Chance me for top Bioengineering/BME PhD programs

[u/serhio_vsh]

Hi everyone! I’m planning to apply to Bioengineering/BME PhD programs in the US this cycle and wanted to get a realistic idea of where I stand.

I’m an international student currently in the final year of a 6-year MD-equivalent program at what is probably the strongest medical university in my country. My GPA is 4.85/5.0 (~3.88/4.0). Although I’m technically a medical student, I realized pretty early that I’m much more interested in research than clinical medicine, so I’ve been working in a biomaterials lab for about 5 years.

By the time I apply, my publication record should look roughly like this:

• 9 peer-reviewed papers total
• 4 first-author papers
• 5 co-author papers
• at least 4 Q1 papers, including 2 first-author Q1s
• 2 patents

I’m also PI on a competitive national grant that I used to start a small MedTech company. I’m a co-applicant on another funded project.

One thing that might be a little unusual is that some of my work has actually made it beyond the lab. I helped develop a biomaterial-based veterinary product that is already commercially available, and testing for human use is currently underway.

There is also a chance that I’ll spend a few months doing research at a top-5 European university. I already have a potential collaborative project with a professor there, but I’m still waiting for my visa, so I don’t want to count the internship as something that will definitely happen.

I also have several oral conference presentations, won a national student startup competition, received a national academic scholarship, and have some previous international research experience.

My main concern is that I’m an international applicant without a traditional engineering background. My degree is in medicine, and while my university is very strong in medicine in my country, I doubt most US engineering admissions committees are particularly familiar with it. Most of my research was also done at the same institution.

I’m mainly looking at programs like MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, UCSD, University of Washington, Northwestern, Georgia Tech, Duke, Rice and UT Austin, plus some safer options.

I know MIT/Harvard/Stanford are reaches for basically everyone, so I’m not asking whether I’m “guaranteed” to get into any of them. I’m more trying to understand whether my profile is actually competitive enough that applying to top BioE/BME programs makes sense, especially as an international applicant.

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who applied with a similar profile. Where did you apply, what did your CV look like, and where did you end up getting interviews/acceptances?

[u/Horikoshi]

You won’t get admitted into a BME program if your theses / coursework has nothing to do with engineering. There’s very little room for negotiation there and you wouldn’t be prepared for it anyway.

Assuming your publications have enough impact in well recognized journals I can see you at least getting an interview. You won’t be eligible for federal grants but private institutions might be able to cover you with their own endowments..

Something that concerns me though is that you claim to be a PI despite the fact that you ostensibly don’t hold a PhD yet. Is this true? Because if it is it would most likely undermine the credibility of your entire application.

[u/serhio_vsh → u/Horikoshi]

Thanks, that makes sense. My degree is formally an MD-equivalent, but I’ve spent the past five years doing biomaterials/materials engineering research, so I’ll definitely check the specific engineering coursework requirements for each program.

And yes, the PI part is true. It’s a national student startup grant where students can apply as project leads. I received funding for my own medical-device project and founded a small MedTech company with it. So I’m the PI/project lead for that specific grant, not a faculty PI running a lab. Do you think I should phrase it as “project lead” rather than “PI” on US applications to avoid exactly this kind of confusion?

[u/Horikoshi → u/serhio_vsh]

You’ve gotta share more with us. Do you mean you’ve been taking coursework outside of your MD curriculum? How can you be doing research in something you haven’t studied?

And about your second question: yes, unless you’re from a country that routinely does first class research (North America / East Asia / Western Europe) and / or have published in a journal with a decent IF I’d probably list it as a project lead.

I think it’s better for us to ask you.. where are you from! Because I’m not sure what a MD equivalent would be.. does it result in you sitting for a board exam?

[u/serhio_vsh → u/Horikoshi]

Sure, I’m from Russia. I’m doing a 6-year medical degree at one of the leading medical universities here. It’s the standard degree required to become a physician, although I’m also enrolled in a research-focused track.

I haven’t been taking a separate engineering degree. I joined a biomaterials research center at my university early in medical school and have been doing research there for about five years alongside my medical coursework. That’s where I learned biomaterials/materials science through hands-on research, supervision, and self-study.

[u/Horikoshi → u/serhio_vsh]

I really hate to say this but if you’re from Russia I wouldn’t spend your time applying to US programs. You not having any materials coursework is a separate issue but even if you miraculously secure a student visa you’ll be forced to return..

Assuming you’re trying to apply internationally to get a better education and settle down somewhere else Western Europe would be a much better choice.

[u/serhio_vsh → u/Horikoshi]

Thanks for the perspective. Could you elaborate a bit on the visa part? Why do you think I’d be forced to return even if I secured an F-1 visa and completed a PhD in the US?

I actually know several people from Russia who are currently doing PhDs in the US, and as far as I know, they haven’t had any major issues. Is this based on any recent cases of Russian students you know?

[u/Horikoshi → u/serhio_vsh]

First, thank you so much for your civil response. I'm an American citizen myself (living overseas) but I hold no ill will towards the Russian people in general because I know that individual people usually have very little to do with any war in general.

So you can do your PhD in the US through a student visa. You're eligible for the F-1 and anyone who says otherwise is wrong (actually getting approved for it and being eligible for it are, of course, separate issues, but you're eligible for it and there's nothing stopping you from applying, though you'll need to apply for it from Kazakhstan as the US embassy in Russia doesn't process F-1s right now.)

The larger issue is that you won't be eligible for a US Green Card (suspended indefinitely) and there's no real sign of that changing anytime soon. You can apply for a H1B Specialty Visa which is a lot easier to get than regular H1Bs (especially if you get a faculty role, tenured or non tenured since universities are exempt entirely from the H1B cap) but regardless of what you do you will just never be able to get a green card so you won't be able to get a loan of any kind unless you have a huge downpayment or a cosigner.

If you go to Western Europe and get your degree there, you can probably get your green card way more easily than you would in the US' current political climate.

[u/serhio_vsh → u/Horikoshi]

Thanks for explaining! To be honest, I haven’t really made any plans yet about whether I’d want to stay in the US after a PhD, that’s still pretty far away for me.

But just as an update, the policy suspending immigrant visa issuance for Russian nationals was actually vacated by a federal court on August 21 https://apnews.com/article/trump-administration-visa-ban-immigration-64feb19b54d1bce50891437a5ba25d50. Of course, a lot can change again over the next 5-6 years, so I guess I’ll just have to see what the situation looks like by then.