deepmetal

@ Eigen : Is this with reference to GRE or TOEFL ? I tooky GRE long back in September 2007 which seems like a century ago while I took TOEFL in October 2009. I do not mind having to take TOEFL once again as it does not need much preparation. In any case if some university decides to give me a waiver on TOEFL then it is great. Else I will have to just go and waste another day by taking TOEFL.

@edost Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I did mail some of the universities. Only University of Wisconsin, Madison 'prefers' to have more recent GRE scores. Out goes UWisc from my list of 'must apply universities' to 'tentative'. Need to check as regards to TOEFL score as well. And need to mail the other universities as well.

Hii everyone, I am currently doing my MS in Chemical Engineering in University of Maryland, College Park. I am applying for the PhD pgroam in a few other universities for Fal 2012. I took my GRE long back in September 2007. Officially my GRE score will be valid when I apply for PhD. But do the graduate schools in engineering generally prefer recent GRE scores ? Do I need to retake it ? Regards, Deepmetal

@SJS : Thats a very idea. I am also going to do something similar. But I need to be able to write something by the time I apply for the PhD program. In all my courses I have had to do projects which required significant effort. I hope this will work in my favor when the prof writes me the recommendation letter. @Inquiline : I did not manage to kill the curve for sure, but I managed to get an A in his course. Only two guys got A's out of 15 odd students. Not sure if this is anything spectacular. But I have another question now. To what extent does publication matters for students who already have got a MS ? I presume that the bar for students with an MS will be even higher as compared to students with only a Bachelor's applying for the same program. What if I do not manage to crack out a publication by December this year ?

Hi everyone, I am am international graduate student in the University of Maryland currently pursuing my MS. I am planning to apply for PhD programs for Fall 2012 to some other universities (MIT, Caltech, Berkeley etc.) as well. Currently I am doing research with a professor in my department and I am getting a letter of recommendation ( LOR) from him. For the other two LORs, I am not sure who I should approach. I can get one from a prof in my undergrad school or from a scientist under whom I worked during my internships but I wonder if they would have the same impact as a LOR from UMD. But I am not sure who I should approach for the third LOR. I feel that having two LORs from professors in Univ. of Maryland would give a better chance of nailing a good PhD admit. So far I have done well in my courses ( 'A' s in all courses, but I guess thats common ) but only my advisor is knows about the research that I am doing right now. Currently no other prof from the university is associated with my research group. I am not sure how to showcase my research skills to profs under whom I have taken classes, so as to get a strong LOR. Can anyone offer some advice ? Thanks for going through my message. Regards, Deepmetal

Hiii, I am a newbie to this forum. I have been admitted to Master's programs in Chemical Engineering in ETH Zurich and University of Maryland, College Park. I am still considering the pros and cons of both places and haven't been able to decide yet. Can anyone help me out ? Okay, I have talked to a few students in ETH and they said that most of the time Master's students are assigned to Post Doc or PhD students and the contact time with a prof is pretty less. For example a guy I had talked to has been working on his research project in a big research group for almost a semester and still he hasn't met his professor. I have plans to go for PhD after my masters to USA. So is it gonna hurt my chances of getting a good recommendation letter and a good PhD admit ? And can anyone tell me what goes on in top US universities regarding Master's research ? And I have also heard that many Master's students generally do not become first authors as they work on a part of an ongoing project. In case one become second author then what value addition does it make to the profile of a PhD applicant ? Can anyone tell how is the scene in other places like USA or UK ? And how reputed is ETH Zurich in comparison to top US universities ? Is it possible to get a break in a top US university like Caltech/MIT/Stanford with a degree from ETH Zurich ? I know this question is a bit vague, but still I would like to hear a general opinion. Thanks for going through my post. Hoping to hear your opinions now.

Have you got the result of faculty scholarship ? If I were you I would go to GaTech. Its far bigger a brand name to be ignored. I guess getting a job would be easier in USA than in European Union.

Dear friends, I have been accepted in University of Maryland, College Park and ETH Zurich for Masters in Chemical Engineering. I had been accepted in SUNY Buffalo, Univ of Houston ( for PhD ) and Illinois Institute of Technology and TU Delft as well. But the best admits from the two different continents are the two mentioned in the topic. Cost for two years in both the universities will be same. As I will be going on educational loan the main factor behind my decision is the quality of education and job prospects post MS. I dont know if I would go for PhD right after my MS, but I am sure that someday I am gonna enroll in it. So I would love to do top quality research during my stay for two years. I have dabbled in two three areas of research and havent been able to decide on my research area. Thats the main reason I applied for MS in the first place. As far as I know, University of Maryland is a very good institution, but its US News Departmental ranking is just average !!! I wonder why it is so. Otherwise its a very good university with a superb and expensive location. I dont know about chances of getting RA/TA after a sem or two. But they have said me via mail that they do not fund Masters students. Moreover when I looked in the profiles of faculty members then I saw that most are active in nanotechnology and bio related stuff only. I have worked for almost four years in a refinery. So I wonder if my job exp would be worth anything if I do research in these sth like nanotechnology during my Maters. Can you tell me how reputed is the Chemical Engg Deptt. of University of Maryland in USA ? Maybe a comparison with Chemical Engg Deptts. of other universities would give me a rough idea. Now. ETH Zurich is a world class institution with the Chemical Engineering Deptt. having an all round research focus. The only cost involved is the living cost of Zurich !!! But I dont know about post Masters job prospects for non European-Union students. I will really need a job to pay off my loan and also to save some for my PhD time as I will have to support my parents during that period of four years or so. I cannot do so by working in my home country for sure. SO guys, can tell give me your valuable advice please. What do you have to say on this ?