stopcallinmesqrlboy

I've been told by professors that it's not worth it to join a department if you aren't guaranteed funding for at least the first year. Unfortunately, I'm not sure anyone can predict your chances of getting funding later, but, I'd think they would definitely be higher as long as you were doing well. Any other admits? Have you talked to anyone there about funding?

Yea, I was trying to figure this out, too. I was under the impression that one could specify if they were at least smokers/non smokers, clean/messy, etc. However, there is nothing like that on the copy of the contract I have. Does anyone know if it's found elsewhere? I guess I overlooked this part before. When starting a new application for San Clemente it says at the bottom: Within a few days of returning your contract, you will be sent an email with a link to our online 'Personal Preferences' form. You must complete this form as part of your contract process.The Personal Preference form allows you to specify a requested roommate, indicate medical conditions and provide us with emergency contact information, as well as other preferences pertaining to your housing accommodations.After submitting the Personal Preference form online, you will receive a confirmation email with the information you provided on that form.

You could study HCI as it is related with AI. Also, AI is a huge area-- what specifically in AI interests you? You say you are good in math, but as a sociology major, do you have experience with logic, probability, statistics and/or linear algebra? These are important areas of math that are often used in AI research.

Also, I've heard there are a bunch of start ups in Santa Barbara, so much that they are starting to call it "Silicon Beach". But do you even want to work for a start up? Or a well established corporation?

I don't think that's completely true. I think what it might come down to is do you have a place to stay in Silicon Valley for an internship (job?) and will you have someone to sublet your place in Santa Barbara. It's just not as easy to do it as say Berkeley or Stanford.

Based on rankings alone it seems that both programs are very similar. Have you looked at the coursework you'd be doing at each school and does one appeal to you more? Also, I'm a prospective student at UCSB as well and it is VERY expensive to live around there. I would honestly say choose Virginia Tech if money is tough to come by. But if whatever reason you decide UCSB, I don't think a 7 point difference in ranking will make employers think any less of you (again this is based on ranking alone as I haven't looked further into either program).

Any top 10 program will have quality faculty and students. Our opinions do matter, that's why the OP is asking for them.

I mean, USNews is an opinion poll, so that means there is a higher opinion of the Materials program at UCSB. I feel like graduate programs at UCSB get a bad rep no matter how it's ranked because it's a party school for undergraduates and it's located in a beautiful area (jealousy?). And I'm being honest, I'm very social and interested in being happy; I applied to PhD programs. OP, both schools are obviously great for Materials Science, I truly think you'll have equal opportunities upon graduation. The biggest thing is cost of living vs. area.

This. Both are relatively similar in terms of research productivity. I was also accepted into both these programs, except, I was accepted for PhD at UCSB. I was told by one of the faculty at SB that masters students rarely get funding and that there are 200+ masters students in their program, so competition to work with faculty members is tough. Also, take into account the campus of UCSB and SB, too. I visited Stony Brook and it is boring and rather ugly. However, UCSB looks like paradise and at least there is a small downtown area. Overall UCSB will be more expensive so if you could spare the extra change, then I'd say go for Santa Barbara.

I'm going to be a camp counselor (instructor) this summer! And it's for a camp that teaches programming and other multimedia / web design stuff to high school students. I figured this was a better alternative to summer work than the average office internship or some monotonous retail position. If you enjoy teaching, maybe there is a similar type of camp for cognitive science or related area, neuropsych.

Sorry if that wasn't clear. No, I applied for CS grad programs but the area of research I'm interested in requires a solid understanding of probability and statistics.

The only way this could hurt you is if you did poorly in the remainder of your CS classes. Given that you do well, however, would only make you look more desirable to a graduate admissions committee. I took an extra year to do this same thing, except I was a CS major looking to double major in math. It worked out well for me and has already gave me a head start because the area of research I'm interested in is math (mostly statistics) intensive. Not to mention, you're provided an extra year of undergrad to get research done and maybe boost your GPA if you need to. Without that extra year my application wouldn't have been nearly as competitive as it turned out to be.

Cool! Get in touch when you arrive in September if you'd like .

I'm pretty sure it's the total in the program.

I grew up in Connecticut, spent a summer at UCONN and had a lot of friends that went to school there. Willimantic is kind of a shoddy town. If you're looking to stay away from living in Storrs because you want a more interesting town I'd say consider Manchester which is about 20 to 25 minutes from Storrs and about 15 minutes from downtown Hartford. However, I'm sure there are more grad students in Willimantic (maybe none in Manchester?). I guess just make sure Willimantic is the right place for you, if you do decide to live there. If you don't care about nightlife, why not just live in Storrs? Off campus is quiet and dirt cheap.