Help with decisions on Graduate school to apply

[May Cornfield]

Hi all,

Now all the deadlines are approaching for the 2010 fall graduate school application (United States), but I still cannot decide which school to apply. One of the reason is lacking confidence on my qualifications.

My situation is as such:

International applicant (TOEFL may be exempted as I took college in an English speaking country)

GRE: 1400 (V620+Q780),4.5 (AW)

GPA: 3.7 (overall), 3.8 (major).

Have two years research experiences, some second author publications with reasonable impact factors (5 to 7). And two first author drafts on hands (may still need one or two month to be published).

I am applying for biomedical engineering graduate schools, though my undergraduate training is in biological sciences.

I am sincerely seeking for your kind advices on what kind of graduate schools in United States I should aim for.

Thanks you all for your attention.

[porfiry]

Hi there,

I feel I'm in a rather similar situation: being an international student, not currently in school and so not having the luxury of popping in to professors' office hours to seek advice on my applications etc. I've been analyzing and over-analyzing my file and finding all the little flaws and inconsistencies that could potentially drag my apps down. It been driving me crazy, and over the past few days I've realized that it's not the best way forward.

I'm now trying not to focus on school pedigrees, but rather on the individual faculty members that appeal to me most. I think being true to one's intellectual interests is probably the healthiest and (hopefully) the most effective approach to applications. That said, I'm staying conscious of ensuring there's a mix of well-ranked and not-so-well-ranked schools on my list.

I'd plan on spending hours upon hours poring through dept faculty pages, CVs, publications and identify the people whose work attracts your interest.

Good luck!

[May Cornfield]

Hi, thanks on your reply.

You give a wise advice. As I have been working for quite a while, I do have some big names on mind whose work interests me. But my consideration is that: one, they may not be interested to take me; two, they may not be free to teach and guide for the graduate study. This said, I am not seeking a professor who teaches hands by hands, but at least be available to discuss when there is some difficulties.I think I should take your suggest, try to study some more faculties, who might be more available.

Good Luck for your application as well!

Edited October 28, 2009 by May Cornfield

[TKassis]

There are many excellent US universities for your field. I think some of the best for Biomedical/Bioengineering would be (in no particular order):

1- MIT

2- WUSTL

3- Johns Hopkins University

4- Georgia Institute of Technology

I also heard Duke University has a strong graduate biomedical engineering program...