pablofc

Stanford ICME is a great graduate program. As you probably know, now they offer three additional tracks in computational geosciences, mathematical finance, and data science; which are good news if you want to focus on one of these areas. You look like a strong applicant, but make sure to write a great SoP and try to get in touch with your POI before applying (visit campus if possible). Do you have or plan to have any publications before applying? Push to get at least conference publications as that would help a lot. In any case, Stanford is no that competitive for master programs (differente story for PhD). Also, make sure to apply for the right program. Most Sanford departments (not sure about IMCE) require undergraduates to apply for the M.S., and then (upon admission) students compete to get one of the few PhD positions. Good luck!!

Thanks! Good luck for you too, especially with the Princeton waitlisting! For the benefit of future applicants, I think a key fact to gain admission to MIT AeroAstro is to visit the campus and interview with POIs. Decisions are made by individual faculty members, and a direct contact with them may make all the difference.

I just received the acceptance notification from Beth (S.M.). I'm pretty sure they don't interview PhD applicants though. Just out of curiosity, do you hold a master's degree from another institution?

Yes, we'll hear back from MIT AeroAstro by March 1st. Acceptances will most likely be sent late this week or early next week; and decisions right before the deadline. Beth Marois' rules.

I think they make their own profiles. BTW, I realized today that Google's citations system is not quite reliable: Some papers are missing, others are doubled, some references are wrong... Maybe Scopus (even though it lacks some papers) is closer to reality when predicting the h-index.

Same here! No big deal for me though. What other programs did you apply for?

I used Scopus, which doesn't collect all the publications and citations. Google Scholar should actually be more accurate

Prof. Farhat's group looks like a pretty awesome place to do a PhD on Computational Engineering and CFD: Over 20 publications/year, h-index=42, and Prof. Farhat's record of accomplishments is really impressive. If I went to Stanford, he would be the professor in the AeroAstro Department I would like to work with the most.

Thanks astrosnail! I'm most likely taking MIT's offer, and this (along with other great feedback I've received in the previous days) makes me doubt. Did you happen to talk to Prof. Farhat, Prof. Alonso or Prof. Lele? If so, what impression did they (or their students) give to you?

Hey guys! Did anyone attend the Visit Day at Stanford? Any feedback about it?

As far as I know: Stanford AeroAstro: Friday February 14 MIT Computation for Design and Optimization: Thursday March 13

My research interests lie in the intersection of computational engineering, applied mathematics, and aerospace engineering (numerical methods for simulation, optimization, uncertainty quantification, and HPC). I am especially interested in fluids (CFD), but I am open to apply computational engineering to other "physics", or to general topics in design optimization and UQ. As for my top choice, it would be either MIT AeroAstro or MIT CDO (there are pretty much no differences in terms of courses and research). My professors of interest would be Prof. Peraire, Prof. Marzouk, Prof. Wang and Prof. Willcox, in that order. I assume you are attending Caltech, is that right? What is your research field? I am pretty interested in the research by Prof. Pullin, Prof. Meiron and Prof. Colonius (computational physics of fluids) at Caltech, but I don't really think I have a shot there (mainly due to my terrible GRE scores...)

Undergrad Institution #1: Average Spanish Institution Major(s): Industrial Engineering Minor(s): Overall GPA: 8.65 Length of Degree: 5 years Position in Class: Top (out of 200 students approx.) Type of Student: International Undergrad Institution #2: Average Spanish Institution Major(s): Mechanical Engineering Minor(s): Overall GPA: 8.69 Length of Degree: 4 years Position in Class: Unkwown (top?) Type of Student: International GRE Scores: Q: 165 V: 152 W: 3.0 TOEFL Total: 113 Research Experience: 1. Research Asisstant, Heat Engines Laboratory at my local university, 1 year. 2. Research Engineer Intern, CFD Group at Cidaut R&D Center, 3 months. 3. Research Assistant, Combustion and Solar Energy Laboratory at San Diego State University, 1 year. 4. Research Assistant, Department of Applied Mathematics at my local university, Since Nov 2013. 5. Research Engineer, Cidaut R&D Center, Since Aug 2013. Publications: 3 1st-author journal papers, 1 coauthor journal paper, 3 1st-author conference papers, 1 thesis. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: • Renault Award for the best undergraduate thesis on sustainability in Spain • Best Academic Record Award in Industrial Engineering • “la Caixa” Fellow (merit-based scholarship worth $150,000 for graduate studies in the U.S. from 2014 to 2016) • College of Engineering Dean’s Award, SDSU Student Research Symposium • Finalist in the Spanish Engineering Competition 2012 • Grant for Research Projects (Principal Investigator) • First prize in the Valladolid Engineering Competition 2011 • Scholarship throughout undergraduate studies for outstanding academic achievement Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: • Reviewer in an international conference • Principal Investigator of a novel CSP technology under the support of one of the three big companies of the solar sector. Applying for [ MS ] or [ PhD ] at: MIT - Aeronautics and Astronautics MIT - Computation for Design and Optimization Stanford - Aeronautics and Astronautics Caltech - Space Engineering Princeton - Aerospace Engineering University of Michigan - Aerospace Engineering Georgia Tech - Aerospace Engineering UCLA - Aerospace Engineering UCSD - Aerospace Engineering