Scratchawl

~85% sure I'll be joining you for environmental engineering. It's a great program- on par with Stanford and Berkeley, but I can't say I'm thrilled at the prospect of living in Baltimore for four years... Oh well, maybe I can meet and marry a (soon-to-be) rich doctor .

Hi! Fellow Civil engineer here. I would advise you to really look at your advisors. Both IL and Stanford are top programs, so focus your decision on the research group (fit, acclaim, etc.). I'm also considering UIUC for civil (PhD), so maybe I'll see you in the fall!

I had a nearly identical experience with a Stanford professor. Who do these guys think they are, calling out of blue like that (kidding, slightly)!? The way I see it, almost all of the Stanford engineering programs get 100's of applicants. So if a very busy prof pulls out my (or your) app for a 30 minute interview, it has to be a great sign. I guess I took it as a positive, but I'm not going to get too happy until the letter arrives.

It is interesting that you brought this up. I have been told by two profs at different schools that this is the case. Changing schools from an MS to PhD is difficult, unless you have a very good reason. It is not impossible, but it does bring up some questions: Is this person difficult to work with? Was he thrown out?, etc (it wasn't an issue for me; my MS school was my UG institution). It definitely doesn't seem fair to me, but this is right from the horse's mouth. But, don't let this discourage anyone, it can be (and often is) done.

This factor cannot be overstated. At top 5 schools fit matters. Now, that doesn't mean that you should try to echo the interests of faculty members at MIT or Stanford or whatever. Rather, it is very important that you know what your interests are and find faculty and schools to match that. Not only can faculty members sniff out BS in your app, but also you'll be much happier researching something that actually interests you. For example, I consider myself a top-tier caliber applicant, so I applied to three top 5 schools (UIUC, Stanford, JHU; I'm 2 for 3 and waiting for Stanford). Now when I spoke to faculty members, they did mention in passing "great GPA/GRE" but what they really wanted to talk about was their research and how it would interest me (they were right). I did not even bother applying to MIT and Berkeley because they weren't strong in my areas, thus (a) I would be rejected and ( even if accepted, I would be miserable working on their projects. In short, that MIT reject really bothered me. No one is entitled to admission to a top school regardless of great stats.

So what has everyone's interview experience been like? Most of mine have been long-ish (20-40 min) very casual conversations-- hardly an interview at all. The exception was Stanford, which was a 10-20 minute grilling, mainly on my research. This leads me to believe that the casual interviews were for schools in which I was already informally accepted and was just to test the waters for an RAship. The Stanford one was definitely part of the admissions process, I think. Any similar experiences?

Thanks. JHU is one of my top (if not the top) choices, but the thought of living in Baltimore for four years... not so exciting. On the other hand, Pittsburgh is a lovely city by most accounts. Then again, after looking at your potential schools (London, Toronto, San Diego and Montreal!) I can see why Pittsburgh might not stack up.

I'm in the same boat as you- small state school of "unknown" :wink: prestige. Just to ease your mind (and stroke my ego) I have had no trouble getting in to top schools (ranked 1-5) with very nice funding packages. I'm guessing that my well-defined research interests and experience really helped (as did the near-4.0 GPA and very good GRE, if I say so myself). But my point is we can make it to the big leagues, too! Best of luck, us state schoolers have to stick together.

Hello, Fellow engineer here (Civil/environmental engineering, PhD). Things have been relatively slow in January but contacts have really picked up in Feb. UIUC- Admitted, Fellowship + RA; unofficial email, Jan. 20 Carnegie Mellon- ???? Stanford- Phone interview on 2/11. Decision expected aroun 3/1 Johns Hopkins- Admitted, Fellowship + possible RA; official email, Feb. 4 Minnesota- Admitted, Fellowship + RA; official email, Jan 22 Michigan- ???? I'm pretty satisfied, so much so that I'm not really stressed about the Stanford situation. Wishing everyone good luck, cheers!