - nothing, but people received interview

Columbia - nothing, but people received interview

Berkeley - rejected, they spammed interview, rejection, acceptance all together

UCLA - admitted "possibly" to PhD, but no interview??? RSVP for open house 3/7

Cornell - some interview, but nearly nothing

 

Duke - applied MS, nothing

JHU - applied MS, nothing

 

I think i'm already set on going to UCLA though. even though i only got notification from 3/8 schools...

Hello,

 

I applied to UCLA and ASU and I was recommended for admission and invited to their open houses. ASU it seems had a great research culture. The interactions between the professors and the students seemed really positive. I asked most of the professors on how they handled mistakes and most told me that they worked it out with their students. Some of the labs I have seen in my current school aren't like this and included yelling and anger instead. This seemed very positive to me. I went ahead and asked if they would yell at their students or be angry, and they told me yelling and anger doesn't solve anything. This led to me believe ASU would be a great school to do research at.

 

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the UCLA open house and would like to know some more information about the department. Specifically I want to know the interaction between the professors and students as well as expected work load. Anyone that went to the UCLA open house that would be willing to share some stories?