Biro

Thanks juilletmercredi, I'm keeping your comment for further reference! I gotta admit, this American spirit of following your heart instead of an image your family has drawn for you is really cool.. (hope that doesn't sound like stereotyping , lol)

oops..I meant *experience*

Well I'm an EE so I'm obviously ignorant about research at both schools in regard to ChE, but since ~any~ advice is welcome I would say, based on my EE esperience: CORNELL ALL THE WAY! Getting addmission to Cornell Engineering is a huge achievement, and with a full scholarship your question sounds kind of surprising! The issue of minor ranking variation in US news Graduate programs is really quite meaningless.. (If you want to feel better about Cornell, see the national rankings of US news, QS rankings, Shanqhai rankings, and Times.. I'm fairly certain Cornell is way ahead of UT Austin in general. Plus it's an ivy which is extremely prestigious when you're in a cocktail party surounded by people who know nothing about engineering/research. As for research quality I think that depends on the research lab and professor you're going to work with.. This certainly applies to EE labs and professors where you might prefer Austin if you'ld like to work in Signal Processing or Cornell for Robotics.. Afterall they're both excellent research schools) All the best

Now that's a toughie! I'm one of those guys with the "best-school-possible" complex.. perhaps because of the competitive atmosphere around me.. These university names will stick with you forever, that's why I would personally go for the better school and do my best to get what I want out of it.. (e.g. search for other professors whose research interests suite me..). At the end of the day students tend to change their research interests with time while the university name can not be changed on the cv! Still though, if you're positive and passionate about the other school then it's stil better than all the psychopathetic social-complex stuff I wrote above

Although Purdue has a higher ranking in the US grad engineering programs, I would go to UCSD.. but that's because of my field.. So let me re-phrase: It depends on what you're looking for.. If you're in EE-systems (Communications and signal processing) I would definetley recommend UCSD since they really have amazing guys in this field there (and trust me on this one since I applied to UCSD and considered Purdue, skimming all their faculty's research).. If however you want computer stuff (Networking, AI, etc) then I would say Purdue.. The rest of the fields (Electronics, Electromagnets) are beyond my scope of advice! Best of luck

wow, thanks for your opinion guys.. all helpful hmmm.. ok so it's safe to wait two more weeks.. before the appointment times at the embassy become very long! @busybee3 and @see_bella: to tell you the truth, although I always wanted USC, I keep getting this annoying crapy comment that "Brains go to UCLA and the rich go to USC" and even my parents think that UCLA is much better.. well i'm not rich and I do have some brains! although I know that USC was not that great a few decades ago it certainly is now (addmission rate in 1992 was 68% now it's 25% and the EE faculty are big players in the field).. my fear is that this stigma will remain if I go to California and people start saying under thier breaths: "Spoiled Child couldn't get into UCLA"! That, my friends, is my hidden chronic fear.. fear of people's ignorant comments! @timt99: yes I think you can send a written letter expressing your inability to enroll.. I guess I could do that but it just seems too mean to do, especially given a generuous financial offer and a very polite and kind treatement (unlike UT Austin guys who just don't seem to care!)

Hey guys, I've applied to 8 schools for a PhD in EE. In early February I got a positive response from USC and for some reason this was my first choice in the first place for the location and strong program in Information Thoery.. Anyway, It's 5th of March now and I haven't received a response from 6 schools yet!! (Stanford kicked me in the !@#$!).. Since I'm an international student and visa processing time is an issue, would you guys recommend confirming the offer by USC or do you recommend waiting longer? If you recommend waiting, till when would you consider a rational time before everthing is too late and I miss out on everything because of greed Thanks PS I think I have a good chance at UCLA but not Caltech or U-M