toughdecisionsAHH

The reason why I am estimating 2yrs+2 quarters is because I am currently only a Mechanical Engineering undergrad. For the structures program, there are a few "core requirements" that I found from Stanford's website in the structural engineering section. These courses are basic courses such as advanced statics, design of steel/concrete structures, etc etc. Sadly, since I am only a mechE undergrad right now, I havent taken any of these classes. Thus, I have to take these classes before I can even start the actual 45-unit coursework. Additionally, I've looked at the schedule of classes for CEE courses, and as you guys know, some courses are only offered in the Autumn, Winter, or Spring quarters exclusively. Because I have to take some "core requirement" undergrad classes before I begin my grad classes, and because some courses are only offered in certain quarters, my estimated time-to-graduation suffers from a nasty chain reaction which leads to 2yrs+2quarters.... =( =( =( I am PRAYING that my adviser will allow me to take some courses as co-requisites rather than pre-requisites.....this would help me alot and hopefully I wont take 2 years.

Undergrad Institution: UCLA (B.S. Mechanical Engineering) Major(s): Civil Engineering (Structural Focus) Minor(s): None GPA in Major: 3.1 Overall GPA: 3.23 Length of Degree: 4 yrs Position in Class: probably very low Type of Student: typical asian male... GRE Scores: Q: 770 V: 710 W: 5.0 Research Experience: None Awards/Honors/Recognitions: None Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 summer internships at top tier fortune 500 engineering company. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: perhaps a very, very strong SOP complemented with solid LORs Applying for [ MS ] or [ PhD ] at: M.S. Civil Engineering (Structural Focus) in all schools. In the order that I heard from them: UCLA - Accepted USC - Accepted UCI - Accepted Stanford - Accepted I did not apply for funding at any of these schools.

Heh, I'm the same - currently a ME, going into CE, potentially at Stanford. No I didn't go to recruiting weekend, I only found out about my acceptance yesterday (I applied for no funding and so I was able to submit my app as late as March 17th lol). I'm going to be visiting Stanford this weekend, do you have any recommendations of what I should check out? I would really appreciate it. Oh actually what I meant by whether going to Stanford is "worth it" is based on this: For UCLA, it would only take me 1yr+2quarters to graduate. For Stanford, it would take me 2yrs+2quarters to graduate (due to some classes only being offered certain quarters, and because I'm only currently a Mechanical Engineer and thus do not have certain prereqs satisfied). UCLA tuition is 10K/yr, while Stanford is 40K/yr. This translates to total cost of tuition (after graduating) from UCLA being approx 16.7K. Stanford would be 106.7K. Also, at the same time, I know that at the company I interned last summer (which is a upper tier Fortune 500 company), offers 60K starting salaries for civil engineers, and only a 5K boost if you have a M.S. (thus, 65K starting salary). So I guess my concern is, would that 106.7K price tag from Stanford justify such a mere salary boost? I'm sure other companies might provide better boosts, or even better base salaries to begin with. But what do you guys think? "Is it worth it?" Is there something I'm unaware about --- that maybe Stanford grads simply receive much better salary opportunities in their career prospects? P.S. To: "lightyears, you're also currently a ME undergrad I'm guessing? I was wondering, have you looked at the prereqs that I'm guessing you haven't fulfilled yet before you can begin Stanford's structural engineering program? These are basic classes such as Design of Steel Structures, Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures, etc etc......I obviously haven't fulfilled those yet, as a ME undergrad, and thus these classes, along with some other prereqs, are really going to delay my time-to-graduate. I was wondering if you have the same problem?

fortunately my family is well off. my mom said she is fine with paying however much it costs for stanford. but dont you guys think it's not worth it? is a stanford education really going to help that much?

So I prefer UCLA's environment, but Stanford obviously has the better academics/prestige. I applied to the M.S. Civil Engineering program for both and am deciding between those two. UCLA tuition: 10k/yr Stanford tuition: 40k/yr I also did some additional research and found that the time it would take me to graduate for both programs are: UCLA time to graduate: 1yr+2 quarters Stanford time to graduate: 2yrs+2quarters The only reason that I would take so long to graduate is because I am only currently a mechanical engineering undergraduate. both schools require that their students satisfy a certain amount of basic Civil Engineering courses before they can begin their graduate work. Unfortunately, Stanford has a couple more of these requirements than UCLA does. (don't worry, these numbers are including the courses which I believe I should be able to pass out of based off some of my coursework from my mechanical engineering B.S. coursework) What do you guys think?