Hi,
I am a U.S. Citizen but English is not my native language. I applied for Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering to several top schools for Fall 2014, but so far ended up with zero acceptances.
Do you have any relevant advice for me?
I earned my BSc. in 2004, and my MSEE in 2011. My GRE scores are V: 150, Q: 167, and A: 5.0. I have 10 years of industrial experience in the wireless communication field working in top companies, 3 patents, and 1 paper published a world-class journal. I flew all over the world, and have an excellent understanding of how to deal with different cultures.
My recommendations are very strong. I waived my rights to seeing them, but my recommenders (all professors and senior lecturers from UT Dallas and one Director at my work), who know me and my capabilities quite well, showed me what they wrote and they highlighted my research capabilities and strongly recommended me to the programs I applied to.
In my statement of purpose I spoke mainly about how I started from Computer Engineering and ended up in the Wireless domain, and excelled in that despite many challenges such as having to work till very late on a MATLAB project while I have a customer meeting next day, or with my kids needing my attention. I mentioned how a Ph.D. will help me in my future plans and shared some of my desired research insights.
I emailed several professors and heard back from them. While they all showed interest in me and my case, none of them promised me admission stating they needed to review my profile first. I mentioned that I would not require funding (but would appreciate any) and that I would be completely disconnected from work in the beginning of the program.
Here are some questions I would like your answers for:
1- What do you think could my short falling have been?
2- Is it worth applying again to the schools that rejected me in the future?
Thanks!