Bioengineering/Biomedical Engineering - Fall 2017 PhD Application Profiles

[Neuronophil]

Hi All,

Lets start the profiles for Fall 2017 Bioengineering/Biomedical engineering programs:

Here's a template borrowed from previous years:

_________________________________________

Undergrad Institution: 

Major(s): 
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major: x.xx/4.00
Overall GPA: x.xx/4.00
Demographics/Background: 

GRE Scores:
Q: xxx (xx%)
V: xxx (xx%)
W: x.x (xx%)

LOR: 

Research Experience: 

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

 

Fellowships/Funding:

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests:

 

Institutions/Programs:

 

Comments:

 

[Neuronophil]

Undergrad Institution: Top 5 engineering school (US)

Major(s): Bioengineering
GPA in Major: 3.75/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.75/4.00
Demographics/Background: Non-Native English speaker US citizen

GRE Scores:
Q: 162(xx%) (oops! unfortunately I don't have time to retake it)
V: 163(xx%)
W: N/A (yet) (xx%)

LOR: 2 solid, 1 okay

Research Experience: 2 years. Computational biology/neuroscience in 2 labs (including 1 summer)

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

1 co-author (3rd in a 6 author paper  paper in a tier 1 journal. Another journal paper under preparation (co-author). 2 poster presentations. 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honors gpa. Deans list 5 semesters.

Summer research award.

An NSF funded scholarship

Multiple school scholarships

Fellowships/Funding: NONE

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Founding member of an undergraduate science club.

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests:

Computational and Systems neuroscience/neuroengineering

Institutions/Programs:

Not 100% sure yet but here is a tentative list: JHU, UCB/UCSF, GATech, Wisconsin, CalTech, UCSD,

Comments:

Let me know what you think? Is the GRE going to hurt me bad?

Edited November 10, 2016 by Neuronophil

[Edotdl]

On 11/10/2016 at 2:05 AM, Neuronophil said:

Undergrad Institution: Top 5 engineering school (US)

Major(s): Bioengineering
GPA in Major: 3.75/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.75/4.00
Demographics/Background: Non-Native English speaker US citizen

GRE Scores:
Q: 162(xx%) (oops! unfortunately I don't have time to retake it)
V: 163(xx%)
W: N/A (yet) (xx%)

LOR: 2 solid, 1 okay

Research Experience: 2 years. Computational biology/neuroscience in 2 labs (including 1 summer)

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

1 co-author (3rd in a 6 author paper  paper in a tier 1 journal. Another journal paper under preparation (co-author). 2 poster presentations. 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honors gpa. Deans list 5 semesters.

Summer research award.

An NSF funded scholarship

Multiple school scholarships

Fellowships/Funding: NONE

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Founding member of an undergraduate science club.

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests:

Computational and Systems neuroscience/neuroengineering

Institutions/Programs:

Not 100% sure yet but here is a tentative list: JHU, UCB/UCSF, GATech, Wisconsin, CalTech, UCSD,

Comments:

Let me know what you think? Is the GRE going to hurt me bad?

Looks ok, GRE shouldn't matter too much.

[kangaroomr]

Undergrad Institution: 

Major(s): Electrical Engineering
Minor(s): Biomedical Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.2-3.3?/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.4/4.00
Demographics/Background: Grew up in a cult

GRE Scores:
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 159 (82%)
W: 5 (93%)

LOR: 2 great, 1 good? Not sure what constitutes good/ok letter

Research Experience: spent about a year in undergrad at a BCI lab helping out with some side projects and also did my year long capstone project working on a BCI communication device project

Currently have been a full time RA at an institution (also applying here) doing clinical neuroimaging research (EEG, MEG, MRI) for epilepsy.

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: One third author, working on a project right now that might lead to a publication but realistically early next year

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list on semester, graduated with honors

 

Fellowships/Funding: none

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1.5 years of industry electrical engineering experience. Lots of MATLAB experience and hardware development.

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: Was on student led club building devices for people with disabilities for 2 years. Last year I was on the executive board

 

Research Interests: translational research for BCIs, neuroprosthetics,

using imaging, statistical modeling, signal processing and machine learning to understand motor coordination/learning. search for biomarkers and neuromuscular disease mechanisms, treatment and better diagnosis methods

 

Institutions/Programs:

Harvard-MIT HST

Northwestern

Duke

Univ of Pittsburgh

Brown

 

Comments: Hoping to get solid research experience in grad school but also potentially getting industry connections to move into an R&D or entrepreneurship after graduation. Not sure if my heart is in it to stay in academia in the current climate.

[jw2899]

Hi everyone,

I'm applying to a few BME/BioE programs in addition to a few medical physics programs so I figured I'd put my profile down here. 

 

Undergrad Institution: Columbia University

Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.87 / 4.00
Overall GPA: 3.83 / 4.00
Demographics/Background: White male

I'm currently doing an MS so I'll include it too.

Graduate Institution: University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Major: Medical Physics

Graduate GPA: 3.70 / 4.00

GRE Scores:
Q: 166
V: 159
W: 4.0

LOR: 2 solid, 1 good ( I guess?)

Research Experience: 2 years working in MRI, 3 REU's in physics from undergrad

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 First-Author Manuscript, 1 Second-Author Manuscript, 1 Sixth-Author in a book chapter

Poster Presentations at 3 conferences

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: A fellowship that paid for my master's / a few scholarships along the way

 

Fellowships/Funding: None

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research Assistant at a cancer hospital for 2 years

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: I was a national champion wrestler back in high school (probably not too relevant)

 

Research Interests: MRI (functional applications)

 

Institutions/Programs:

Harvard-MIT HST (MEMP)

Penn (BioE)

Yale (BME)

Columbia (BME)

Chicago (Med Phys)

MD Anderson (Med Phys) 

DKFZ - in Germany (Med Phys)

 

Comments: My didactic background in biology is a bit weak for bioE/BME programs. I'm hoping my research in cancer imaging can offset that, but I don't know. 

Good luck everyone

[Edotdl]

5 hours ago, jw2899 said:

Hi everyone,

I'm applying to a few BME/BioE programs in addition to a few medical physics programs so I figured I'd put my profile down here. 

 

Undergrad Institution: Columbia University

Major(s): Physics
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.87 / 4.00
Overall GPA: 3.83 / 4.00
Demographics/Background: White male

I'm currently doing an MS so I'll include it too.

Graduate Institution: University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Major: Medical Physics

Graduate GPA: 3.70 / 4.00

GRE Scores:
Q: 166
V: 159
W: 4.0

LOR: 2 solid, 1 good ( I guess?)

Research Experience: 2 years working in MRI, 3 REU's in physics from undergrad

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 First-Author Manuscript, 1 Second-Author Manuscript, 1 Sixth-Author in a book chapter

Poster Presentations at 3 conferences

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: A fellowship that paid for my master's / a few scholarships along the way

 

Fellowships/Funding: None

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research Assistant at a cancer hospital for 2 years

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: I was a national champion wrestler back in high school (probably not too relevant)

 

Research Interests: MRI (functional applications)

 

Institutions/Programs:

Harvard-MIT HST (MEMP)

Penn (BioE)

Yale (BME)

Columbia (BME)

Chicago (Med Phys)

MD Anderson (Med Phys) 

DKFZ - in Germany (Med Phys)

 

Comments: My didactic background in biology is a bit weak for bioE/BME programs. I'm hoping my research in cancer imaging can offset that, but I don't know. 

Good luck everyone

Having applied and been accepted to a few BME/BioE programs without that much Bio background outside of research, I don't think it'll be a big issue. Profile looks decent.

[nsguy]

Undergrad Institution: Public School in Texas

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering
GPA in Major: 4.00/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.96/4.00
Demographics/Background: Asian 

GRE Scores (Yikes!):
Q: 162(xx%) 
V: 154(xx%) 
W:  5 (xx%) 

LOR: 3 solid

Research Experience: Interned at Stanford University for a summer, 3.5 years in a Biomechanics Lab, 1 year in a Robotics Lab, and currently working with UTSW in the Surgery Department

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

5 posters and presentations at undergrad Insitution and conference (SRC). 2 Abstracts submitted. No publications unfortunately

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Academic Excellence Scholarship 

Multiple Undergraduate Research Scholar Awards

Dean's List (5x)

STARnet Scholar

Goldwater Honorable Mention

 

Fellowships/Funding: NONE

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Member of ASME, MRS, Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Beta Xi, former Volunteer Coordinator for an organization on campus

Calculus Tutor ~ 2 years

Intern at a company in the Dallas Area (3D Printing)

Teaching Assistant for 2 engineering courses

Volunteering at hospitals and clinics

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests:

Neural Engineering, Biomechanics, Tissue Engineering, Medical Devices

Institutions/Programs:

(All are PhD)

UT Dallas 

University of Michigan

Cornell University

Harvard

Carnegie Mellon

Stanford

UCSD

WashU in St. Louis

Boston Univ.

MIT (BME, EECS, and MechE)

MIT Media Lab

Uchicago IME

ETH Zurich

 

Comments:

Let me know what you think? My GRE scores are not the greatest, not the best standardized test taker. So would those scores hurt me?

[WhyTry]

Second year applying

Undergrad Institution: public university with strong engineering program in west coast

Major(s): MechE
GPA in Major: 3.70/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.56/4.00
Demographics/Background:

GRE Scores:
Q: 162 (xx%)
V: 154 (xx%)
W: 4.0 (xx%)

LOR: 

3 "Popeye the sailor man" strong 
Research Experience: 

1 summer and 2 academic years in ECE lab

1 summer in materials science lab 

2 quarters MechE lab

post graduation: 5 months full time and ongoing in molecular, cell and developmental bio lab

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 2nd author. 1 4th author in review. Over ten oral/poster presentations. 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Recognized most likely to dropout of highschool

Fellowships/Funding:

still broke and nothing's changing

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Advanced bird cage watching 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

Beat a scarecrow in a staring contest

Research Interests:

BioMEMS/NEMS

Institutions/Programs:

Michigan BME

Washington BE

Minnesota BME

Comments:

 

[asingleneuron]

Hey All,

Just want to start off by saying, good luck to everyone! Hopefully we will all be collaborating soon

Here is my profile:

Undergrad Institution: Top 3 Canadian School

Major(s): Electrical Engineering: Biomedical Engineering Option (on top of a year in faculty of science)
Minor(s): Commerce
GPA in Major: 4.00/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.95/4.00
Demographics/Background: White male

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 166 (97%)
W: 5.0 (93%)

LOR: One just from an instructor who I did well in three courses with, who I don't know all that well. Two research supervisors.

Research Experience: Two full time summers (one in BioMEMS, one in clinical neuroscience doing a bunch of MATLAB), still at neuroscience lab part time for the year (but little time to commit with school) 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: One journal article, 2nd author. Two conference publications, 2nd author. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Undergrad research award from government paid for both summers.

Pertinent Activities/Jobs: TA for two terms, software developer for biomedical engineering student team (for 4 months) 

Research Interests: Neuromorphic Engineering, Brain Imaging, Neural Interfaces (plan to develop focus after I get into a school, but don't tell anyone I said that)

Institutions/Programs: All Bioengineering: Stanford, UCSD, Berkeley/UCSF, Washington, Minnesota, Toronto, McGill

 

Comments: dang everyone wants to do neural eh?

Edited December 9, 2016 by asingleneuron

[Neuronophil]

15 hours ago, asingleneuron said:

 

Comments: dang everyone wants to do neural eh?

haha, that's what I was thinking too

[zebratography]

Undergrad Institution: Top 20 in the US

Major(s): Biomedical Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.90/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.95/4.00
Demographics/Background: International, LGBT

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (97%) 
V: 164 (94%)
W: 5.0 (93%)

LOR: 1 from research PI, two from professors that can potentially show different sides of me

Research Experience: 1.5 years on focused ultrasound (independent project)

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

no major publication, 3 abstracts, 2 presentations

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

School scholarship, Dean's list, Focused Ultrasound Foundation fellowship, summer research fellowships

Fellowships/Funding: None

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Resident Advisor, vice president of a cultural org, member of engineering and science clubs

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests:

Medical imaging and therapeutic ultrasound

Institutions/Programs: (All BME or BE)

UCB, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, UMich, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, JHU, Duke

Comments:

Will the lack of publications hurt me?

Edited December 21, 2016 by jnfls0203

[Neuronophil]

2 hours ago, jnfls0203 said:

Undergrad Institution: Top 20 in the US

Major(s): Biomedical Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.90/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.95/4.00
Demographics/Background: International, LGBT

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (97%) 
V: 164 (94%)
W: 5.0 (93%)

LOR: 1 from research PI, two from professors that can potentially show different sides of me

Research Experience: 1.5 years on focused ultrasound (independent project)

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

no major publication, 3 abstracts, 2 presentations

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

School scholarship, Dean's list, Focused Ultrasound Foundation fellowship, summer research fellowships

Fellowships/Funding: None

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Resident Advisor, vice president of a cultural org, member of engineering and science clubs

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests:

Medical imaging and therapeutic ultrasound

Institutions/Programs: (All BME or BE)

UCB, MIT, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn, UMich, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, JHU, Duke

Comments:

Will the lack of publications hurt me?

I think you'll be fine. Every other aspect of your profile is great. While having publication is a plus, it is not a requirement. They only need to know if your can do research and the LOR from your research PI would show that.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Neuronophil

[zebratography]

Has anyone heard back from their schools yet?

[asingleneuron]

Nothing for me yet

[Neuronophil]

Me neither

[Srweller]

Undergrad Institution: Small city school 

Major(s): Mathematics
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major: 3.43/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.37/4.00
Demographics/Background: Female

GRE Scores:
Q: 164
V: 154
W: 4

LOR: 1 pretty good, 2 very strong- one professor wanted me to read his and it was very strong.

Research Experience: 1 1/2 chemistry research experience

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: Presentation at MAA conference. Publication in process- working on a second one

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

 

Fellowships/Funding:

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research, tutoring

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests: Neural prosthetics and computer-brain interfacing 

 

Institutions/Programs: Northwestern and IIT

 

Comments: Professor at IIT contacted me about research opportunity- keeping in contact to ask questions about everything.

 

[zebratography]

Seems like someone has already got an interview invite from Duke, but I still haven't heard anything. Should I be worried?

[koab79]

I think these next two weeks are key for interviews based on past history for Duke. I applied there as well and I am getting antsy...

Do people get admitted without getting an interview?

Edited January 3, 2017 by koab79

[Neuronophil]

I have heard that sometimes GaTech admits without interview.

I haven't heard anything from the schools yet.

[skbts]

Just wanted to share that Duke has an interview weekend 1/20 but they also have weekends in February and March so I think there's plenty of time. Since you get admitted directly into a lab, seems very dependent on how individual faculty conduct their review of applications and reach out to prospectives. 

[Neuronophil]

Thanks for the info. 

Based on the last year results, Duke is the first school to roll out the interview invites for BME programs.

[koab79]

Undergrad Institution:  No name state school 

Masters Institution:  Mid-tier State School

Major(s):  UG - Mechancial, Grad - Chemical Engineering
Overall GPA: UG - 3.7/4.0 Grad - 3.6/4.0 
Demographics/Background: US Citizen, but old ( bad side of my 30's). I am testing the theory it is never too late  

GRE Scores:
Q: 163 (85%)
V: 167 (98%)
W: 4.0 (59%)

LOR:  1 strong but from a non tenured faculty, 2 from full professors whom I worked for in a research capacity, but who do not know me as well

Research Experience:  4yrs as engineer in industry as an ME, 1 yr in industry as ChemE in biotech, 1yr in academia as a research tech (current job).  

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: None though I might be able to publish some recent stuff in my current job but none of that was captured in my applications

Awards/Honors/Recognition:  Dean's list, Tau beta pi but nothing really noteworthy

Fellowships/Funding:  Planning on applying to NSF next year 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Industry experience at large multi national corporations in finance, energy and biotech. Some exposure to gene therapy and micro-fludics with my most recent roles in academia as a tech. 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: married 

Research Interests: Tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, gene therapy 

Institutions/Programs: Only three (UNC/NCSU, Duke, JHU), JHU is a what the hell but I more than likely cannot attend since I am geographically constrained to my current residence.   

Comments: I am a career changer and older so I am far from the traditional profile. I also want to return to industry after my degree. While i do not directly state that, I am not tenure track or bust in my SOP. My strengths are I am not 22, my SOP is very strong and I have a lot of lab and professional skills. Downside I am old, always young at heart though. I have a strong ties to the UNC/NCSU program. 

 

 

[PB&Banana]

Anyone else get a surge in anonymous LinkedIn profile views? My anxiety is going to be through the roof this entire month while we wait to hear back.

[dbm3252]

Undergrad Institution: Virginia Commonwealth University

Major(s): BME
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.78/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.59/4.00
Demographics/Background: 25, white

GRE Scores:
Q: 162 
V: 164
W: 4.0

LOR: 2 really strong, 1 decent

Research Experience: 2 years

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

2 second author publications, 1 first author publication submitted, 1 second author publication in preparation, 2 first author conference publications, 10+ poster/platform presentations

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Deans list etc

Fellowships/Funding:

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Supplement Award

VCU Deans Undergraduate Research Initiative Fellow

VCU Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship Summer Fellow

 

Research Interests: 

Cell mechanics, mechanotransduction, tissue engineering

Institutions/Programs:

JHU, Duke, CMU, Cornell, UNC/NC State, VCU

Comments:

Edited January 6, 2017 by dbm3252

[MEMP_student]

Good luck everybody! I applied last year and can field general questions regarding the application process or just stuff in general about programs at different schools. As a general note, there is no such thing as the perfect candidate. For example, at the time I applied, I had no publications (and was worried that this would hurt my chances). Turned out not to matter. Schools are judging you for your research potential, not for the research you've outputted. Sure, the fact that you've published stuff indicates that you have the potential to succeed in a research-driven career, but its not necessary. In my case, my GPA and letters of recommendation probably helped offset the lack of publications. That being said, no need to worry about one part of your application being weak!

Have any questions, just message me, or reply in this thread. I'll check back every now and then.