yg87

Hehe I know I'm not being much help here, but I'm in a similar situation with Stanford and gt (minus the fellowship, congrats on that btw). I have no idea which to chose either... im visiting Stanford now tho so we'll see how this plays out...

I'm graduating from a fairly decent state school (but nothing special) with an undergraduate degree this May, looking to get a PhD in Electrical Engineering - Optics. Career-wise I'm strongly considering a career in academia after I graduate, but I'm also pretty open to working in the industry if that doesn't end up working out for whatever reason. While I was applying, Stanford was my top choice, I applied to the MS\PHD program there even though I didn't think there was a prayer that I'd get in (Well I was half right). I was accepted to the MS program at GT w/ first year TA funding (comes out to ~20k/yr, tuition remission) and to the MS Only program at Stanford (no funding, no nothing haha...), and I've been having a really hard time deciding between the two. I went on a paid visit to GT and really liked the research the professors were doing, and the environment in general (Atlanta... not as much from what I got to see of it at least). The qualifying exams seemed like they were hard but not impossible, and the progression from a masters to PhD seemed natural (you just sign up for the exams). All in all, I got a very good impression of the school, and it seems like a good fit for me. Stanford on the other hand is a big unknown, you hear all these horror stories about their Quals, how cutthroat it is there, and the lack of funding opportunities for masters students. If i want to visit I need to shell out quite a bit of cash, and I just don't know what to make of it. Just to take the Quals I need to find a professor who will write a letter of support for me to take the exam. On one hand I'd really love to live in California, but going to Stanford will put me 80k into debt and I just don't know if its all worth it in the end. Besides the financial reasons, I'm a little intimidated by Stanford as well, I can't shake the feeling that they made some sort of mistake admitting me there or something... Anyhow, any sort of feedback\comments either way would be awesome. Don't think I can figure this one out on my own...