DiscoTech

You might want to provide some additional information/context .....

Take the job. Graduate school will be around in a couple of years time. This Intel offer might not. More importantly, you'll get a flavor for what working in industry is like. No, it probably won't be anything like what you'd be doing with a PhD, but you'll get a sense for the pace and priorities inside industry. Aside from the obvious benefits - entering graduate school with some savings - there's a good chance working at Intel will sharpen your focus if you go to graduate school in the future. A lot of people end up wasting their first couple of years in graduate school because they are trying to get a hang of what they're really interested in and what type of advisor they want to work for. This was true for many of my peers. If you get decent exposure to areas of research that you're interested in, you can probably hit the ground running when you come back for the PhD and be done a lot sooner. Finally, working for a couple of years might help you figure out that you DON'T want to do research. This would a valuable insight to have before signing up for a PhD.

I would call the schools/talk to students at both programs before making any assumptions about availability of TA positions. A starting point might be looking at things like this. Personally, if I was getting just a Masters, I would go to school near where the jobs are.

Well, the annual dumpster fire known as USNWR's Graduate School Rankings comes out tonight. I have found alternative sources for information that is important to me (ASEE, NSF HERD), but USNWR, for better or worse, commands everyone's attention. Just wanted to get the ball rolling on a discussion that I am curious to hear people's thoughts on. Q: What aspects of the rankings/published information do you find useful? Q: What aspects of the rankings/published information do you find to be pointless? In terms of useful information, I do like looking at the peer ratings (academic and industry). I don't fixate on a 0.1 or 0.2 difference in reputation, but getting a feel for the general perception of schools is a useful sanity check for me. There exceptions like UCSB, which seems to get an unjustifiably low peer academic rating. In terms of junk, I think the acceptance rates (and to a lesser extent GRE scores) are a useless measure of program selectivity. Most of the top 20-30 schools have roughly the same acceptance rates. The exceptions are the smaller programs. Of course, this also benefits schools like Wisconsin that seem to game this measure. I mean, does anyone think Wisconsin is the most selective engineering school out there? Then there's the "total graduate enrollment." Not sure why diploma mills should get credit for enrolling a bazillion students, but they do. Here are somethings I would like to see added the rankings: (1) Percent of Graduate Students on Appointments (RA/TA/Fellow) (2) Median Stipend (adjust for CoL) (3) Some citation measure. Median h-index for the school? Or is this something that would be better if used to gauge individual departments since some fields are easier to generate citations in than others?

Sorry, but no you don't. Admissions decisions often made by multiple people working together as a committee or by a single faculty member. Departments have to review thousands of applications and it is unreasonable to expect that they would remember your application, let alone remember why they chose to pass on your application. This is ridiculous. As a foreign student, you face some obstacles that US students do not. First is that US faculty do not have a good way to judge the rigor of your education if your degree is from a foreign institution since they probably haven't heard of it. And even if they've heard of it, they probably don't have much experience working with students from your school. The exceptions are elite institutions like Technion, ETH, IITs, etc ... GRE scores help faculty unfamiliar with your educational background (assuming it is from a foreign university) decide whether they should take the leap of faith and trust that you are comparable to an applicant who has a similar GPA in the US. This isn't perfect, but it is all they have. 143/153 are ridiculously low for any STEM field. Finally, if faculty don't know what to make of your GPA and your GRE score given them reasons to worry, you need at least one stellar letter of recommendation (probably 3 stellar ones, honestly). It sounds like you had trouble there to. The good news is that you know where you weakness lie. You can work to remedy them.

I would just check to see where your professors place their students. I can answer As about photonics faculty at those schools, not comms/sig. proc.

Doesn't your advisor know that you applied to UCSB? If you're doing research in optics, photonics shouldn't be foreign to you.

IIRC you are the one with the super specific research interest in quantum computing, right? I think in the end you'll be fine, but you probably have not given admissions committees much to work with. Do they have reason to admit you if one PI in your field isn't looking for students? Hopefully you inquired about opening with the specific PIs before applying?

I moved from a big city to a campus town like CU, but can't comment on CU in particular. When making a similar decision, I tried to figure out what features I want in any place I lived and match those against my middle of nowhere university. A lot of things that were essential to me - competitive ultimate, live music, varied ethnic cuisine - I had no trouble finding. Higher end culture (museums, concerts, plays) and cuisine were non-existent. But knowing that this stuff was less important to me made the decision easy. Also, small town niceness is a crock. The facade often masks some real ugliness. But in a superficial sense, it is pleasant.

Just relax. Individual departments cannot admit applicants. The graduate school/college does so on the behalf of your department. Right now your department presented you to the graduate school for admission with a fellowship. The graduate school just needs to sign off on both - the admission decision and the fellowship nomination. From my limited knowledge, the graduate school doesn't do too much second guessing of the department's decision. Barring something crazy in your file, you're in.

I guess I suspected this was the case.

With all the questions about GRE prep and all the study aid suggestions, one thing seems to get lost in the process is that preparation is about more than running through a bunch of exercises like an automaton and expecting to see improvement. In a prior life I used to occasionally do some test prep for one of the companies out there. I had a lot of students who would dutifully run through assignments and then came to me when they were disappointed with their practice test scores. The single biggest piece of advice I can give is to recognize that getting better on the GRE is nothing like hopping on a treadmill and hoping to get in shape. You might see some improvement treating it like a run, but nothing remotely close to your potential. Your goal with prep is to train your mind for a slightly different kind of thinking. It comes naturally to some people (like those who do puzzles or crosswords), but not most. One trick that seemed to help my students the most was telling to them to identify which questions they got wrong (ask a friend to mark the incorrect ones and a couple of correct ones just to mess with you). Now get rid of the clock and just sit with those marked problems until you're certain which answer is the one and only right answer is. A necessary condition to drastically improving your score is the ability to answer these questions correctly without any time pressure. Until you can zero in on the right answer without having to guess, running through practice tests at full speed is kind of pointless. You end up just practicing all your bad habits. This is one of the most learnable tests out there. But one has to want to actually learn. Sadly, college does a terrible job teaching us to learn. Keep up with the reading, do your reading, and regurgitate some nonsense on the final and get an A. At least this was my experience in a lot of college classes. Diligence and learning are not the same thing. Good luck!

Strong job market keeping applicants out of grad school maybe?

To those waiting on Purdue, unofficial e-mails seem to have gone out (received one myself). This probably won't be reflected in results until graduate school sends the official letter based on ECE's recommendation for admission. Open House - 3/6 - 3/7. Hope this helps those waiting. If anyone has the scoop on UIUC or Princeton, would love to hear some news. Not a peer from either school yet.

Trump and rising temperatures means Canada needs to become the new shining city on the hill for science.

How does one get a stipend by no W-2? And it sounds like no withholding either. Something sounds off. Don't doubt this is true for you, but your arrangement is likely more the exception than the rule.

Well, this thread is a lot slower than the same thread from last year. I wonder why .....

A friend in my group went through something similar (their reason for leaving was personal). I will also mention that this anecdote applies to a graduate student in engineering. Here is what our advisor told her - (a) schools will wonder if you failed your quals or (b) whether you are just not cut out for the grind of graduate school. The most glaring omission from your application will the comments of your research advisor. Unless you have a way to assuage your next school about these doubts, you are taking a huge risk. Don't forget that you will also need to convince your next school that they can trust your judgment when you say you won't sour on field B like you did field A. People leave with a Masters all the time. At least it is not uncommon. If your advisor is a reasonable person, he will try to work with you provided you are willing to work with them. The first thing I would do is make sure that alternate funding is available for the fall just in case (TA, administrative assistantship). Then schedule a meeting with your advisor in the summer and let him know about your doubts about field A. Tell him you don't want to leave him high and dry and that you will work your hardest over the next year to move their project along and also do everything make the handoff to the next student as seamless as possible. If they end up being a jerk about it, that is where back up funding comes in. If he declines to keep you on as an RA (not completely uncalled for), can you at least find a way to explore field B (research or coursework) at your current school? You will be radioactive in your program if you solicit letters from other professors without notifying your advisor about your departure. Honestly, if I was one of your grad school professors, I would refuse to recommend you (barring a really damn good reason) for lacking basic professional courtesy. Regarding UG LORs, this gets back to the question how you assuage your next school's doubts about your suitability for their program. I know its scary to think about a confrontation with your source of financial support. It is tough. I don't dispute that. But there comes a time when we all need to meet the moment instead of kicking the can down the road and creating huge mess for the future. First and foremost, figure out your backup plan (industry, TA, admin assistantship). Then approach your advisor in a professional manner and be mindful of the inconvenience you will cause him. If he isn't a sociopath, he'll be a little grumpy but will work with you so that it is a win-win for both of you. He might even write you a stellar LOR if you produce great work even though you are in a field you don't like. Worst case, you get fired from your RA but have a backup source of funds and can at least tell your next school that you handled things in a professional manner. Plus you get to request LOR from other professors in your current program! You can't do something hard without it actually being hard. Happy Ending to the Anecdote: My friend got great LORs from our advisor, who even called his friends at her target program asking them to keep an eye out for her. Also, we didn't resent her since she trained her replacement instead of ambushing our advisor and giving everyone else in the lab more work.

It is a shame this poster didn't consider offering up opinions on something they had no experience with a "non-necessity."

Any domestic students get an interview request from UIUC, Purdue, or Princeton? I've already heard from Stanford and Berkeley ....

Go to top-law-schools.com and ask for advice there. People on that board are frank (strikes noobs as harsh), but advice you receive will be spot on. For example, be prepared to get laughed at if you say you want to "do international law." They'll explain why. Those folks might not be able help you much regarding an MPP.

YOU implied the GRE can be learned: "However tests like the GRE etc test LEARNED knowledge." Also, you cannot reasonably expect to be on "equal footing" for any test. Take, for example, a course in graduate school. You will likely be competing for a grade with students who have research experience in the subject matter or have taken a similar class previously. What will you do then? Things are harder for older students. I know that personally. Switching careers, providing for your family, etc ... However, that is not really the school's problem. They want the best fit for their program. Honestly, I think your attitude is going to hurt you more than the actual GRE. Almost all your posts are complaints about it. This is really odd because the GRE is meant to help people exactly like you - people with grades from schools that cannot be easily measured against well known programs in the US. If none of your degrees are from the US and are over 10 years old, can you see how programs would have a hard time assessing the rigor of your prior academic experience without a standardized test?

I am an older applicant and I would strongly encourage you to quit whining and study for the GRE. (a) The fact that the GRE involves "LEARNED knowledge" means you should be able to study for it and get a competitive score. (b) Count yourself lucky for appreciating the value of the GRE. A majority of students (not the subset on this forum) study for a couple days, take the test, and accept whatever score they get. You know it is important. You know you can improve your score. (c) I have not heard of a school using the GRE in a manner where they nitpick the difference between a 161 and a 163. They look for basic competence and then use the more predictive parts of the application - GPA, LORs. If someone can't crack on a 150 on the quantitative section, they have no business in a graduate engineering program, for example. (d) Schools need a way to compare applicants. Without standardized tests schools would rely on soft indicators like the prestige of one's UG institution to compare applicants from different schools. In a world without standardized tests, can you really picture a school picking a 3.8 from No Name State U over a 3.5 from Princeton? The GRE lets that student from No Name State U make admissions committees think twice before discarding their application in favor of someone from a brand name school. (e) The MCAT is based on college-level sciences. If you want to get a good score on the MCAT pick up some college textbooks. If someone can't be bothered to learn basic biology, chemistry, and physics, I am glad that medical schools reject them. (f) Even if the GRE is dumb and irrelevant to your program, suck it up and prepare for it. Do you really thinking there are no other BS hoops you're going to have to jump through in your new career? Graduate school is one of the more ridiculous bureaucracies out there. (f) You're on this forum. You're already ahead of a lot of your peers. Press your advantage and do the work you need to do to get where you want to go.

Or one could follow the money MATH CS

If you're only going to attend if you receive a stipend, that's great. BTW, trusting US News to rank sub-specialities is a little bit of a gamble. They are also #29 in CS and #49 in statistics.