Trigg_18

I am still waiting to hear on funding form Stanford as well. Funding is the only thing that would cause me to go Stanford, so I am interested to hear. Apparently decisions are supposed to be made by April 7. That probably means that if we don't hear by tomorrow, it is unikely that funding will be offered. I know I will be calling tomorrow to make sure.

Did you visit UCSD? I was accepted to both Stanford and UCSD (still...still waiting on UCB), and I was much more impressed with UCSD's structural program. Stanford's facilities are childish at best, which was surprising considering that it is a private institution. In addition, UCSD has about four times the number of structural faculty that Stanford has and about the same number of students. My impression was that if you wanted to do research (both computational and testing based), UCSD is a far better school. If you just want to do straight coursework (Masters), it seems like a wash, with both schools having good course offerings. However, UCSD has a far more diverse structural program (considering that their Structural department is independent of their Civil Engineering department, hence UCSD not being ranked). Thus, you can take structural classes that are not applicable to civil structures. And then there is the price tag. Stanford's cost seems too high to be competitive. However, as you mentioned, it would be close to where you live, so that really must be a factor. Obviously both are good schools, but I got the feeling that Stanford relied on their name to draw students instead of the merit of their structural program. I could definitely be wrong, but those were the impressions I got from attending the grad event for both schools.

I will definitely be going. Its only a 3 hour drive for me By the way, that's exactly what my letter said too. Why oh why can't they let us know sooner on funding!?

I applied for funding, and my letter says that they realize I want funding but that no funding decisions have been made yet and they will have all funding decisions made by April 7th. Not sure how true that is (has anyone else heard about funding?). Hoping that I get funding since there is no way I can go to Stanford without funding.

Got it as a hard copy in the mail yesterday. No e-mail, and no indication on the website.

Received an acceptance from UCSD on Feb 16th, and an acceptance from Stanford yesterday (Feb 27) for Masters of Science. Just waiting on UCB. Stats are as follows: Undergrad: Top 5 civil undergrad school GPA: 3.73 cumulative GRE: Verbal 680, Math 720, Writing 5 LOR: Very strong. My recommenders all told me they wrote very strong letters. Research: Assisted a grad student with his thesis. Worked as a materials development intern. Work experience: 5 years as a mechanic (during school), 1 summer as materials development intern, 1 summer as consulting intern, 1 year full time consulting (took a one year break from school)