tarrman

Take Michigan's offer. Have you looked through their professor list? They're definitely one of the more mathematically intensive graduate programs in ECE. Just briefly looking through their faculty list, I'm seeing Dr. Lafortune, Dr, Meerkov, and Dr. Freudenberg all working in mathematically intensive controls research. I was looking at UMich for machine learning/theoretical signal processing, and I was very impressed with the number of faculty whose research was on the more theoretical side. Also keep in mind that it's less practical to do theory for a Masters. I think Stanford's MS is non-thesis, which means you wouldn't even get to do research. I also think you're letting the prestige surrounding the Stanford name cloud your judgment on the other schools. While UMich and UIUC aren't really considered prestigious schools (mainly due to the fact that they're big state schools), the ECE departments carry a ton of prestige. I know a few people who have been accepted to Stanford and/or MIT but were rejected at UMich.

You should choose the one that you think you will like the most. A Ph.D. is still a Ph.D., no matter where you get it from, so you may as well be happy at the place you get it! It might help asking some professors where their students end up after grad school. This information is usually available on their personal websites (if they have one).

I don't know when we sign up for meal plans, but it isn't through housing. I imagine it'll be done closer to the start of the Fall semester.

Yeah I'd contact your POI and other people related with admission ASAP. It's possible the official letter just never made it to you, but the department has no way of knowing this. You need to resolve this before the end of the week.

Austin! Great city and Austin has a great name anyways.

It's the prestige of the department the matters most, not the overall prestige of the school. But this only really matters if you want to go into academia.

Stanford is one of the best, if not the best for both. If you had a Ph.D. offer, I'd recommend taking it. But those other schools are also very good in industry placement. You will have a job upon graduation. Also if you're looking to do R&D, you're gonna need a Ph.D. You'll need to reapply if you go to Stanford. What are your research interests, if I may ask?

It definitely wouldn't be awkward asking him out of the blue. Just tell him you're interested in working withhim again for your Ph.D. and ask if he's accepting students.

Stanford shouldn't even be on that list because they aren't worth it. Don't let the rankings sway you otherwise. Yes they are a great school for academic placement and industry, but what they offer you can get from those other schools AND get paid to do it. Please don't feed the cow! Just pick the school with the best research fit; you can't go wrong using that kind of metric.

I agree with nesw4314. It's only going to get harder to get into graduate school as the years go by, and there really isn't a reason to turn down an offer like that unless you absolutely can't stand going there. A top 20 ranking isn't something to care about either, and a lot of times schools with strong programs get lower rankings simply because the department is pretty small. That's why you see the top 10 is dominated by schools with massive departments such as MIT, Stanford, UIUC, Ga Tech, Michigan, etc. In regards to the funding, many schools award a 1-year package to Ph.D. students that free them from any teaching/research responsibilities for the first year. Multi-year packages are typically only given to students who already have their advisor chosen before their first year. The next 4+ years are then funded by some combination of a TA/RA, but this usually isn't explicitly stated in the award letter.

I only eat twice a day, and remember, the semesters are only 12 weeks long. That gives one meal a day plus another 11 meals (it's 95-meals). The free breakfast takes care of my other meal of the day for everything but the weekend. If I use my swipes on the weekend, I can get ~6 weeks of weekend breakfast/lunch. I don't mind buying lunch out every now and then either. It shouldn't add more than another $1000/yr in food costs, which is pretty negligible in comparison to the stipend Princeton offers.

Welcome ekphrasis! My plan is to do Old GC, hopefully make friends, find one to live with the following year, and then move into the new Lakeside Apartments that will be available in Summer 2014. Otherwise I'll have to dish out a few extra hundred dollars and get a single. The forced meal plan kind of sucks, but the pricing isn't too bad. ~$10,000/yr for housing and food is pretty good, IMO. That leaves me plenty of extra money to pay off undergrad loans and buy stuff I don't need. The free weekday breakfasts is really great, too.

@ak48 You know incoming students are guaranteed housing in the GC! @Ezzy Did you apply for Old GC or New GC? I read through that guide a week ago; it's really helpful! I wonder if the only gradcafeers going to Princeton are EE... where are the rest of the majors?!

I like Tech if you're gonna do industry. There's also a lot more to do in Atlanta than Ithaca, and Tech networks very well. They're definitely well-known for being an industry prep school, and you definitely won't have any issues finding a job.

Just accepted a couple days ago! Who else is going????

Just do it! I struggled with the same thing and finally pushed myself to click 'Submit'. I felt bad for about 10 minutes and then felt really excited! Still feeling pretty excited.

I second that, although I don't think graduate degrees are ever "looked down upon", but some are viewed more favorably than others. Caltech's location is much better for both living and job opportunities. Even though Yale has a larger student body, Caltech is more well-known for engineering and will provide you with better opportunities.

It's definitely more competitive among international applicants in science and engineering simply because there are typically many more internationals applying. Consequently you need to perform really well to beat out other competition, while domestic applicants may be able to get in a little more easily since competition isn't as tough. I can see how this could be interpreted as "unfair". Just to reiterate what everyone else is saying here, the GRE is one of the first thing reviewers look at in the application process. Those with really low scores are rejected without even considering other sections of the application, and it is likely that is what happened with you. They do this to process applications more quickly. To give an example, Georgia Tech ECE states on their website "... if your scores are very low (ie., below 400V, 700Q, and 3.5AW, under the old grading system, and under the new grading system 146V, 155Q), your application will be declined." I'm guessing the programs you applied to have similar or even higher standards.

Just saw the email. Rejected, but expected! Got two more years to try again, so no worries. I was surprised with how early they got decisions out.

Double Shot is actually just a member "ranking" they do here on grad cafe. My username is right above it (but I can see how this could be misleading). I can imagine it'll be very difficult to find any job related to science with a non-science degree. You really ought to start taking some science classes while working SOME job (just to pay for them) and continue looking for more job opportunities that are more closely related to what you want to study. Then you'll need to work in that job a while to get some experience. Just out of curiosity, why are you interested in the sciences instead of art studio? Usually performance in a particular subject dictates what we're most interested in. I took some art courses back in high school, and I was the joke of the class (literally). Only made C's and B's (the B's were out of sympathy), but I've always excelled in science and math. As much as I enjoy art, I enjoy science and math more. I think part of it comes from the fact that I'm good at it but also from an innate desire to do research in it.

I'm getting -14. Note that it's -(2^4) not (-2)^4, but neither of these expressions give 20. How did you end up with 20, if I may ask?

You're gonna need research if you want to get into graduate school, especially with a low GPA. Those low grades in science classes are going to raise some red flags with the admissions committee. May I ask what you switched your major to? If you want to get into grad school, it's going to take a serious amount of effort and some time. You ought to try getting a job related to what you want to study and work in that for several years, so you can build experience, get strong recommendations, and draw attention away from your transcript. You can also retake some of these bio and chem classes at a university (a community college will not cut it) and make A's in most if not all of them. You need to prove that your undergrad performance was a fluke and the person portrayed in your transcript doesn't exist anymore.

Don't expect to hear anything earlier than the end of next week. My guess is that they'll come sometime between then and the end of the following week (April 12-19).

$200 more isn't substantial. Don't let money rule your decision. Being away from family/friends sucks, but you will meet new people and will be pretty preoccupied with school anyways. Go to SB; I think you'll be happiest there.

Your advisor wouldn't take you on as a student if a he couldn't fund you (at least that's how it works in the sciences and engineering). In a worst case scenario, you'd have to TA for a semester or so. But you won't have to worry about showing up to school and having them hand you a massive bill for tuition. Also, if the school you are planning on attending is a well-known program with good endowment, the chances are pretty low. In short, I wouldn't worry about it. My "5-year" offer from UT Austin is really just an RA from my advisor. The funding is "guaranteed" just as much as your 2-year fellowship + some source for years 3-5 is.