Phoenix88

In my experience, it seems to be fine to ask any questions of the professor, even before admission. They generally want to know any factors that will influence your decision, especially when they will be working with you for the next several years! Even if they can't directly answer the questions themselves, they will direct you to people who can. You may not have a lot of time to consider these factors after admission, so it's best to consider them before as well, and get the answers you need now. Life is more than just academics, and most professors would be happy to help ease some of the other uncertainties you have.

@betun, I reached out to the university, and they gave me an extension on the 15 days, saying I could take until April 15th. I am also leaning towards one of two other universities anyway... And after further clarification, the contradiction arises from a loophole that they are exploiting. They don't have to put the money officially aside if I haven't accepted it, but they (and other schools) want to put the spot for me aside just in case, so they don't accept too many applicants.

Hey, all! I'm between Embry-Riddle and another school for a PhD in aerospace, and I wanted to ask how the standard of living is in Daytona Beach. I've already visited there, so I know some things about it already (that cars are a must-have, the weather is pretty warm, it is unfortunately a party city due to the beach, etc...). But as it is a relatively newer grad program, I wanted to ask on here for more information about the city that I should know before making a final decision. Thanks!

Hey, guys @balou21 and @Su08! Congrats on acceptance to UC. I'm currently an undergrad here at UC, and I grew up in Cincinnati. I can say that there are a lot of good apartments around the area, but some are definitely a further walk than others. I wouldn't recommend the Forum unless you have a car, or plan to heavily use the shuttle and Nightride systems. There are many great places on Jefferson and Bishop streets that are walking distance to either the main campus or the medical campus. Riddle Road or anything near Straight Street is also a good pick, as it's near the main campus. Clifton Ave can get a bit loud, as it is near the Greek houses. There are several UC housing facebook groups too, and I've already seen people post their openings there for next year. You may want to try to see if there is a grad school cohort that you can connect with though. Many grad students I know also like to have their own apartments and then socialize on their own time, so that may be a consideration. Good luck with everything!

Since it's not a long visit, and it will be cold in New York this time of year, I would suggest doing business casual! A nice shirt and nice slacks, or dark jeans should be fine. A lot of the time, it will be covered by a jacket or coat anyway. On my interview weekends, they weren't as concerned with clothes as long as you presented yourself well in general. It's not a job interview, and not everyone has the cash for a suit, so as long as the clothes fit you well and don't have major issues, you should be fine. Good luck with your visit, and I hope you enjoy New York and the US!

There is a 2020 Aerospace Engineering thread as well here: Aerospace Engineering MS/PhD Fall 2020 applicants Megathread This has many results from MIT as well as many other programs from across the US.

I just did two visits to schools myself, one pre-acceptance with a schedule like you had with a lot of people, and one post-acceptance where it was just me visiting some potential POIs. But in general, before going into interviews you should definitely know the faculty's background. If you were "assigned" interviews, they definitely saw some parallel between your interests and their work. However, there is only so much you can learn from their website or they can learn from your resume/CV, so it may be a better or worse match than anticipated. But one thing that was stressed at the first event I went to was that you are closing doors if you walk into interviews totally unprepared. One professor even said that that person should "get out of their office". Just skim their prior publications, take notes on the most interesting bits, and mention it during the interview. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes per person. Interviews do tend to go a lot smoother when you know these things, as they know that you actually care about the interview, and they don't have to repeat the basics of their research again.

@Starie I actually didn't receive an offer yet... I'm still waiting on the offer, as professors are waiting on their current students to get fellowships. But even without the offer, the visit day helped show me that it would be a great place to go, and the professors and students were very accommodating and welcoming. I hope you enjoy your visit there! It should be a wonderful time for you.

Rejections from Caltech and MIT here. Not terribly surprised, they were reach schools. Still waiting on UT Austin's decision, but at this point, I'm between ERAU and CU Boulder for decision making.

@Starie I really enjoyed the visit! The professors were super friendly, as well as the students. And the area is really beautiful. CU Boulder is a beautiful campus, and the mountains just enhance it! It's solidly still on the top of my list.

I'm in the same boat here for both MIT and Caltech! But I wasn't hedging my bets too much on them, so I'll still wait and see what happens.

Just heard back from them! An acceptance with good funding I also got an acceptance from Univ. of Arizona this past Thursday, but no funding yet. Still waiting on Caltech, MIT, ISU, and UT-Austin.

It seems like in recent years, admittance/waitlist generally comes mid-February, and denials come in late February/early March. However, it looks like every once in a while, someone is accepted in March (probably due to someone else turning down admission). I'm also waiting on Caltech, but it seems like they have a lot of applicants this year, and I'm not hedging my bets on it.

I'm glad that they were able to accommodate your request. But I do understand that things get hectic right before graduation. I'm also working on two different research projects, as well as senior design and other classes! I hope things calm down for you soon. If you decide to go visit (since it seems like you do have some interest, even if it's not your top school), or just want to chat about Boulder in general, feel free to message me!

Starie, It's too bad that you couldn't make it! I also got an interview over the phone from a potential advisor; I think it's to gauge your interest in the university in general before sending the invite to this event. I think it would be beneficial to go if you could make it at all, as it seems somewhat competitive. They don't admit PhDs unless they are fully funded, so that limits the field. Many applicants are firstly accepted into the MS program, and only later become a PhD. But at the same time, the $250 limit was a bit frustrating for me too! The flights from my city tend to be somewhat expensive, so I had to book a flight for that Wednesday night and crash at an acquaintance's place (thank goodness for conference networking!). It's difficult to find ways to keep it cheap. Overall, if CU Boulder is one of your top schools, maybe reach out to them and see if they could give you more funding if you could clear some time to go. If not, then the advisor who is interested in you should pull for you anyway.

How many people got invites to the CU Boulder PhD visit weekend on February 20th-21st? I got the invite earlier this week! If so, do any of you want to connect beforehand?

This also happened to me with a different school! But they only gave me a 15 day decision window and a $100 deposit "to hold my place". How did you go about asking for the extension? I'm a bit hesitant on that email.

Hi, everyone. I just got an acceptance for a school, and they told me that I had to "please indicate your acceptance of this offer within 15 days of the date of this letter. Per a resolution by the Council of Graduate Schools, you are not required to respond to the attached offer of financial support until April 15, 2020." However, along with the 15 day acceptance policy comes a $100 non-refundable fee. If I choose to go to another university after accepting it, I will lose the $100. If I decide not to pay the $100, I may lose my only offer so far for grad school. This is not a school at the top of my list, but I do have a potential POI, and I like the area it is in. The financial aid offer is a good one as well, so I don't think I can afford to reject this offer before others come in. I am thinking of sending them an email to clarify and see if it can be extended. Any help on what to do would be appreciated!

Here's my credentials, by the way! Undergrad Institution: University of Cincinnati, Mechanical Engineering Minors:Astrophysics, Philosophy Overall GPA: 3.57/ 4.00 Where you applied: Stanford (MS),CU-Boulder (PhD), MIT (MS), Univ of Cincinnati (PhD), UT Austin (PhD), Univ of Arizona (PhD), Embry Riddle (PhD), International Space University (MS), Caltech (PhD). Demographics/Background: White woman, First internship was working as a TA at Chong Qing University for 4 engineering courses GRE Scores: Q162/V165/AW5.5 Research Experiences: At UC, I did several semesters of UAV path planning research using fuzzy logic, and two semesters of astrophysics star spectra analysis to determine dust accretion rates. Additionally, I worked for 6 months at IHI in Tokyo, doing research on acoustic liner design. LOR: 2 Strong Letters from former and current research advisors, as well as 1 from a longstanding volunteer coordinator Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deans List, Engineer of the Month November 2019, Red Rose Award for Leadership, Exceptional IPAL award Anything else: Lots of leadership on campus (international groups, president of Astro Club for 2 years, several engineering organizations), went on an Engineers without Borders trip to Tanzania to implement clean water systems Research Interests: Space Design (Rovers, Satellites, Telescopes), Astrodynamics

I got an offer to attend the CU Boulder PhD grad weekend on February 20th-21st! How many others will be coming? I just want to get a sense of how many people were invited! They just sent the emails out a few hours ago.

I was rejected as well. The odds were next to impossible, it seems, with "75 people per spot available who applied".