tarrman

All my friends took it at least twice and took it very early (I took it in November). I think people generally plan on taking it more than once, depending on the first run. In regards to Stanford, I found the two transcripts requirement, $125 app fee, and the high cost of living in Palo Alto to be especially unfortunate.

Having the opposite experience with my family, and I kind of feel bad about it. I've kept them completely out of the loop, and I haven't told them about any of my acceptances or my visits.

I applied to 7. I kind of wish I had applied to a few more (Stanford, CMU, Berkeley), but I was pretty overwhelmed with work last semester, I'm an incredibly cheap person (only took the GRE's once!), and I wasn't very confident about getting into the schools I was applying to. Oh well, things still worked out!

Both Princeton and UT are offering me $32k/year and $33k/yr, respectively. If I'm able to score NDSEG, Princeton will beef up NDSEG ($31k for first year) to what I would receive from the first year fellowship and then tack on another $4k, making a total of $36k/yr. I'm not quite sure what would happen with UT's funding if I get NDSEG. I received a supplemental graduate fellowship valued at $9k/yr, but I'm not sure if I lose that if I get NDSEG. If I don't, that'll put me at over $42k/year ( absurd!!!), but I don't think they'll let me keep it.

I'm interested in hearing what the highest stipend possible is. I think the avg. is around $2k/month in engineering, but many funding programs are different. TA's usually make much less than RA's, and some funding packages are for the 9 month school year, while others include summer offers.

No sense in taking the unfunded offer and having to apply again. CCNY all the way!

Getting off a waitlist can happen anywhere from the end of March to mid-April (April 15th, to be precise). Give it some time; it doesn't sound like letting them know you're interested will get you off the list any sooner.

I agree with TeaGirl about JHU. Although you won't be in the BME dept., their presence most likely heavily influences the bioengineering portion of the EE dept. I'm sure you can get involved in some top notch research at JHU that's perfect for your interests (and remember BME spawned from EE). I suggest either contacting the school or looking at the website at some of the professors to get an idea what kind of research they're doing. I don't know much about the non-U.S. institutions, but they're all pretty presitgious schools.

The GRE graders don't care as much about the way your answer is structured as they do about the content for this prompt. Keep it as short and simple as possible. My intro was almost identical to Brent's suggestion (but for a different prompt), and I ended up with a 5.0 AW score (and I'm a terrible writer). The best response will provide a good bit of analysis on the flaws (the more flaws you identify, the better your score) and will also make several suggestions as to what kind of evidence could make the flawed arguments better. You can almost list out each argument with a separate paragraph, and then briefly recapitulate your points in the final paragraph.

Most people with Ph.D.'s get jobs in industry, not faculty positions. I'm not sure about the market for structural engineering, but in electrical, it's extremely easy to get a job at graduation. Unemployment rates are the lowest among Ph.D.'s. It really comes down to what you want for a career.

What are your research interests, and what are your plans for post-graduation?

I don't see why you need to mention you have 5 kids or that you were having health issues. If anything, just say you took time off to raise a family. Your M.A. GPA is very impressive, and since it's been a while since you were at your undergrad institution, nobody is going to care about what happened back then. Focus on your most recent achievements. As a side note, when I went to a visit day, one of the other prospective students had 5 kids and was planning on working full-time while doing his Ph.D.

I doubt it'd make a difference

I have heard UIUC will have all decisions out by tomorrow, but they have been rolling out since February (I received mine last week). Berkeley sent out their admits in the beginning of February. UT Austin I believe has sent out most if not all offers. Same with UMich, and it seems they're starting to send out Master admits to the Ph.D. applicants. I know not all offers have been made, but if you haven't been contacted by them informing you of a status update, it's likely you didn't make it. It's possible that you have been waitlisted, and they are waiting for some admitted students to reject the offer before they make a decision, but don't get your hopes up.

I doubt he'd get upset for pestering him and take it out on you; he did agree to write it for you. If he wrote you a lousy letter, it'd be because he waited until last minute to do it.

Do not be afraid of bothering him. Send him daily emails until you get a response, and don't be afraid of calling him again. He seems nice enough, and I'm sure he understands your concern. Some people just need to be reminded more than others. You have much more to lose by not reminding him.

How in the world did you spend $4000 on applications? Many people who don't get in the first time around are able to do so the second time. If have to reapply next year, use this coming year to gain lots of experience and pas your resume. Retake the GRE's (if necessary), get some experience, and find people to write great recommendations.

Another admission letter to a school I got notification from 1.5 months ago... I get it, I'm admitted, how about a formal letter about funding?

Mid-March is only two days away! Remember the adage: Great things come to those who wait.

Taking a LOA in your 2nd year isn't a very good idea. This is the time when you're really getting into research, preparing for quals, finishing up courses, etc. There's another thread around here that covers why you shouldn't take a LOA in the 2nd year. Why not put off the Ph.D. for a couple years while you have your baby? You are picking the worst time to try and raise a family, and I don't think you have anything to gain starting your Ph.D. next year if you're just gonna take a year off at the end of this coming year. I suggest you revaluate what you want in life because you are choosing an extremely difficult path. I think you are underestimating just how difficult this will all be. Many people put in close to 60 hours a week in their Ph.D. Something's gotta give if you really want to have all the things you've listed.

Most people definitely do not go into academia in America. There just aren't enough faculty positions available to accommodate all the Ph.D. students. It's much more common to see people go into industry (at least in science and engineering). In the social sciences, there are definitely fewer jobs in industry for Ph.D.'s, but it depends on your major. I'm sure sure plenty of economists can find work in consulting etc., but I imagine those in history usually end up in academia. Some majors really don't have much use outside of academia. I've never heard of an advisor getting upset over what the student chooses to do for a career, and I don't think you need to be up front about it.

In physics, yes, unless you are actually working on something heavily related to physics (which is rare in industry.) It's more beneficial for electrical engineering applicants. I suggest taking some time to figure out what exactly you want to do come application season and figure out which options are most relevant to what you want to study. If you decide on physics I'd take the REU; they're competitive, they give good research experience, and they're often good sources for recommendations. The only downside is the pay is crappy, but if you're serious about getting into top schools, the REU will provide you with an invaluable boost to your application.

It's not that only 15% get post-docs; not many people want to continue on to academia after doing a Ph.D. I'm sure some people are rejected from all positions they apply to, but I think this number is small. More people are interested in industry because the pay is better, the work load is lighter, and there's more flexibility for outside interests (like raising a family, etc.) I worked at Lincoln Lab for two summers, and every Ph.D. I talked told me they started out wanting to do academia, realized it was more work than they wanted to do, and consequently opted for an industry position upon graduation. I don't think many people are willing to make the sacrifices to get a faculty position.

Hoping to do another internship at Lincoln Lab, but they are so slow in correspondence!

Ah well that changes everything; you need to have American citizenship at those places. Regardless, there are also industry jobs that work on cutting-edge research, but I'm not sure what kind of degrees they want from their candidates, but I think more often than national labs, they require a Ph.D. I'm not very knowledgable in ME jobs that might exist, but I'm sure they are out there. For EE/CS, some big companies doing interesting research include Qualcomm, Facebook, IBM, Intel, etc. Actually, now that I think about it, I believe Oak Ridge National Laboratory doesn't require American citizenship, but most of their research is in energy. It sounds to me like you're more interested in robotics. You should use your time while doing your Masters to find out from your mentors the possible career paths and what kind of degrees they require. If you need to get a Ph.D., you wouldn't be at a disadvantage for not wanting to do academia. Most people who get their Ph.D. don't end up in academia (I think ~15% at top schools get post-doc positions after graduation)