BME graduate school admissions

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hello all,</p>

<p>I am currently a Biosystems engineering senior at a Research 1 university and I am in the process of applying to graduate schools. I just wanted some advice on my chances of getting into a good Biomedical engineering program.</p>

<p>My current GPA is sitting around a 3.1, and it will be most likely around a 3.2 at my time of application. This is due to the fact that I was a pre-med student and I did not do so well in some of the medical school pre-req courses (o chem, etc.) With the exception of one failed engineering course that I am retaking, my low GPA is all due to the medical school pre-requisites I took. I have not taken the GRE yet (that is happening in mid-November) but I expect that I will get good scores. As far as research experience, I have worked in a research lab on campus for about a year, working with nanoparticles, lanthanide-based fluoroscopy techniques, and other biomedical imaging methods.</p>

<p>My main concern at the moment is that my low GPA may bar be from getting into a good program. Most programs state that the average applicant GPA is a 3.5, which is significantly higher than my application GPA will be. I expect good GRE scores, great recommendation letters, etc. but I wanted to know if anyone had any insight into my chances of getting into good BME programs.</p>

<p>Currently the list of schools I want to apply to are:</p>

<p>University of Virginia
University of Michigan
Boston University
UCSD
UCSF
Case Western</p>

<p>I am toying with the idea of applying to MIT, Johns Hopkins, and some other top programs but as I stated before, my GPA concerns are putting me off from applying there.</p>

<p>If anyone has any advice it would be extremely helpful! Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Can I suggest applying to UAB, University of Alabama at Birmingham?</p>

<p>They have an excellent BME program, with medical school, optometry, and I believe dental school, on the campus.</p>

<p>They get a lot of funding for research, so your research experience will probably help you get in.</p>

<p>Birmingham is a very pretty city, vibrant, and there are dorms available for graduate and professional students. </p>

<p>Congratulations on your GPA. Having been a biology major myself, I know how tough those cutthroat weedout premed courses are. I would think that a university with graduate studies in BME, as well as medical school, is familiar with the grading practices most premed programs use, and would consider a 3.1 an admirable GPA for such a rigorous program.</p>

<p>Another suggestion is Louisiana Tech, which has a nanoengineering department, as well as BME. They have a beautiful new biomedical engineering building. Since you’ll be a grad student, you wouldn’t have to live in the dorms, which, at Tech, is a good thing. Small town, doubt rent would be very high.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>