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This is a work in progress.

If I attend , it might mean that I head down a basic science path. I’m not sure at what point I’d be able to mash tissue engineering into my career, if ever. Angiogenesis comes close, but isn’t really the same thing. Also, lots of friends here, but I’m worried that if I attend and become the ridiculous student I should have been as an undergrad, people will hold it against me. Social currency is money, of which I have and will have little.

If I attend , I can mash tissue engineering into my career immediately. There are at least three different laboratories I could rotate through that, at the very least, have collaborations which involve tissue engineering. I also have a few friends here, but they’re all in school and similarly busy. Social currency is intelligence, which is great.

If I attend , I’m not sure what I’d really be doing. Genetic Medicine research looks very interesting, but tissue engineering is not something that is done here. Few friends in the area. High cost of living without much justification. Social currency: connections.

Table below.
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I just found my copy of the U.S. News & World Report Graduate School Rankings. Skimming through the admission statistics they have for each engineering school, I am only more sure that I should be doing this. I am qualified to gain admission; I just need to prove it to the admissions committees and the departments to which I am applying.

Two rejections have already been sent to me, and in better economic conditions, it would be pretty obvious what they meant. However, knowing that the applicant pool is much larger now, it’s not quite as clear.

The factors that could negatively impact my application are my undergraduate GPA, my lack of experience in biomedical engineering-specific research, the strength of my recommendation letters, and the strength of my own statement of purpose. The first and third items in that list are not things I can change, and the second would be difficult, though not impossible to improve.

This whole situation is frustrating, sure, but I’ve had a lot of support. Some people have been more helpful than others, however. Telling me that I’m definitely qualified and that I should apply again later is great; telling me that you don’t think I should go to graduate school now because it’ll be competitive, or that I won’t be as wealthy as quickly is not. At best, this line of thinking is a transparent cover and distraction for one’s own selfish interests.