What are My chances for MS in Photonics/ECE ?

[sugaaa]

I'm a student of Electrical Engineering at Jadavpur University, India. My profile being as follows, please indicate if my research experience would outweigh my pretty average GPA :

• GRE: 323(160v+163q)

• TOEFL iBT: 107

• CGPA: 8.2 /10

• Research Experience: 4 Separate research projects : 1 in condensed matter physics, 2 in Optics , and 1 in High Voltage EM computation.

• Publications: 1 Publication in Frontiers in Physics ( impact 1.89) on condensed matter physics ( jointly first-authored ),1 pending Publication in SPIE photonics ( submitted for review )

• Schools I am considering: I am primarily interested in gaining a good understanding of Electronics and Photonics with Optics. Hence both ECE courses in some univs and Exclusively Photonics masters courses match :

1. European Masters in Photonics at UGent + VUB

2. Europhotonics Masters degree programme

3. MSc at Imperial College London

4. Masters at UCL

5. EE at UMICH

6. ECE MS at UIUC

7. ECE at Georgia Tech

8. ECE at UCSD

9. EE at UCLA

10. Optics master at Univ of Rochester

11. MS in Optics at Univ. of Arizona

12. MS programme, CREOL, UCF

13. Abbe School of Photonics, Jena, MSc

14. MSc in photonics in Univ of Jena

15. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, MSc

16. Masters of Light science and Tech, Univ Bordeaux.

17. Mc Gill University MS EE

As you can see I seemingly have a large number of choices of varying difficulties. Please help me cut down the list by difficulty. Any Insight on Good courses in ECE that suit my profile and I might have missed would help too. Thanks.

[Zelinusa]

Hi there.

I have applied to many of the photonics based programs you listed. My interests also lie in photonics and condensed matter physics. 

I think you have a strong profile. I don't have much experience with applying to US universities so I am not going to comment on them, although I still feel your profile is competitive for many of them. Funding though is another matter. I will focus on the EU/Canadian programs.

I wouldn't worry about the GPA (I think it is good enough. I got into many of these programs with a similar profile/GPA).

I think it would also depend on if you are looking for funding or not. If not, I reckon you can get into most of these universities (at least the EU/Canadian ones). Even if you are looking for funding, I think you have a great chance at Ghent/VUB, Europhotonics, Jena etc.

For photonics oriented programs, I would add:
Max Planck school of photonics, University of Eastern Finland, PIXNET (Erasmus program), and Humboldt University of Berlin (MS Optical Sciences) just to name a few. I would also maybe apply for funded MASc research masters positions in Canada (email professors you would like to work with to see if they have vacancies) since your research experience for a new grad is quite strong (if you want a research-based masters, as opposed to EU style ones).  

From my experience, the course based masters (EU) programs care more about your grades/courses while research masters positions care more about your research experience. 

In conclusion, I think you are competitive for at least the EU/Canadian programs on your list, your GPA shouldn't be a big deal.

Good luck with your applications.   

[sugaaa]

On 1/24/2020 at 3:34 AM, Zelinusa said:

Hi there.

I have applied to many of the photonics based programs you listed. My interests also lie in photonics and condensed matter physics. 

I think you have a strong profile. I don't have much experience with applying to US universities so I am not going to comment on them, although I still feel your profile is competitive for many of them. Funding though is another matter. I will focus on the EU/Canadian programs.

I wouldn't worry about the GPA (I think it is good enough. I got into many of these programs with a similar profile/GPA).

I think it would also depend on if you are looking for funding or not. If not, I reckon you can get into most of these universities (at least the EU/Canadian ones). Even if you are looking for funding, I think you have a great chance at Ghent/VUB, Europhotonics, Jena etc.

For photonics oriented programs, I would add:
Max Planck school of photonics, University of Eastern Finland, PIXNET (Erasmus program), and Humboldt University of Berlin (MS Optical Sciences) just to name a few. I would also maybe apply for funded MASc research masters positions in Canada (email professors you would like to work with to see if they have vacancies) since your research experience for a new grad is quite strong (if you want a research-based masters, as opposed to EU style ones).  

From my experience, the course based masters (EU) programs care more about your grades/courses while research masters positions care more about your research experience. 

In conclusion, I think you are competitive for at least the EU/Canadian programs on your list, your GPA shouldn't be a big deal.

Good luck with your applications.   

Thank you very much for the detailed response, I was in the dark about MASc research based masters positions. I will surely check out the prospects there. Any idea if they are similar to the ones in australia, ( e.g. ANU or U of Sydney) ? Could you reccomend any MASc Masters places in canada that come to mind. I too believe that a research degree would be best for me since i have plans to follow this with a PhD. I was also confused about where my relatively broader research experience would be given greater weightage. 

Apologies for the late reply. Its difficult to find guidance from grads who were in a similar position. 

[Zelinusa]

50 minutes ago, sugaaa said:

Thank you very much for the detailed response, I was in the dark about MASc research based masters positions. I will surely check out the prospects there. Any idea if they are similar to the ones in australia, ( e.g. ANU or U of Sydney) ? Could you reccomend any MASc Masters places in canada that come to mind. I too believe that a research degree would be best for me since i have plans to follow this with a PhD. I was also confused about where my relatively broader research experience would be given greater weightage. 

Apologies for the late reply. Its difficult to find guidance from grads who were in a similar position. 

Yes, research masters also exist in Australia at the universities you mentioned (MPhil and MRes etc). For research based masters positions, it is all about the professors. If you have a professor's backing/funding to enter a MS program (MASc, MPhil, MRes etc.), your chances of admission are very high. From my experience, professors care more about how you fit into their research group skills/experience-wise (as long as you are above the GPA/IELTS cut-offs).

As for Canada, again, it is all about the professors. I suggest doing a sweep of Canadian universities, identifying professors you would like to work with in each (where your experience would be a good fit), then emailing said professors expressing your interest. Emails should be substantive and personalized though (try not to spam). Most Canadian universites have funded MASc programs in photoniccs related fields (ECE, Physics, Applied/Engineering Physics, Mat. Sci etc.) so it shouldn't be a problem. Same applies to Australia although the process is slightly different, again but begins with reaching out to professors. If you want to go down this route I advise you to act quickly as deadlines for Fall 2020 are fast approaching. 

Also note that if you are interested in transitioning directly to a PhD (much higher chance of getting funding) from a BSc, that is possible too (in Canada and Australia but not in Europe AFAIK). 

Glad I can help. Good luck once again.