Mechanician2015

I would like to ask for your opinion and/or suggestions for a new application, Fall 2016. Just to be clear, I already have an idea of my approach for next year, and this is certainly not the "Q145 V141, what are my chances?" post. Preamble: I applied to 5 programs this year. Rejections=3, Admissions=2. I am not sure I will be able to secure funding at the two programs that accepted me. My profile: International student. ~Alma Mater: Best national school in engineering, but certainly not in the top 500 worldwide. ~Major: Mechanical engineering ~GPA: 3.43 out of 4.00( Cum laude, if it's any worth) ~1.5 years of experience as research/lab assistant, no publications. ~Research-focused undergrad thesis ~2 years of experience in the industry(nothing related to research) GRE: Q161 V163 AWA: 4 TOEFL: R:30 L:30 S:27 W:28 Total: 115. Recommenders: 1 strong( in the sense that it's a working PhD in applied math) 2 weak( one from industry, one from a PhD candidate that is research leader of a project I worked for) Research interests: Dynamics and vibrations Nonlinear dynamics Computational Fluid Dynamics (I think my first step will be to remove this ambiguity). Comments: I applied to two types of programs: the standard PhD in mechanical engineering and a PhD in a more obscure field tightly related to applied math and mechanics. My 3 rejections are from the later type of programs(that happen to be from the top 15, one ivy and two "new" ivies). The two admissions are from PhD in Mechanical engineering, roughly ranked #23 and #24. I think I didn't refine my research interests as deeply as I could have(I'm thinking on writing something more similar to a research proposal than a personal statement). Also, my background and GPA might be a limitation at the top 10. I will retake the GRE, since I think I can get into the quant 90th percentile without much effort( same for AWA ). I am also thinking on finding new recommenders(at least 1 new). At this point, I am not sure if I should keep trying into the top 10, or just try to maximize my chances applying to the 20-40 range, contact faculty earlier to try to secure funding, or a combination of both. In fact, my position at this point is to ask for an admission deferral, but I am not very sure this will help me with funding.

Are you in a thesis MSc? Sounds like you could participate, at least as co-author, in a publication by the time you apply for PhD. That might boost your chances.( Of course, my background is not related to your field, so take my comment with a grain of salt).

In terms of "ranking", GaTech is the best option. I'm more into dynamics/vibrations, and I can tell that Cornell's presence in journals is solid( GaTech comes in a second place, for my area of interest). [We are talking about ASME, Springer and Elsevier.] In MechE, I think that GaTech and Cornell belong to the next rank up as compared to that of UCLA. So I would only pick UCLA if the research fit was vastly better than in the other two(plus, if you decide to go into academia, Cornell will pressumably open many more doors than UCLA ). A point in favor of Cornell(I dind't really check GaTech website very much) is that their faculty is massive, interdisciplinary and many professors at different levels seem to cooperate. This is a symptom of a healthy faculty. UCLA had only 1 professor in my area of interest(red flag for obvious reasons).

@rising_star: I'm not retaking because of the AWA, I'm retaking because of the quant. However, even in my field an AWA around 4.5~5.0 is desired. Gee, I expected a bit more of feedback =P

The following link contains some information on the averages and ranges of GRE scores in the social sciences. GRE scores for Social Sciences It seems you are above average for Sociology, even at the top 10.

If everything goes wrong in the next 2 weeks, I will retake. Although I'm in the low 160's, I find this approach useful, thanks and congrats for your score.

If you have a good GPA, 3 summers in REU's, a published paper or "high-impact" recommendations, sure retaking the GRE is not necessary. I see the GRE retake as a compensation of a weakness in one of those points(yeah, I know, there is no way a GRE Q=170 can replace a strong LoR from a working researcher in academia).

Thanks for your suggestion. I know for sure(to the extent that things can be known) that none of my recommenders sabotaged my application. However, I have been reading in some sources related to academia that recommendations from " the industry" are virtually invalid/extremelly weak, as well as recommendations from non-PhD's( despite their work in research/position). One of the programs that admitted me has a cutoff at AWA 3.5, though. I will try to get feedback from the other programs.

I would like to ask for your opinion and/or suggestions for a new application, Fall 2016. Just to be clear, I already have an idea of my approach for next year, and this is certainly not the "Q145 V141, what are my chances?" post. Preamble: I applied to 5 programs this year. Rejections=3, Admissions=2. I am not sure I will be able to secure funding at the two programs that accepted me. My profile: International student. ~Alma Mater: Best national school in engineering, but certainly not in the top 500 worldwide. ~Major: Mechanical engineering ~GPA: 3.43 out of 4.00( Cum laude, if it's any worth) ~1.5 years of experience as research/lab assistant, no publications. ~Research-focused undergrad thesis ~2 years of experience in the industry(nothing related to research) GRE: Q161 V163 AWA: 4 TOEFL: R:30 L:30 S:27 W:28 Total: 115. Recommenders: 1 strong( in the sense that it's a working PhD in applied math) 2 weak( one from industry, one from a PhD candidate that is research leader of a project I worked for) Research interests: Dynamics and vibrations Nonlinear dynamics Computational Fluid Dynamics Comments: I applied to two types of programs: the standard PhD in mechanical engineering and a PhD in a more obscure field tightly related to applied math and mechanics. My 3 rejections are from the later type of programs(that happen to be from the top 15, one ivy and two "new" ivies). The two admissions are from PhD in Mechanical engineering, roughly ranked #23 and #24. I think I didn't refine my research interests as deeply as I could have(I'm thinking on writing something more similar to a research proposal than a personal statement). Also, my background and GPA might be a limitation at the top 10. I will retake the GRE, since I think I can get into the quant 90th percentile without much effort( same for AWA ). I am also thinking on finding new recommenders(at least 1 new). At this point, I am not sure if I should keep trying into the top 10, or just try to maximize my chances applying to the 20-40 range, contact faculty earlier to try to secure funding, or a combination of both. In fact, my position at this point is to ask for an admission deferral, but I am not very sure this will help me with funding.

- Well, if you can spare USD$30, you can purchase the "1 Year of Unlimited Engineering School Compass Access" of U.S. News report. It contains rankings, average GRE and more. That being said, this year I applied to programs with Q-GRE average of 166, and some people got in with as low as 159. Conversely, you can see how many applicants with Q-GRE=170 were rejected at MIT and the likes. I see the stats as a good starting point, they are NOT the full decision( also, in my case, I would retake the GRE because some type of FUNDING is dependant on an exceptional GRE score).

Rensselaer waived the application fee for me this year(I just had to participate in a webinar, which I was going to watch anyways). I am an international applicant too.

- Did you contact the professors you want to work with at each program? It might help. - This year I applied to 2 top 10, 1 top 15 and 2 top 50. Programs in the top 15 rejected me. Programs under the top 15 accepted me. If you have a weakness like a relatively low GPA, try with lower programs! - GRE retake will surely boost your profile. Keep in mind that competition in Material science is fierce. - I don't know what factors you take into account to pick the programs you are applying to. Benchmarking is paramount. Do you know a rough estimate of the average GPA and GRE score's of the programs you applied to? Do you know more or less the profile of the other applicants? You can use the Search Results function here on grad cafe. Hopefully, your intended school and program will have enough entries to draw an idea of the profile of admitted students. I don't know but, if I was a faculty member, I would like to know that my students have the commitment you are showing.

It depends a lot on the program, area and university. I've seen full tuition waiver and TA-ship for Master programs on engineering and the physical sciences(and I think economics too). It's not common at all, but it happens. The key seems to be previous contact with faculty.

Based on the results of previous years, at least SOME of the funding is offered after April 15. But I guess you are right, Sword_Saint, some funding options might not be relocated after rejections.

I guess it's a bit late, but here are my 2 cents: I was accepted by 2 PhD programs in the top 50. No information about funding so far. I established contact with POI, and he seems to have a couple projects in progress that would allow him to fund some new students. It seems that funding awards will run as late as the second week of april. By then, I suspect, many of the "strong" applicants will reject because they are already in a top 10 program. So I predict a relocation of funds right after april 15. If, after all this, no funding offer has been made, I would inquire on the possibility of a deferral on the program that I prefer.