Biological Engineering: Which Universities?

[sanfonts]

Hi there:

I'm a current undergraduate international student: I expec to obtain my B.S. in Biotechnology Engineering in May 2016. Currently interested in pursuing a M.Sc. degree in the States in something related with Synthetic Biology/Genetic Engineering.

I have two questions I and was hoping someone here could help me clear them:

1) Which are the best universities for Synthetic Biology/Genetic Engineering?! I have been frantically looking for programs related to these disciplines, but so far I've found only a handful of programs that are either (i) PhD programs along the lines of Chemical Biology (Harvard, Rice), (ii) MSc programs related to "Biomedical" engineering, more along the lines of new medical devices/drug delivery/tissue engineering (Johns Hopkins, Stanford Bioengineering)

2) These are my stats:

International student

 GRE V+Q = 162 (90%) + 163 (86%)

 GPA = 3.96

 Two Fellowships (Academic Excellence and International Mobility at my homeschool)

Part of the 2014 Stanford International Honors Program

Extensive research experience during my undergraduate studies, although not specifically related to Genetic Engineering until the very last year...
 

If I don't find any good choices for the programs I'm looking, I'm thinking of going for a PhD in chemical biology or biological engineering, applying to MIT BE, Harvard Chemical Biology, Stanford Chemical Biology. Do you think I could stand a chance in these top-tier programs?

Thank you very much!

 

 

 

[zipykido]

You seem very competitive with your scores, although publications would certainly help if you have any of those. My advice would be to seek out faculty who are doing research that you would be interested in first rather than looking at specific schools. Most of the time it doesn't really matter what it says your degree is in but rather the content of the research. The bigger schools will typically have better funding (research and scholarships) but don't discount the smaller schools that have people doing research in the area that you want. Most engineering schools are quite well funded.