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teerav42

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Everything posted by teerav42

  1. Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Wisconsin, Princeton, UT Austin, Minnesota, and Northwestern all would be decent choices. Those were the schools I applied to last year haha!
  2. The biggest reason I picked Wisconsin is that there were multiple professors that I was interested in. All the other schools I considered really only had one professor I could see myself working for. CMU probably would have been the best fit for me research wise, but they didn't let very many people in last year as they had a large 1st year class last year and didn't have room for many new students this year so I didn't get in. I heard MIT had a similar situation as well. Other than that, although I liked all the schools I visited (Northwestern, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and UT) I did feel Wisconsin stood out a little. And it wasn't anything specific that they did on the visit, because all schools know how to treat their recruits well and make sure they have a good time--it was more that I could see myself being comfortable and happy in a smaller city like Madison easier than a bigger city like Chicago, Minneapolis, or Austin. That's just personal preference though. Also, I connected the best with other prospectives at my Wisconsin visit--I made friends with several of the people I met pretty quickly and knew that several of them were either definitely going to Wisconsin or probably going there. That definitely helped when I moved to Madison as well, I already had a few friends which made the transition easier. Definitely PM me if you want, I'm happy to answer any other questions you think of!
  3. Recruitment weekends are a blast! I visited Northwestern, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and UT-Austin. I think 4 visits is about the perfect number to go on, it would have been tough to fit any more weekends out of town into my schedule since I was busy with senior design and other courses. I was extremely skeptical about grad school before going on visit weekends--before my first visit I was thinking I was going to accept a job offer I had in Houston. Visiting changed my mind though, obviously. Undergrad research was not strongly emphasized at my school, so I really liked meeting other students who were interested in it. Going into it all I thought I must be crazy for thinking about getting my PhD, and it was a big relief to meet so many other students who wanted to do the same. Things to expect at recruitment weekends: Lots of free food and booze Poster sessions Information sessions (boring but necessary) Meetings with professors (sometimes 1 on 1, sometimes in small groups) Talking with grad students about their work and graduate life Fun things around the city the school is in It's common for grad students to take students out to bars every night of the visit. If that's your thing do it and have fun, but you still are going to have to get up early the next morning. I was not 21 when I was visiting so I didn't get to do this, which was unfortunate, but I definitely don't regret the extra sleep I got relative to some of the other students I met, You will see the same people at different visits. Make friends with them, you will definitely wind up classmates with some of them. As far as what to wear, everything was pretty casual at all of my visits. Make sure you look nice, but no need to dress to the nines or anything. If any school has something specific they will want you to dress up for they will let you know. On all my visits I just wore what I typically wore to school--jeans/chinos and an OCBD/flannel shirt for example. The first semester of grad school was tough. At Wisconsin we take 4 classes--3 core ChemE classes (thermo, kinetics, and a math class) and an elective (I took a computational math class offered by the math department). Courses were hard, especially thermo. In undergrad I was used to being at the top of my class in pretty much everything, but in grad school I have found I am somewhere around average to slightly below average, relative to my classmates. You also have to deal with advisor selection during first semester, which went perfectly for me, but was stressful for a lot of my classmates. My advisor, like most, didn't expect anything out of me research-wise last semester; I just had to worry about classes. Next semester I am taking 2 classes and will be starting my research. I expect to be just as busy as last semester but I am looking forward to the change of pace that will come from not having such a full courseload. Apart from school, life is great. I wound up in a class full of awesome people and we made friends quickly. It's been fun getting to know Madison and discovering all the great stuff the city has to offer.
  4. I'm a 1st year ChemE PhD student in a controls group, so I can give advice on controls at least from the ChemE perspective. Although controls is an extremely important aspect of chemical engineering, particularly at the industrial level, process systems/controls do not get as much attention at the academic level as areas like bioengineering, catalysis, advanced materials, etc.... From what I can tell, it is extremely common for PhD students in process systems/controls to do industry internships during their PhD--I know everyone in my group does this for at least one summer, and usually two or three summers. For all engineering PhDs, the most common path after graduation is industry, and I think this is probably especially true for controls/process systems people, because expertise in those areas lends itself extremely well to industry. Let me know if you have any more questions!
  5. Hey all! I went through this whole process a year ago, if you have any questions about how recruitment weekends and whatnot go let me know!
  6. Not recommended. VG/G, E/VG, G/F. I'm a senior in undergrad and I have a little research experience, but not a ton which made writing my proposal difficult. I did my best but it was a longshot. Oh well, the program I'm heading to in the fall is fully funded anyways. Congrats to all who were offered awards!
  7. Has anyone decided yet? I signed my acceptance to Wisconsin today. Excited!
  8. I just decided today, I'm coming to Madison this fall as well. Extremely excited!
  9. Austin was okay. I still think Madison is the best fit for me though. I'm basically 99% sure I'm going there, I'm just waiting a few more days to make sure I'm really sure before I make it official.
  10. My top choice right now is Wisconsin, but I still have to visit UT Austin this weekend. You've got some good choices there!
  11. CMU is the only school I haven't heard from, I'm assuming it's a rejection at this point.
  12. Congrats! I'm also a prospective ChemE PhD student. I haven't decided where to go yet, but I'll be visiting Madison next weekend.
  13. Anyone else going to the Minnesota visit this weekend?
  14. There are plenty of people who have done this, but you are right about having to take undergrad courses to catch up.
  15. Anyone know what's up with Carnegie Mellon? My advisor told me he was pretty positive I'd get in, and I thought I would hear back by now. I emailed them earlier this week and they just told me that they'd have all decisions out in the next few weeks. Can I assume it's a rejection at this point? Because that is what I am thinking.
  16. I think visiting is absolutely ESSENTIAL in making a decision. I would never go to a school without visiting first. Case in point--I applied to Northwestern as a kind of throw in/safety school, but I had a great time on my visit there this weekend and I will seriously consider it now. Meeting the grad students at a school and asking them questions is very helpful, and it is nice to see the area where the school is located. Also, it is good to meet several professors on visits. There was one professor in particular whom I met with that I hadn't thought much about before but I had a great conversation with her and found that her research aligns much more closely with my interests than I thought. Also, visiting is just plain fun, I'm super excited for my future visits now.
  17. Did you get to visit? I just got home from my Northwestern visit and I had a great time. I decided to apply there last second, it was a bit of a throw in/safety school for me, but I could see myself going there. This was my first visit though, so I don't have anything else to compare with yet. What other visits are people going on? I know Northwestern and Berkeley do theirs on the early side. I've got Wisconsin March 13-16, Texas March 20-23, and probably Minnesota March 27-30 I haven't booked my tickets yet but I think I will go to that one. Maybe Carnegie Mellon too, though I still haven't heard from them--I'm thinking that probably means it'll be a rejection when I do hear.
  18. I just got my MIT rejection too. Disappointing, but expected, and now I can stop thinking about it! Just Carnegie Mellon left to hear from. Anyone have any idea when they'll be sending out more notifications?
  19. Gotcha. I don't want to exactly throw in the towel but I am thinking that if someone with your profile hasn't been admitted yet then I probably won't be getting in to MIT. Ah well. If it happens it'll be a lovely surprise.
  20. Thanks for the MIT dates! On a related note, does anyone know when Carnegie Mellon's weekends are? I would like to save those dates as well. And another related note, has anyone heard from MIT or Carnegie Mellon, or have any idea when I might hear from them? Those are my last two to hear from and I'm getting antsy.
  21. How is everyone prioritizing which departments to visit? I applied to seven schools, have been admitted to four, and I'm still waiting on two, and I expect I will get in to one of the last two. So, That means five potential visits, which seems like a lot. What do you guys think is a reasonable number of visits to make, and how are you prioritizing which schools you want to check out?
  22. I think I will be visiting Northwestern, and probably that same weekend. I'm not too disappointed by Princeton, but I definitely will be disappointed if I don't get into Wisconsin.
  23. Where else have people heard from? So far I'm in at UT Austin and Northwestern, and waitlisted at Princeton. Still waiting on MIT, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Carnegie Mellon. Has anyone heard from those 4?
  24. @spectastic I'm not in Houston now, but my interview there last week was with MSi Kenny. I've heard that grad school is more intellectually stimulating than industry, but in a lot of the advice I've seen people say grad school is a long and miserable slog, and that it's better to go for the money in industry immediately.
  25. @TexasGuy you are extremely correct. This is going to be an exciting final semester of undergrad, but I fully expect I will also be stressed and second guess myself multiple times. I talked to one of the PhDs at the company in Houston, and he told me that he did his PhD at Notre Dame, and when he finished the only job he could find was a crappy postddoc in Kentucky, and he only got the job in Houston because they found his dissertation and called him. He told me he understood why I was considering grad school but that if he had been in the same situation out of undergrad he would have taken the job because the company has a lot of awesome opportunities. That said, I don't have an offer yet (although I do think I will get one), but it still makes my decision harder to hear that from him. Cheers everyone! Good luck to all in the upcoming weeks and months!
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