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Think about an advisor who has zero tolerance at taking risk of loosing money or who has no confidence on your background. An unfunded PhD is to meet such an advisor. Decline this offer at no time. I had had this experience in past and advise against it. It not only destroys your confidence but also you won't be able to find a job if you drop out school. It takes longer than others because of zero money and no respect from your advisor. Believe or not I am in trouble now and dont know what I did wrong at all or how can I fix it.

I 'd rather to go for Gatech if I were you. It's very renowned in the field of machine learning, machine vision, signal processing, and any related field. By the way, congrats for your admissions.

Dude I'm in the same boat. I got into a PhD at Texas A&M University for fall 2014 without any financial offer. I was hoping if I accept the offer admission--frankly I had no better option, too-- I am able to manage to secure either RA/TA. But till now I haven't been able to get funding neither TA nor RA. Without funding I hardly make ends meet and I think it's really unfair.

I know friends of mines who started PhD self-funded at Stanford which is considered an ambitious school with a huge competition. But they got funded soon. A&M treats us badly.

Frankly it's not fair. Being self-funded is something I never imagined even at nightmares. My suggestion is if you have other admissions in hand you may go for them. Some schools are open-minded toward offering at least TAship for PhDs.

I need to add that TAMU is the most disappointing experience I have ever had in entire my life. I had got an offer to a PhD for fall 2014. I was in the same boat as you are now. But I accepted the offer. Then I realized many other students also did the same job--accepting an offer without any funding. RAship is being offered in a semester base with huge competition among PhD students. I haven't been able to secure one yet. The TAship is being offered after passing ELPE. However, passing its writing section is really subjective and notorious. I haven't been able to pass it yet. so no TA yet!!!. There is no generous fellowship though. I think they are treating us like this because they want to keep their undergraduate tuition as low as possible to attract BSc/MSc/MEng as many as possible. As well they are able to hire one exceptional PhD to pay some small money only to him/her. It's really sad. For my MSc I was fully funded in a different school and I had a better life style. I chose A&M as I thought getting a degree from a top 20 school would reflect its value later on, but totally it got let me down.

Hello, congrats you got in both great schools in EE. If your financial situation allows you choosing Stanford, I think that would be better. After working a few years in industry if you decide on pursuing a PhD, its MSc counts more. However, you may also think about a management degree in that case I think both are equally good. by the way, congrats on your great offers and good luck.

If you would like to decide based on the cities attractiveness, I have been in both cities close enough to hint you some information. To my mind, the only drawback to Houston is its hot and extreme humid weather on most of its summer days--from mid-June until late-September. On the other hand, Seattle has mild and beautiful days during summer.

Personally I won't choose Yale. Basically its reputation is not for its engineering degrees.

In my opinion UCSD is more superior than UT Austin in circuit design track in terms of reputation, accessibility to high-tech companies ,and diverse blend of sub-areas. For example, how many professors in each grad school are actively doing research? I think UCSD has more to offer. Meanwhile, living in San Diego is also more enjoyable than Austin.

I think you are torn between choosing Gatech and UCLA as you will explore different areas during your PhD. Personally I believe microwave/antenna has a better work perspective after graduation , so I would choose UCLA. After all, it all depends on your preferences.

Folks, I have been studying toward a PhD in Electrical Eng. at Texas A&M University, College Station since Fall 2014. The program sounds very good but there was no promise of RA funding. I am not able to secure it till now, too. If I wanted to get a TA, I have to pass a notorious ELPE exam which I also couldn't pass its writing section!!!! even though I got my MSc from a school which its instruction language is English. What would you do if you were in the same boat? are they considering me as a cash cow to feed their own program? I would like to transfer it to MSc or MEng, what would be its career outlooks? Does a PhD worth it without funding? BTW my major is analog/mixed-signal ICs design. Please advise me of your experiences.

Congrats on the great admissions you got. I believe living in a big and vibrant city is a big advantages that UCLA is offering you. If I were you, I would choose UCLA without any doubt . However, working under a particular POI and your sub-specialization in EE are two main factors that might lean you towards UIUC.

I just signed a lease for an off-campus housing at Campus View apartments. Pictures look good and it 's very close to our department. But I realized reviews on Yelp is awful that made me worried. Anybody here who have been in those apartments could comment on theirs. I really appreciate for your help

Do they really hope that the applicants who got the fellowship would turn it down, then to get you back accordingly? I'm in the same boat for another grad school but still no word.....