choi_ms

Hello everyone, While I was originally planning on applying to Ph.D., I am actually getting generally less interested in pursuing Ph.D. -- my goal is to be involved with international organizations (e.g. World Food Programme or other humanitarian organizations), and I started thinking that it might be more valuable to build more professional experiences in lieu of spending extra 2.5~3 years in Ph.D. program. However, I am now placing my eyes on various master's programs in industrial engineering, including: MIT, Penn State, UIUC, etc (i.e. institutions that also consider master's degree students for assistant-ship positions). I know resources for M.S. students are generally scarce, but not completely eradicated. May I request for the list of institutions with IE programs that have either previously funded or considered funding for masters students? I highly appreciate it!

Don't write your own letters -- it's quite surprising how well one's writing style is revealed, and it's not that hard for AdComm to find out when you write your own letters. Definitely go for the second professor though!

Wow, thank you so much for your help! And I really wish the best of luck to you as well -- well I find it quite obvious that you are probably far more knowledgeable than I am in knowing juicy tips in grad school applications... I also hope you enjoy the application process! -- we only get this fantastic chance once in our lives (for most people anyways) to apply for graduate school, right? ;P

Haha as you just mentioned, my situation is indeed not quite typical for someone who is a prospective researcher. I feel semi-confident in the fact that I am intending to pursue in a field called "Humanitarian Logistics", which is an interdisciplinary field that deals with developing optimal operations-research-type methodologies to deliver supplies and aids to people who are affected by human right issues and disasters, so I am hoping that my diverse background will strengthen my application! Thank you so much for the tips If you don't mind, would you mind if I asked what your background is? (i.e. PhD/MS student/graduate, prospective applicant, academic field, etc.)

I think trying to graduate within 3 years (20 units/semester, along with a Chinese minor...) didn't allow me enough time to allocate in research, which I regret... also, I've done/been doing most of the short-term consulting/research projects with companies and offices on campus (e.g. class scheduling optimization with the registrar's office), with a very little involvement of professors -- so it tells me that I can do independent research, but I didn't find out until now that there are not that many professors around me who can verify that... Academic fields that I have done short-term research projects vary quite a bit -- e.g. manufacturing, workforce optimization, inventory, database... transportation just happens to be a field that I didn't have a chance to conduct research in. So I understand having such a diverse experience can be both a good and a bad thing (bad because I don't have a specific focus/strength that I can show on my application)

hikaru1221: Thank you so much for your input! This is extremely helpful -- I am going to ask the simulation professor for the recommendation letter first, and then if he says no, I will probably do transportation research (which I am more confident on doing good job than the probability research, since my field is in operations research) and try to receive a rec letter from that research supervisor.

Hello everyone! I am a fresh graduate from UC-Berkeley (2010-2013), majored in Industrial Engineering (Honors, Top 10%), and I am applying to PhD programs again in the same program, industrial engineering. Here is my current situation -- 1) 20+ year-professor (since 1988) in Stochastic Processes: I did well (though not too excellent) in her class (A-, but the class was a bit difficult...), and I served as an undergraduate TA for her class the following semester. She knows I worked extremely hard as a TA, in terms of quick/prompt/precise reply with student emails, extra office hours to accommodate the students (even past midnight when necessary), etc, and I've known her both personally and in classroom for two years. This will be a good "I recommend him as a TA" recommendation. 2) Summer/Fall internship supervisor: Holds PhD in physics, and we worked together on developing an algorithm for pedometer and accelerometer, employing various statistics, signal processing, and efficient-algorithm techniques on iPython (work I did is super-super technical, which is good). 3) This one -- not exactly sure, I think ideally it'll be a professor ... Option 1: Research supervisor -- however, it is not a formal research. I just did my own independent research about a probability example in the textbook, and I merely met him for about 30 minutes every Friday for research meetings. I did produce a paper and poster at the end, but it's not extremely outstanding or stellar (not posted on any major journals, it's just on his website). I can do another 15 hr/week independent research project on transportation this semester (I think this one will be good if I spend time on it (since I've always wanted to do a research on transportation), but I already have 40 hr/week full-time consulting job on campus... and I need time to prep for grad apps too), and ask him for a recommendation. Option 2-1: Simulation Professor -- did well in the class (A, and many people found the class actually tough), and I think my simulation project was outstanding. And I know the professor quite well (through student professional organizations, etc). Option 2-2: Robotics Professor -- did get an A, he knows me well, but he knows me as someone who wasn't the most stellar student but who worked super-hard. This option will be a plan B if option 2-1 does not work out. Option 3: A professor that I scored within top 5 out of 100 in his class. I am super-familiar with his assistant/graduate instructor, so I can ask that graduate instructor to refer to that professor, and that professor can write me a letter of recommendation for me. Thank you so, so, so much!