2016 Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Applicant Stats and Responses

[ahlamqerqez]

Hi Everyone! 
 

Let us make a new forum for upcoming bioengineering and biomedical engineering applications for Ph.D for Fall 2016! Here is my stats/ template for this forum!

 

Undergrad Institution: UT Austin 
Major(s):  Biomedical Engineering
Minor(s):None
GPA in Major: 3.80
Overall GPA: 3.84
Position in Class: Top 30%
Type of Student: Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 165
V: 156
W: NA


Research Experience: 

2 years at Brent Iverson George Georgiou Laboratory in Chemical Engineering - Learned things like: PCR, molecular cloning, competent cell prep, protein purification, primer design, protein structure analysis, PyMOL ,Geneious software, DNA sequencing, ELISA prep, Gibson Cloning, miniprepping, genomic library constructions 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Biomedical Engineering Honor Society,  Undergraduate Research Fellowship, 3 scholarships, Dean's Honor List. Engineering Scholar

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Chemistry Tutor for a professor at UT Austin, Mathnasium Tutoring Center, Myriad RBM testing and receiving serum and blood samples

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Attended and presented at 4 undergraduate research symposiums at UT Austin, presented at the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium 

Special Bonus Points: Excellent LORs from widely known professors (one is my PI, one is a research scientist in our lab, 2 are other BME professors that I did well in their classes for), Applying to NSF fellowship as well 

Applying to Where:

-       Rice University  - Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Program

-       University of Washington – Bioengineering Program

-       University of California at San Diego -Bioengineering 

-       Stanford University – Bioengineering

-       MIT - Bioengineering 

-       University of Texas at Austin – Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering

-       Georgia Tech – Bioengineering  

-       University of Chicago – Bioengineering

 

-       Northwestern University 

 

 

 

Can someone tell me what my chances are in getting into these schools? I feel like my GPA is quite low and may not be as competitive. Should I retake the GRE? 

 

Thanks,

AQ

[Bioenchilada]

GPA/GRE are not as important as your research experience, LORs, and fit into the program. I think your stats look fine. What kind of research were you doing? Did you have your own project? Most importantly, being able to explain why you used specific techniques is more important than listing them. 

Also, why are you adding a fourth rec letter? More than 3 usually doesn't help unless the additional recommender truly has something exceptional to say about you. 

[ahlamqerqez]

I am working in protein engineering enzymes for cancer therapy. I do have my own project but I am not published, however I am on a paper that is in preparation at the moment. I dont know why I have four to be honest, I guess I just wanted a back up letter of recommendation. 

[pterosaur]

I'm also in the game this year.

Undergrad Institution: Northeastern University
Major(s):  Behavioral Neuroscience
Minor(s): Computer Science
GPA: 3.98

GRE Scores: 169V/166Q/3.5AWA (oops)

Research Experience:
4 years studying motor learning in lab at Northeastern (honors thesis)
6 months at Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Summer designing robotic lobster control at Northeastern
Currently doing Master of Research degree at Imperial College London, researching cooperative human/computer control of a robotic exoskeleton

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
National: Marshall Scholar, Goldwater Scholar, DAAD Undergraduate Scholarship, (finalist for Rhodes, Mitchell, Fulbright)
University: Skavenski Award (top student in major), Provost Advanced Research Award, Provost Research Award, Presidential Global Scholarship, National Merit Scholarship, Dean's List, summa cum laude

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
5 semesters as computer science tutor/TA, undergraduate STEM mentor, co-op at small rehab robotics company, 500+ hours community service in undergrad (including lots of science outreach), currently leading startup nonprofit science news website

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Presented at many conferences (including internationally)

Special Bonus Points: LORs (have done different research with all 3), applying to NSF GRFP/NDSEG/DOE CSGF/Hertz, undergrad PI knows profs at all the schools I'm applying to, really interdisciplinary background (which I play up in my SOP)

Applying to Where:

• Northwestern: Biomedical Engineering
• Northeastern: Bioengineering (my "safety")
• Harvard: SEAS Engineering Sciences – Bioengineering
• Carnegie Mellon: Biomedical Engineering

I have a somewhat particular research interest (human and biomimetic motor control), so that's why I have a pretty small list. I might add a few more later.

I think I'm in kind of a weird spot coming from a one-year research masters. For example, I'm not sure if I should apply for CMU's Direct Entry or Advanced Entry option. Any ideas?

[TheAbsurdShark]

Hey all, 

I just wanted to throw my hat into the ring as well. I graduated from undergrad this past spring and decided to work a year before applying again. I like my job a lot and see potential to grow in it, but I wanted to still apply this year and see if I can get into some programs I believe would be great fits for what I want to do. I am aware my list might be bold given my stats, but hey, you never know!

Undergrad Institution: Top undergraduate general engineering program
Major(s):  Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.28
Overall GPA: 3.30
Position in Class: NA
Type of Student: Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Revised
Q: 164
V: 164
A: NA (awaiting scores)

Research Experience: 

Tissue engineering research investigating wound-healing therapies utilizing mechanical/electromagnetic inputs (3 years)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: HHMI Research Fellowship (1 year), Undergraduate Research Fellowship (3 years), Dean's Honor List (2.5 years), Graduate with Distinction, Departmental Honors in Engineering

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: R&D Lab Technician, therapeutic and application-driven tissue engineering company (1 year); Engineering internship, IV infusion pump company (0.5 years); Engineering internship, wearable biomedical device company (1 year)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Poster, BMES (first author); Provisional patent filed, wearable biomedical device internship (inventor); Manuscript in-progress,  (first author); Honorable mention, Biomimicry Student Design Challenge

Special Bonus Points: Solid LORs (small school advantage there); Undergraduate institution known for research (and lack of grade inflation which hopefully help as I believe that is the weakest part of my application); diverse research skill set (everything from qPCR, flow cytometry, and mammalian cell culture of over 20 different types to mechanical/electrical engineering design)

Applying to Where:

UW Seattle - Bioengineering

UT Austin - Biomedical Engineering

UCB-UCSF - Bioengineering

BU - Biomedical Engineering

Yale - Biomedical Engineering

Brown - Biomedical Engineering

Tufts - Biomedical Engineering

Harvard (SEAS) - Bioengineering

Good luck to everyone!

-  

Edited November 14, 2015 by TheAbsurdShark

[pali123]

Wow @TheAbsurdShark your stats look good! you are lucky you have strong GRE scores, I unfortunately am suffering in that department. 

[TTTYYY]

Hey all, I am from University of Toronto (to ppl unfamiliar with canadian school , it's top 20 worldwide and famous gor life science law and eng research) The following is my stats. I will really appreciate ur opinion regardin my chance to get in these schools. Thanks  

Undergrad Program: Biotechnology and genetics Specialist + biochemistry major 

overall GPA:3.73 . Maj GPA:3.88 

(3.4 the first year , 3.9 second year , 3.65 third year, 3.86 forth year) 

GRE: Q 170  V 153  W 4   I only studied for the exam for 2 weeks in this October cuz i thought it wasn't that important 

(I am not sure about the course avg at the US schools, yet the course avg here at u of t is around 70 which is C+ to B-) 

Research experience: 

3 years of experience in X ray chrstallography, oncology,  elevtrophysilogy .

currently hired as research tech at a world renowed research institute for custic fibrosis.   One second autjor paper in manuscript 

Honor: deans list from second year to graduation. 3 research scholarships from 3 research institutions respecyively. 

Schools applied :

Duke      Stem cell 

UCLA UCSF UC berkeley   molecular bio 

columbia    Mole bio 

stanford   Stem cell and regenerative med 

harvard    MCO 

princeton  mole bio 

jhu   Biochem 

 

 

Thanks  

 

Edited November 28, 2015 by TTTYYY
Input stuff

[Extra Espresso]

Going to jump in on this as well!

Undergrad Institution: Large state school, known for chemical engineering but not particularly prestigious
Major(s):  Chemical Engineering
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00
Position in Class: I'm assuming around top 2-3% (as far as I know, there are three people with a 4.0)
Type of Student: Domestic White Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 170
V: 170
W: 6


Research Experience: 

3 years in my undergraduate research lab, Pharmacy School, not particularly well-known PI: independent project on chemotherapeutic drug delivery using liposomes and nanoparticles, 9 first-authored presentations, 3 national conferences, 2 regional conferences with one award, 4 school presentations (all official symposiums), 7 second-authored presentations, 4 national conferences with two awards, 1 regional conference, 2 school presentations

3 summer research internships, all different labs: specialized NIH internship (not the general SIP), two at a biomedical institute near home, worked on a polymer lyophilization project, a metabolomics project, and a proteomics project, four symposium presentations

First-authored publication from NIH internship

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Goldwater, two Undergraduate Research Fellowships from school and one from an outside organization, Top Chemical Engineering Student Award (chosen by department), Phi Kappa Phi Top Student Awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years, several departmental scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Peer Tutor through library program, help found BMES chapter at school and served as VP for two years, Tau Beta Pi, Omega Chi Epsilon (ChemE honor society), Phi Kappa Phi, AIChE

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: President of service sorority chapter, band for four years (first chair on instrument for most semesters), traveled for one week internationally in two semesters on concert tours, took one chemical engineering lab abroad last summer

Special Bonus Points: Applied to NSF, super strong LOR (PI from undergrad, PI from NIH internship/publication, professor and research collaborator with undergrad research PI), large variety of research skills (but not a lot directly related to tissue engineering which worries me), took 5 years to complete degree because of band/research 

Applying to Where:

All BioE/BME

Hopkins, UCSD, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley/UCSF, U Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, U Virginia, U of Washington

 

Worried about the fact that I want to do tissue engineering research but I don't have a background in it - thoughts? I'm afraid that the broadness of my undergraduate research combined with the fact that I want to go into tissue engineering will make me look flaky or unfocused, but that's not the case at all. 

Also worried about being in school for 5 years. I haven't addressed it all in my personal statement- should I? 

Edited December 1, 2015 by bioeng2016
Added more background

[pali123]

@bioeng2016You are going to get into every school most likely. Great and awesome stats! Very impressive GRE scores!  I do not think you need to be worried about whether or not you have background in that specific field. My PI told me that he doesn't really care what background the student has as long as they have/show potential to become a great researcher. I think you show that for sure!

Edited December 1, 2015 by pali123

[pali123]

@TTTYYY I am in the same boat with regarding GRE verbal scores. I hope it does not matter as much! Besides that I think you have a great shot especially with all that research experience!

[Extra Espresso]

@pali123 Thank you for the vote of confidence!  It's nice to hear from someone else's experiences! (Isn't that why we're all here?) I'm in mega-crunch mode on applications now - three of mine are due today (JHU, Stanford, and UW), and I still have to submit UW. Thank goodness for super understanding references who forgive me for giving them one week's notice on letters...

@TTTYYY I've heard in engineering that verbal above 150 is just fine. I'm not sure how it works for molecular bio and other type programs, but I feel like it doesn't matter too super much. 

Edited December 1, 2015 by bioeng2016

[pali123]

Do you think it matters more for MIT Stanford etc? @bioeng2016 those are honestly my dream schools.

[Extra Espresso]

@pali123 MIT does have a cutoff for GRE scores. According to their website, you can expect it be around 160 Q, 156 V, and 3.8 GPA. If you're below that, I would take it again if MIT is your choice (are you applying next year like your banner says?) Stanford doesn't post averages, so they may grade more holistically. I've also heard MIT's first pass at applications is by computer, so I can see why they have cutoffs. For engineering, I know quant is mega important, but verbal is not nearly as much so.

[hjp932]

@bioeng2016 It usually does help to have somewhat of a focused area of research as an undergrad, especially if it's relevant to your proposed area of research in the application. I've heard of many students with perfect numbers and qualifications get rejected cause their experience isn't a good "fit" for the type of research they want to do in graduate school. I think it would be better to propose an area of research that's closer to what you've done, then change the area once you get in. Especially since tissue engineering is the most popular field and you'd be competing with so many other people who have done tissue engineering for years.

[pali123]

On 12/1/2015, 6:09:18, bioeng2016 said:

@pali123 MIT does have a cutoff for GRE scores. According to their website, you can expect it be around 160 Q, 156 V, and 3.8 GPA. If you're below that, I would take it again if MIT is your choice (are you applying next year like your banner says?) Stanford doesn't post averages, so they may grade more holistically. I've also heard MIT's first pass at applications is by computer, so I can see why they have cutoffs. For engineering, I know quant is mega important, but verbal is not nearly as much so.

I emailed the bioengineering graduate advisor and she told me that the listed cutoffs are a recommendation rather than a set cut off. Or maybe I am misinterpreting her, here is her response:

The admissions committee reviews all applications received.  They look at a variety of things when they consider you which is why the website lacks a clear outline of admissions requirements. In no particular order, previous research experience, grades, recommendations, GRE scores, classes you’ve taken, your personal statement and interviews are all likely to be considered.

Although your GRE verbal score is below the cutoff, the cutoff is a recommendation and not a definitive number.
 

What do you guys think? 

[pterosaur]

I think it means that they don't want to lose a strong applicant just because they missed one arbitrary cutoff marker. They're leaving themselves wiggle room while trying to tell you realistically what the expect of applicants. 

[SynBioGuy]

Undergrad Institution: Top-ranked university in Asia 
Major(s):  Biomedical Sciences 
Minor(s): Bioegineering 
Overall GPA: 3.959/4.3 (3.87/4.0)
Position in Class: Top 1%
Type of Student: Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 164  (94%)
W: 4.0
B: 680 (95%)


Research Experience: 

International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition Team in 2013 and 2014. 
Computational Biology Lab - 1 semester 
Microbial Ecology - 1 Semester 
Cancer Immunotherapy - 2 Months 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Full-tuition scholarship for 3 years; Academic achievement award; iGEM 2013 Asian Jamboree: Regional Winner Award 

Applying to Where:

-       Rice University  - SSPB

-       Washington University in St. Louis - DBBS

-       UCSF - BMS 

-       UCB/UCSF - Bioengineering 

-       MIT - Biological Engineering 

-       MIT - Microbiology 

-       Harvard University - BBS  

-       UCLA - Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering 

 

-     I have been lurking around the forum for too long. I think it's time to contribute.  I am interested in synthetic biology and so I am applying to bioengineering and biomedical science programs with professors specifically working on synthetic biology projects. I have applied to most of the schools already. I hope I hear back good news soon!   

Edited December 7, 2015 by SynBioGuy

[Extra Espresso]

On 12/6/2015, 3:48:24, pali123 said:

I emailed the bioengineering graduate advisor and she told me that the listed cutoffs are a recommendation rather than a set cut off. Or maybe I am misinterpreting her, here is her response:

The admissions committee reviews all applications received.  They look at a variety of things when they consider you which is why the website lacks a clear outline of admissions requirements. In no particular order, previous research experience, grades, recommendations, GRE scores, classes you’ve taken, your personal statement and interviews are all likely to be considered.

Although your GRE verbal score is below the cutoff, the cutoff is a recommendation and not a definitive number.
 

What do you guys think? 

I think @pterosaur is right. They don't want to lose a strong applicant over something small like a GRE score, especially when it's your verbal score. I feel like the verbal score has absolutely no bearing on your ability to be a good bioengineer, and, if you have a solid GPA, they'll assume it doesn't mean anything. 

[pali123]

10 hours ago, Extra Espresso said:

I think @pterosaur is right. They don't want to lose a strong applicant over something small like a GRE score, especially when it's your verbal score. I feel like the verbal score has absolutely no bearing on your ability to be a good bioengineer, and, if you have a solid GPA, they'll assume it doesn't mean anything. 

I am not sure if this is supposed to make me feel better but it does! Thanks guys!  

[Extra Espresso]

2 hours ago, pali123 said:

I am not sure if this is supposed to make me feel better but it does! Thanks guys!  

It is supposed to make you feel better!  

Now if someone could make me feel better about my soon-to-be not 4.0...

[pali123]

6 minutes ago, Extra Espresso said:

It is supposed to make you feel better!  

Now if someone could make me feel better about my soon-to-be not 4.0...

My GPA is also going down, I did not realize how much work/time these applications would take. And oh reserve like 2 hours of panicking and lurking on this forum, also working still in lab during dead week b/c we can't/won't stop.. yeah no time to study for finals  

[Extra Espresso]

SAME. I have spent so much time on grad school applications that I'm about to make a B in an easy class unless I can pull out a 100 on the final. Cue panic. 

[pali123]

9 hours ago, Extra Espresso said:

SAME. I have spent so much time on grad school applications that I'm about to make a B in an easy class unless I can pull out a 100 on the final. Cue panic. 

Yup Im about to make a B in US History... the easiest class on Earth

[Extra Espresso]

@pali123 Ugh, I'm sorry. Mine is major class which makes me feel even worse...

[BrazilianStrongCoffe]

Undergrad Institution: Brazilian University -  Very prestigious...here (University of São Paulo)
Major(s):  Electrical Engineering
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.00
Overall GPA: 3.00
Position in Class: Since i made an international program, it is hard to compare with peers
Type of Student: International Hispanic Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 161
V: 159
W: 3


Research Experience: 

One Semester in Medical Imaging

One Year in Biological Effects of Electric Fields

Research Assistant in Control Engineering

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Scholarship for research assistance, best paper award in  international conference

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:  I was freshman Physics Tutor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I volunteered on teaching poor children and in the project of a community radio

Special Bonus Points: I have ten publications (Journals and Conferences Proceedings) and four poster presentations - one of the publications got a best paper award and i have a masters degree from germany
Applying to Where:

Yale BME

Harvard BME

Rockefeller Neuro

NYU Neuro

CUNY BME

I focused on research insead of grades - i was wondering if the GPA would not be a problem...USP tend to have lower grades than USA schools