Advice on courseload in final semester before application

[serialexperimentsleon]

Hello All,

I am a rising senior studying Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, hoping to do robotics (particularly controls & planning) in a doctoral program. I am finding a lot of difficulty in deciding on my courseload the final semester before application deadlines. I unfortunately don't have the best GPA (3.6) although I have a nice upward trend in my junior year (graduate school was not something I considered until recently). I want to be able to show I can still succeed in more advanced courses and am planning on taking a somewhat rigorous mathematics department course in analysis and optimization (still an undergraduate course, but apparently it is quite difficult and time consuming). However, I also want to be able to devote significant time to research in my final semester to improve my LoR with PI as well as devote time to the application process to schools as well as fellowships. I am wondering if taking one less course than usual (usually I take 5 courses with research as a sort of 6th course) by taking 4 "real" courses with research as 5th would be viewed poorly with the admissions committee. I certainly want to make sure I get good grades in my final semester (although I'm not sure if it affects the application since grades come out after submissions...) so I don't want to overload myself. Of course, there's also the possibility that admission committees don't really care about what courses you take and only the grades... I'm unfortunately not terribly familiar with how the committees evaluate applicants. I would greatly appreciate the insights of you all! Should I just bunker down and try to take my usual courseload of 5 classes + research? Or is 4 courses with research enough?

 

Thank you all kindly in advance for your advice and kindness!

[BabyScientist]

On 7/14/2019 at 5:23 PM, serialexperimentsleon said:

Hello All,

I am a rising senior studying Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, hoping to do robotics (particularly controls & planning) in a doctoral program. I am finding a lot of difficulty in deciding on my courseload the final semester before application deadlines. I unfortunately don't have the best GPA (3.6) although I have a nice upward trend in my junior year (graduate school was not something I considered until recently). I want to be able to show I can still succeed in more advanced courses and am planning on taking a somewhat rigorous mathematics department course in analysis and optimization (still an undergraduate course, but apparently it is quite difficult and time consuming). However, I also want to be able to devote significant time to research in my final semester to improve my LoR with PI as well as devote time to the application process to schools as well as fellowships. I am wondering if taking one less course than usual (usually I take 5 courses with research as a sort of 6th course) by taking 4 "real" courses with research as 5th would be viewed poorly with the admissions committee. I certainly want to make sure I get good grades in my final semester (although I'm not sure if it affects the application since grades come out after submissions...) so I don't want to overload myself. Of course, there's also the possibility that admission committees don't really care about what courses you take and only the grades... I'm unfortunately not terribly familiar with how the committees evaluate applicants. I would greatly appreciate the insights of you all! Should I just bunker down and try to take my usual courseload of 5 classes + research? Or is 4 courses with research enough?

 

Thank you all kindly in advance for your advice and kindness!

I would focus more on research and lighten the courseload. Admissions committees don't scrutinize the courses you took each semester, and don't know the difficulty of any one class over another at your school. Take courses that will provide you with knowledge and skills for your interests. Prove to the admissions committees that you know how to apply what you've learned through your research. 

[serialexperimentsleon]

On 7/16/2019 at 5:09 AM, BabyScientist said:

I would focus more on research and lighten the courseload. Admissions committees don't scrutinize the courses you took each semester, and don't know the difficulty of any one class over another at your school. Take courses that will provide you with knowledge and skills for your interests. Prove to the admissions committees that you know how to apply what you've learned through your research. 

Thank you so much for the response! Of course, this is a class that is very relevant to my interests and not something I want to take solely to impress the admissions committee (although it does play somewhat of a role). Knowing optimization techniques and being able to do mathematical proofs is a pretty invaluable skill in robotics and would serve to supplement my research activities. 

So would you advise against taking one less course as it might be seen as slacking? I could certainly just take two less strenuous courses instead of the one rigorous math course... But I guess I am also hoping that the professors in the committee I am interested in working with see that I am taking an optimization course and perhaps it may help my application stand out to them... I can always take the course in the second semester which will be after applications.

[BabyScientist]

1 hour ago, serialexperimentsleon said:

Thank you so much for the response! Of course, this is a class that is very relevant to my interests and not something I want to take solely to impress the admissions committee (although it does play somewhat of a role). Knowing optimization techniques and being able to do mathematical proofs is a pretty invaluable skill in robotics and would serve to supplement my research activities. 

So would you advise against taking one less course as it might be seen as slacking? I could certainly just take two less strenuous courses instead of the one rigorous math course... But I guess I am also hoping that the professors in the committee I am interested in working with see that I am taking an optimization course and perhaps it may help my application stand out to them... I can always take the course in the second semester which will be after applications.

Like I said, they don't scrutinize every course you've taken, and they won't scrutinize courseloads. If taking fewer courses will help you do better, then do it.