Chances for MS biostat from engineering undergrad

[ilovemyfrizz]

Hello everyone, I am a 5th year student entering my senior year of undergrad and I’d like to apply for a M.S. in Biostatistics and am looking for feedback on my application. I am switching fields and have a lower GPA but I’m hoping my research and work experience will help me.

Undergraduate Institution: top 20 school for bioengineering 

GPA: 3.255 with an upward(ish) trend (4.0 in spring 2016 semester)

Major: Bioengineering, minor in Computer Science

Relevant Courses Taken:
-Honors Calculus (theory based, covered --Calc I & II at my school, I also have AP credit for Calc I & II): A+
-Calc III (Multivariate): B
-Differential Equations (not a prereq, but still a math course): C+
-Linear Algebra (my school called it “Intro to Linear Algebra” and offered another upper level “Linear Algebra” course that I may take in spring 2017): A
-Statistics and probability for engineers (calculus based): B
-Intro to Java: A
-Discrete Structures for CS: A

GRE: am taking at end of august, my last practice test was a while ago but I scored around 161 Q, 162V. Low, I know, but I will work really hard to pull it up in the next few weeks

Research Experience:
-8 months in a Neural Engineering lab doing cell culture and creating a 3d printed device for the lab
-4+ mo (started may 16) in a visual neuroscience lab developing a clustering and sorting algorithm in Matlab using machine learning and Bayesian analysis techniques - I will continue in fall and spring semesters

Work Experience:
-3 years as tour guide for prospective freshmen coming the engineering building at my school - good public speaking/soft skills experience
-1 full time year (all of 2015) as an R&D co-op student at a large medical device company - did basic statistical analysis with Minitab and this sparked my interest in statistics

Clubs (not sure if grad schools will care about this)
-BMES (biomedical engineering society): I was social chair and will be PR Chair this upcoming year
-Design Club: I was also part of a design team developing a variation on Deep Brain Stimulation for about 8 mo, but I am probably going to drop this from my resume as I feel I did not make a significant contribution to the project (our team leader basically took over and made it his own personal research project)

Awards/Honors:
-Full tuition scholarship + engineering scholarship since I’ve started at my school
-Received summer funding for research over 2016 summer, and will have to submit several abstracts on my project to various conferences, so hopefully I will have a poster presentation (or two!) by the time I apply
-Engineering school dean’s list spring 2014, spring 2016

Rec Letters: 1 strong one form current PI, 1 strong one from supervisor at tour guide job, 3rd one will probably be from my old PI who is also my academic advisor - she liked me, and also has seen me pull my grades up

Schools I’m Planning to Apply to:
-Minnesota (probable reach? But I love their work on Bayesian data analysis - which is the focus of my current research project)
-Pitt (target)
-University of Arizona (target - I grew up in AZ)
-Wisconsin (target)
-University of Illinois at Chicago (target)
-Iowa (target)
-University of Colorado - Denver (target)
-Michigan (reach)

I’d appreciate any advice on schools to apply to and how to improve my application! I did see a few posts about engineering undergrads applying to biostat programs and they said they emphasized the math in their engineering courses so I’m planning to do that. I am also undecided as to if I want to eventually get my PhD but for right now, I think I’d like to just get my MS and enter industry, and i’ve read that school ranking doesn’t matter as much for that but I’d still like to attend the best school I can get into!