phd relating to biosciences

blueroses67
Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:13:26 +0000

If you’re going to apply to PhD programs in some quant-y discipline with the intent of applying that discipline’s toolkit to biology, it’s worth figuring out which one you want. You’ll spend a lot of time learning $DISCIPLINE, and you’ll be working with a faculty member whose interest and expertise is in $DISCIPLINE and not the particular application.

That said, it shouldn’t be hard to find biology applications in whatever you pick. It’s the popular thing to do, and for good reason.

Bioengineering programs may sound like a good interdisciplinary option - and they can be, but research your departments carefully. Some of them go for breadth, while others are focused on a particular area, e.g. medical devices or systems biology. They will generally put you in a wet-lab for your PhD research, also.

I’m not an expert in hard sciences admissions, but I don’t think the basics are that different - have some courses in the discipline, above a 3.5 is good, subject GRE is “recommended”, etc.