A calling to all BME FALL 2008 Applicants:):)

[vaddva]

UMich has already accepted students and sent out funding offers. They accept about 40 students and fund most of them.

I wrote to UMich BME a few days back and was told that the results will be given after the end of march since the committee will sit at the end of this month.

[bigsid05]

Are you an international student? It may be different then. All domestic applicants have received offers.

[vaddva]

Yeah that might be the case. I am an international applicant from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India.

[crossedfingers]

IIT Delhi eh? hmm the one thing i remember about that place are those awesome parathas! what did u specialize in?

[vaddva]

IIT Delhi eh? hmm the one thing i remember about that place are those awesome parathas! what did u specialize in?

I am graduating in mechanical engineering. Have you been to IIT Delhi? It will be interesting to know how and when. By the way which institute are you from? And what is your major?

[crossedfingers]

Have you been to IIT Delhi? It will be interesting to know how and when. By the way which institute are you from? And what is your major?

I went to DPSRKP for high school and hung out with a lot of IIT wanna-bes! We landed up outside your college a couple of times just to eat those parathas. I'm in chemical engineering right now.

[vaddva]

I went to DPSRKP for high school and hung out with a lot of IIT wanna-bes! We landed up outside your college a couple of times just to eat those parathas. I'm in chemical engineering right now.

Allright nice to know u r from DPSRKP, I have lots of friends who are DPS allumni. Where are you doing your engineering from? And what about your admission to grad school, where all you have heard from till now?

[xzjohn]

I don't know what specific field you are in, but if this professor is doing the same sort of research you are, I would def go and talk to him after the conference. A friend I know did that last year at the national ACS conference. He described it as 'meeting brad pitt on the red carpet'. This professor was a well renowned guy at stanford, and my friend, well he came from a small town school in MN. He approached the guy and told him that he had emailed him and was interested in working in his lab. The guy was very polite and all, but he did ask him some pretty intense questions. Luckily my friend was working on the same line of research as him and could respond with half arsed brain answers. He said he would look out for his application. This happened in Oct 07 and guess who got him into stanford this yr? Apparently the professor remembered him from the conference and took a longer look at his application. I'm pretty sure if you did the same, if not anything, he will definetely remember your name when application times come around. I would absolutely go for it. There is nothing you can lose by doing so and so much you can gain.

hey, buddy

I just returned from the S.F conference and talked with a professor at Northwestern. Below is the minute of our talk.

I sent him an e-mail with my resume before and he confirmed he had read that. After introducing myself, he asked the following questions.

He: Tell me about your project.

Me: blablabla. (describing what I've done, am doing, will do in the next few months.)

He: Who's your advisor?

Me: Dr. A (looked like he doesn't know)

He: Where did you get your B.S and what major?

Me: blabla

He: Well, the dept. has already finished the admission process for fall 2008 and you may only apply for next year. The deadline would be Dec. 31st. It's quite competitive.

Me: I read the paper you published last year. Will you continue this project? (and some technical questions about the research)

He: Yes. I'll have to renew the funding for that project but haven't done that yet. I'll do that soon. As for the research side, blablabla

Me: I found on your website a new category of research but didn't find more details. Would you mind introducing that to me?

He: blablabla. (to be honest, I'm not quite interested in this new project, nor does it fit my background)

Me: Do you admit students regularly every year?

He: The department admits students by fellowship. They'll select an advisor after the 1st year. I don't directly admit student (during the admission process).

Me: I mean, after getting admitted by the department, do you admit 2nd-year students regularly to your lab?

He: (smile) Well, that really depends on the funding, maybe 1 or more.

Me: Then, what about the funding for next year?

He: quite tough. The funding in recent years is not good, quite flat.

Me: The congress just appropriated over 20 Billion to NIH. Does that help?

He: The congress gave over 50 billion to NIH about 5 years ago and (things are so bad now even so). It's a hard time these years.

Me: There're two other international conferences in Sep. and Oct. Are you gonna go there?

He: I don't think so. R u gonna go?

Me: I've submitted abstract to the one in Sep. and hopefully will attend.

After saying thanks, we said goodbye.

So, bro. what do you think? Is it successful or not? I sorta feel that he was not quite impressed or satisfied by my qualification, like research background. Of course, I have to admit that my background is distantly related to his current/future project.

Since he's not going to attend the other two conferences this fall, do you think it's ok if I network with some other faculty members at Northwestern during those conferences?

Thanks a lot~~~

[crossedfingers]

what do you think? Is it successful or not? I sorta feel that he was not quite impressed or satisfied by my qualification, like research background. Of course, I have to admit that my background is distantly related to his current/future project.

Since he's not going to attend the other two conferences this fall, do you think it's ok if I network with some other faculty members at Northwestern during those conferences?

Thanks a lot~~~

hmmm..hard to say if he was impressed. It could be that he had had similiar conversations with other students. Is it just Northwestern you want to attend or is there a very specific research field present at that school that interests you? If it is the latter, I would hunt down the professor that works in that area and bug him till he begins to say your name in his sleep! lol.. ok i dont encourage getting a restraining order, but if there is someone whom your background and interests seem to match, I am sure presenting your case to them would prove worthy bothways. I couldbe wrong, but laying all your eggs in one basket is a huge risk. Meet as many people as you can. NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK

[crossedfingers]

Allright nice to know u r from DPSRKP, I have lots of friends who are DPS allumni. Where are you doing your engineering from?

I got my ChE degree from Univ of MN.

And what about your admission to grad school, where all you have heard from till now?

ha! I wish I had that figured out. I'm in the midst of wanting to reapply next year, go to UPitt or Purdue or just pull my hair after having gone through too many of these nerve-wrecking weeks.

What about you? have you made your choices yet?

[miketakena]

what do you think? Is it successful or not? I sorta feel that he was not quite impressed or satisfied by my qualification, like research background. Of course, I have to admit that my background is distantly related to his current/future project.

Since he's not going to attend the other two conferences this fall, do you think it's ok if I network with some other faculty members at Northwestern during those conferences?

Thanks a lot~~~

Wow.. xzjohn, I am impressed by your initiative :-) Hv you thought of talking with peers of current UAB professors... maybe the chances of success are higher... (i am not sure.. but maybe you try out in your next conference and let us know)... academics could take their peer's recommendations more seriously.. as opposed to someone who walks up out of the blue...

BTW - do you get to attend these conferences for free? How much do you have to pay?

[xzjohn]

hmmm..hard to say if he was impressed. It could be that he had had similiar conversations with other students. Is it just Northwestern you want to attend or is there a very specific research field present at that school that interests you? If it is the latter, I would hunt down the professor that works in that area and bug him till he begins to say your name in his sleep! lol.. ok i dont encourage getting a restraining order, but if there is someone whom your background and interests seem to match, I am sure presenting your case to them would prove worthy bothways. I couldbe wrong, but laying all your eggs in one basket is a huge risk. Meet as many people as you can. NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK

Thanks for your advice. You're always so supportive.

I've researched the entire pool of faculty at NU, ranging from BME to nanoscience, etc. To be honest, only about 2 or 3 faculty members' research (somewhat) fits my background. But my girlfriend is a current NU student and absolutely I have to figure out a way to live with her, even though it may be troublesome for me to find a perfect advisor. Here the trick is that I need to get in first, and after that, I can choose an advisor from any departments, which is a common practice for BME students. I do find some good match in NU's medical school but I'm afraid those professors/PI won't have any influence over the admission decision.

The faculty who fits best didn't attend this conference and I plan to send him my resume in a few months and if he attends one of the conferences in the fall, absolutely I'll network with him as well, especially 'coz he's the graduate program director.

Also, I'm in contact with another faculty at MIT and he showed interest in my background but didn't have any positions this year. So, he encouraged me to keep him posted, if I wanna join his lab next year. So, if NU still rejects next year, probably I'll try to find a position at MIT. But, i love my girlfriend much more than MIT :oops:

[xzjohn]

Wow.. xzjohn, I am impressed by your initiative :-) Hv you thought of talking with peers of current UAB professors... maybe the chances of success are higher... (i am not sure.. but maybe you try out in your next conference and let us know)... academics could take their peer's recommendations more seriously.. as opposed to someone who walks up out of the blue...

BTW - do you get to attend these conferences for free? How much do you have to pay?

Thanks, man.

Your suggestion is very helpful, and I've thought about that before. The fact is that my professors' personal connections seem to be "regional". For example, I know the professors who wrote ROL have strong connections with Duke, Rice, Gatech and those in the south or southeast but not in the midwest or other regions. And, my specialty is cardiovascular tissue engineering (biomaterial/tissue regeneration) but, unfortunately, my advisor is also a newbie in this field since he's a professor in Physics.

As for your question about attending conference, yes, I got full reimbursement from my advisor because I presented my research at the conference. The registration fee is around $110 for students. Abstract submission is free for this conference (MRS spring conference) but BMES national conference charges about $50. The other expenses, like air ticket, hotel, poster printing, etc, depend on your situation. As far as I know, not all professors are so supportive. Many professors ask the student to cover all the cost, even if he's gonna give a presentation on behalf of his lab.

[ukiitm]

Hi, I've been a lurker here for close to two years now, and registered only recently. Did my undergrad in India and am currently in a bioengineering master's program in the US. I've lately become interested in cognitive science (I work in one of the Psychology labs here, modelling learning/memory) and have applied to a couple of PhD programs in the field (very interdisciplinary, so some are in Psychology, some in Bioengineering/Neuroscience/Neuroinformatics). I applied and got into the Bioengineering program at Pitt (thought my bioengineering background would help), but am interested mainly in the joint (pitt-cmu) program in cognitive science at the Center for Neural Basis of Cognition (cnbc.cmu.edu) with which Pitt BME is affiliated.

Does anyone here have similar interests, and if so, based on pre-application research you might've done, do you know if the bioengineering program allows you full access to advisors in CNBC, or even Pitt Neuroscience. I know the bioengineering program itself has a neural engineering track, but they do more sensory/motor stuff than cognitive sciencey stuff. In short, how much freedom does Pitt bioengineering give graduate students, say in terms of choosing atleast co-advisors. An advisor in neural engineering with a cognitive science co-advisor in neuroscience/CNBC would be a great deal for me.

[ukiitm]

I got my ChE degree from Univ of MN.

ha! I wish I had that figured out. I'm in the midst of wanting to reapply next year, go to UPitt or Purdue or just pull my hair after having gone through too many of these nerve-wrecking weeks.

What about you? have you made your choices yet?

Pitt Bioengineering? For a master's or a PhD? What area are you interested in?

[ukiitm]

Oh, and one more thing to add to my original post^ ... I had stated explicitly in my personal statement that I was interested in the cognitive science/neural engineering interface and had talked about my interest in the CNBC program. So I presume it must've been a faculty member involved in a related area that took an interest in my application?

Also, in their offer, they say something about a Dean's fellowship in addition to the first year departmental stipend. Any idea what that means? The first year part means of course that from the second year on I'd have to find a lab that can fund me.

[crossedfingers]

Pitt Bioengineering? For a master's or a PhD? What area are you interested in?

Pitt MS BME. I'm into the MSRC, orthopedic science center. I think cuz I was an MS applicant, I have not received any word on funding yet. If one of the professors or the department lets me know by April 15, I have decided I want to go to PItt. But if not, I'm still very very happy going to Purdue (PhD). The only thing though, is that every time I think about giving in 4 years for PhD, i sorta get cold feet. It sounds so werid, but its true. I'm ChE and I do believe I will like Biomechanics, but what if I am wrong? Sometimes I get strange amateur undergraduate thoughts like that.

Are you going to Pitt for sure? I don't know much about their cog science center.

Also, in their offer, they say something about a Dean's fellowship in addition to the first year departmental stipend. Any idea what that means? The first year part means of course that from the second year on I'd have to find a lab that can fund me.

I don't know if Pitt is different, but i have a similair offer from Purdue and they said that the fellowship was from the university and the stipend was from the professor who voted for my application. Both of them are essentially fellowships ( meaning I do not have to work in his lab for the first year), but since I am an internatioanl student, the felllowship will be administed as regular bi weekly pay (@20 hr/week). The second yr they will give me a RA position. I wonder if that is what they meant in your case.

[ukiitm]

Pitt MS BME. I'm into the MSRC, orthopedic science center. I think cuz I was an MS applicant, I have not received any word on funding yet. If one of the professors or the department lets me know by April 15, I have decided I want to go to PItt. But if not, I'm still very very happy going to Purdue (PhD). The only thing though, is that every time I think about giving in 4 years for PhD, i sorta get cold feet. It sounds so werid, but its true. I'm ChE and I do believe I will like Biomechanics, but what if I am wrong? Sometimes I get strange amateur undergraduate thoughts like that.

I wouldn't say they're amateur undergraduate thoughts. That's quite mature actually, wondering if you'll really like it and still want to do it as much as you do now, say a couple of years down the line. Lots of people sleepwalk through their PhDs without any real interest in what they're doing and with the sole intention of being better placed to get a job, any job. Now, that's immature.

Are you going to Pitt for sure? I don't know much about their cog science center.

There's a >90% chance I'll land up there.

I don't know if Pitt is different, but i have a similair offer from Purdue and they said that the fellowship was from the university and the stipend was from the professor who voted for my application. Both of them are essentially fellowships ( meaning I do not have to work in his lab for the first year), but since I am an internatioanl student, the felllowship will be administed as regular bi weekly pay (@20 hr/week). The second yr they will give me a RA position. I wonder if that is what they meant in your case.

Ah, okay. Quite possibly. What about the stipend, then? Once a month? I did think that fellowships basically freed you from having to work for the stipend, too.

[bme_dude]

So where is everyone going next year?

jhu anyone?

[ahug030]

Berkeley... thanks for the support all

[gottodecide]

I am still trying to decide. My interest is in medical imaging and I am generally an EE person; however, I applied to Berkeley for BME as I knew a person who went there and got in. Can any of you provide your opinions on the program? I am trying to pick between this and Stanford EE (no funding), Michigan EE (fellowship), and Cornell (full funding). Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[BMEballer]

I'm thinking about going to jhu but I haven't made up my mind yet :/

[richcool]

funny enough.. i am also contemplating jhu.... has anyone heard from columbia?

i am still waiting on their decision to make up my mind..

[ukiitm]

Most probably Pitt ...

[anonymous_]

I still haven't heard from Columbia but I'm not holding my breath.