/sci/ - Science & Math » Thread #10825373

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Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 18:39:26 2019 No.10825373 View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>10825745 >>10826552 >>10826831

Hello /sci/

I earned a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology with a minor in math, 4.0 GPA. I would like to know whether or not I should apply for a PhD program in biomedical engineering given that info and nothing else. Advisors and specific research are something that I'm looking into. Despite all of the advice I've received from my mentors I'm still here looking for somebody to tear me down if I'm being too arrogant. All of my research thus far has been within molecular biology with the exception of some light computational biostatistics work.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 2019 19:54:13 No.10825562 Report

Quoted By: >>10825566

Try /adv/

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 2019 19:55:20 No.10825566 Report

Quoted By:

>>10825562
I feel like the people here would be more qualified to talk about the technical reasons why/why not. I'm not sure /adv/ would help but I definitely considered it.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 2019 21:01:31 No.10825720 Report

Quoted By: >>10825769 >>10826708

Most BME departments will take you. Some will force you to take remedial/undergraduate classic engineering courses on top of the regular graduate BME courses, some won't. You'll have an advantage in areas like tissue engineering and drug delivery. Can jump to biomechanics or signals easily after taking some courses. I was in a very similar situation, in a BME PhD program now. Do well on the math portion of the GRE (166+/90%+) and nobody will question you.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 2019 21:13:52 No.10825745 Report

Quoted By: >>10825769

>>10825373
You sure have the credentials to get your Phd. But let me ask you one thing. Have you had any experience in the field yet, let say research opportunities, or work?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 2019 21:24:01 No.10825769 Report

Quoted By: >>10825780 >>10825828

>>10825720
Good advice friend. My areas of interest current are biomaterials, signal processing, and tissue engineering but I need to do more research still. I'm OK with taking remedial courses as it will be good for me.

>>10825745
Here's the issue, my research experience has all been molecular biology work, so my skills are in those methods and tissue culture. My current position is a biostatistics internship but I don't think I'll be going in that direction.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 2019 21:29:34 No.10825780 Report

Quoted By: >>10826123

>>10825769
> My current position is a biostatistics internship but I don't think I'll be going in that direction.
Well at least you know what you're not interested in. Which isn't a bad thing. Lots of students are afraid to admit that they are no longer interesting in a particular path, but continue on it any way hoping it would change.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 2019 21:55:58 No.10825828 Report

Quoted By: >>10826123

>>10825769
Neuroengineering, eh?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 21 Jul 2019 22:04:06 No.10825838 Report

Quoted By: >>10826123

I do biomed instrumentation development, and everything I've read (and the talk I've heard)
about BME indicates it is fast becoming the Next Big Thing in a developing industry.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 00:20:10 No.10826123 Report

Quoted By:

>>10825780
I said the same thing about molecular biology lab work. The research end there was very boring in many regards (I'm not a fan of studying basic molecular interactions) and the industry end looked like a dead-end career with a BSc. I would gladly go for a biostats PhD but I'm personally interested in leveraging my molecular biology background in an engineering field. I like math and I want to construct/design more than just plasmids.

>>10825828
Musk has me beat. Maybe by the time I finish a PhD it will be worthless.

>>10825838
I swear I'm not doing this for the money, although my backup plan is a Master's in BME. Working for a company in that field would still beat being a lab tech for a biotech company for N years.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 04:10:28 No.10826552 Report

Quoted By: >>10826823

>>10825373
Why not med school? With your GPA, it seems legit. PhD feels very boring for me. Doing a lot of pipetting and failed experiments and the stress of publishing papers every year.

You can also try MSc and see if you like it or not.
If I had your grades I wouldn't have done a PhD. Med school and job security afterwards.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 05:22:22 No.10826708 Report

Quoted By:

>>10825720
Fun fact: this quote is from a really cool movie called Waking Life.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 06:36:39 No.10826823 Report

Quoted By:

>>10826552
>med school
>leading to a career dealing with blood and pain
Yeah, no.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 06:45:16 No.10826831 Report

Quoted By: >>10827141

>>10825373
It depends. Are you doing BME because you think it has better employment prospects? It doesn't, so only consider it if you have a personal intellectual interest in it. Enough that you won't regret your life 3-5 years from now when you graduate into unemployment. In general you haven't really done any difficult courses yet, but that doesn't matter as long as you can pass fluid mech since there's no grade associated with your PhD anyway.

If I were you I'd read the papers that research groups you're applying to are putting out. No the public news/website description of what the groups are doing because the real work is always less exciting than that.

Anonymous

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Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 10:05:52 No.10827141 Report

Quoted By: >>10827151

>>10826831
Yes and no. My main reason is personal interest but the job prospects are better than molecular biology research with my current credentials.

I concede the issue of difficult courses. The most difficult things I've done are proper calc 2 and intro complex analysis. Beyond that I was actually quite disappointed with how easy the program I graduated from was. I compensated with the math minor and by completing a certification program for some extra biotechnology skills but as you said it's not been difficult.

I plan to read some of the papers from my areas of interest before choosing a specialty and advisor. I've been rather busy.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 10:13:46 No.10827151 Report

Quoted By:

>>10827141
>but the job prospects are better than molecular biology research with my current credentials.
I know it seems that way, but it really isn't. You will not get a high paying job with your current credentials that's true. And there are high paying jobs in BME this is also true.

But what you aren't considering is how competitive the field is, for every 100 BME PhDs that graduate there is maybe 1 decent industry job opening up. Now I'm not saying you won't get that job. But people who have been coming from a BME bachelors already have a leg up by having early projects or publications in the field, not to mention a larger network and more LoRs.

My point is that I don't think you really want to do PhD out of your own intellectual interest, but because of some vague notion that it will improve your prospects. And this why it's a bad decision for you.

So I would propose this alternative to you: Complete your current internship, find out where the good INDUSTRY research departments are, good companies etc. Try to contact the researchers there. Find a related position and work your way up in the company. Why? Because chances are higher you will find a funded PhD project within that company than it is that you will find a job after finishing a more academic PhD.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 10:17:36 No.10827159 Report

Quoted By: >>10827162

>earned
>my
>I've
Pride. You're a puffed up midwit. Best thing you can do is join a monastery but you won't.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 10:20:17 No.10827162 Report

Quoted By:

>>10827159
what if he’s not a pedophile?

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 10:36:17 No.10827176 Report

Quoted By: >>10827230

Go to /adv/. This is a board for scientists.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 11:20:16 No.10827230 Report

Quoted By: >>10827294 >>10827316

>>10827176
You're right, I've been wasting everybody's time. I think I've heard all I need to at this point. I shouldn't go any further because I'm competing with people who didn't pick a shit undergrad degree. Fuck I'm miserable.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 11:52:26 No.10827294 Report

Quoted By:

>>10827230
This is /sci/ anno 2019, most people here will never see the inside of a university. That being said, BME anon is probably right, but if you care about improving your prospects have you considered bioinformatics? Coding is a universally transferable skill.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 22 Jul 2019 12:08:49 No.10827316 Report

Quoted By:

>>10827230
>Fuck I'm miserable.
Don't be, you have a STEM job, that's more than most STEM grads have. Just stick with and build your career as best as possible.

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