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Materials Science & Engineering PhD Fall 2015


matsci333

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Ah.. well the guy I know was interviewed over the phone then given acceptance I believe. I didn't ask specifics so I'm not sure. It doesn't necessarily mean that they have sent all the acceptances! It could have been a special case!

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Btw guys, do you think it would be useful to retake the GRE and update the results or you think its really late on the process...

I had predicted that I was going to retake it on Feb 8 but I couldn't do it because I have been going to job interviews and one of the processes was already finishing. I was afraid that if I got hired I was going to be able to go take the test as there are no weekends available in my area.

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Well I think its hard to say if someone is more qualified :P so don't get down. Did this person has any news?

You know document, sometimes people have better grades or past work that maybe could make them look more attractive to their programs. However I think that in a PhD the results will be based on personal qualities, like enthusiasm and creativity. I also think that being lucky is very important in science too. It seems that decisions in the admissions committees can be quite subjective too. Lets be optimistic for now.

In the worst scenario we can always improve and become better. The results page can give us an idea of how other people is doing. I think we will be ok and also your GRE its a good score. Mine is lower.

 

 

You're too kind. It's so nice to hear your reassurances!  This person had not heard back from the program yet either. And as far as qualifications, they have more research experience than I, but we have different backgrounds, so my chemistry lab experience may be my redeeming feature. :P Certainly trying to keep up the optimism, thanks! We'll be A-okay :D

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University of Leicester

Oh that is really good. I did a Master at UCL and I actually could have applied to stay there for the PhD, my supervisor could have taken me. I got really ill while I was in England and that kind of affected my perception how whether or not I wanted to be there, it affected my grades as well. I decided to try this and see how it works. I am international so I also thought that living in London with a small stipend was not a good idea, because I cannot obtain support since I am a foreigner. 

I think its very interesting that british people apply to US universities, UK unis are pretty good. For PhD they have a very nice funding as well. I held a similar belief like yours about my experience and background.... a lot of people seem to have publications and stuff like that but you know its not always easy to have such opportunities. Hopefully the universities will evaluate us according to our background and we would still be in time to apply to programs in the UK if the feedback is no good =)

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I have a number of visit weekends coming up but I am unsure about dress code.  Would you guys assume business casual most of the time?  Any reason to bring a suit with me?  I guess it would be better to overdress as opposed to being underdressed but I'd also like to avoid being the only one in a suit.  Thoughts?

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I have a number of visit weekends coming up but I am unsure about dress code.  Would you guys assume business casual most of the time?  Any reason to bring a suit with me?  I guess it would be better to overdress as opposed to being underdressed but I'd also like to avoid being the only one in a suit.  Thoughts?

 

If I were you I would simply dress in a way that I feel comfortable. Don't stress about it now, you have already been accepted to most programs you have applied. Just be cool. Smart casual is enough.

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Oh that is really good. I did a Master at UCL and I actually could have applied to stay there for the PhD, my supervisor could have taken me. I got really ill while I was in England and that kind of affected my perception how whether or not I wanted to be there, it affected my grades as well. I decided to try this and see how it works. I am international so I also thought that living in London with a small stipend was not a good idea, because I cannot obtain support since I am a foreigner. 

I think its very interesting that british people apply to US universities, UK unis are pretty good. For PhD they have a very nice funding as well. I held a similar belief like yours about my experience and background.... a lot of people seem to have publications and stuff like that but you know its not always easy to have such opportunities. Hopefully the universities will evaluate us according to our background and we would still be in time to apply to programs in the UK if the feedback is no good =)

 

Yes British Universities are good, but there really is not much funding around and career prospects and pay for PhD holders  are really no different from BA, BSc BEng holders. Also Engineer is not a protected title so Car Mechanics call themselves engineers, electricians call themselves electrical engineers and the people that come to fix your internet problems are called BT Engineers. So engineers have little respect in this country - one of the reasons I chose to do Aerospace Engineering was because at worst people would think I fixed rockets and planes! The main driving force for me was the career prospects and pay prospects, in the UK engineering salaries are substantially less than in the USA and there are fewer options to chose from - go into academia and get paid a pittance or become a corporate clone in a company.

If I was fluent in French or German I would probably study for a PhD there as Engineer is a protected title and respected, but as I can't the USA is my only option.

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Oh that is really good. I did a Master at UCL and I actually could have applied to stay there for the PhD, my supervisor could have taken me. I got really ill while I was in England and that kind of affected my perception how whether or not I wanted to be there, it affected my grades as well. I decided to try this and see how it works. I am international so I also thought that living in London with a small stipend was not a good idea, because I cannot obtain support since I am a foreigner. 

I think its very interesting that british people apply to US universities, UK unis are pretty good. For PhD they have a very nice funding as well. I held a similar belief like yours about my experience and background.... a lot of people seem to have publications and stuff like that but you know its not always easy to have such opportunities. Hopefully the universities will evaluate us according to our background and we would still be in time to apply to programs in the UK if the feedback is no good =)

UCL is a great uni, but it is in London which is just so expensive! With regard to funding again, remember all universities in the UK are state run and state funded so there really is not much money around, so I think British applicants get funding priority because there parents (and them sometimes) have paid taxes which contribute to the running of the state. From my understanding, graduate schools do not expect you to have publications when applying to graduate school they expect to have done internships etc but publications and conferences no. Good luck to you, I like the USA application process because it is holistic and looks at the person as a whole rather than your scores on exams. They literally could not care less about extra-curriculars in the UK which is misguided and wrong.

 

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UCL is a great uni, but it is in London which is just so expensive! With regard to funding again, remember all universities in the UK are state run and state funded so there really is not much money around, so I think British applicants get funding priority because there parents (and them sometimes) have paid taxes which contribute to the running of the state. From my understanding, graduate schools do not expect you to have publications when applying to graduate school they expect to have done internships etc but publications and conferences no. Good luck to you, I like the USA application process because it is holistic and looks at the person as a whole rather than your scores on exams. They literally could not care less about extra-curriculars in the UK which is misguided and wrong.

 

Yes I totally understand your feelings. I come from a very humble background and while everybody would think that in these circumstances my achievements are great, for many schools who only see a small aspect of yourself, they will just think I am an average person. Internationals pay 3 times the tuition fees in the UK as well. For me its a little bit easier to get in because of that, I actually have a scholarship from my country governament so I don't get to pay anything besides flight tickets, application fees and visa procedures (in case of being accepted)... this at least in the UK because Universities care so much about money. 

I think that in UCL people who are funded for a PhD get paid about 1,700 pounds per month. I think its quite a fair amount of money, I lived in London with less than the half of it. Afterall I am applying to the US for the very same reasons as you. If I were to do a PhD in the UK I would end the program without money, in the US I could at least save some money to defend myself when I finish. I would have to disagree with the score on the exams, from what I have heard, many universities in the US discard applicants based on a GRE/GPA threshold but I know this happens as well in the UK based only in the grades.

 

Lets just hope for the best.

Edited by YoungOldMan
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Yes I totally understand your feelings. I come from a very humble background and while everybody would think that in these circumstances my achievements are great, for many schools who only see a small aspect of yourself, they will just think I am an average person. Internationals pay 3 times the tuition fees in the UK as well. For me its a little bit easier to get in because of that, I actually have a scholarship from my country governament so I don't get to pay anything besides flight tickets, application fees and visa procedures (in case of being accepted)... this at least in the UK because Universities care so much about money. 

I think that in UCL people who are funded for a PhD get paid about 1,700 pounds per month. I think its quite a fair amount of money, I lived in London with less than the half of it. Afterall I am applying to the US for the very same reasons as you. If I were to do a PhD in the UK I would end the program without money, in the US I could at least save some money to defend myself when I finish. I would have to disagree with the score on the exams, from what I have heard, many universities in the US discard applicants based on a GRE/GPA threshold but I know this happens as well in the UK based only in the grades.

 

Lets just hope for the best.

Oh nice you have a scholarship! I think grad schools are much more likely to take someone they do not have to support :)

Actually in all British Universities there is no guarantee of funding (due to most funding coming from professional bodies), there are just 5 studentships available at UCL for Mechanical Engineering and they are they are £15k + tuition waiver (the standard amount, but literally impossible to live on in London). £15k is about £1300 p/m without taking out taxes. Rent in london for a 1 bed flat is £1k+ p/m, plus bills etc. How did you live in London on less than £850 p/m? Thats amazing  :o Most phd students have to take out a big loan here :(

They say they disregard applicants but they like and get credit for diversity, if you have a load of people who just sit at a desk all day and do not socialise, make friends or have any hobbies imagine how boring working in that group would be! But having said that if someone is an international student and their IELTS (or equiv.) score like GRE verbal and AW are not up to scratch you can't blame a university for saying no.

Most European universities have graduate studies in which English is the medium - Denmark and Netherlands are excellent at it, would be cheaper for you there and you could save money for afterwards :) There are lots of excellent universities outside London ;) Cranfield Uni is a specialist engineering graduate only institute, then there is Bristol, Edinburgh, Bath, Loughborough, Leeds, Southhampton, Nottingham, Manchester, and of course Oxbridge, all worth a pop if not too late.

 

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Oh nice you have a scholarship! I think grad schools are much more likely to take someone they do not have to support :)

Actually in all British Universities there is no guarantee of funding (due to most funding coming from professional bodies), there are just 5 studentships available at UCL for Mechanical Engineering and they are they are £15k + tuition waiver (the standard amount, but literally impossible to live on in London). £15k is about £1300 p/m without taking out taxes. Rent in london for a 1 bed flat is £1k+ p/m, plus bills etc. How did you live in London on less than £850 p/m? Thats amazing  :o Most phd students have to take out a big loan here :(

They say they disregard applicants but they like and get credit for diversity, if you have a load of people who just sit at a desk all day and do not socialise, make friends or have any hobbies imagine how boring working in that group would be! But having said that if someone is an international student and their IELTS (or equiv.) score like GRE verbal and AW are not up to scratch you can't blame a university for saying no.

Most European universities have graduate studies in which English is the medium - Denmark and Netherlands are excellent at it, would be cheaper for you there and you could save money for afterwards :) There are lots of excellent universities outside London ;) Cranfield Uni is a specialist engineering graduate only institute, then there is Bristol, Edinburgh, Bath, Loughborough, Leeds, Southhampton, Nottingham, Manchester, and of course Oxbridge, all worth a pop if not too late.

 

 

Yes you're correct. My sponsor takes university ranking into consideration, that's why I applied to UCL in the beginning. That is also why I am applying to these tough schools. Also my TOEFL is quite high, my GRE is definitely not good but its decent (but maybe not for these unis). GRE becomes very difficult when you're not native speaker. You don't read as fast and also the logic works a bit different. Now I understand that the language of instruction is english and that we are going to publish in english, however the problems we are going to solve have nothing to do with language, they belong to the physical and real world and I think their understanding is a lot more abstract.
 
My scholarship in London was exactly 880 pounds per month. I lived in a flat from UCL housing and I paid about 530 pounds per month. I spent about 80-100 pounds per month in food, I cooked most of my food. I actually even saved about 200 pounds per month and I went on holiday at the end of the course. Visited a few countries, I am what you could call very prodigal with my spendings. I did went out, but I don't drink and basically I did not have to spend a lot of money. Probably did not go out that much, perhaps 1-3 per week and UCL has many societies so sometimes I could go to event of these and it was good. I walked to school everyday so I did not have to spend on public transport. It is possible to find rooms in Camden for like 500 pounds and if you go to zone 3,4 and 5 you can definetely find options of about the same or cheaper, or increase the quality of rooms. I think anyone can be fine as long as he/she shares flat or house. In London one has to be super careful, money disappear very quickly if you are not. 
Edited by YoungOldMan
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Anyone knows about UCLA MSE funding situation? The coordinator told me there will be no fellowship for the first year for international student. Will there be any chance that we can find some TA or RA in the first year? What's the chance of getting funding/tuition waive for the second year?

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  • 2 weeks later...

hi guys...i have an admit for M.S matl science at university of illinois urbana champaign.....any one here with the same admit....if so let me knw..lets get in touch ppl....m still waiting for umich ann arbor....have they given out all admits??

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I have got acceptance from UFL , NCSU and RICE . A)In case I dont get into PSU , should I go for UFL??? B)Currently my aim is MS . Can I get a job easily after MS if I do my MS from UFL. C)What GPA is required to get a job comfortably.( I am an international student). D)Does the rank of a university affect getting a job. E)Can you give me the link of latest ranking by US NEWS for Material Science.

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