Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering - PhD Application Profiles for Fall 2018 Admittance

[PickleRick]

Hi All,

Lets start the profiles for Fall 2018 Biomedical Engineering/Bioengineering 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:

[bmeupscotty]

Okay, I'll bite.

Undergrad Institution: Top 15 private research university

Major(s): BME with honors
Minor(s): Scientific Computing
GPA in Major: 3.89/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.86/4.00
Demographics/Background: Female, domestic

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 168 (98%)
W: 4.0 (60% whoops?)

LOR: 1 strong letter from the director of my current lab- she's psychiatry, not BME but she's very well known for neuroimaging and has a long history of mentoring successful students; 1 very strong letter from the associate director of the lab who I work very closely with. He has PhD in comp sci and I'm planning on having him focus on different things than my first letter; last one I'm hoping to get from the professor I worked under for my senior honors project. I also took classes with him so he can speak to my academic performance as well.

Research Experience: 1 summer REU with magnetic resonance spectroscopy, 1 year (honors project) using diffusion MRI on ex vivo canine muscle for fiber tracking, a little over 1 year (though will be 2 by the time I leave) post-grad working full-time as a research assistant in a neuroimaging lab working on diffusion, structural, and functional MRI analysis

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 second author conference paper at a well known international imaging conference that will be published in Spinger's Lecture Notes on Computer Science (conference papers are peer reviewed and well respected in the comp sci community, btw), and possibly in a special issue of a journal. I actually wrote this paper even though I'm second on it, but I'm going to have my LOR address this. Also presented a poster on this at a Harvard Medical School research day.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Magna Cum Laude, Dean's List every semester

 

Fellowships/Funding: None right now

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests: If you couldn't guess already, medical image processing and analysis (especially MRI), but not sure quite yet what I specifically want to do in the field...

 

Institutions/Programs: JHU (BME), UPenn (BioE), WashU in St. Louis (BME), Georgia Tech/Emory (BME), Oxford (DPhil in Biomedical Imaging)

 

Comments: A little concerned about applying only to 5 programs that are well very competitive... but I'm particularly interested in these because they all have a ton of researchers I could see myself working with and they give you time to find an adviser. And most (except Georgia Tech) have you do rotations in different labs, which is nice.

 

Good luck everyone!

[Sahil08]

YOUVE got a 338 on you!! You can crack anything..

 

 

[bluestone]

I'll also join the thread! Looking for inputs on my profile and whether it matches with the school list; I feel I might be overly ambitious...

Undergrad Institution: Top public institution

Major(s): Bioengineering, with honor thesis
Minor(s): no official minor but completed all technical courses in MCB 
GPA in Major: 4.00/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.99/4.00
Demographics/Background: Female, International

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (xx%)
V: 165 (xx%)
W: 5.0 (xx%)

LOR: One very strong letter from PI back at home institution whom I worked with for 2 years, have a slight issue with it right now though: she tried to persuade me to do a PhD with her while I wanna change directions, so not sure if my rec letter will be harmed if I say no to her.... Any comments?

Two from PI that I worked with during two summer programs. Both are supposed to be strong to very strong

Research Experience: Two years in stem cell lab, basically running my own project instead of being RA for anyone, and two summer in cancer biology lab through two summer research programs, one of which is abroad (not sure if it means anything)

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 first author (IF ~4), 1 second author under peer review (IF ~ 10), 1 fifth author in press (IF ~10). 1 first author national conference abstract, one poster presentation at a local conference, two poster/presentations for summer research programs

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Tau Beta Pi, Phi Beta Kappa, Dean's list for every semester, then some local, department, and school scholarships

 

Fellowships/Funding: probably not applying to any due to citizenship

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Have been tutoring for a Biochem class for 4 semesters and is currently head tutor. Holds officer position on a professional club for two years

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests: Tissue engineering, immunoengineering, drug delivery

 

Institutions/Programs: here's my tentative list:

JHU BioE

MIT BioE

Harvard SEAS

UPenn BioE

Stanford BioE

UCSF-UCB BioE

Duke BioE

UCSD BioE

UW BioE
BU BioE

Northwestern BioE

not sure if I should include UT Austin BioE... is this a match school or a safe school... or a reach school?

 

Comments: comments on profile and school list? am i too ambitious?

Edited August 24, 2017 by bluestone

[kushal22]

Hi

Undergrad Institution: Birla Institute of Technology and Science ( ranked in top 10 technical institutes in India) 

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering
Minor(s): NA
Overall GPA: 8.16/10 (approx. 3.5/4.0)

GRE Scores:
Q: 166
V: 152
W: 4.0

LOR: 1 strong recommendation from my undergraduate thesis advisor at National University of Singapore

1 Strong recommendation from my research internship supervisor at Indian Institute of Science

1 Strong recommendation from a Professor at my home institution whom I worked with for 1 year

Research Experience: 6 months research internship at Mechanobiology Institute  at National University of Singapore (NUS). 

6 months research experience at Indian Institute of Science

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 poster presentation at the 18th International Congress of Developmental Biology, Singapore, 2017

1 Oral presentation at the 5th International Conference on Computational and Mathematical Biomedical Engineering. 

1 paper submitted in the IEEE Conference on Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems ( Awaiting results) 

 

Research Interests: Lab-on-a-Chip, Biomicrofluidics, Cell mechanics, Affordable Healthcare

 

Institutions/Programs: Here's my tentative list

USC - Biomedical Engineering

UC Irvine - Biomedical Engineering

UCLA - Biomedical Engineering

University of Wisconsin-Madison -  Biomedical Engineering

UCSB - Mechanical Engineering

Penn State - Biomedical Engineering

Ohio State - Mechanical Engineering

University of Washington - Bioengineering

[greenman210]

Undergrad Institution:  not well-known globally

Major(s):  Biomedical Engineering-Biomechanics
Minor(s): no minors
GPA in Major: 3.06/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.00/4.00

M.Sc. Degree Institution: (International student) The best in the country. Well-known globally

Major(s):  Biomedical Engineering-Biomaterials
GPA in Major: 4.00/4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00/4.00

Male-international

GRE Scores:
Q: 162
V: 147
W: 3.5

LOR: I have more than 3 but I am not sure how to evaluate them as being a good one.

Research Experience: 

I have 2 published peer-review journal article which I am not the first author and 1 paper which I authored and which I submitted just recently

8 conference presentations in international conferences.

These are my undergrad work. My MSc project is still ongoing.

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

2 published peer-review journal article

1 Submitted article

8 conference presentations

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

no.

Fellowships/Funding:

no

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Teaching and Tutoring

Research Interests:

Tissue Engineering and microfluidics

Institutions/Programs:

I am not sure where I am in the spectrum among other candidates.

Comments:

I have just a few chances and I dont want to blow them. Which schools do you think I have a chance with?

[kangaroomr]

On 8/15/2017 at 11:47 AM, bmeupscotty said:

Okay, I'll bite.

Undergrad Institution: Top 15 private research university

Major(s): BME with honors
Minor(s): Scientific Computing
GPA in Major: 3.89/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.86/4.00
Demographics/Background: Female, domestic

GRE Scores:
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 168 (98%)
W: 4.0 (60% whoops?)

LOR: 1 strong letter from the director of my current lab- she's psychiatry, not BME but she's very well known for neuroimaging and has a long history of mentoring successful students; 1 very strong letter from the associate director of the lab who I work very closely with. He has PhD in comp sci and I'm planning on having him focus on different things than my first letter; last one I'm hoping to get from the professor I worked under for my senior honors project. I also took classes with him so he can speak to my academic performance as well.

Research Experience: 1 summer REU with magnetic resonance spectroscopy, 1 year (honors project) using diffusion MRI on ex vivo canine muscle for fiber tracking, a little over 1 year (though will be 2 by the time I leave) post-grad working full-time as a research assistant in a neuroimaging lab working on diffusion, structural, and functional MRI analysis

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 1 second author conference paper at a well known international imaging conference that will be published in Spinger's Lecture Notes on Computer Science (conference papers are peer reviewed and well respected in the comp sci community, btw), and possibly in a special issue of a journal. I actually wrote this paper even though I'm second on it, but I'm going to have my LOR address this. Also presented a poster on this at a Harvard Medical School research day.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Magna Cum Laude, Dean's List every semester

 

Fellowships/Funding: None right now

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

 

Research Interests: If you couldn't guess already, medical image processing and analysis (especially MRI), but not sure quite yet what I specifically want to do in the field...

 

Institutions/Programs: JHU (BME), UPenn (BioE), WashU in St. Louis (BME), Georgia Tech/Emory (BME), Oxford (DPhil in Biomedical Imaging)

 

Comments: A little concerned about applying only to 5 programs that are well very competitive... but I'm particularly interested in these because they all have a ton of researchers I could see myself working with and they give you time to find an adviser. And most (except Georgia Tech) have you do rotations in different labs, which is nice.

 

Good luck everyone!

You should also look into the HST program at MIT/Harvard. They have a neuroimaging track and lots of faculty doing neuroimaging work at the Martinos Center

[bmeupscotty]

On 11/5/2017 at 9:57 PM, kangaroomr said:

You should also look into the HST program at MIT/Harvard. They have a neuroimaging track and lots of faculty doing neuroimaging work at the Martinos Center

Thanks for the suggestion! I actually have looked at the program there, and though it is undoubtedly amazing, it's just not the program for me--primarily because I'd like the chance to explore other imaging applications like cardiac MRI. Plus I'm currently in the Boston area and I'm excited to move somewhere new again! Though I certainly don't discount coming back after for a post-doc haha. Hope everyone's taking deep breaths with the Dec. 1st deadline coming up  

[PickleRick]

Hi,

School - middle tier private for both UG and MS

Major - BIOE for UG and MS

Minor - n/a

GPA (major) - 3.43/4.0 (UG) 3.89/4.0 (MS)

GPA (overall) - 3.47/4.0 (UG) 3.89/4.0 (MS)

Demographics/Background - White, 22, first generation college student

 

GRE scores:

Q: 164

V: 156

W: 5.0

 

LOR - 3 very strong letters, two from research advisors at my university that have supervised me for 3 and 2 years, respectively, and one from my internship supervisor. 1 PhD grad from Stanford BME and 1 PhD grad from CalTech Chemistry 

 

Research Experience - 4 years

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations

(1) first author, (2) second author, and (2) third author publications all in journals w/ impact factor > 5. Another 1st author in preparation but likely won't be submitted until early next year (will be discussed in one of my LOR though). I've presented at 4 conferences in the US.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognition

I've been given over $25,000 of internal grant funding from 5 different successful grant applications, associate member of the sigma xi research society and selected for the excellence in research award at my universities engineering awards and honors convocation. I've also spent a summer working for a large pharmaceutical company.

 

Research Interests

Microfluidic Large Scale Integration (mLSI), single cell proteomics and genomics, medical imaging. 

 

I've only applied to 8 schools (Duke, MIT, BU, UMich, Stanford, UCSF/Berkeley, JHU and CalTech), thoughts on my chances?

[SmartMorty]

On 28/11/2560 at 3:28 AM, PickleRick said:

Hi,

School - middle tier private for both UG and MS

Major - BIOE for UG and MS

Minor - n/a

GPA (major) - 3.43/4.0 (UG) 3.89/4.0 (MS)

GPA (overall) - 3.47/4.0 (UG) 3.89/4.0 (MS)

Demographics/Background - White, 22, first generation college student

 

GRE scores:

Q: 164

V: 156

W: 5.0

 

LOR - 3 very strong letters, two from research advisors at my university that have supervised me for 3 and 2 years, respectively, and one from my internship supervisor. 1 PhD grad from Stanford BME and 1 PhD grad from CalTech Chemistry 

 

Research Experience - 4 years

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations

(1) first author, (2) second author, and (2) third author publications all in journals w/ impact factor > 5. Another 1st author in preparation but likely won't be submitted until early next year (will be discussed in one of my LOR though). I've presented at 4 conferences in the US.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognition

I've been given over $25,000 of internal grant funding from 5 different successful grant applications, associate member of the sigma xi research society and selected for the excellence in research award at my universities engineering awards and honors convocation. I've also spent a summer working for a large pharmaceutical company.

 

Research Interests

Microfluidic Large Scale Integration (mLSI), single cell proteomics and genomics, medical imaging. 

 

I've only applied to 8 schools (Duke, MIT, BU, UMich, Stanford, UCSF/Berkeley, JHU and CalTech), thoughts on my chances?

Get off my face boi,

WIth a profile like that, you can get into ANY schools you want. 

 

Edited December 5, 2017 by SmartMorty

[sa119]

Undergrad Institution: Univ. of Georgia

Major(s): BioEngineering, Biomedical Emphasis, Biomechanics Track

Overall GPA: 3.52/4.00 (once grades are submitted for the current semester next week
Demographics/Background: female, Asian
GRE Scores:
Q: 160 (76%) on the low end but not horrible
V: 159 (83%)
W: 5.0 (93%)

LOR: 

1.) PI at NIH

2.) Dean of Engineering College here

3.) Asst. Prof
Research Experience: 

1 year in computational lab (lung biomechanics), 1 summer in computational lab (lung biomechanics) & biomaterials lab, Summer intern at NIH (wet/dry systems neuroscience lab), all of this year in computational lab (cardiac mathematical modeling)

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

1 publication under review (4th author), 1 conference proceeding (2nd author), 1 abstract under review (first author)

a few abstracts just for research presented on campus, first author

writing Honors Thesis this year

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

NIH Summer Intern, offer for Air force Research lab that I declined

Fellowships/Funding:

Applied for NSF and DoD 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Tutored Math for a Year

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

President of Biomedical Engineering Society at UGA for a year

Research Interests:

systems modeling and simulations, mechanobiology

Institutions/Programs:

GATech, Rochester, Rensselaer, UConn, Brown, UPitt (applied for pHD in computational modeling here, but looking at profs in BioE dept), Clemson, UGA, U Wisconsin Madison, VTech/Wake Forest Joint Program, Northeastern U

 

Comments:

I already submitted by apps, but my grades for this semester are out in a couple weeks and they will bring my GPA up, should I try to send them to admissions offices? 

Or should I wait for that journal article I'm a co-author on to go through the pipeline first before reaching out to schools?

When do we hear about interviews?

 

What are my chances? I am worried that my GRE and GPA are on the lower end, but I know I have good research XP (esp at NIH), but I wish that journal article had been published sooner

[jwf]

Undergrad Institution: UT-Austin

Major(s): biochemistry BS, chemical engineering BS
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major(CHE only): 3.85/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.93/4.00
Demographics/Background: 

GRE Scores:
Q: 164 (84%)
V: 168(98%)
W: 4.5 (xx%)

LOR: 1 from undergrad PI in plant physiology, 1 from undergrad research mentor and also part time employer in agriculture bio start up, 1 from current employer at MD Anderson Cancer center (director of a blood cancer research dept).

Research Experience: 

3 yrs in plant phys. lab, 2 yrs in natural products lab, 1 summer in medical research fellowship, 1 year research asst at MD anderson

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

some abstracts

manuscript in preparation.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

ChE scholarship for academic performance. High honors grad.

Fellowships/Funding:

some summer research fellowship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Research Asst. cancer research

Research Interests: BioMEMS, microfluidics, bio-sensing

Institutions/Programs:  MIT, stanford, gatech, caltech, ucB, rice

Comments: Hoping my low Quant score won't hurt me. I've always been better at reading and writing than maths. Backup plan is to just get an industry job in Che if I don't get in. Or apply medical school. 523 100%ile on MCAT. But PhD is my real dream. 

Edited December 11, 2017 by jwf

[kweiss]

Undergrad Institution: #1 Undergrad BME Program 

Major(s): Biomedical Engineering
Minor(s): Research Option (required 9+ credits of research and proposal/thesis writing classes)
Overall GPA: 3.14/4.00
Demographics/Background: female

GRE Scores:
Q: 168 (94%)
V: 153 (61%)
W: 4.5 (82%)

LOR: 

1. Very strong letter from PI for 3 years, who publishes in science and nature regularly and is very well known in his field 

2. Director of Undergraduate Research at GaTech

3. Director of Undergraduate Studies, GaTech BME department

Research Experience: 

1 summer at Winship Cancer Institute (poster presentation and verbal presentation)

3 years at Emory studying Biomolecular nano engineering

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

1 4th author paper in editing (JACS)

1 textbook chapter coauthor on bio-sensing in editing

1 school poster presentation on my research

1 poster presentation at school Cancer Poster Festival (idea expansion on someone else's research)

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Georgia Engineering Foundation Scholarship

MENSA Member

 

Fellowships/Funding:

applied for NSF 

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

Run a middle and high school robotics competition in GA for minority and low income schools

Head engineering mentor for high school robotics that has advanced to the world championships for past 3 years

Very active robotics volunteer at local, state, and world levels

Local science fair and Governor's Honors Program judge

 

Research Interests:

Biomaterials, nanoengineering, drug delivery, DNA

 

Institutions/Programs:

GaTech

MIT

BU

Vanderbilt

UCSD

UCLA

UCI

UC Berkeley

UT Austin

Rice

 

Comments:

Super worried about my GPA being so low but hoping I at least get into a few schools. I have already reached out and connected with faculty at all of the schools I am applying to so I hope that helps some. 

[harley111]

Undergrad Institution: WashU in STL

Major(s): BME
Minor(s): Systems Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.7/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.6/4.00
Demographics/Background: female

GRE Scores:
Q: 165 (89%)
V: 155 (69%)
W: 4.0 (60%)

LOR: PI of 2 years that I wrote a manuscript with who loves me. Professor who I have had 3 classes with and TAd for. Current PI who was my professor before working in his lab. I'm very close with all of them and know the recs are super strong.

Research Experience: 2 years in a bio lab, used crystallography to determine my own protein structure. 6 months in a BME lab using simulation for protein research on ALS.

 

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: First author on a paper that recently came out in BiochemJ.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list for 4 semesters. Got a Dean's fellowship at WashU that got me into the program here without having to apply through faculty recs and gives me an extra 5k.

 

Fellowships/Funding: Applied for NSF GRFP. uSTAR summer 2015. HHMI summer 2016.

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

 

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: Cheerleading all four years. TA'd as a sophomore and TA currently. Designed a gas sensor as a class project. Designing an automated device that produces biosensors for senior design. 

 

Research Interests: Protein structure. Simulation. Thermodynamics.

 

Institutions/Programs:

WashU BME- Accepted

Princeton

UChicago- Interview

Duke

Stanford

UWashington

MIT(haven't finished the app yet kill me)

 

Comments: Got an interview at UChicago for biophysical sciences.

 

Edited December 13, 2017 by harley111

[katpillow]

Am I late to the party? Does it matter? Didn't think so. Grad school apps round 2, because research is love, research is life.

Undergrad Institution: Johnny Hopkins

Major(s): Materials Science & Engineering
Concentration: biomaterials
GPA in Major: 2.9/4.00
Overall GPA: 2.4/4.00 (trust me, there were some "good" non-school related reasons)

 

Graduate Institution: The greatest Evanston has to offer

Major(s): Biomedical Engineering, MS w thesis
Overall GPA: 3.67/4.00 (there we go, that's a bit more what I expected)

Demographics/Background: stereotypical looking tall midwestern pale white guy (I can assure you I am not diverse), but first gen college in the fam. Somehow despite being one of 60 first-cousins (not joking), I am the only one who chose a medical or science career or any resembling either of those things.

Vintage 2015 GRE Scores:
Q: 161 (78%)
V: 159 (83%)
W: 4.0 (60%)

The GRE is a load of shiitake, why do we all have to waste our money on this nonsense

LOR: Got 3-4, depending on the app. 1 from a full prof with gusto, 3 from profs who are trying to make it in the asst prof world, but all are each ballers in their own right. 2 of the asst profs are either current or former PIs

Research Experience: 

1.5 years at undergrad: polymer nanoparticle fabrication, characterization, etc etc

3 years, full time, pharmaceutical R&D (god I miss making money): smattering of DARPA funded antibiotics drug-resistant baccy work, a dabble in cancer immunotherapy, and a touch of autoimmune gene regulation (2 of my shared custody babies currently in phase 1, with a third joining the party next year. PLEASE let my company shares be worth something)

1 year at North by Northwestern: tissue engineering research, mostly working on scaffolds for a fun organ that I'll probably need to replace someday due to all of the downed wine and sipped scotch

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

1 first author paper from my antibiotics work

1 co-author paper from immunoengineering shenanigans

2 posters relating to cancer immunotherapies

2 patents, one for antib's and the other for immuno drugs

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Got 'most creative' at my friend's holiday party the other night. I made a gingerbread lighthouse. Prize was a jar of this exfoliating paste that you're supposed to rub all over your body when you shower, apparently. It looks like wet brown sugar. Not convinced that it isn't brown sugar.

Fellowships/Funding:

Perhaps the NSF GRFP lottery will bless me, but I'm not counting on it

Wrote the aims and science for what looks to be a successful R21 for my current lab... which won't exist at NU after this year cos the prof has to leave, but at least that's something nice for someone else out there, hopefully, if the lab still exists... at least I got practice

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Got gig as academic chair for our BME grad student organization (lol), former social chair (way more fun)

Had that industry job (did I mention how I miss having income?)

Sold wine for a few months immediately out of undergrad. One of the most valuable life experiences to date.

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

I went to India a few weeks ago and managed to gain 10 pounds in rice weight. Was worth it.

I can't tell if I'm actually an awardee for it yet or not, but I got a vague email that wasn't wholly committal for the NREIP this summer, but I sent them back the email saying I was on board for the dates soooooo I DON'T KNOW WE'LL JUST SEE

Research Interests:

Laundry list. Too much dabbling has occurred. Immunotherapy and Immune Cell Signal Modulation, Nanoparticle-Mediated Drug Delivery, Cancer Therapy, Nanomaterials for Biological Research and Therapeutics, and Gene Modification, Immune Tolerance, Regenerative Medicine, Drug-Resistance Mechanisms, Transplantation, Tissue Scaffolds and Engineering, Organ Tissue Regeneration 

Institutions/Programs:

Northwestern, BME (gotta try to transfer in for that PhD! ...just gotta find a new lab... can't be that hard? right? RIGHT?)

U Chicago, Molecular Engineering

U Michigan, BME

U Pittsburgh, bioengineering

UCSF/Berkeley joint bioengineering

U Washington, bioengineering

MIT, biological engineering

UVA, biomedical engineering

Rice, bioengineering

Harvard, BBS (not engineering here, expecting rejection 12/22)

UTH/MD Anderson, bio sciences (also not eng)

Comments: I have an abysmal undergrad GPA, so my applications make a point to address it and the differences between now and then. I hope that they can look at it all in a positive net gain sort of way, and be satisfied with the graduate GPA, but who knows... I put some toughies on my app list. I have an unofficial at one of my listed apps already, but until I see an actual invite or something like that, I'll believe it when I see it. Commentary, insights, coffee talk, wine talk, all input/questions welcome

Edited December 21, 2017 by katpillow

[katpillow]

On 12/11/2017 at 1:42 PM, jwf said:

But PhD is my real dream. 

Preach

[PickleRick]

Does anyone have any specifics on schools sending interview invites? I know in general this month and early February are big.

[gaattc]

19 minutes ago, PickleRick said:

Does anyone have any specifics on schools sending interview invites? I know in general this month and early February are big.

I used the R code from the Psychology forum and changed the search term to "bioengineering" to produce the attached result based on scraped data from the gradcafe survey. Should be helpful in determining when to expect interview invites! Note: this only searches bioengineering and not biomedical engineering. The lack of quality/uniformity in the data (all the different ways of typing in a school's name, for example, make them each individual entries) is something to keep in mind.

Grad Cafe Decisions BioE.pdf

[Some violinist]

8 hours ago, gaattc said:

I used the R code from the Psychology forum and changed the search term to "bioengineering" to produce the attached result based on scraped data from the gradcafe survey. Should be helpful in determining when to expect interview invites! Note: this only searches bioengineering and not biomedical engineering. The lack of quality/uniformity in the data (all the different ways of typing in a school's name, for example, make them each individual entries) is something to keep in mind.

Grad Cafe Decisions BioE.pdf

Nice! It seems the file isn’t open for access, though. To answer @PickleRick‘s question, I’m guessing the UC Berkeley/SF joint BioE should send invites on a single day around the end of next week, Stanford BioE and Boston University BME should come out starting around Jan 19, and MIT BE invites should be spread out through January, starting sometime next week. Purely based on speculation from historical data, but approximate interview dates seem to be fairly consistent in terms of what week they’re sent out.

[gaattc]

Whoops. I'm not sure how to change the permissions on that file, so here's a Google Drive link with the same pdf: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lo95iwIHv8EfKV2LAJepNHcfNOg2VMcs/view?usp=sharing

[Some violinist]

4 hours ago, gaattc said:

Whoops. I'm not sure how to change the permissions on that file, so here's a Google Drive link with the same pdf: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Lo95iwIHv8EfKV2LAJepNHcfNOg2VMcs/view?usp=sharing

Great! That's some pretty interesting data. Thanks!

[katpillow]

On 1/3/2018 at 12:06 AM, Some violinist said:

Nice! It seems the file isn’t open for access, though. To answer @PickleRick‘s question, I’m guessing the UC Berkeley/SF joint BioE should send invites on a single day around the end of next week, Stanford BioE and Boston University BME should come out starting around Jan 19, and MIT BE invites should be spread out through January, starting sometime next week. Purely based on speculation from historical data, but approximate interview dates seem to be fairly consistent in terms of what week they’re sent out.

This is largely true. There are invites that happen outside of the main dates for programs, but they aren't common. When things heat up, just keep your fingers crossed and don't say it's over til you have a final response from programs. Some are annoying and bad with communicating rejections, but most are decent about it.

[kangaroomr]

Undergrad Institution: decent school in the northeast (no ivy league tho)

Major(s): Electrical Engineering
Minor(s): Biomedical Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.4/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.4/4.00
Demographics/Background: First generation college student (immigrant parents), also grew up in a cult so education was never really a priority

GRE Scores:
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 159 (82%)
W: 5.0 (93%)

LOR: 

1 very good letter from my current supervisor (MD doing research), another 1 from tenured professor who also works with my supervisor, 1 from undergrad who supervised my undergrad project (though he hasn't submitted it so not sure if this is gonna count)

Research Experience: 

Worked on a BCI with EEG in undergrad for a senior project, no publications, just presentations (~ 1 year)

working as full time RA in epilepsy using EEG, MEG and MRI (a little over 2 years)

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

preparing a first author manuscript to be submitted in the next few months

1 coauthorship from current RA position

1 first author poster at a major conference a few months ago

5 coauthorships on other posters at major conferences

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

dean's list one semester, graduated from honors program

Fellowships/Funding:

None, was planning on applying to NSF-GRFP, NDSEG and DOE when I get into grad school and get a stronger profile

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Was on executive board member for a student organization dedicated to building devices to enable independence for people with disabilities

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

I did 3 co-ops as an electrical engineer each 6 months long so I have roughly 1.5 years of industry engineering experience

Research Interests:

BCIs, neuromechanics, neural engineering, movement restoration technology and neuroprosthetics

Institutions/Programs:

USC BME

MIT HST

University of Pittsburgh BioE

Northwestern  BME

JHU BME

Georgia Tech BME (ECE home school)

UC Berkeley-UCSF joint bioengineering

Stanford BioE

BU Computational Neuroscience

Northeastern BioE

Case Western BME

Comments:

This is my second time applying after getting rejected everywhere last year (only applied to 6 elite schools but did get interviews at 2 so i was close)

[SmartMorty]

And.... you will get rejected from all those schools again. Trust me.

The application pools at those schools are CRAZY good. 

[SmartMorty]

1 minute ago, SmartMorty said:

And.... you will get rejected from all those schools again. Trust me.

The application pools at those schools are CRAZY good. 

 

1 minute ago, SmartMorty said:

And.... you will get rejected from all those schools again. Trust me.

The application pools at those schools are CRAZY good. 

 

1 hour ago, kangaroomr said:

Undergrad Institution: decent school in the northeast (no ivy league tho)

Major(s): Electrical Engineering
Minor(s): Biomedical Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.4/4.00
Overall GPA: 3.4/4.00
Demographics/Background: First generation college student (immigrant parents), also grew up in a cult so education was never really a priority

GRE Scores:
Q: 168 (95%)
V: 159 (82%)
W: 5.0 (93%)

LOR: 

1 very good letter from my current supervisor (MD doing research), another 1 from tenured professor who also works with my supervisor, 1 from undergrad who supervised my undergrad project (though he hasn't submitted it so not sure if this is gonna count)

Research Experience: 

Worked on a BCI with EEG in undergrad for a senior project, no publications, just presentations (~ 1 year)

working as full time RA in epilepsy using EEG, MEG and MRI (a little over 2 years)

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

preparing a first author manuscript to be submitted in the next few months

1 coauthorship from current RA position

1 first author poster at a major conference a few months ago

5 coauthorships on other posters at major conferences

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

dean's list one semester, graduated from honors program

Fellowships/Funding:

None, was planning on applying to NSF-GRFP, NDSEG and DOE when I get into grad school and get a stronger profile

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Was on executive board member for a student organization dedicated to building devices to enable independence for people with disabilities

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

I did 3 co-ops as an electrical engineer each 6 months long so I have roughly 1.5 years of industry engineering experience

Research Interests:

BCIs, neuromechanics, neural engineering, movement restoration technology and neuroprosthetics

Institutions/Programs:

USC BME

MIT HST

University of Pittsburgh BioE

Northwestern  BME

JHU BME

Georgia Tech BME (ECE home school)

UC Berkeley-UCSF joint bioengineering

Stanford BioE

BU Computational Neuroscience

Northeastern BioE

Case Western BME

Comments:

This is my second time applying after getting rejected everywhere last year (only applied to 6 elite schools but did get interviews at 2 so i was close)

And.... you will get rejected from all those schools again. Trust me.

The application pools at those schools are CRAZY good.