Ph.D EE Stanford or Princeton?

[arvind]

Hi All,

I've been admitted to the Ph.D program in EE at Stanford and Princeton with first year fellowships. I am interested in the area of solid state electronics, more specifically optoelectronics/photonics and mesoscopic physics. Which of the two univs, do you think, is better in this area ? Some of the facts include:

1. Large incoming class at Stanford, therefore, more sharing of resources. Princeton admits only around 30 EE graduates.

2. Location. Stanford is in the bay area, so obviously at an advantage.

3. Both are well respected school.

Thanks.

[Slorg]

Do you plan on visiting either school?

[quadsbaby]

Hi All,

I've been admitted to the Ph.D program in EE at Stanford and Princeton with first year fellowships. I am interested in the area of solid state electronics, more specifically optoelectronics/photonics and mesoscopic physics. Which of the two univs, do you think, is better in this area ? Some of the facts include:

1. Large incoming class at Stanford, therefore, more sharing of resources. Princeton admits only around 30 EE graduates.

2. Location. Stanford is in the bay area, so obviously at an advantage.

3. Both are well respected school.

Thanks.

Stanford by far. Stanford's reputation in EE is much better than Princeton's--I'd say princeton is probably around 10th-15th and Stanford is either number 1 or very close to it. Stanford's location in the bay area means it is very close to silicon valley, and this is very obvious when you are at Stanford; there's a lot of industry connection. Stanford has better weather, too.

Right now I'm deciding between Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT for photonics / MEMS.

[arvind]

Do you plan on visiting either school?

I'm an international student. I cannot attend their visit day.

[arvind]

Stanford by far. Stanford's reputation in EE is much better than Princeton's--I'd say princeton is probably around 10th-15th and Stanford is either number 1 or very close to it. Stanford's location in the bay area means it is very close to silicon valley, and this is very obvious when you are at Stanford; there's a lot of industry connection. Stanford has better weather, too.

Right now I'm deciding between Stanford, Berkeley, and MIT for photonics / MEMS.

Thanks for your views. However, in my area of research (Photonics/mesoscopic systems), there are some very famous profs at both the places. Given that the coming graduate class at stan is much larger than at Princeton, I wonder if it'll become very competitive to get the advisor you want. Though Stanford is a great place, I woudn't want to end up in a bad group. Moreover, we have the EE Quals which we'll have to clear. (supposed to be quite tough). Although Princeton does not rank in the top 10 in EE rankings, the work going on in solid state physics and devices is pretty good. Funding beyond the year of the fellowship also seems to be a problem at Stanford.

[jrisingsun]

Stanford EE quals are definitely very tough. About half fail. And if you fail after the second time then you are kicked out of the school, or you can petition to be advanced to candidacy but that is somewhat of a process. But if you have an advisor identified, it really should not be too much of a problem. I'm not very familiar with the Princeton EE qualifying process.

And I also do have to say, Stanford's reputation is very high and the overall prestige of the school and the department is very good. If there are excellent professors in both schools in your field, I would go to the school with the overall better program.

I went to Stanford (different department) so I am a bit biased, but I feel like you really can't go wrong with Stanford as your choice.