Beaudreau

@lanlan My son is a PhD student at Michigan in Aerospace Engineering. One of his housemates is a PhD student in Michigan's great Robotics program. Here's a list of current graduate students. https://robotics.umich.edu/people/students/ Many of the students are from China and list their email addresses. It couldn't hurt to send out some emails to ask for advice.

There are a lot of CS grads in Michigan's robotics program. Admissions are very competitive. https://robotics.umich.edu/academic-program/

Ivy league schools are not necessarily elite in STEM. For engineering, the large public universities such as Michigan, Cal, Illinois, and Purdue, plus MIT and Stanford, dominate the rankings (with Caltech in some areas). These same schools are very strong in other STEM fields such as math, physics, chemistry, etc. There are very few Ivy league schools ranked in the top ten in any of the engineering disciplines.

In most engineering programs, direct admissions to the PhD track is the norm. Requiring a Master's degree first is rare. I haven't looked at other STEM fields, but my impression is that direct PhD admissions are quite common.

My son's favorite undergraduate professor at Texas A&M is from Tokyo. He absolutely loved his PhD studies in Ann Arbor, saying that it was the best five years of his life. Now my son has followed his example and is just finishing up his first year in Ann Arbor for his PhD in aerospace engineering. My son loves Ann Arbor. He lives on the old west side area discussed above and walks to Kroger (even with his car). Next year he is moving into a house with new friends in the Kerrytown area.

Srini Raghavan, a UA professor, lives near me. He is on sabbatical this year, consulting at Intel. You might contact him; he's an extremely nice guy, very down to earth. His dog's name is Kumar (as in Harold and Kumar). https://chee.engineering.arizona.edu/faculty-staff/faculty/srini-raghavan

My son got this email on 1/24 concerning UCSD's Master of Engineering degree.. He did not interview. Of course, this may an entirely different process for MS and PhD applicants, so I wouldn't read too much into this. (His older brother had a very short interview on 2/1/18 with Michigan for its aerospace engineering PhD program and got his offer letter the next day.) Anyway, good luck. Congratulations! On behalf of the Graduate Admissions Committee in the Department of Bioengineering at UC San Diego, I am happy to inform you that we are recommending you for admission into our graduate program in Bioengineering effective Fall Quarter 2019 for the Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) degree. Please read through your offer letter carefully as it contains important information. Please note, we are recommending you for admission to the program but the Graduate Admissions Office in the Graduate Division will be the one to send you formal notice of admission, so look for an e-mail coming soon from the UCSD Graduate Division that will contain more information. At this busy time it can take up to 10-12 business days to receive the e-mail. Once you have received this notice, you will then be able to log your decision on the application site.

I can't find data for design engineers, but here are some links where there are highest demands for engineers: https://www.gobrightwing.com/2018/02/06/highest-demand-for-engineers/#!/ https://magazine.engineerjobs.com/2015/engineering-jobs-february-2015.htm https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/where-to-find-engineering-jobs https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathryndill/2015/02/24/the-top-cities-for-engineers/#3ca0519922a6 https://www.engineering.com/JobArticles/ArticleID/7541/Which-Cities-Have-the-Most-Engineers.aspx My oldest son just started his PhD in aerospace engineering at Michigan. My middle son is applying this year for an M.Sc. in biomedical engineering at UCSD, UC Berkeley, USC, Washington, Purdue, Georgia Tech, ASU, and Duke. He is interested in Medical devices. If you have any questions, please let me know.

My son started his PhD in Aerospace Engineering in August at Michigan. So far he loves his lab, fellow students, most of his (three) classes, and Ann Arbor. He has been applying for fellowships (NASA, NSF, and DOD) and getting started on his research. For AE master and PhD degree questions, check out the links on the New Graduate Student Orientation page.

My son will be junior at Iowa State in the fall. If you have any questions about Ames, shoot them this way. What are you majoring in?

No contest: Route 1. I'd do South Dakota instead of ND: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Badlands, Wall Drugs.

So everyone is celibate?

Thanks. Here's more evidence that women are self-selecting fields other than STEM, or conversely that men tend to focus on STEM (perhaps because they can't compete as well in other fields.) Women outnumber men in grad school 135 to 100. More women than men enter medical school. More women than men in law school. Anecdotally, I have three sons in college, all studying engineering. They went to a very strong STEM high school, so not surprisingly their female classmates largely went into STEM fields for college. But those girls had already self-selected (with parental encouragement) STEM studies. With the boys, my wife and I visited 21 schools and their engineering colleges. Every single one of those colleges emphasized recruitment and retention of female students. Many had female students leading their tours or had female professors making presentations. I lurk on this site a bit because my oldest son has been going through the graduate school admission process. He is heading to Michigan in August to pursue a PhD in Aerospace Engineering. Two of his best female friends from high school are also continuing in engineering. One will be at the University of Colorado in their biomedical engineering PhD program. The other (his prom date) is starting at Boeing next month as an aerospace engineer.

The More Gender Equality, the Fewer Women in STEM University of Wisconsin gender-studies professor Janet Shibley Hyde: “Some would say that the gender stem gap occurs not because girls can’t do science, but because they have other alternatives, based on their strengths in verbal skills,” she said. “In wealthy nations, they believe that they have the freedom to pursue those alternatives and not worry so much that they pay less.”

My son has applied to live in Munger for 2018-19, along with Northwood. He has not heard back yet. Many things about Munger look awesome. It's brand new with awesome amenities at a great location right by the Student Union and West Quad. They are six or seven-bedroom apartments, with roommates selected from different graduate disciplines. This appeals to my son. He will be pursuing a PhD in Aerospace Engineering but has many other interests. Most of his college friends are not engineering majors. But he is concerned about sharing a kitchen with five or six other students. He likes to cook and worries about access to the kitchen facilities, cleanliness, and the willingness of roommates to pitch in and work together. Tragedy of the Commons. One other issue is that unlike Northwood, there is no student parking. If you have a car, figure on another $165/month for a parking permit in one of two garages about three blocks north of Munger. The building was a gift from John Munger, a billionaire Michigan alum, and his wife Nancy. They also funded a similar graduate dorm at Stanford, Nancy Munger's college.

My son made it 2 1/2 years without a car undergraduate. He still walks most places. He has an apartment on High Street, which is the main east/west drag where all the restaurants/bars/etc. are. Oxford is a very small town and the campus is quite walkable. There is decent bus service including west to a large Walmart and Kroger. You will be competing with undergraduates for off-campus housing and many of them have already signed leases.

You might think too about 20 years from now and regretting not getting out of your comfort zone. I went to college, law school, and business school within about 90 miles of each other in Michigan. When I was 40, I finally took a job in DC. From there, I lived in Connecticut, Louisiana, and now Arizona. I wish that I had expanded my horizons and left Michigan earlier. And it's not because I dislike Michigan, but I think that I was stagnating for 20 years.

Just my opinion, but I think you are worrying too much about this. The overwhelming majority of MSU academics, students, and graduates were shocked and dismayed by the Nassar revelations. Remember that this concerned women's athletics, not academics. Certainly the athletic department and university president (a woman) did not handle this as well as they should have, but STEM faculty and administration were not even remotely involved. However, it may be that you are so worried about finding "institutional discrimination and abuse" that you may be hypersensitive at MSU, no matter the realities. So perhaps you should go elsewhere.

I live in Phoenix and get to Tempe quite often. I think it's a great college town. I have three sons in college. Although all of them go out of state, they have many friends at ASU, who have enjoyed their time in Tempe. When my sons are home, they spend quite a bit of time in Tempe and really like the atmosphere. Two of them have taken summer classes at ASU and enjoyed the experience even with the summer heat. There's a light-rail stop on campus that provides easy access to downtown Phoenix and ASU's downtown campus which includes the law school, health, and other colleges. Downtown has become a popular place for young people to live too. You will love the weather most of the year.

There were four visitors with offers from the AE Professor that my son will study under. When he was in Ann Arbor, my son and one other were sure that Michigan was for them. Two were not certain. If they don't go to Michigan, that could free up an offer for another applicant on a waiting list. Or maybe not; my son's PI usually takes about two students a year, so he may figure on offering four to get two. Just speculating.

I think the visitor's weekend was just two weeks ago. My son was up there for aerospace engineering and they met in a big auditorium on Saturday with candidates from other engineering colleges.

I second the recommendation for the Tucson BASIS Charter schools. BASIS started in Tucson and BASIS Tucson North is the second ranked high school in the country, behind only BASIS Scottsdale. All three of our sons graduated from BASIS Scottsdale. BASIS Primary takes kids from K-4. It's at 3825 East 2nd St., roughly @ Speedway and Alvernon. That's about 2.5 miles east of the University. The BASIS schools are charters, so they are considered to be public schools with no tuition. The downside is that admission is by lottery and the schools are very popular. I would apply as soon as possible. Once a student is in, then they are in for subsequent years. If one student from a family is admitted, then siblings have a preference for future admissions.

I had a long-term Diet Coke habit and quit successfully last year. Don't pretend that you don't also have a caffeine addiction. Quitting caffeine cold turkey was not an option for me. When I tried before, I got terrible headaches, nausea, and fatigue. I recommend getting some time-release caffeine pills. I started out with a 100 mg in the morning and another in the early afternoon. After two weeks, I cut back to one in the morning and then eliminated that altogether in another two weeks. I always liked the fizz, so I got a Soda Stream to make carbonated water. Mine comes with three one-liter bottles, which I carbonate in the morning. That normally lasts all day for my wife and me. It's great not to be going to the store all the time to buy soda. You can add flavors if you want, but I suggest staying away from the artificial sweeteners.

My son is completing his senior year in College Station. He is from Phoenix, a much bigger city. Generally, he has enjoyed his four years in College Station/Bryan. It is a smaller town, but it is also a college town, so there are many more things to do than in a normal city of this size. Downtown Bryan is fun. https://www.downtownbryan.com/ He does travel once or twice a semester to a larger city. Austin and Houston are each under two hours away; Dallas and San Antonio are each less than three hours away. I personally don't care much for Houston, but Austin is lots of fun. San Antonio is a lovely City By the way, TAMU is in the Brazos River Valley, which I find to be quite pretty - largely rolling country with large farms and ranches. The most similar area in Florida would be around Ocala. TAMU undergraduate students are almost entirely from Texas and pretty conservative. That was an adjustment for my son, although they have been very friendly. He has made many friends and is still considering graduate school there in aerospace engineering.

Lots of hyperbole from GallifreyGirl. She is entitled to her opinons, but they are not shared by everyone. I've lived in Phoenix for 20 years and love it. Sure it's hot in the summer (May to mid-October), but it beats living in the American South. We moved here from New Orleans and the summers were easy by comparison. Winters are awesome. There's a reason why so many mid-westerners and Canadians live here half a year. Tourism is stronger than ever. Tempe is a great college town. I have three sons who go to large colleges far from Arizona. When they are home, they all like to visit friends, hang out in Tempe, and enjoy the clubs and restaurants. There is a light rail stop on campus that let's you ride downtown (ASU has a huge downtown campus) or to other areas. Bus service is good for students. Is Phoenix New York City or San Francisco? Of course not. But people are friendly, it's very easy to get around by car, and the Sonoran desert is beautiful. Not diverse? Less than 1/2 of Phoenix is non-Hispanic white. 40% are Hispanic/Latino, 6.5% African-American, 3.2% Asian (the fastest growing segment), and 2.6% Native American. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona#Demographics The surrounding suburbs, like much of the US are generally less diverse. My sons all attended BASIS Scottsdale, US News' top-rated high school. Half the students there are Asian. Utility bills? Yes, air-conditioning is expensive, but you won't be paying much in the winter for heating. In fact, Arizona is ranked 43rd in overall energy costs. Only eight states (including D.C.) have lower energy costs. https://wallethub.com/edu/energy-costs-by-state/4833/ I agree that the tap water is not tasty, but it is completely safe to drink. If you don't like the taste, get an inexpensive water filter. There's no reason to buy bottled water, particularly for your pets! (They will happily drink the tap water.) Save money and use it to pay your summer electric bill.