Sura

@pbnwhey Wow! 25K for 9 months sounds awesome. I am nominated for the department fellowship (international student :/) which comes to around 23K for 9 months, but full time RA in the summer which should compensate for it Unfortunately, EE department has not invited for visits, and neither have my other schools of admits (UIUC, UMD), so I have to skip open house. Got a difficult decision to make and a visit would have given some perspective. Enjoy your visit and do keep us posted!

@pbnwhey Can I ask you which fellowship you obtained? I am not sure about other schools, but the school of engineering says nothing about summer in it's fellowship, although my guide guarantees that I would either go for internships or be employed as a full time RA in her lab. Also, is your 25K package for 9months or 12? If 12, then what does the summer funding imply? Sorry, I have no clue how things work.

Hey @b-man, Electrical Engineering PhD accept at other universities here. I got rejected from Stan tough. My specialization is communication theory (information, coding theory, wireless theory, information security, signal processing etc.). I personally would not put CMU and UCSD in the same boat as Stan and EPFL. But mind that Stan communication group comprising of Andrea Goldsmith, David Tse, Wiessman etc etc. is currently working on applied problems (like Andrea is full on wireless and Tse on bioinformatics, ML, Wiessman too shifting to ML). EPFL has an extremely strong (and highly interdisciplinary) theory group and you must be aware of the fact that most coding theory inventions/discoveries have been courtesy of EPFL EDIC. Amin Shokrollahi, Martin Vetterli, Rudiger Urbanke to name a few extremely renowned computer scientists/electrical engineers at EPFL. Stan on the other hand is not EECS (like EDIC) and you may want to consider that based on your broad interests. Ultimately my advisors tell me that Stan is the best place in case you want to start up or go into the industry, get contacts while EPFL would be better in case you wanted to work on hardcore theory problems and be a part of technological revolutions in communication sciences. Also if you are indeed considering non-academic factors, EPFL pays unlike any other school, and you should save handsomely. Stan pays well for US standards though and the stipend should be sufficient to carry you through your studies (the information is from PhD students at the respective schools). The best advise would come from someone who is working on communication track at either of the 2 places. All the best!

Absolutely! Thanks all for the useful information. Am sure this would others as well.

@StrongTackleBacarySagna I said that because of my interactions with my current academic advisors. There seems to be an utter disregard amongst them for any factor other than academic, more specifically, research fit. When I bring up the topic of climate, they be like - "why do you even worry about that?" I just don't expect them to encourage my non-academic activities; and I am sure most freshers face the same problem that plummets them into a dilemma. @TakeruK Could you elaborate a bit more on opportunities for international students to earn (like paper correction, scribing work)? I currently don't have plans to do something like that, but who knows my situation after 2-3 years, would be good to to know something about that. Specifically, does geography give a huge advantage for the same? Thanks all for your replies.

@compscian Yes, thank you! Never gave this a thought. This is exactly why I asked the question, certain things can only be realized once you actually are in grad school and see yourself/your peers struggling. Thanks again!

Hi all, I must say that there are some fantastic answers from post-graduates here like that of @juilletmercredi's endless advice on spending time productively at grad school. I am sure there are many more enlightening posts on the same topic. It would be really helpful if people like her could give meaningful life advice for incoming grads at the stage of making decisions. My dilemma is one that a majority of my peer group, I believe, is facing - research and the guides are two important factors upon which one chooses a grad school, but when one just can't make up her/his mind based on these 2 factors alone (like in my case where all options seem equally attractive and even my current guides pointed out that I could not go wrong with any decision), what other extraneous factors creep in to have an enjoyable 5-6 years at the grad school? I do strongly believe, contrary to the popular opinion, that factors like the social life, weather and location too play a significant role in choosing a grad school. Your research is going to decide on your career, what you do apart from that will shape you as a person which is also imperative. In fact, I could also say that having a great life outside of your school would hold you in good stead through the difficult PhD times, right? Doesn't mental and physical well-being reinforce intellectualism? Also, for someone like myself coming from a tropical climate, weather is indeed a crucial factor. Not having been accustomed to freezing temperatures, wouldn't it take a toll on my health in the long run? That would definitely affect my research too, wouldn't it? I am sure there are many more factors based on which one must make their decision, I simply can't think of anything more. It would be of great help to incoming grads like myself if experienced people like @juilletmercredi guide us in making an optimal choice for someone who does not have the mentality of "put-the-career-above-everything-else" and making a compromise on other things even if it means a dx improvement on your research. Any answer would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hey @deborah_caf, ECE PhD accept here, I have not accepted my offer yet, still thinking between 2 schools apart from UIUC. About the apartments, it should not even be a concern, what is the fellowship stipend that you are receiving? The grad housing is like 700$ for a fully furnished SINGLE bedroom, which is damn cheap. You can live there peacefully, explore for the first semester and then decide on your roommate.

Hey, UCLA Electrical Engineering PhD accept here. Fellowship offer with stipend of 2.5K$ a month. Is that good/bad for LA? Rent seems to be over the roof here.

@Unimpressed3D Hi, I had the exact same problem. Some places contacted me quite early. My guide suggested me to be professional in my approach. Tell them that you really like their program, ask a lot of questions about their group/funding/school in general. Remember that they have been doing this for a long time and they understand that you are looking forward to hearing from other places as well. In case they ask you to make a decision, you MUST let them know that you have applied to other places as well and are looking forward to hearing from them as well. You don't want to commit yourself prematurely to the place, however high it's ranked on your list. Let them know you need time. Most likely, they won't ask you about other places (they just wanted me to let them know once I was close to a decision - either acceptance or rejection), in which case you are fine. It's always good to sound diplomatic and at the same time excited. Do take the advice of professors in your school too as they would definitely guide you better.

@compscian Hmmm yeah, I got to do a bit of research into those I reckon. Thanks a lot for the insightful information man! Wish you all the best on your graduate schooling

OK, I am going to answer this from a perspective of an international EE PhD applicant. I am by no means one of the best candidates in my institute, but I figured I'll take my chances and went ahead in applying to PhD (rather than MS first and PhD later) and voila, I got admits from great schools (UIUC, UCLA - but the elite schools rejected me as expected). So you never know about the graduate admission process, lots of extraneous factors come into play as somebody already mentioned. At the same time, it helps a LOT if you are a US citizen. I personally know some of them whose profile were sub-standard (pardon the expression) and who got admitted in the top schools (MIT, Stan, Berkeley etc..); I surely believe I would have gotten these places if I were a US citizen - so yes citizenship helps a lot, especially in the case of a funded PhD. Please don't interpret the above in a wrong way, I also know many brilliant US citizens who deservedly got in top places, am just saying it takes much more effort if you are an international applicant. To answer your question about UCSD masters; I think UCSD is a fantastic school, especially for the communications track (not sure about the circuits, RF and other sub-fields). You would definitely be benefited by doing well in their MS program, but more importantly, I would suggest you start doing quality research whilst you spend your time at MS coursework (in case it's a course based MS). Decent research work + good grades + good LORs from UCSD would get you into the best of places for a PhD. Hope that helps.

Hey guys, Thanks for the suggestions. I applied in information theory (communication theory) and I have been assigned specific research advisors in all the places. I had a chat with them and research/reputation wise all are big shots in the field, I have absolutely no preference amongst the three. In this scenario, would you still suggest I should lean towards UIUC because the group there is better (since the advisor is all that matters right? and I have been assigned already) ? Thanks!

Hi, Most acceptance deadlines are April 15th, but it HAS to be there in the offer letter. If not, better mail the department.

Hi all, I am an undergraduate from India who got admitted in UCLA, UIUC and UMD's electrical engineering department for the PhD program. UCLA and UMD gave me fellowships while UIUC put me as a research assistant in a POI's lab. Research wise all 3 same to be equally attractive. But UIUC's department seems to be a bit better, while UCLA has the brand-value advantage (or so I think). Also I am thinking about LA vs Urbana-Champaign (the comforts and nice weather of LA wins!). I am not really sure which would be a good fit. Could you guys tell me about the factors which I should take into account (other than research) for a great graduate life? If so, could you shed some light about the 3 places? Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.