<p>Oops …dang phone auto correct. I meant BMEs.</p>
<p>@reese8089: haven’t heard from Pitt either. somebody posted on gradcafe that Pitt will have recruitment on March 2nd and 3rd. but other than that, I’m clueless…</p>
<p>Ugh I’m getting killed out here</p>
<p>Liberal Arts School
GPA:3.984/179 hrs in 3.5 years
Majors: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Minor: Math
GRE: Q770/V670/AA4.5
2 years research, 2 posters, and 2 papers as coauthor</p>
<p>Applying to PhD programs in BE/BME</p>
<p>Accepted:
Wisconsin-full funding on NIH Fellowship</p>
<p>Rejected:
Berkeley
MIT
Stanford
UPenn</p>
<p>Still Waiting i.e. not looking good but not rejected yet 
Caltech
Rice
GATech
Carnegie Mellon - 1st choice :(</p>
<p>Sigh so discouraged-sigh…</p>
<p>^wisconsin is great!</p>
<p>rejection from WUSTL. sigh :(.</p>
<p>I think Northwestern just sent out a group of denials for Materials, but you have to check the website on your own (they didn’t send an e-mail).</p>
<p>Form letter:</p>
<p>"Dear Bob,</p>
<p>After consultation with the Materials Science and Engineering: PHD program and after a thorough evaluation of your credentials by The Graduate School, I regret to inform you that you have been denied admission for graduate study at Northwestern University.</p>
<p>Because your interest in the University is deeply appreciated, this decision is not easy to convey. Though your plans cannot be accommodated at Northwestern University, the faculty and administrators of The Graduate School respect your intellectual ambition and wish you success in attaining your goal of advanced study."</p>
<p>Yes, I’m sure it was really difficult to convey this message…</p>
<p>@bobthenormal</p>
<p>wow… pretty sure my rejection letter from Northwestern for ChE has the exact same wording… and it’s really nice how they don’t even email you to inform you a decision has been made.</p>
<p>For the BMEs out there, do you guy have any tips on how to prep for the recruitment weekends? I’m going to my first one this weekend and very nervous…</p>
<p>Anyone heard from Carnegie Mellon BME?</p>
<p>Undergrad: Large state school
Major: Math/Physics, no minor
GPA in majors and overall: 3.97
Length of degree: 4 yrs</p>
<p>Position in class: top
Type of student: domestic
GRE: 170 Quant, 166 Verbal, 4.5 writing (whatever…)</p>
<p>Research: 4 years, a first author publication</p>
<p>Other activities: president of an academic club</p>
<p>Awards: school awards + Goldwater</p>
<p>Schools applied (all phD)
Harvard (SEAS): no reply, so I’m thinking it’s a no
Yale (chem E): small interview, then accepted
MIT (chemical engineering practice CEP): interview with Sloan, then accepted (interesting story though…)
Stanford (chem E): rejected</p>
<p>I have no experience in engineering, so I’m glad that didn’t matter so much!</p>
<p>eagles, you’re a physics/math applying for engineering phd? with no research experience?</p>
<p>btw. It appears stanford doesn’t accept anybody.</p>
<p>I am physics/math, but I have 4 years of research experience (not in engineering though, but honestly not worlds away from what a lot of chemE research is about). I have a couple of published papers, and I’d say that helped a lot. </p>
<p>Yeah, I wouldn’t go to Stanford anyway… MIT is definitely better</p>
<p>of course you say that now that you got into MIT.</p>
<p>Man I’m so jealous. What research will your PhD be over there? stuff with thermodynamics?</p>
<p>lol I honestly thought MIT was better before too. And after being aggravated over how bad/annoying the Stanford application was, I didn’t feel too impressed with the school. Out of all the schools I applied to, Stanford had by far the worst application process. </p>
<p>There are a lot of research topics: more bioengineering related topics, modeling processes, materials, transport processes, systems design, battery/biofuel/solar cell stuff. I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet- so many options! I’m so relieved it turned out this way you have no idea; long story short, I was rejected a few weeks before being accepted</p>
<p>wait, you get to choose which one you want to do?? I thought you pick one or two professors who do similar things to your interest, and you try to convince them to accept you… </p>
<p>And how were you rejected and then accepted (with funding supposedly)? That’s confusing. Was there a mistake, or were you waitlisted, or was the head of admissions a hardcore eagles fan?</p>
<p>You don’t have to pick until the end of the first term. Until then, you kind of explore I guess. For the open house, you choose 10 you’d like to meet with individually, but there’s definitely no obligation. </p>
<p>Ok, it’s a pretty weird story, but I was actually rejected, not waitlisted, and it wasn’t a mistake. Basically, I would’ve gotten into the regular PhD program no problem, but I hadn’t taken a certain class, so I was disqualified from CEP; I did contact the head guy, and he ended up letting me through…total miracle</p>
<p>Would you please help me in writing SOP? I would like to get an idea to impress the admission committee. If possible please send me your SOP to [caprice2020 AT gmail DOT com]. I am planning to apply next year to Harvard, MIT…</p>
<p>So they actually sent you an email saying that you were disqualified from their program due to a chem e core class that you haven’t taken? Not some generic BS rejection letter?</p>
<p>spectastic, actually they called me to tell me why they couldn’t accept me… you can imagine my surprise at hearing that once I got the call! I think it’s something that almost never happens, so it’s unfortunately probably not applicable to most people’s situations. </p>
<p>Well, for my SoP, I took a lot of stuff from my Goldwater essays, and for the first few paragraphs, I basically talked about how I got into the fields that are my majors and my research. Then I wrote about my accomplishments related to research, my goals, and then why I am qualified for the program academically. Something people have been told to do (but I didn’t do) was list some advisers you want to work with; if you have a good idea, then go ahead and talk about them I think, but otherwise I guess it’s not necessary.</p>
<p>Everybody has a unique story, and you should highlight that because there are so many people with 4.0 GPAs, 170 GRE scores, and a million research awards. Just present yourself in a way that is true to yourself, and after that all you can do is pray that the school’s a good fit. If things don’t work out like you planned, it’s not the end of the world (like I was going to get a job if I didn’t get in anywhere). You can send me a message with questions more specific to your situation if you’d like.</p>
<p>eaglesfan90: nice to get the outline. I am particularly facing problem with the first paragraph. How should I start and what content should be there to impress people?
I am now clear about my confusion whether to include the supervisor’s name. Thanks. Would you please give your contact email (if possible, of course)? You can please use my email address mentioned above to maintain your privacy.</p>