Advice for Future Engineering Applicants

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

Hi everyone!

I have seen this sort of forum for other disciplines, so I thought it might be nice to have this for engineering students wanting to applying to graduate school at some point. My advice would be this:

1. Don't undervalue for GRE scores, especially your quant scores. I hate the GRE with a passion because I suck at standardized tests that are there to trick you and steal your money, but it is a part of the application process, so it is important to schools somewhat. I think my average quant score did not make me standout, but I also had other things going for me, so I don't think it is as simple as my GRE scores being kind of crappy. You just got figure out if your score is "good enough" compared to the other parts of your application.

2. LORs are really important. Make sure they all don't say the same thing and they give details about who you are versus giving a generalized view. You can give your letter writers pointers if necessary.

Good luck, future applicants! Recent or past applicants, please provide any advice you have!