awaiter

yup, Princeton all the way. As far as I know Princeton is good for opto stuff. UIUC is better known for its ECE (communication systems etc) research. Also consider weather in Chicago which can get really cold in winter.

Got my rejection letter today dated March 10. Here goes another opportunity.

Thanks CG.

Got an email from UCSD saying that they were missing my transcripts:(. They should have told me this way before. All this inspite of bugging them for the status of my application from December. Now I am not sure my application will even undergo any review since already a few decisions have already been made.

@Confusedgoose Hi, when did you hear from Harvard and how did they contact you ?

However after one year of residency on California, the tution will be reduced to instate. So you probably do not have to bother too much about paying Out of state fee ( just in case you don't know) congrats !

Arvind: I think Stanford has a stronger research program (lab and faculty). One good thing at Princeton is they give you fair amout of time to try different things in first year ( like choose between theory, exp )and the quaiifiers are fairly doable. Having said that, a Stanford degree gives you better chances to get a good research position after you graduate. If you are looking for industrial posns..then both are pretty much the same. Coursework might be tougher at Stanford because of the competition.I recommend talking to some people from both univs in your department via email /phone. good luck

@London: If you are not too far off the east coast (going by your display name) it is better to take a visit to both places and check out for yourself. From what I know at Stanford people tend to be little proud and not as friendly you want them to be. I am not crticizing them for it. It is just the way they are. At Berkeley people are more friendly and happier. Ofcourse match in research interests must be the top priority and Congrats !

congrats to you. do you mind posting your profile in the profiles section. @random guy I tried the same number. After several attempts some one anwered the phone, i guess its during afernoon time. Let's wait and see

ok rejected from princeton by email 02/26.

wow Congrats ! you must be an exception as I can already see from your admits

Yes, Princeton should have been out by now. From unofficial sources I guess we can say the Adcomm meeting was today. Going by PGRE.org the decsions were out 2 days after the Physics Adcomm met . So we can expect something next week. I gave up on all top schools this year and not expecting anything positive though.. Good luck on your efforts! About Caltech: I have no idea..

@random guy I applied to Commn theory and systems but actually I stated Information Theory on my SOP. All: I called UCSD eecs admin today. They said they are reviewing applications by discipline( Signal Proc/ systems/Optics etc). The decisons for all disciplines would be out in the next 2 weeks.. so there is hope . and thanks to quadsbaby for sharing the info. good luck to all of us!

Hi: Me too waiting for UCSD. I don't think they have started reviewing applications for ECE yet. I guess you were talking about BME applicants. I talked to them like a week back. They gave me the standard reply : "will let you know the decison by April" Most of the schools do reviews for pure sciences before engineering. Some time in March we can expect an update. By the way what area ?

You are not alone. 3 Rejections already 4th one is due. All the best

Me too, Rejected. It has been a year of rejections so far and that includes my love

@thecaesar & quadsbaby: Thanks for sharing the information. I will try and see.

Southern California is a nice place to be except that it gets a little hot in summer. Cost of living is pretty high. if you are looking to do research, since you are admitted into Ph.d, it is a nice place to live. The program is broad in terms of number of areas covered. Recommend planning your area of research before you start Masters as you can priortize your area of interest. It compares very well with other Ph.D programs if you are looking for industrial position after Ph.d. If you are looking for a faculty position, it mostly depends on your work and little on your school. Congrats and good luck!

@thecaeser: I too applied for Physical Electronics. Actually I am from a communication systems background. Looking at the way things are going, my chances of getting in look remote. What school did you go to ? Were you able to get in touch any of the faculty there through email. I emailed folks in Prof. Yablonovitch's lab about the type of research etc, but haven't heard from them. Do they typically respond to such emails ?