Please help review my profile for PhD apps in Bioengineering

[bluestone]

Hello all, I will be applying for BioE PhD programs this upcoming fall, and would like someone to assess where I lie among applicants. Also advice on how to improve my profile will be extremely welcomed. Thank you in advance!

 

Undergrad Institution: Top3 public research university

Major(s): Bioengineering

Minor(s): None, but completed all technicals in Molecular & Cell biology--immunology

Other courses: Two graduate courses, both A/A+

GPA in Major: 4.00/4.00

Overall GPA: 3.99/4.00

Demographics/Background: International, Female Asian

GRE Scores: V 165, M 170, W 5.0

LOR: 2 Great and 1 Good. 

Research Experience: 2.5 years in cell-engineering biology lab. 1 international REU in Switzerland EPFL (2.5%-3%), 1 REU at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (don't know how much fame does CSHL stands up now, but the REU acceptance is ~2%)

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 first author publication (IF=3.7), 1 second author pub under peer review (IF~9), 1 mid-author under late stage peer review (revision submitted) (IF ~12). 1 poster at regional conference, 1 poster for REU.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Tau Beta Pi & Phi Beta Kappa. Dean's Honor for each semester, Department award for academics, and some other small scholarships

Fellowships/Funding: Couldn't find any for international students. May end up not applying. Please let me know if you know any

Research Interests: Tissue engineering, biopolymers for drug delivery and immunotherapy

Institutions/Programs: MIT,  UCSD, Stanford, UPenn, JHU, UCSF/UCB, Duke, still deciding on other ones

 

I'm not very sure on where my profile lies, and which part should I work on more. I have seen a lot of strong profiles in the forum as well as stories where a super competitive applicant didn't get into his/her dream program. Also, I am worried that not applying to any fellowships would lower my chance of getting admitted.

Thanks in advance! Advice and suggestions would be welcomed!

[Victorious Secret]

A 4.0 student from Berkeley with a perfect GRE quant and three publications will always be among the very top tier of applicant pools, so long as your LORs and SOPs are in keeping with your scholastic performance. I would say that now you should focus on refining your SOPs through iterative draft revisions, and focus on making sure that your professors have their letters done on time. Most legitimate BME programs will have several labs that fit your interests. Throw in a couple backup schools if you like, but it probably will not be necessary, and see which graduate fellowships you might qualify for as international student. I would be surprised if you are rejected from more than maybe one or two schools on that list. Congratulations, you have a very strong profile!

[bluestone]

On 6/30/2017 at 1:17 PM, Victorious Secret said:

A 4.0 student from Berkeley with a perfect GRE quant and three publications will always be among the very top tier of applicant pools, so long as your LORs and SOPs are in keeping with your scholastic performance. I would say that now you should focus on refining your SOPs through iterative draft revisions, and focus on making sure that your professors have their letters done on time. Most legitimate BME programs will have several labs that fit your interests. Throw in a couple backup schools if you like, but it probably will not be necessary, and see which graduate fellowships you might qualify for as international student. I would be surprised if you are rejected from more than maybe one or two schools on that list. Congratulations, you have a very strong profile!

Thank you Victorious Secret! This is very comforting! I will definitely work on my SOP. Shall I also talk with my professor about recommendation letters? What should the letters focus on?

[Victorious Secret]

Universities will generally have some guidelines for letter writers. Talk to your professors and make sure that they are in a position to write you strong letters. It is best to do this in person. They will generally know what to write about, but they do need time to get those documents prepared. It is usually best for the letters themselves to focus on your research and what potential you have to be a good researcher in the future. For these top schools, the letters can be among the most important pieces of your application. There are a lot of good resources online for more information about LORs, including this message board.