mmm35

Ceseda, thanks for a reasonable and not incredibly hyperbolic reply (it seems like yesterday was just the mean people making mean comments day). This is why I'm not married yet and don't plan to be married until I'm settled in my career. Of course you have to sacrifice when you are married to someone. In the meantime, it's much easier to find a new guy that I could be happy with than it is to find a new job that I'd be happy with. That may be harsh, but it's true. I don't believe in soul mates or anything close to soul mates, and I know that my boyfriend could also easily find another girl he was happy with. I want us both to have everything, and if we can't have everything together, then we'll have to have it apart. And for now, we've been lucky and will be very close for the next 4 or 5 years I have only seen maybe 5 truly happy long-term marriages in my life, and it seems to me that the best formula for a happy marriage is two people who knew who they were before they married and are happy with all other aspects of their life. I want to be satisfied and happy myself rather than following someone else and depending on them for happiness.

On Fridays for happy hour the BRB is only for grads, you have to show your ID to get in. Undergrads can only get in with a grad student. The rest of the time its open to anyone.

Yeesh. I get that it is a stressful time right now for some people, but can't we all just get along? I'll have my values and you'll have yours and we will never ever ever date each other I'm an engineer, I'm a realist, and I know that things like job satisfaction have a large effect on the success of a relationship. Mostly, I would never demand anything of a partner that I wouldn't do myself, and my personal definition of love is wanting the best for someone even if it means that I'm not it. (and yes my boyfriend has a job that would be a lot less interesting if he were to leave a short list of large cities). You really can't plan life, and I know MANY couples who have broken up after one makes a big move for the other. So why plan too much, why not just encourage your partner to do everything that they can to be happy? "When you find everything you've looked for, I hope your life leads you back to my door. Oh but if it don't, stay beautiful." (however feel free to call me crazy for quoting Taylor Swift)

I feel like this is and odd Catch 22 for women in academia (or really any successful women). We want a guy who is as ambitious and successful as us, but a relationship is very difficult when both partners are following their dreams and not following eachother. My situation is that my boyfriend got his dream job for next year, and I got into my dream school. By some bizarre luck we will only be an hour apart (though this wasn't a major consideration for either of us in accepting jobs/schools). However, I still wonder what will happen when I do a postdoc and look for a tenure track position in the future. I know he won't follow me, and I know that I won't give up a dream job to be near him. And I don't think I could ever fully respect someone who would follow me around. I guess what I'm saying is, there is no ideal partner for women in our situation. It is either someone with less ambition who will follow you or someone with as much ambition as you who will always be travelling on a separate path. My plan is to keep going and hope for more luck along the way (and to be willing to make small concessions myself). It is almost impossible to know what to expect in the next 10 years, so why worry about it too much? If he wants to follow you then that is his decision to make, not yours. Of course if you are starting to get over him (which sounds like it may be the case) then he has a right to know.

I think that would be fine. I know my school specifically said by 5:00 pm on the 15th.

Well it was my last choice from the beginning due to research, umm personalities, and budget issues. Plus it's not the top in my sub field. I got into my top choice with fantastic funding months ago and feel like I don't want to go anywhere that took this long to get it together. It is silly to take several months to decide and give students only a few days. They just rejected me too so I guess the feeling is mutual So happy to be done with this all! I hope you all end up with excellent choices as well!

Didn't someone say that CEE admissions at Berkeley said they'd send out everything last week? But several people still haven't heard? Oh well, I've notified my top choice that I'm coming. I guess I should withdraw from Berkeley then

I've heard it is dangerous to go to a school for one professor. If he is brand new, does he have tenure yet? If not, and if things continue to get worse in California, you should realize that while the school is not paying you it is paying him . . . If there are people at Cornell who have research that you have some interest in then I would say pick Cornell. Your research interests will probably change a bit anyway, and it sounds to me like Cornell is a sure thing while UCLA is a huge question mark. As far as living in Ithaca goes, the weather is deffinitely miserable, but the town is fantastic. People frequently stick around for summer because it is the best time of year there. If you are at all into nature, farmers markets and outdoor activities I don't think you will get bored there. The university brings in lots of cultural stuff, and NYC is only a bus ride away if you get desperate. The only thing I really noticed missing during my time in Ithaca was having a place to go shopping (like clothes shopping) but that isn't a huge deal and poor grad students can't afford clothes anyway (though Cornell's engineering stipend is very very high when you consider the cost of living in Ithaca)

Has anyone else not heard from Berkeley CEE yet? I've decided where I am going next year, but I'm not sure if I should contact Berkeley to withdraw my application and say if I am on some sort of unoficial waitlist please remove me or if that is bad from at this point? I don't want to not withdraw if I am still being considered, but I don't want to seem rude by informing them I don't want to be considered at the last minute either. Should I just assume rejection and that I shouldn't bother telling them? It looks like they have sent out rejections and acceptances allready, so I'm not sure why they are being silent on my application. Maybe they lost it along with those transcripts they e-mailed about

Well, it refers to me by the wrong name but it does correctly refer to a project I worked on (of course only to say mean things). I was totally prepared to not get an award, and honestly wasn't too dissappointed at all until I looked at the rating sheets and found my chances were ruined by one mean reviewer that hated everything that the others liked and couldn't be bothered to get my name right! Now I just feel cheated or like I said something to offend the reviewer (though I don't know what) But I didn't need the money and I can always try again next year when I am at a university and have better support than I did this time around.

I didn't believe people when they said that this was arbitraty. . . but one person torpedoed my ratings. I had all Very Good and Excellent except for this person's two Goods. The reviewer directly contradicted everything the other two said, and adressed me as Laura. My name is not Laura and does not start with an L or even end with an A; in fact my name only shares one letter with Laura. WTF. On the bright side I got more money than this in my school's fellowship. But I'm still feeling like they didn't even read my application seriously given the wrong name issue. Does three reviewers mean you made it past the first round?

Does anyone have any advice on finding a roommate? I want to live in the on-campus apartments, but I don't know anyone to live with. I'm a little nervous about signing up for a random roommate, is anyone else planning on doing that?

I should also add that if you are just looking for a masters degree to get a job, there is the advantage that an MEng should only take you one year while an MS may take longer. And it is true that very few employers will distinguish between the two; a masters degree is a masters degree.

I completed an MEng degree at Cornell (but in a different field). Honestly, I believe that most MEng students at Cornell were Cornell undergrads who decided to stick around for an extra semester or year - Cornell allows any engineers who maintain a high enough GPA to enter into the MEng program, and even lets seniors who are ahead in coursework begin the MEng while completing undergrad. I did not know any MEng students who had done undergrad at another school. MEng is intended as a professional degree, and would certainly give you a leg up on getting a job in industry over someone with a bachelors degree. I'm not sure how valuable it is in terms of academia. I'm applying to PhD programs now and most schools will allow me to go straight to a PhD, but I think that it is common for engineers to go straight to a PhD anyway. I think it will only benefit me by allowing me to take my general exams earlier in the program and maybe cut a semester out of my program. The MEng program consists of an almost undergrad amount of coursework along with a project. This project can be as research-ey or as design-ey as you and your advisor agree on. But I think it is common for it to be a small part of someone else's project rather than something that is truly your own. I guess if you are just looking to get a job in industry an MEng is good, but if you want to be in academia and ultimately are looking for a PhD, I don't really think it is what you are looking for.

Has anyone heard from Berkeley about PhD admits yet? I've seen masters decisions on the results page, but no PhD decisions. I am beginning to wonder if they are even making decisions and whether it is worth it to try to withdraw my application. After that bizarre, non-sensical e-mail about not having the money to pay staff to deal with transcripts, do they just not have it together enough to give out decisions? I heard from every other school several weeks ago or more :/ Is it normal to send out decisions when its too late to plan a visit? Will they even be able to reimburse travel costs for visits anyway?

Over the years since finishing undergrad, I have heard many people say if you get a job and work you will never end up going back to school. But I don't really see the major concern with this; if you like your job so much that you'd rather do it than go back to school, well then isn't it good that you found something you like better (and is probably an easier life path)? Personally, as someone who took a few years off to work, I have wanted to go back to school more and more every day I have worked. In the meantime I have saved up money to help if I have any monetary issues when I'm back in school, and more importantly I have figured out what I want to go to school for and that I really do want to go back to school. Honestly, working is so much easier and if anyone thinks they could be happier in industry than in academia, I don't know why they would ever choose academia. I'm going back because it is the only thing I can see myself doing. I also think that while the specific experience of working in industry may not have helped me get into school, that the seriousness shown by leaving a good job for school may have helped professors to know that I was going to work hard and finish. Additionally, the time for reflection certainly strengthened my SOP. I guess what I'm saying is, I don't know the best way to improve your chances, but don't just dismiss working for a few years that quickly, I think many many undergrads would benefit from a few years with a job before grad school.

Hello everyone- I have been accepted to three schools that gave me first year fellowships, but then don't mention anything about the following years. Is this normal? I was accepted to one school that offered an assistantship for my advisor for all years and said it will be for at least x dollars, and this makes me feel much more comfortable (and was actually more money than two of the fellowships). My question is, should I feel safe financially accepting an offer at a school that only mentions a first year fellowship in the offer? The university I am leaning towards says I would get the first year fellowship with the expectation of a research assistantship over the summer, depending on funds, and the $x on top of any assistantships for the following three years ($x being a number that is not enough to live on for a year). Would you accept an offer like this or is it risky if I don't get an assistantship? Other departments in the school of engineering say funding is guranteed to all students, so should I take this as a sign that it will be okay? I plan to ask professors and students about this when I visit, but am slightly nervous to not have anything in writing. Is it normal to have the funding for your entire anticipated time at the school specified in writing in the offer?

I am more of the open as fast as humanely possible school of thought, but before hearing from the top choice school I was very superstitious in that I thought if I had any negative thoughts I wouldn't get in. So I'd walk around the city thinking things like oh wow, that woman is wearing a beautiful dress and that guy was so kind to hold the elevator door for me all the time and correcting myself the second I had a negative thought. I figured that if I thought I would get in I would get in so it was best to think only positive things. On days when I'd had negative thoughts I would hope not to hear anything that day and purposely not check the mail. I got the e-mail on a Sunday night around 7 with only the school's name in the title and opened it as fast as my shaking hands could then immediately hyperventilated and called my boyfriend and could not even breathe well enough to tell him that I got in, haha. I can't remember if I had had positive or negative thoughts that day though .

Does anyone know much about the women in engineering and computer science awards? How many additional awards go to this, or is it not something that is specifically called out? Do they all just get told they received NSF GRF's and not get told that it was under the special women's category? I wasn't anticipating the NSF decisions too much, but now that I have heard from all the grad schools I care about I am getting anxious! I think my brain is so used to worrying that it can't just take a break, so instead I am trying to figure out what my chances are. (not that my assesment for my grad school acceptance chances was in any way on target, but its a way to pass the time )

Thanks, everyone for the responses. I guess the second half of this question is how specific are you when ranking professors' prestige, and how much does this matter in comparison with how well you get along? If all potential advisors teach at excellent schools and have a good reputation, should I then just focus on who I like better? At some point should I just say both advisors are good enough and then decide where I want to go based on other factors? Both advisors that I am currently thinking of publish frequently in good journals and are cited often, but one has won a big prize and the other hasn't. The one that hasn't is at the school I'm leaning towards, is this difference enough to base a decision on? I mean, as much as this decision feels like it will determine the rest of our lives, in the end we still will determine our own success and if your advisor is slightly better known matters much less than the research you will do, right?

I am relatively certain that Princeton has a requirement for all students to live within the Princeton area for at least one year (And I assume that NYC is outside of the Princeton area). I don't remember for sure if I read this for engineering or for the entire school, but look into that before making decisions based on commuting. In terms of living in NYC / visiting NYC what I have learned from friends at Princeton and from asking questions when I visited is that lots of students have significant others that live in NYC and go frequently. But many said that for the first year or so they were only able to visit once a month or every other weekend. Based on this I would assume that commuting would be very difficult. On top of that, they said that if I wanted to try to live in NYC while writing my thesis I should at the very least have a room in a house somewhere in Princeton to stay some nights. So, from an engineering perspective at least, I'd say commuting is probably not allowed for the first year, and probably not totally doable in other years. I don't mean to be discouraging, but I just wanted to share what I've learned and encourage you to try to be realistic when considering commuting.

Hi everyone- I'm trying to compare a few schools by the advisor I would chose at them, and I'm probably coming to the point of splitting hairs here, but how would you rank different ways of judging a professor's reputation? I'm an engineer, but feel free to offer advice relative to any field I have been out of school for a couple years, so I have limited resources available in terms of asking professors (and my masters advisor wants me to come back so its a bit uncomfortable to ask him about it). So far I'm looking at numbers of publications and prizes won, but I get stuck with professors who don't list CV's. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Maybe I am over thinking this all and should be satisfied if they teach at a great school and have a good listing of publications and interesting projects (and of course, are a good fit personality- and research-wise)? Thanks!

MIT has started sending out notice, but their visit day isn't until April 2nd, so they may not have sent out everything.

Does anyone know more specifics about the Butler apartments? Someone mentioned that they get cold in the winter, is this the only negative? I've looked for pictures online and they seem like they aren't luxury apartments, but like they are decent enough for a year or two and like it is a nice community? Do mostly families live in them? I have a pet so on campus housing doesn't leave me too many options, and it seems like I would at least have a shot at getting an apartment there since they aren't too popular? Thanks!