ibangz

People, I have news for you: ^^ that's the strongest argument of a douchebag going to Stanford. ^^ I'm convinced that you're an idiot. The kind that keeps chanting to itself "OSU is not even in the game to top students as UCSB is" Get lost kid ...

If you name the PAs, probably someone in EM field can comment more aptly. However I can guess name of the three, and the first thing strikes me is you'll have really diverse areas at hand to decide. Needless to say, the most important factor is your interest. So think about that first. Which project do you like best? As for the prestige I would pick ESL too (like everyone else I guess). As for CEM I can assure all CEM researchers are harsh. That's how it is, If one line of code or even a single +- sign goes wrong, booom! It's the hardest branch of EM. So it's up to you. However the number of projects going on in ESL is so huge that you can change your advisor if things didn't work out. Another important factor is what you want to do with your degree. Academic/Industrial jobs? PSU and OSU are kind of leaning toward more academic, research-type jobs IMO. Of course there are industries/research labs hiring people with those specialties but still assignments will be extensions of your grad work. I can't tell much UCSD project and honestly that's not my area of interest that much. Depending on what you do you might gain the kind experience that is much more desirable to a wide array of industry jobs than the other two, while you can pursue academic jobs in the field too.

Your pathetic effort in ending this conversation by resorting to private messages, reveals that you simply couldn't disprove my statement and has owned up to the fatal mistake you made in your original post. That's enough for me. The sad part is when I introduced verifiable evidence about superiority of the school you deem undesirable, in one important branch of engineering and science, your strongest argument was like "X is so good that even people outside Y know that". Believe me, with such low aptitude for making an argument your graduate school years will not go anywhere and I am ashamed of having you as a fellow electrical engineer.

Wow! I'm amazed by your blindness, sad you can't see a late NAE member and 2 ISIhighlycited ones (and that's in a field famous to be NOT for sissy paper citing kids). I assume EM was too hard for you that you're having still nightmares over that so you have technically adopted the defense mechanism of ingnorism. Sooooooo true Yep, as I said #1:OSU #2:UMich #OUT: The rest. How about Stanford's reqs.? Seems they need to introduce a new one for domestic ignorant turds.

I guess mentioning "compact range" was enough for someone actually IN the EE area to get the signal, but you seem to be slightly OUT. Sorry for the wrong assumption. Now tell me, is Applied Electromagnetics large enough for you? Does that just hurt or you really need to ripped? Agreed! You mean something like "If UCSB is good doesn't need validation from MIT", huh? Sad.

Haha! So if UCSB is above MIT in some subfield, how are claiming attending Harvard or Ohio State as half-insult??? FYI Ohio State sits on TOP in my area. Just as an indication, recently the researchers there designed MIT's Lincoln Lab new campact range. Among all the so-called prestige schools only UMich can claim tries at the top spot in this field. Now while the OP doesn't seem to be aware of this but I wouldn't be surprised if Harvard's overally low-ranked engineering, while very small, be strong in one nerdy research topic and you actually insulted yourself with your paradoxically condescending statement.

What you're saying is rather insane. Especially for a school like Stanford. How on earth grad students especially foreign nationals with no access to domestic applicant loans/non-university-fellowships should be able to pay for something like $60K? Treating PhD students as cash cow (like terminal MS students) is quite a new trend. Don't admit them or give them RA/TAships from the start.

I can assure that such a thing is nonexistent in EE departments. Yes, as I said with RA you may not end up working exactly on your "dream" project, and it's you that have to adapt your research and eventually dissertation/publications to PI's needs, not the other way around which will be more likely in the case you are on a fellowship, of course with the "danger" of freedom in mind, but "completely different than yours"? No. Maybe some side projects for a couple months at most. Mainly because: you shouldn't accept such an insane offer in the first place! and more important than that no PI will pick a student with "completely" no previous background/coursework/research and perhaps no interest too, in that specific field of theirs, not in this climate at least. I don't know about social sciences and humanities though; maybe they can switch their fields of research right off the bat.

RAing is actually the same as being a fellow so you won't have more time/get through classes more quickly. Not to mentioned if you do TA, it's not the course-load that's being downsized but the time you spend on research. Now the plus point about the Fellowship is the freedom it gives the student to find an advisor, find a project. At the same time it can be the downside too, because the freedom is not for everyone, believe it or not! You have to get a lot more creative with a fellowship that with an RA. And finally yes! fellowships come to an end like all other good things. So the tricky part is to be able to define a project that if your fellowship run out your advisor be able to support you on the SAME project with HIS/HER money as an RA.

OK, I'm interested to know more about Upper Arlington area. Turns out it's very close to the lab, on Kinnear Road, I'm supposed to be working in. Any info on rent comparison, proximity to decent grocery stores, the kind of people that live there, number of grad students there, etc. would be appreciated.

Sorry to hear that dude! Well I don't know what to say now, but I'm kind of confused by this crisis thing. If the situation is so bad why ESL has made a new building with $7.3 milion budget, then? Where did they get all that money from?

Nice to see your post. This is the answer I got on March 15th from a faculty member that told me on January 12th "I will keep you in mind": The university fellowships have been made, so you would have heard something by now. We have not made GRA offers yet, but I can tell you that not many offers will be made this year due to low funding levels. To be very frank with you, I think very few, if any, GRA offers will be made to non-US applicants. You should probably consider other options at this point. Sorry for the bad news. As for the GTA's I got this from someone called "Graduate Program Coordinator": GTA positions are assigned after the first quarter on campus. I don't know what you mean by "secretary". Do you mean Molly Wambold, Assistant to Director? I email her too and got nothing. So I guess I killed last tinge of chances I had and don't think stand much chances anymore I hope you good luck anyway. As for the statistics find ECE annual reports for 2003, 6, 8, 9 and 10: http://ece.osu.edu/s...e/annual_10.pdf http://ece.osu.edu/s...e/annual_09.pdf http://ece.osu.edu/s...e/annual_08.pdf http://ece.osu.edu/s...e/annual_06.pdf http://ece.osu.edu/s...e/annual_03.pdf In particular I put together student stats for 2008 to 2010 which is interesting to see: http://www.mediafire...6hwt229oo91udv4 Any thoughts?

OK Thanks I saw two towers on the map near the Stadium, what are those? That's West Campus I guess. They seem kind of concentrated and cheap. What about price range of each of these locations?

I believe UIUC funds it's MS program because it is thesis-based? I know that UMich's terminal MS too, is not funded and admission to is really easy and it does not have a thesis option whatsover.

OK, a crazy question here: what is the cheapest housing option? I mean cheap like realllly cheap I don't care about undergrads all around, 10 people in one room, ... nothing. Call me crazy, but I basically use housing as a sleeping place for 7 hours/day maximum. I'm usually out in labs classes or having fun. So I want to know about THE CHEAPEST. is something like $200-300/month or less possible?