<p>am planning to apply to MIT (two departments), JHU (Two Departments), North-Western (Two Departments), Cornell (ChE), Duke (BME), UMich(BME), Columbia (BME), UC - 3 different locations (One dept), JHU (one dept). Is that too many?
PS - This is all for PhD</p>
<p>With the level of information provided, this is an unanswerable question. Are you currently in school? How competitive is your application? What field(s) are you looking at?</p>
<p>Applying to 14 programs is going to be fine for some people and very much not so for others.</p>
<p>I have decent stats (790Q, 590V, 3.87 GPA, 1 co-authorship in a publication, 2 years of research germane to the polymers in industry). I graduated with a BME degree from a decent state school in 2008. Currently, working in the early stage research department of a medical device company that has a very well recognized innovation system.</p>
<p>Sorry, I forgot to mention the fields - Tissue Engineering. Stem Cell Engineering. Drug Delivery/Biologics Delivery</p>
<p>Are you applying to all these programs because you’re unsure of your chances or because you would actually want to attend any of these programs? Your letters of recommendation will factor very heavily into admission decisions, so if you expect strong letters, I’d say applying to that many programs is overkill. Of course, if you have the time to fly around to so many interviews, then 14 applications is not a terribly excessive number to have. I know a few people who met much success after applying, for some reason or another, to that many schools (or more).</p>
<p>Being someone that has a year and half of research and a publication in Medicinal Chemistry, a degree in Biomedical Engineering (with no focus but a forced focus in Bio-instrumentation) and 2 years work experience in the Biomaterials Platform of the R & D dept. of a Medical Device company I am not really sure what my chances are. Also, when you say so many LORS woukd be an overkill, do you mean that I should expect my professors/supervisors to write LORs specific to the program? I expect them to talk about my diligence, independent research abilities, passion for science, drive for results etc.</p>
<p>I said applying to 14 PhD programs is usually overkill if you have strong letters/a strong application because you won’t need to apply to a lot of places in order to buffer for the unsuccessful applications.</p>
<p>Your overall package sounds kind of weak. I would recommend doubling the number of applications you have planned.</p>
<p>kryptonsa36 - So with my profile, are 14 schools an overkill?</p>
<p>ixington - a little sarcasm here and there helps the boat stay afloat, so thanks</p>
<p>Hi,
I don’t have experience in your field at all…but, I was just wondering: each application has to be specifically tailored to the university in question. For example, when you write your statement of purpose, you have to say why you are interested in that department and if you are interested in working under some specific professor(s). It seems to me, 14 would need a humongous amount of effort and would actually detract from applying where you really really want (time taken away for so much work). Also, letters of recommendations etc. You would have your professors write 14?</p>
<p>Again, I am not in your field, so I don’t know for sure…you seem to have great stats and research…so, you seem very qualified.</p>
<p>Again, kryptonsa says 14 is not unusual, and he might know more than I do.</p>
<p>honestly, you’ve got some great qualifications, similar to mine, and I don’t see why you need to be so broad. One of my greatest problems was being accepted to every program I applied to. </p>
<p>Figure out who you really want to work with, and apply there. Apply to a few safety schools in addition, but you shouldn’t apply to more than five, six, or seven places… (as long as you have great references)</p>
<p>btw, job experience is a major plus.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about your intended field, desiyankee, so I can’t rate your application. In general, though, I would only apply to programs for which I have good reason to apply.</p>
<p>
Yes, indeed. But in my experience, tailoring graduate applications is not a difficult task. The majority of your statement of purpose will be about your academic preparation, why you intend to pursue a PhD, your interests, etc. These will not differ between your applications. Only a few lines vary: those about why you think each program is best suited to aid you in your goals and whom you would like to work with. Even with 14 applications, it would not take very long to make these small variations to all your essays.</p>
<p>ixington and kyrptonsa36 - Thanks for your replies. It really helps to know the various things that go into an application. </p>
<p>Let me backtrack a little bit. I did Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Bio-instrumentation (lot of circuit hardware and even more data processing). I got into Organic Chemistry research in my Junior year 2nd semester because unlike my friends I could not get a “real job” (visa issues - NO I AM NOT AN ILLEGAL ALIEN). I actually did not really enjoy the research that much. My professor was more of a Bio-chemist and I was working on a more Organic synthesis project. The organic synthesis work I was involved in was not really novel. It was more of designing and synthesizing low molecular weight synthetic analogs of a certain molecule. The rest of the work was the assay development, something I was not involved with intimately.</p>
<p>I graduated and I started working at this Medical device company. Most of my work here has been with Polymer. Synthesizing, analyzing and processing biodegradable polymers. Polymers geared towards Textile applications. I spent some time doing drug delivery. Frankly, the drug delivery work in the medical device industry is of the most inferior standards, you take a “device” that is already on the market. Combine that with a drug that is used for that indication and put them together.</p>
<p>Now, most of the research that is germane to my expertise is in Polymer synthesis and analysis. I have started narrowing my list I think the Dept. of Macromolecular Sciences in UMich and Case Western and the Dept. of Materials Science in North-Western seem good fits right now.</p>
<p>In case you are feeling as if the programs to which you can apply are limited to those that are most in line with your previous expertise, know that this is not true. Graduate schools know that students are unlikely to have found their true passion early in their undergraduate careers; therefore, already having extensive research in the intended PhD field is, while helpful, not necessary for admission. Having performed well in general research will usually enable you to enter any graduate field that isn’t a total departure from your previous experiences. For instance, I know students with only biophysics research experience going into neuroscience PhD programs, vice versa, and other combinations.</p>
<p>Of course, if you know you want to go into polymer chemistry, then continue your search as is! But don’t be afraid of applying to, say, an organic chemistry program if you think your interests lie there more.</p>
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