MikKar

Hello juilletmercredi (funny, your pseudo is French and I am from France myself, hehe), Thanks for your answers. In my case, I am more into wireless communications, so yes : there's plenty of engineering and research in my field. A M.Sc can give you openings in research, provided that you have some prior research experience and good fortune favours you (like with everything I guess). Great effort that you got into all the programs you applied to, you must have written some super-strong SOPs

Hello all, I intend to apply for Masters of Science programs later this year (in EE), I have both professors and current researchers and colleagues who can write strong recommendation letters for me (I have been working for a few years in applied R&D), so it should be too much of a problem on that front. No, my question is : how are LORs treated if a student is only applying for a Masters of Science, rather than going straight for PhD ? I am aware that PhD applications need some massively strong LORs, but what about applicants to a Masters of Science program ? I am just curious, but I couldn't find an answer to this question. I would appreciate it if anyone could shed some light on this. Sincerely,

It should be, but it depends on whether you're lucky enough someone bothers reading your resume fully or not (with 2500+ applications, I am guessing panel admissions won't even bother if they don't beyond the summary paragraph). I have been working in R&D for almost 3 years, when I applied to Graduate Schools (Top 20), I didn't even get close to a phone interview. Mailing professors is useless as they never bothered answering back. The only thing that works for sure is meeting with professors face-to-face and convince them you're worth investing in. That will remove about 95% of the randomness in your application process and, provided you don't mess up at the on-site interview, guarantee you a spot in the graduate school you are aiming for.

Very interesting and most enriching comments and suggestions about how to write an SOP and what to focus on. I am glad that I read this. I think I would be classified as a non-conventional student because I graduated almost 5 years ago, have been working professionally as an engineer for the last 4 years and I have been working as a research engineer for the last 3 years. I will have to tailor something according to my experience as that is what has driven me to go for graduate study. Stupid question : I am not necessarily hell-bent on doing a PhD (though if I get the opportunity I will definitely go for it), doing a Masters of Science first is what I would like as I will get a feel of the University and the research itself, so my question is : are there major differences in writing a SOP for Masters of Science rather than PhDs ?

Hello to all, I'm new here. I am planning to apply for Georgia Tech's Masters of Science program in EE for the coming Spring. I'm an International applicant (French) and I would like to see where I will stand if I were to apply. My application looks like this : - GPA of 3.47/4.00 (converted from my French grades) - GRE is 155/165/4.5 V/Q/AW (seems average, I am thinking about having a second shot at it as the verbal part really destroyed me) - TOEFL is 109/120 (that should be ok) - 3 years of research experience as an engineer in wireless communications (no publications or papers but it's applied research with a lot of standard-related experience so I have some good connections with European researchers) I can get one recommendation letter from my engineering school and 2 from collegue researchers (it's been 4+ years since I graduated and Graduate Admissions told me that Industry recommendations are valid in my specific case). American students would probably get in easily with this but I doubt International applicants are treated the same way, even with years of research experience. I tried contacting to professors in the Faculty but no answers to emails, and from where I am it's not exactly easy to come over-night, that's what leads me to think that International applicants have to be stellar to even get a look-in. I will be applying for other graduate schools later this year, for fall admissions, but since Georgia Tech offers a Spring admission I am thinking about trying once at least. Any opinion is welcome. Thanks in advance,