Paras Chopra: A Computational Biology Student (and an aspiring quant)

[paraschopra]

Dear All,

Let me introduce myself. I am Paras Chopra, presently in my junior (IIIrd) year of B.E. (Bachelor's in Engineering) in Biotechnology from Delhi College of Engineering, India. I am considering applying for Fall '08. Below is my brief profile:

Academics
- Aggregate of past 5 semesters: 80.6% and Department Rank: 1
- GRE General Score 1500: Verbal 700 and Quant 800
- I have taken all the necessary maths courses such as Linear Algebra, ODE, PDE, vector calculus, etc.

Publications
- Paras Chopra and Andreas Bender. Evolved cellular automata for protein secondary structure prediction imitate the determinants for folding observed in nature (http://www.bioinfo.de/isb/2006/07/0007/). In Silico Biol. 7, 0007 (2006)
- Paras Chopra and Akhil Kamma. Engineering Life through Synthetic Biology (http://www.bioinfo.de/isb/2006/06/0038/). In Silico Biol. 6, 0038 (2006).

Work Experience
- Research Intern at National Center for Biological Sciences, Bangalore | A predictive tool for protein-protein interactions in a specific protein family (Dec, 2006 - Jan, 2007)
- Summer Research Fellow at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore | A quantitative model for the regulation of the bgl operon in E. coli (Jun, 2006 - Jul, 2006)
- Summer Trainee at Appin Knowledge Solutions | Developed a bioinformatics courseware (Jun, 2005 - Jul, 2005)
- Founding Member and Managing Editor | Jeev: An Online Life Sciences Magazine (Nov, 2005 - present)
- Founder and CEO | NaramCheez: A Software Company (2000 - present)

My full resume can be read at http://www.paraschopra.com/resume/resume.html

Any chances of me getting an admit and/or financial aid? The only glitch, I think, with my profile is that my research experience and publications has been in computational biology, and not in finance. Will that be a hindrance? Or will my research experience in computational biology strengthen my application?

[Andy]

Hi Paras,

Let me extend a warm welcome to you from all of us at Quantnet.
Your profile looks very interesting. Shows lot of entrepreneur spirit and love for research. It does not matter the subject of your research, the skill sets and hardwork are always transferable. Even though MFE is a professional, not academic degree, research skills are very highly regarded. By the way, how many students are in your dept ?
You probably should put a bit more personal touch in your application so people can see more of your individualism. Being active on Quantnet will definitely help ;)

As it stands right now, Baruch does not offer any need-based financial aid for international students since it belong to the CUNY system. I do not know if they will offer merit-based scholarships in the future. You can always look for an adjunct lecturer job at Baruch which will pay around half your tuition each semester.

That said, the tuition at Baruch is very affordable even for foreign students. You pay lot lot more money for comparable education at other programs.

Regards,

[paraschopra]

Dear Andy,

Thanks for your reply. Well, there are 18 students total in my department. [Why do you ask, BTW? Does the number of students in the department matter in the application?]

Also regarding your point "You probably should put a bit more personal touch in your application so people can see more of your individualism", what exactly do you mean?

Thanks,
Paras Chopra

[Andy]

Dear Andy,

Thanks for your reply. Well, there are 18 students total in my department. [Why do you ask, BTW? Does the number of students in the department matter in the application?]

No, they do not ask that. It's always good to be number 1, no matter how many people you compete again. I'm just curious about the typical student size of such a dept in India. In the US, it's very hard to know the student size, hence there is no such dept ranking.


Also regarding your point "You probably should put a bit more personal touch in your application so people can see more of your individualism", what exactly do you mean?

Well, you will not have a chance to meet and talk to the admission committee. Given the size and quality of applicant pool we receive each year, it's getting harder to differentiate yourself among other 800Q/700V/IITs/publication/etc high caliber students. What are your hobbies, extra-cirricular activities, etc ?

How would you give them something to remember about you ? Put a face to a name :)
The unique feature of Baruch MFE program is this very website where you can interact with the director, the people in Adcom, current students, alumni and other prospective students.

There is no other MFE program in existence which gives you a similar platform where you can utilize to your advantage.

That's what I mean :)

FYI: Quantnet is an independent, student site. It has no affiliation with the Baruch MFE program.

[paraschopra]

Oh Okay, that's what you mean by individualism.

Well, I know its really hard to differentiate oneself among the crowd these days as the level of competence is increasing day by day, but I believe that I am unique in a certain way. For one, I like philosophy. I do a lot of philosophy about life, universe, evolution and artificial intelligence which can be read at my blogs: The Immortal Blog ( http://www.paraschopra.com/blog/ (http://www.paraschopra.com/blog/)) and BioHacking ( http://www.paraschopra.com/blog/biohacking.php (http://www.paraschopra.com/blog/) )

Second, as you pointed out, I am entrepreneurial. I learned Artificial Intelligence techniques in my high school just of out curiosity. And this curiosity resulted in my own software company which I started at the age of 14. And these days, I am in a process of starting up another venture with my peers. That way, I can be called a serial entrepreneur. :)

By the way, aren't professional achievements, such as I mentioned before, more important than the information on one's hobbies, extra-curricular achievements, etc in the application?

[Andy]

By the way, aren't professional achievements, such as I mentioned before, more important than the information on one's hobbies, extra-curricular achievements, etc in the application?
Of course, professional achievements are extremely important. That's one of many things Baruch looks for. Overachievers are always welcome everywhere but since Baruch is pretty diligent in their admission selection, there are few other factors of equal importance.

Here are what I believe of importance

They value team player, one that can work well within the group setting. They value enthusiatic, energetic and assertive applicants. They value individuals that can take initiative of their own. They value candidates that present the program professionally online and offline, etc

I play absolutely no role in the admission process but that's the trend I see from the applicants Baruch admitted so far. As you mentioned, scores, grades will serve as basic filters as the level of competence increases everyday. That's the reason I mention you need to play to other strengths as well. Your resume will speak for you about your professional accomplishments. Let your personal statement speaks for you about the values I listed.

You have a terrific profile. Since you will only apply for 2008 cohort, I don't see any reason why you should not take some time to get to know this community, learn more about the Baruch culture.

If you are still interested in applying to Baruch when the time comes, I'm pretty sure they will welcome you with open arms. :thumbsup:

In the mean time, we look forward to you being an active member of our community. We love to learn more about your BioHacking projects and the many ventures you are doing with your friends \\:D/

I visited your website and I think you have a lot to offer. And I'd like to know a bit more about you not as a potential applicant, but as a friend ;)

[paraschopra]

Thanks for making me a friend.. :thumbsup: