AlwaysWorried

I am going back to school for electrical engineering, and I am curious about trying a digital pen note taking system. Has anyone tried any of the following? Logitech io2 Digital Writing System http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-io2-Digital-Writing-System/dp/B00064FXH0/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247592763&sr=1-20 IOGear GPEN200N Mobile Digital Scribe http://www.amazon.com/IOGear-GPEN200N-Mobile-Digital-Scribe/dp/B0014BJIFM/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_4 Livescribe 1GB Pulse Smartpen (APA-00001) http://www.amazon.com/Livescribe-1GB-Pulse-Smartpen-APA-00001/dp/B001AAOZHI/ref=pd_sim_e_4 SolidTek DigiMemo 692 Digital Notepad with Memory http://www.amazon.com/SolidTek-DigiMemo-692-Digital-Notepad/dp/B0009OD4CS/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247592763&sr=1-9

What options are avaliable for high speed internet access in Ann Arbor for off campus residents? Does it make sense to figure this out before getting to Ann Arbor?

I am thinking about living in University Towers. My graduate work will be in Electrical Engineering so i will be commuting to North Campus. How bad is parking around University Towers? How well located is this housing complex for going out and such?

With no information about you I would say 23.457%. How could anybody possibly give you advice without any information about you?

Any thoughts on Northwood Dorms? I am going to be an EE graduate student, so it looks really close to the engineering quad from the online map. I have heard that the Northwood dorms are really far from the campus life.

What is a good strategy for forming/finding study groups? How does one go about finding people with common interest in Ann Arbor (Hiking and Boardgames)? Which bars do graduate students tend to frequent?

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only person obsessed with going to a top 10 school in EE for graduate school. I wish that we could all just focus on getting the best education possible and care less about the name on the diploma at the end of the day.

I really appreciate everyones advice and support. I have already told my manager that I will be leaving, so now it is starting to feel more real. As the time gets closer I am trying to figure out if i want to be more theoretically oriented in my masters coursework or be more practice oriented. I am conflicted about studying the theoretical side of solid state physics and developing the next generation of solar panels or go for a design oriented track. I again see myself at another fork in the road. Has anyone else faced a similar dilemma?

I am about to start at masters in EE. I really want to study the area of organic electronics ie Solid State electronics. I am worried that I will be unable to find a decent paying job and should therefore study VLSI. I figure that in my first semester I could take classes in both areas; I am really conflicted about studying something I am passionate about versus having a more marketable degree. Any advice?

I made good money working as a computer programmer when I lived in New York City. I don't know how easy those jobs are to find these days.

This is how I learned I was rejected by UT Austin Last year.

It gets me really annoyed how schools have all these tiers once they accept you. There are students they are paying for and care that you are there and then students who are paying there own way and they could care less about. Especially when they say things like, "We feel you would be a better fit for the Masters program". If only they could be a little more honest and upfront.

My real beef with this topic is the wording of the title. Shouldn't it say. What are the best US Universities in your mind? As it is written only universities that are named after specific people count. Clearly John Brown College is the best.

I work at intel, and have met a lot of people here who went to Devry. They spent two years in school and now make decent salaries. I guess they should be laughing at us.

Whenever I read articles in magazines or newspapers they always seem to quote someone from Berkeley, Stanford or MIT. I applied to these schools and got rejected. I worry that I won't have a successful career without going to one of these three schools. I know this view is somewhat silly, but I find it hard not to get upset. Does anyone else feel the same way?

I applied for the PhD program at Cornell for my second time this year and only got the MEng thing. I have spoken with some people that completed the program who told me it is possible to switch into the PhD track although somewhat rare. In terms of applying for jobs it is equivalent to an MS. Everyone I know that has the degree just stated they had a masters in EE when applying for jobs and had no problems. For me I want to try and do research so I am going to do a MS program at U Mich instead.

If there is a specific company that you have your heart set on working for after graduating than look into where they recruit from. Many companies based in California may actually prefer to recruit from a school based in California even if it is rated slightly lower. Most companies have lists of priority schools that they try to recruit from. Many large companies list the schedules for when they will have recruiters visiting different campuses. From these schedules you can figure out which schools they target. In reality you will learn the exact same things in a course based masters program where ever you go to school.

Wisconsin has some big names in Data Storage. It kind of depend on where your research interests are.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one making a hard choice about going for an unfunded program. It just freaks me out that: I will be losing a years salary at 75K + tuition/living 54K. That Works out to almost $130K for one year between actual expenses and opportunity costs. What if it ends up taking me two years. That would be $260K. For that much money I could buy a house. Hopefully I will be making at least 10K a year more after I graduate, but it still gives me some pause to think about what I'm giving up. Could someone help me see this in a more positive light?

If I had gotten into Stanford I would go there in a heart beat over Cornell. I have a coworker who graduated from Cornell, but I can tell he wishes that he went to Stanford.

I am making the exact same decision between Cornell MEng and UMich MS except for in EE. The prof that I wanted to work with at Cornell is taking a leave of absence, and the prof at U Mich that I want to work with wrote back to me really quickly. This has made my decision way easier. I never thought about the programs longer duration being a benefit. The cost is roughly equally at both schools if you are paying out of state tution at Michigan. I am freaked out about paying $25K a semester at UMich for 3-4 semesters. Since you want to work on Wall Street than going to an Ivy is more important. I want to an ivy league school for undergraduate and all the banks were trying to recruit engineers, whereas I have spoken with friends who wanted to get into bank from other schools and had very little access. At the end of the day you can't go wrong with either choice.

They sent a rejection via snail mail to my permanent address. You can also try checking their website or calling their office.

I asked the admissions person at Cornell a similar question. The difference is that an MEng is course based with a project instead of a Thesis. A Masters of Science is supposed to be research based and have a Thesis. With little to no national oversight of either program the two degrees should be considered roughly equivalent. The Masters in Science might give you an edge for applying to PhD programs, if you did a very research oriented project in an MEng program you could get similar credentials. I find myself in the same situation choosing between an MS and and MEng. I am going for the MS and hope to transition to a PhD program. Another step I took was to email professors that I want to work with a both schools and see who responded. Based on this my decision was very easy.

I got the same email. It means you have been admitted to Cornell's one year professional masters with absolutely no funding. The cost is roughly 54K. I have spoken with students that have said it is possible to enter the PhD program from this program, but you would still be paying for your first year out of pocket.

I plan on starting my MSEE in August. Any idea where is a good place to live?