phsu

yep i made my decision--UCSB.

In regards to the earlier comment about Cornell: I talked to some guy over the NU visit, he said he hasn't heard of any cherry picking of Cornell Professors. Rumor probably isn't true. If it helps any, the guy said he loved it at Cornell. Have anyone decided on where they'll be going to graduate school? NU was my last visit. I think I've made my decision (UCSB), but I want to give it a few more days until I start withdrawing my offers.

I didn't hear from MIT, but I've met a lot of people on my grad visits who were offered admissions to MIT. I guess the rest of us are on the waiting list.

I got the same thing in the mail today from Cornell. I wonder if they are offering this to everyone. I didn't look into the website, but the letter does not make the program sound too science oriented...

i'll be going. i heard thursday night i suppose to be pretty sweet. a lot of drinking.

I'm not sure if I'm fit to give advice on how to talk to professors, but I'll tell you how it went down at Caltech. Most of the professors I talked to that day just talked about their research. Only one asked me about my undergraduate research (the one that almost took an hour). I think that one was more of an interview to see whether or not I know what the hell I'm talking about. Afterwards, I asked him some general questions about the research going on in his group. That was about it. You can always ask more general questions about the professor's field of research; for example, we talked a lot about the solar cell economy.

Although I was a little effy about the environment, I wouldn't completely cross Caltech off my list of possible schools. I'm actually from the area, and a lot of my high school friends still live around there; my off campus social life wouldn't really be a problem. Making friends on-campus might be a little difficult. But really, it all comes down on which professor I would be able to work with. Out of the entire faculty there are really only 2 which I'm interested in. BUTTTT I really shouldn't get ahead of myself; they have even made me an offer.

I was at the caltech visit this weekend. They told us something like 30 students were invited to visit; 20 this weekend, 10 more 2 weeks from now. The school is small-1200 grads and 900 undergrads. So the campus pretty much looked deserted. I go to school at UIUC, so seeing a deserted campus was a little depressing. The faculty research was very science oriented. They even emphasized the fact that this was a Materials Science program, not a Materials Science and Engineering program. Faculty meetings were mostly 1 on 1, except for Professor Atwaters (PV guy in applied physics and material science). All the students say they were meeting him in groups of 3. I guess I was lucky, and I got to meet with him 1 on 1, and for a pretty long time too (almost an hour). In my opinion, Caltech will only appeal to a very narrow group students.... Anyway, they will probably give out offers in 2 weeks or so.

I'm surprised that they will wait that long. Is this how long most universities wait for second round? I would think most students have already made their decisions by then.

I'll be going to Caltech this weekend. The I'm planning to go to UCSB and NU. I'm still waiting for more results, but at this point I've become very pessimistic. Not really expecting to get anymore acceptances.

just in case anyone was still wondering: i called up my friend at NU, he told me the visiting weekend is scheduled for march 8th and april 15th. it's weird that there is one on april 15th... since they want your answers on the 15th... or maybe i copied the dates down wrong?

I'm not sure when the visiting day is. The email says I was recommended, and will be receiving the official admission email and letter in a few days. My friend who is a graduate student at NU says they have two visiting weekends set up. I think one in early March and one towards the end of March.

I just received word from Northwestern! What a relief. Very satisfied with my admissions results now. just in case anyone was wondering, the email states a 2 quarter fellowship with tuition and 2180 stipend. Afterwards RAships are provided according to the amount of available funding.

Congrats hahniel. There are some pretty good thin film professors here at UIUC. Hope you enjoy your visit here. As for me, still no word from anywhere else. Not even UIUC. From my class, I believe I am the only person who hasn't received an offer from us. A bit confused. But it's okay, I can't be too greedy.

Hey anon, I got into ucsb also. will you be visiting on the 28th?