ShortLong

It is really hard to work in the Aerospace industry in the US without being a US citizen. Even companies like SpaceX work on federally funded projects and lot of the industry falls under ITAR, which prevents certain information from being shared with non citizens.

No, but once you leave the city limits that is all there is. It is about 2.5 hours to Austin, 1.5 hrs to Houston, and 1.5 to Waco. To go pretty much else in the state you have to go through one of those cities because of how the highways are spread. I know a lot of people who loved living in College Station, but as a city girl I would have hated it.

So I went to undergrad at UT in Aerospace, I am currently in grad school at GT, and I interned for six months in LA. I'm surprised no one has this, but LA is not actually that close to the bay area. It is about a six hour drive, so that should not factor in to you going to USC. Austin is a really awesome city, it is smaller than LA or Atlanta, and in my opinion a lot more personality, but it is still pretty big. It is called the live music capitol of the world, and there are a ton of music festivals. There is also hiking and a lake to go canoeing and such. It has the best public transportation of the three cities, but I did not live near USC, so it might be better in that part of LA. UT has a much larger campus than GT, and some of the engineering buildings are run down. As someone else mentioned, they just recently started a huge construction project on their ECE building and the engineering complex. The summers are really hot in Austin. It gets to be pretty miserable sometimes, but at least it is not humid like Houston. I really like Atlanta too, but GT is very much a tech school. Only about 30% of girls on campus. It is a very intense school. Midtown is right next to campus where there is a large young adult population. Atlanta is supposed to be pretty hot too, but I moved here last August. I would recommend UT, there is a huge start up culture there too.

I don't know much about UMich, but I know a lot of people who went to TAMU for undergrad. It is in a small college town (College Station), so it is fairly safe. There is another small town next to it that is a bit shady (Bryan), but still not that bad. Texas does have a lot of career opportunities, the economy is growing a lot and in my opinion Texas has a lot more internationals than the midwest. Granted, TAMU is not that diverse of a campus.

I got a $42,000 stipend from an external fellowship, with my tuition paid separately. I was also offered a second fellowship with a $36,000 stipend and a lot of other fringe benefits. I was allowed to take both if I didn't take stipend and tuition from both. I do live in Atlanta, so the cost of living is a bit higher. A lot of fellowships have clauses that you can't accept money from other places, especially from two different government sponsored fellowships.

I am looking into buying a new computer in the next few months as well, but I need a bit more of a workhorse computer (also not a mac). I am an engineer, so I need to be able to use CAD programs like solidworks, probably finite elements programs, and Matlab. I need a i7 processor, and a good graphics card, but I do not know the specs for the graphics card or the hard drive. I was thinking of getting a laptop to be portable with a docking station and external monitor at my desk at home. I have heard that Lenovo Thinkpads are a very good option, but I am not sure much beyond that. What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

I would try taking them again. I do not think that your GRE scores factor that highly in the decision, but they are still on the low side. Spend more time studying math, and that will help.

I emailed before I applied as well. But a lot of professors didn't respond until after I was accepted.

I was surprised at how effective emailing professors was. I have a slightly unusual interest that is not studied specifically in my field. I emailed a professor randomly hoping he might have something I would want to work on but not too hopeful. My email reminded him of a project he was thinking about in the back of his mind for awhile that he hadn't been able to do anything about. I had a phone interview with him in October and I just couldn't get that perfect project out of my mind. I am going to work with him in the fall. Emailing professors is the best thing I did in this process. It taught me a lot about the different schools and professors, if and when they replied.

I think you should give it some more time since it has only been a week. Accounting departments take a lot of time. It took almost a month to get one of my reimbursements back and it has been over a month waiting for another.

I am also in Aero/Astro. They are stupid and slow. They waited until April 4th, the day AFTER I accepted my offer elsewhere, to tell me that they didn't have a spot in my first choice research area, but could try to find me a place in my second choice area. This is the icing on the cake of my frustrations with the department as a whole. This was the first response I got from them, and I emailed them in August with questions about the program and a bunch of professors in October and no one responded. Not even the faculty who is in charge of the graduate program. It makes me want my application fee back.

I just committed to a grad school, so I haven't actually started yet. But, I decided in high school that I wanted to go to grad school. But last fall, I started freaking out and going to the career fair and interviewing for jobs. I never tried that hard, but I had a moment of clarity when I was sitting in an interview with a manager that hired me for an internship a few years ago. He looked at my resume, then looked back at me and seriously asked me why I wasn't going to grad school. Then farther along in the conversation he told me about two different career paths that I could take, and I can't do both. One would be fine with a masters or a bachelors, the other needed a PhD. I realized that I wanted to do the latter option, and then I attack my grad applications with a fervor and I am so excited that I did.

Program: Aerospace engineering Masters Admits: Purdue, Georgia Tech, UIUC, and MIT Attending: Georgia Tech I'm glad I'm not the only one that turned down MIT.

I know how you feel. Every time I declined an offer I kind of felt like I was breaking up with them. Especially the professors who spent the time and money to talk to me on the phone, fly me out for a visit, and offer me funding. One of the reasons I chose the school I did was because I didn't think I could write an email to that professor telling him I was going elsewhere. That silly little thought clued me in on the fact that I would deeply regret not working for him.

I strongly disagree with this.

I turned down a funded PhD offer at MIT in engineering for a program that I felt would make me happier. I definitely agree with St. Andrews. If you are happy, then everything else will go better. Going with your gut is more important than people give it credit. I did an internship at a very prestigious company in my field. It is very selective and very hard to get a job there. I hated it, and was miserable for 5 months. When I left, they told me that I was "not fit" for their company (they have really high standards), and I think the main reason they didn't like my quality of work was because I was so unhappy I wasn't doing my best.

The April 15th date is not a government thing, but an agreement between universities. And as far as I know, it is only for offers of funding.

I would wholeheartedly agree. I go to UT Austin for undergrad, and it is a really beautiful campus and a great culture. I love it here. There are so many things to do in Austin, and while the heat in the summer is pretty bad, the winter is practically nonexistent.

Definitely fit and funding. You need to go where you will be the happiest, and it is better not to go into debt. Go with your gut.

I selected the school that i visited first, but that was mainly because I have been in contact with the professor since October about a specific project and he really wanted me to attend, so he made sure I was invited to the first visit weekend. I did cancel one visit because it was in a college town and i visited another school that was in a larger college town and did not like the small town feel. Also I was accepted to a very prestigious school that I was not expecting to be accepted to.

I have not heard back from Aero/Astro. I am not in contact with anyone, but not for lack of trying. I emailed admissions in August, then emailed a number of professors in October. They definitely missed the boat on me. I have already made my decision. I can't believe that are taking so long.

I think you should be careful about going to a school because of the name (in this case Oxford). I was accepted to MIT, which was very unexpected, and after my visit I keep doubting my impressions of the school because it is MIT and everything about being there felt so surreal. A bunch of people have told me to follow the money and not go into debt for grad school.

I say option 1 because you usually lose time try to switch programs. A lot of programs are set up to just get your Masters along the way, so your Masters classes prepare you for quals and such. You would probably have to retake classes and stuff. It is ok to leave after a Masters, things change. But if PhD is your ultimate goal, it is easier to do them at the same school.

Remember, I said this is adviser specific. There are probably some advisers that expect this, or they expect a certain amount of work which someone might be able to get done in 40-50 hrs per week, but you might need 80. But these are all questions you ask when choosing between schools and advisers and such.

I have two schools I am trying to decide between. For the first one, I was sitting at a table selling padfolios for a club I am in with a current grad student. I was lazily checking my email on my phone because I was bored and there was an email from the school. I was so excited and it contained funding information. For the second one, I was on a campus visit that I was not enjoying (not one of my two choices). It was late afternoon and I had just finished a meeting with the last professor of the day, but i still had two lab tours and a campus tour. I was walking between buildings and checked my email, expecting a rejection from said school because it was the last day they were notifying students. Instead there were two emails from the admin. One was an acceptance, and one was an invite to visit the campus. I had to read the acceptance email like 3 times before the words made sense and then I had to calm myself down before I went on my tours.