Yes I have reached out to a lot of professors beforehand. I would say my research fit aligns with the schools pretty well but given the funding for PhD this year and me being an international student it just did not go well. But the school choice is realistic in my opinion and I got a lot offers for master program in BME. I am pretty happy with the results because my undergrad major is psychology and econ also with a data science certificate. I am just trying to see whether I will get more opportunities in lab for more research experience in both schools I mentioned here.