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Yes -- I'm going to Penn State.

I feel kind of silly letting geography/weather be a large factor in my decision, but I got into enough places that apparently I can. And I do get depressed when it's grey and cold all the time, so... goodbye Cornell and RPI? I'm not too upset about MIT -- everyone I mention it to tells me it's a pressure cooker, that it has a high suicide rate, etc etc. Of course I don't know how true that is of the department, but I'm wary of the potential stress...

Ah, MIT is the only place I haven't heard from. I didn't apply for any outside funding that could be used there, though, which I have the impression they strongly prefer. I got into a lot more places than I expected -- definitely more than I can visit -- but at this point I'm deciding among Penn State, Northwestern, and Georgia Tech. Is Stanford your top choice?

I'm also domestic. I was accepted (but waitlisted for financial aid) Feb 15th.

Whoaaa, congratulations! None of mine have even been due yet!

I don't know whether programs choose students with ethnic diversity in mind. However, if you bring your own funding, your chances of acceptance increase dramatically -- after all, if you are free and qualified, why shouldn't they take you? The problem is usually that there are many more qualified students than a program can fund. In order to make sure that they judge you qualified, you should probably try to get your gpa up (especially in your major and electives relevant to the grad program) and pursue research, publications, and grad-level courses whenever possible. And as tvn said, there is definitely funding out there earmarked for minorities (sometimes minorities and women). Start with NPSC and GEM. You might also find lists of 'diversity' fellowships/funding by searching or on grad admissions websites. Good luck -- you are very smart to begin thinking about this so soon!

I applied for it, too -- just haven't logged in here for a while because I've been without internet at home. I was SO GLAD that they extended the deadline by a few days! I'll post another comment hear as soon as I hear anything -- will you do the same?

Well, I have finalized the list of schools I'm applying to at last: Stanford Cornell MIT Rensselaer Georgia Tech U Michigan Northwestern U Wisconsin Carnegie Mellon U Penn Penn State So I'm basically shooting for the moon. Help. It seems equally likely that I'll get in nowhere or get in to so many that the decision makes my brain explode. But really I just have no basis for judgment; every part of my application is decent, but I'm not sure that the totality is outstanding. I ended up applying for the NPSC fellowship, but not NSF. I knew I couldn't do a great job on it so I decided not to waste my time. Maybe next year when I have a better idea of what I'm working on -- some schools expect you to find an advisor in the first month, so I might actually know in time! Anyone else? We can compare interpretations of essay questions...

Here's another question: I've definitely gotten the impression that in many fields, it's greatly advantageous to have contact with professors in a program before applying to it, because they pretty much match you up as they're doing admissions. However, some mat sci programs indicate that it's fine if you don't have your interests narrowed down yet and that it's standard to talk to lots of profs during your first semester and rank your preferences before they assign your whole class to advisors at once. So, for mat sci specifically, is it more or less expected to have had contact with a potential advisor? It is discouraged or considered annoying to email one? Or is it somewhere in between?

I just started a mat sci 07 thread in the applied science section -- woohoo. My info: Physics BS (Spanish minor, but I bet nobody cares) GPA 3.8 total, 3.9 physics GRE 780/780/5.5 research: 1 second-author publication; 10-week program at ORNL and 1 year (ongoing) at my school interests: something involving energy efficiency/renewable production, recycling, etc -- technologically speaking, experience with both metals and thin films and interest in nanoscale systems, but not narrowly defined yet schools: Cornell, MIT, RPI, Northwestern, still looking! I'm thinking about NSF, etc, but I'm not sure I have a good enough idea of what I want to do to write a specific research proposal.

So I'm planning to apply to MSE programs for fall 07 -- anyone else? Two general things I'm wondering: (1) I'm looking to do research that addresses energy and/or environmental problems (and to eventually work in industry or for example at a national lab; I'm not interesting in teaching). I've found some highly-ranked programs (Cornell, MIT, RPI, etc) with programs that specifically address these, but I don't know how competitive of an applicant I am since I'm switching fields (though I know that's not unusual for MSE). Are there any lower-ranked programs with a major focus on those applications? (2) What does it mean to be a competitive applicant? I'll be getting a BS in physics from a highly-ranked public school (although its stronger programs are in humanities rather than sci/eng) and have a good gpa and GREs as well as research experience, definitely classifiable as mat sci, beginning the summer after my 2nd year (one second-author publication). However, I haven't taken chem or bio since high school -- my electives have been extra physics, math, and language classes. But I just don't know how to judge whether it would be insane to apply to mostly top programs, or what...