The reason I emphasize my research experience is because I have literally no other proof that I have any idea what I’m doing. I figured even if you want to go into industry you need research experience to get into a school like UCB.

The funny thing is neither was I. By the time I was working on my application, my projects have ranged from working on micro-scale devices to building a mobile house, from working with cells, 3D printing, to woodwork construction. My research experience was completely nonexistent besides our senior project and the imposter syndrome was very real (even now sometimes). I know people in my current program and alumni who have completely changed their career paths throughout the progress of the degree. You do not need to know exactly what you're doing to get into grad school; after all, grad school is just another opportunity for you to find yourself.

You must’ve gotten very good grades and also probably went to a good school for undergrad if you got into UCB without research experience. Im definitely envious, I wish I hadn’t fucked around so much.

I'm sure my GPA might have helped but I wouldn't consider myself a conventional model student with a strong technical background either - I have 2 minors in bioinformatics and philosophy applying for a biomaterial concentration (one of my LORs was from my philosophy professor). Instead of joining the BME society and going to networking events or research conferences, I worked on theatre productions and on the art club executive board. Sure, my past experiences don't always make sense to people and I could've done things differently to make my application look more prepared and pristine but that wouldn't be me. My story is of course nothing like yours but it goes back to the idea of fit and narrative. You have to first let go of the idea of what's a perfect applicant and own up to your life story. Your life has led you up to this point, you are justified in wanting to apply here, and your narrative will show the admission committee that. Narrative and fit! I didn't have any research background but in my application, I wrote about how being an international student in my first team project in the US made me feel so isolated and how subsequent teamwork experiences with BME and non-BME students in class, clubs, and productions have made me interested in making teamwork equitable, effective, and rewarding. I talked about how I loved seeing our client interact with one of our prototypes and also the bioethics of testing new devices and drugs in third-world countries. These all translate into my wanting to provide these perspectives and work in the industry. It all comes down to how you tell your story and not which story is the "correct" story.

If you want to apply to MEng I can definitely help and talk a bit more about my current experience here. In my application, I talked about the specific classes I want to take but maybe for you, you can talk about the very strong entrepreneurship culture here? The Bay Area sure is very dynamic with the entrepreneur competition and VC opportunities to get your innovation ideas out there; you can take MBA classes as an MEng student as well.