Biomedical Engineering to Biostatistics

[SlantedAndDisenchanted]

Hey all, I'm a current Master's student in Biomedical Engineering at a top 25 school. I am looking at applying to Biostatistics programs within the next couple of years, and was wondering if anybody could provide insight into how delusional it is to switch fields like this.

 

Undergrad GPA (Bioengineering) : 3.43

Grad GPA (Bioengineering) : 3.90

 

Because I'm minoring in Statistics, I will have a Master's level Stat Theory sequence finished, as well as an Advanced Calculus sequence (which is akin to undergrad Real Analysis) finished. So, I'm not completely underprepared mathematically speaking. I didn't perform well in undergraduate calc classes (B+ average in math/stat in undergrad), but I did work full time all through school and my master's degree. I have a letter writer (my Master's advisor) who said he will write that I worked full time in my letter of rec, so is it probable that that could maybe distract away from my subpar undergraduate GPA in math classes? 

 

My master's work is all in computational physics/biology ( not at all prob/stat related ), and my job is in computational physics as well. Hence, I believe this stuff works to my detriment (obviously). But is it better than having no research experience at all? 

 

I was thinking it would be easier for me to apply to Master's programs in Biostat first, and then once I've finished it, apply to other PhD programs (or a program which allows preferential admission to a PhD afterward). 

 

If anybody could respond and let me know whether I have a prayer, I would appreciate it!

 

Thanks,

Disenchanted

 

 

 

 

[Stat Assistant Professor]

I think as long as your grades in upper division math and statistics courses are strong, your later performance can mitigate the B+'s in freshman-level Calculus.

 

CAVEAT: I applied for statistics, rather than biostatistics. However, it seems as though the top biostat programs want people who have taken a lot of math and stats. So these may be a bit of a reach. However, the ones right below the top top tier may be accessible to you, and you could just be able to apply directly to PhD programs (given your background and your stats minor), while skipping the Biostatistics Master's entirely. I would be hesitant to go to an unfunded Biostats MS program when you already have an MS, and your background may well be enough to get into a PhD program (maybe someone who is in biostats can give you a better sense though).

 

Best of luck.

[Stat Assistant Professor]

Also, as an aside, I love your displayname. Nice play on words; I LOVE Pavement.

[SlantedAndDisenchanted]

Thanks for your advice! Pavement is rad. Always will be my favorite rock band!

[AnUnladenSwallow]

Hey all, I'm a current Master's student in Biomedical Engineering at a top 25 school. I am looking at applying to Biostatistics programs within the next couple of years, and was wondering if anybody could provide insight into how delusional it is to switch fields like this.

 

Undergrad GPA (Bioengineering) : 3.43

Grad GPA (Bioengineering) : 3.90

 

Because I'm minoring in Statistics, I will have a Master's level Stat Theory sequence finished, as well as an Advanced Calculus sequence (which is akin to undergrad Real Analysis) finished. So, I'm not completely underprepared mathematically speaking. I didn't perform well in undergraduate calc classes (B+ average in math/stat in undergrad), but I did work full time all through school and my master's degree. I have a letter writer (my Master's advisor) who said he will write that I worked full time in my letter of rec, so is it probable that that could maybe distract away from my subpar undergraduate GPA in math classes? 

 

My master's work is all in computational physics/biology ( not at all prob/stat related ), and my job is in computational physics as well. Hence, I believe this stuff works to my detriment (obviously). But is it better than having no research experience at all? 

 

I was thinking it would be easier for me to apply to Master's programs in Biostat first, and then once I've finished it, apply to other PhD programs (or a program which allows preferential admission to a PhD afterward). 

 

If anybody could respond and let me know whether I have a prayer, I would appreciate it!

 

Thanks,

Disenchanted

So I'm actually in a similar situation - I just graduated in December with my Bachelor's in bioengineering and I've applied to biostatistics PhD programs. I've been accepted so far to the PhD programs at Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and UNC. Washington, I'm waitlisted at, but I was accepted to the Master's program. Berkeley accepted me to the Master's program as well. So anyway, it's possible to go from bioengineering to biostats! Obviously, the statement of purpose and letters of recommendation will be important, but I think it seems like bioengineering can actually be a really helpful background.

 

I forgot to include - I also just finished an interview at Brown. 

Edited February 11, 2014 by AnUnladenSwallow

[statshopeful2014]

So I'm actually in a similar situation - I just graduated in December with my Bachelor's in bioengineering and I've applied to biostatistics PhD programs. I've been accepted so far to the PhD programs at Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and UNC. Washington, I'm waitlisted at, but I was accepted to the Master's program. Berkeley accepted me to the Master's program as well. So anyway, it's possible to go from bioengineering to biostats! Obviously, the statement of purpose and letters of recommendation will be important, but I think it seems like bioengineering can actually be a really helpful background.

 

I forgot to include - I also just finished an interview at Brown

 

. 

 

Can you possibly tell us your math background?  I am a non-traditional student trying to come from a qualitative discipline to statistics/biostatistics and am looking at some of the schools you got into.  I presume Calc 1-3, linear algebra, anything else?  

Edited February 11, 2014 by statshopeful2014

[AnUnladenSwallow]

. 

 

Can you possibly tell us your math background?  I am a non-traditional student trying to come from a qualitative discipline to statistics/biostatistics and am looking at some of the schools you got into.  I presume Calc 1-3, linear algebra, anything else?  

Definitely! Through the math department at my school, I did take Calc 1-3 and a combined differential equations and linear algebra course. Through my bioengineering department, I took a biostatistics course. With engineering though, I definitely learned math in my classes, but it's more like fluid dynamics, signal processing, biomechanics, and other things of that nature that aren't typical for biostats people I think. I do think taking a probability course would be a good idea for prepping for a PhD program (I'm trying to teach myself right now), as well as some programming language. I've used MATLAB in my engineering courses and I'm trying to teach myself R right now. It seems like the people I've talked to mostly use R, but there's some MATLAB and other languages in there too. 

[SlantedAndDisenchanted]

oh, really? That seems antagonistic to what I have seen on this board. Considering you haven't taken two semester's of real analysis and a prob theory sequence I'm rather nonplussed. Although you may have had exceptional research experience/LOR's? 

 

That is great news though. I'm hoping to stay in my home state of Minnesota, so that would be awesome!

Edited February 12, 2014 by SlantedAndDisenchanted

[lidon]

oh, really? That seems antagonistic to what I have seen on this board. Considering you haven't taken two semester's of real analysis and a prob theory sequence I'm rather nonplussed. Although you may have had exceptional research experience/LOR's? 

 

That is great news though. I'm hoping to stay in my home state of Minnesota, so that would be awesome!

 

Biostatistics programs tend to be more lenient on the math requirements than statistics programs.

[mittensmitten895]

I was also light on math preparation when I applied to biostat master's programs (ended with a B in Calc 3 way back in... well, it was a while ago).  I am almost certain I've never used Calc 3 material, but I can see why my original MS admission was conditional on linear algebra.  If you weren't comfortable with matrices, you would fail out your very first year.  I am taking real analysis right now in the last semester of my MS.  I can sort of see how it might have been useful earlier for certain things, but I picked up everything I needed along the way and it's somewhat redundant now.  None of my biostat PhD acceptances are conditional on RA.  This forum loves to emphasize the importance of math background, but anyone quantitatively oriented and halfway intelligent can learn the math they need for biostat (oh look, this integrates to some finite number -- let's call it 1 times a multiplicative constant!).  Non-cognitive skills and being a "people person" are more important than in pure statistics, which has a different focus and is (rightfully) not as forgiving about weak math preparation.

[AnUnladenSwallow]

oh, really? That seems antagonistic to what I have seen on this board. Considering you haven't taken two semester's of real analysis and a prob theory sequence I'm rather nonplussed. Although you may have had exceptional research experience/LOR's? 

 

That is great news though. I'm hoping to stay in my home state of Minnesota, so that would be awesome!

 

 

Yeah, I'll admit, I was a little worried when applying because I haven't taken a lot of those "standard" classes like real analysis/probability. I definitely tried to play up my different background in my statement though - I think I said something like having a bioengineering background allows me to better understand the biological problems that we'll be dealing with. I think I also said something about what kind of math I've learned in my engineering classes to somewhat make up for the fact that I haven't done much in the way of stats. But yeah, I had some great recommendation letters - 2 were from professors I've done research with and the other was from the chair of the bioengineering department at my school. I actually heard a professor from Minnesota say I have some of the strongest letters he's ever seen - apparently one of my writers said something about me being a future rock star. So there's that. I do have some research experience - right now I'm simultaneously working on EEG analysis and analysis of olfactory data, both of which do require some stats work, so I think that helps me out quite a bit. And of course, there's always the GRE and GPA scores that help.

 

I was also light on math preparation when I applied to biostat master's programs (ended with a B in Calc 3 way back in... well, it was a while ago).  I am almost certain I've never used Calc 3 material, but I can see why my original MS admission was conditional on linear algebra.  If you weren't comfortable with matrices, you would fail out your very first year.  I am taking real analysis right now in the last semester of my MS.  I can sort of see how it might have been useful earlier for certain things, but I picked up everything I needed along the way and it's somewhat redundant now.  None of my biostat PhD acceptances are conditional on RA.  This forum loves to emphasize the importance of math background, but anyone quantitatively oriented and halfway intelligent can learn the math they need for biostat (oh look, this integrates to some finite number -- let's call it 1 times a multiplicative constant!).  Non-cognitive skills and being a "people person" are more important than in pure statistics, which has a different focus and is (rightfully) not as forgiving about weak math preparation.

 

I think you're definitely right. I have no worries about my actual ability to be able to do the math. I just simply haven't taken those classes yet. I think being able to communicate well through writing and in person are super important for biostats as you mentioned.