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sleepyhead

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  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
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    Aerospace Engineering

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  1. I'm entering a PhD program in aerospace engineering this fall after working for a defense contractor for 2 years. Like others I'd say that if your job experience is relevant to your research field then it definitely helps your overall application. Your personal statement is your chance to explain how your job experience makes you better suited for research than applicants coming straight from undergrad. Personally my job was directly related to my research field and one of my main points in my statement was that I wanted to gain more expertise as I found industry to be restricting. Good luck!
  2. Undergrad Institution: University of Michigan (Also did 1 year MS in the same department) Major(s): Aerospace Engineering Overall GPA: BS: 3.7/MS: 4.0 Type of Student: Domestic male GRE Scores: Q: 167 V: 157 W: 4.0 Research Experience: 1 journal+conference publication (first author) during MS, did undergrad research for 2 years Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 internships at Boeing, worked full time at a major defense contractor for 2 years Applying for PhD at: University of Michigan - Aerospace Engineering - Accepted/ RA + fellowship offer Cornell University - Aerospace Engineering - Accepted/ RA + TA + fellowship offer Georgia Tech - Aerospace Engineering - Accepted/ RA + TA offer University of California, Berkeley - Mechanical Engineering - Accepted/ No funding Stanford University - Aero/Astro - Rejected MIT - Aero/Astro - Rejected Caltech - Aero/Astro - Rejected Will be returning to my MS advisor at the University of Michigan for a PhD. Stanford was really the only other school I would have liked to attend besides Michigan because of my research interests. I'm still very grateful and am very excited to go back to school.
  3. Are you planning on pursuing a PhD in the same department? My advice would be to take the tuition coverage as it's not the norm for MS students to be funded in aerospace engineering programs. Funding should definitely take priority over research fits since you don't want student loans to burden you down the road (especially if you're international/out of state). If you want to get a PhD, there's no reason why you shouldn't apply to other schools to work in areas that you're actually interested in after you finish your MS. If you want to stay in your department, you'll probably have to go through a formal application process anyhow. This means you'll be able to reach out to other professors that you're interested in for funding without necessarily burning bridges with your MS advisor. If your MS is thesis based, then I would more heavily weigh on your options. But if it's just coursework with optional research, then I wouldn't put too much stress on choosing your advisor. I did an MS in aerospace engineering 2 years ago and am returning to the same department for a PhD this fall, so I can definitely relate to your situation. Good luck!
  4. Are you returning to the same program? Is it still at Michigan? After working for 2 years, I'm going back to Michigan where I got my Master's from for a PhD this fall. I already fulfilled the coursework requirement and can take quals immediately, which would reduce my PhD length by at least a year. Though completing one in 2 years seem unrealistic even in my case where I don't have to take any more classes. I'm in engineering though, so a different field may have different requirements.
  5. Good luck on your research! Hopefully you'll get your funding situation worked out. I'm not sure if you're looking to get into the PhD program or just finish with an MS, but it looks like the MS to PhD requirements differ between departments. In aero, you just need a 3.5 GPA and a willing professor. Don't feel too bad about professors not responding. It's a hectic time right now with the end of the semester and graduation coming up. You should try reaching out again in the summer when they're less busy and have a clearer idea of what research topics are available in the fall. Keep your options open (including the advisor who responded to you).
  6. CU Boulder and UIUC are similarly ranked for aero grad programs, so you'll get top notch education at either school. It really comes down to funding, cost, research, and location. A lot of times, prospective students will go to schools where their areas of research are strongly represented by well known faculty regardless of overall school and department ranking. CU Boulder has a strong focus on space/astronautics so if you wanna do research in this area then you have your decision. Also the amount of funding you receive, cost of tuition, and cost of living should be considered as well. For location, I personally think Boulder is a beautiful mountain town and way better than UC which is completely flat and surrounded by farmland (and super cold during the winter).
  7. Sounds like Michigan is the place to be for you. I'm in a similar situation of choosing between Michigan and Cornell (having done undergrad at Michigan), and I am going to return to Ann Arbor this fall. Department strength should definitely be a priority and it sounds like Cornell is still far off from your other options. Although Cornell's campus is very pretty, there is not much going on in Ithaca and I think Ann Arbor beats it out in terms of quality of living. I would wait for UW's decision but have Michigan ready as your primary option. Let us know what you end up doing, good luck!
  8. Hey I'm glad you replied back. After over a month of mulling over the decision, I think I'm going back to Michigan for my PhD. I compared the most important aspects to me and Michigan beats out Cornell in most categories. 1. Department/Program ranking (multiple sources): Michigan (top 5) > Cornell (top 15) Aero Eng department at Michigan is its own entity and is much larger than Cornell's combined school containing three programs. This means the scope of research, budget, lab resources, and number of relevant faculty and courses are much larger at Michigan. 2. Research/Advisor Fits: Michigan > Cornell At Michigan I have two advisors who've offered to fund me in fields that I have the most interest in. One of them is my former Masters advisor who is very well known in his field and a publishing machine. My current job in industry is directly related to his field and so getting some real world experience before returning to the theory heavy side would be a nice career narrative. I also have the option to take on both advisors in a joint project that would combine the two fields. At Cornell we don't get to choose an advisor until after the first semester. Although this is nice in terms of exploration and trying out lab fits, there aren't any research fields that I have a direct interest or experience in. Going in with that uncertainty is a bit uneasy for me. 3. Funding: Michigan > Cornell Both schools offered full 5 year funding, but Michigan offered a 3 year fellowship on top and the two other years would be as an RA. At Cornell, PhDs are required to TA for at least a year and I prefer to avoid that so I can focus on research. Cornell has a slightly higher stipend (3k more a year), but the cost of living in Ithaca is also slightly higher than Ann Arbor. 4. Program duration: Michigan > Cornell I'm in a special situation of having already completed a Master's in a program I'm intending to return to. This means I can count my grad coursework and research (including a published paper) towards the PhD requirement and take the quals a lot earlier. Technically, I've already fulfilled the PhD coursework requirement and do not have to take any more classes. This means I'll have a leg up at Michigan and hit the ground running while most likely finishing my PhD earlier as well. 5. Location: Cornell > Michigan This is the only category that Cornell beats out Michigan. Like you, I've visited Cornell and agree that it's beautiful (much more so than the depressing north campus). I also feel burnt out thinking about returning to Ann Arbor and spending another half a decade there. Thinking about a new school, new city, and new people is almost enough for me to ignore the four categories above and I realized my thought process was getting very emotional. I was focused on the here and now and not being logical about the comparison. I need to go a program that will maximize my chance for success during the PhD and afterwards as well. Michigan is very much top tier for aerospace engineering and sometimes I forget that cause I already spent 5 years there. I've talked to a bunch of people since my original post and it's crazy how most of my peers say go to Cornell while older folks (parents, professors, co-workers, etc) say go to Michigan. In the end, I find excitement in being a student again and I think I can be happy in either location. College is very much what you make of it and as long as I find value in what I'm doing it should be alright. Hopefully this doesn't look like a bunch of rambling haha. If you do end up going to Cornell I wish you the best of luck.
  9. Congrats on getting accepted! I was doing a course only Master's so having an advisor was not required, but the professor I researched for became my advisor (I'm actually going back to him for a PhD this fall). I would contact every EECS professor that is in your area of interest after April 15th to see if they are looking for any Masters students. Ideally you're looking for professors who aren't taking any PhD students the following year and have some funding to take on Master students. Good luck!
  10. I received one, though for engineering. I'm entering the PhD program this fall so I'm in the same boat as you. I heard that the summer bridge program is an excellent way to network and meet fellow students while getting a great introduction to life in Ann Arbor. I think it's especially worth it for people coming from a different school since you'll get a good perspective of what it's like to be a grad student at Michigan. I'll probably attend it as well even though I did my undergrad here. It's not like I'll have anything more productive going on when I move to Ann Arbor early August. Good luck!
  11. I attended Michigan as an engineering grad student and was in your shoes three years ago. It'll be tough to find GSI or GSRA positions your first semester since advisors are reluctant to hand those out to masters students they haven't worked with yet (Also PhDs have priority and will take the majority of available positions). What I did was conduct research with a willing advisor for a semester (for credit) and once I "performed," he was willing to fund the rest of my masters with GSRA. Sure I had to pay tuition for the first semester, but it didn't take long to pay it off once I graduated. Good luck on your studies!
  12. Hi fluttershy, did you end up deciding where to go? I'm in almost the exact same situation as you were and wanted to hear what you ended up deciding on. I also had a thread asking the same question here: Let me know, thanks.
  13. Thanks guys for the response! I guess my post came off as a bit more subjective than I would have liked, seeing how the wording makes it seem like I want to go to Cornell. And you guys are right, I definitely feel more comfortable at the thought of going there instead of Michigan at this point. I'm still waiting to hear back from two more schools (they're both long shots at this point), but I'm more certain of where I wanna go now.
  14. Admission decisions are out, and I'm trying to decide between two PhD programs in engineering as they are very different. University of Michigan: Ranked top 5, large public state school, and I did my bachelor's and master's here a few years ago (I'm currently in industry). Strong ties to industry. I would work with the same advisor I had during my master's, very well known in the field, hands-off style, has multiple potential projects I could work on, and personally I get along with him very well Received a university level fellowship that covers 3 years and the rest would be with assistantship Some of my closest friends are still at the university and the familiarity with the campus and town would be a big plus On the flip side, I'm hesitant to spend another 5 years at the same university as things got old pretty quick and I was itching to leave when I was doing my master's. I get exhausted just thinking about spending that much time again at the same school, same department, same building, and the same people. Cornell University: Ranked top 10, ivy-league, smaller department, and I love their campus as I've visited before. Less ties to industry, much more academic environment. The department doesn't match students with professors until the second semester, so I don't know who'd be my advisor. There are a few I'm interested in, but there's no guarantee that I'll end up with somebody who's a good fit research wise and personality wise. However this opens up an opportunity to explore other research areas and I'd have some amount of choice in who I work with. Full funding, stipend package is a bit better than school 1 (~4k more a year), and university level fellowship covers the first semester while we look for advisors A new location and campus would be a very welcome change of pace with new people to meet, friends and memories to make. Honestly I wish I could just combine the two schools and attend that, as there are pros and cons to both. Anyways, any advice or perspective would be appreciated, thanks for reading!
  15. Hey sillykim, I'm Korean also and currently live in Tucson where the University of Arizona is located. Let me know if you have any questions regarding quality of life in Tucson and the Korean community here if you're interested. I haven't applied to any of the other schools you mentioned, but good luck !
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