Operations Research / Industrial Engineering Fall 2011

[finallywon]

no news from Stan MS in MS& E here too!

Stan MS results are usually out on the second thursday of march... which will be the 10th of march... according to last year, the rejections were sent out first and then the acceptances were sent out the next day...

[wifey99999999]

Sure, here we go:

GRE: 800Q / 650V / 5.0AW

Undergrad and MS in IE in the top school in my country (but not known at all outside it).

GPA (as converted by WES). Undergrad: 3.8/4.0 Grad: 4.0/4.0

Research: 2 publications in proceedings, 1 submitted journal, several talks.

Three years working on OR team in Fortune 100 company. Here we have done interesting research, but publications are hard due to legal issues, I pointed that out in my SoP.

LoRs from PhDs from GaTech, NCSU and Penn State.

Good luck to all

How did you get rejected by Columbia OR and accepted by Cal IEOR?? Cal IEOR is supposedly much harder to get in with much smaller intake than columbia....

[wifey99999999]

I have heard this as well that incoming students at MS and MS/PhD level seldom are funded on RAs. And the lucky ones who get TAs have to cover the out-of state tuition out of pocket.(Surprisingly unlike most other schools TAs at UCB (GSI as they are known in UCB jargon) dont cover complete tuition and stipend.

I hope some combination of fellowship and RA/TA is offered to us guys.

BTW how many of you are still planning to attend UCB IEOR. I mean is this the top choice school for most or is it second fiddle to MIT ORC, GaTech ISYE, and Cornell/Columbia?

Cal's IEOR is one of the top along with Ga TEch, Columbia, Cornell, MIT, Stanford. Cal is definitely not 2nd fiddle to any school.

[divadf]

Was anyone else placed on the waiting list by MIT?

[merak]

no news from Stan MS in MS& E here too!

wish u luck

and i actually meant phd in ms&e in previous posts....

[ashishkhetan09]

Hi,

Does anyone know about Phd admission decision dates of:

Gatech, Northwestern, Umich, UIUC and Purdue?

[RoboTicks]

Cal's IEOR is one of the top along with Ga TEch, Columbia, Cornell, MIT, Stanford. Cal is definitely not 2nd fiddle to any school.

Its very comforting to know that (I was already sure of accepting the offer)

I just posed the ques to know probable grad-mates at UCB. From what I see here on GradCafe: only 5-6 people have been accepted in the program What is the usual intake ? I would guess 10-12( including all MS, MS/PhD, PhD)

Edited March 2, 2011 by RoboTicks

[Mind_Left_Body]

wish u luck

and i actually meant phd in ms&e in previous posts....

I would politely email Stanford if you are still waiting on PhD decision. Those applications were due well before the MS applications, so they should not mind if you ask about your status. It sounds like you are A) on unofficial waitlist or being lumped into the MS application decisions. Did you tell them you would consider an MS if you don't get into Phd program. Let us know how it goes. Good luck to you! -JCL

[Uncertain_Me]

Stan MS results are usually out on the second thursday of march... which will be the 10th of march... according to last year, the rejections were sent out first and then the acceptances were sent out the next day...

what are my chances...( I resisted this..but finally gave in to the tension which is simply going over the roofs now ) given the following credentials: GRE General ...800 Q 690 V 4 AWA ... TOEFL 108... GPA 3.25(approx.)..I am from a reputed institute in India where they are pretty stingy with grades ... also my grades were pulled to the ground due to some soft courses in Biology... my grades in courses like Differential Equations, Linear Algebra etc. are top notch. I will be awarded a BS-MS in Physics and Maths this may. I have a year of research to my credit. I am really worried about my seemingly low GPA.... Stanford doesn't look superfluously into the transcripts right?

Edited March 3, 2011 by Uncertain_Me

[Uncertain_Me]

wish u luck

and i actually meant phd in ms&e in previous posts....

Good luck to you too

[wifey99999999]

what are my chances...( I resisted this..but finally gave in to the tension which is simply going over the roofs now ) given the following credentials: GRE General ...800 Q 690 V 4 AWA ... TOEFL 108... GPA 3.25(approx.)..I am from a reputed institute in India where they are pretty stingy with grades ... also my grades were pulled to the ground due to some soft courses in Biology... my grades in courses like Differential Equations, Linear Algebra etc. are top notch. I will be awarded a BS-MS in Physics and Maths this may. I have a year of research to my credit. I am really worried about my seemingly low GPA.... Stanford doesn't look superfluously into the transcripts right?

3.25 GPA will kill your application... many top schools' admitted students have average 3.7 GPA.

[Uncertain_Me]

3.25 GPA will kill your application... many top schools' admitted students have average 3.7 GPA.

I understand that. But I was hoping nothing bad would happen because: a) An average has numbers lying on both sides of it. My GPA is low because of the Biology and other irrelevant courses and I have got good grades in relevant ones. c) Gradation varies from place to place. I have studied in a very difficult place.

I hope universities will look into my other credentials too..before dinging me.

[Mind_Left_Body]

I would politely email Stanford if you are still waiting on PhD decision. Those applications were due well before the MS applications, so they should not mind if you ask about your status. It sounds like you are A) on unofficial waitlist or being lumped into the MS application decisions. Did you tell them you would consider an MS if you don't get into Phd program. Let us know how it goes. Good luck to you! -JCL

Merak-Followup...did you indicate that you would be interested in an MS, if not qualified for PhD? If so, that might explain why you haven't heard from them.

[merak]

Merak-Followup...did you indicate that you would be interested in an MS, if not qualified for PhD? If so, that might explain why you haven't heard from them.

Hey thanks for your reply MindLeftBody. I did not choose that "consider MS" option... I think i should write to ask about this...

do u know how stanford makes admission decisions? do they have a committee to vote? I am curious how comes this situation....

[OR_Kid]

Hi everyone,

I've been accepted with funding to Operations Research PhDs at:

MIT's ORC

Cornells' ORIE

Stanford's MS&E

I am not from America, so its hard for me to figure out which one is best.

What do you guys think? I'm going to go visit them, I think.

[veryeva]

Hi everyone,

I've been accepted with funding to Operations Research PhDs at:

MIT's ORC

Cornells' ORIE

Stanford's MS&E

I am not from America, so its hard for me to figure out which one is best.

What do you guys think? I'm going to go visit them, I think.

well these three could be the best places for OR. It it up to your specified interest.

[merak]

Hi everyone,

I've been accepted with funding to Operations Research PhDs at:

MIT's ORC

Cornells' ORIE

Stanford's MS&E

I am not from America, so its hard for me to figure out which one is best.

What do you guys think? I'm going to go visit them, I think.

cool... congrats...

I vote for MIT

btw, do u mind sharing your background? thanks

[liao]

Hi everyone,

I've been accepted with funding to Operations Research PhDs at:

MIT's ORC

Cornells' ORIE

Stanford's MS&E

I am not from America, so its hard for me to figure out which one is best.

What do you guys think? I'm going to go visit them, I think.

Con. Any of them will be good. I think Stanford's program will be more applied and other two are more theoretical. But it depends your advisor.

Could you please share your background? (ie., GPA from which famous institution? Is your major Math? GRE score, papers or working experience.)

Thanks.

Edited March 4, 2011 by liao

[OR_Kid]

well these three could be the best places for OR. It it up to your specified interest.

Yeah, it seems to me that its a theoretical VS applied, also what kind of places I'd want to live.

cool... congrats...

I vote for MIT

btw, do u mind sharing your background? thanks

Interesting - any reason why?

Con. Any of them will be good. I think Stanford's program will be more applied and other two are more theoretical. But it depends your advisor.

Could you please share your background? (ie., GPA from which famous institution? Is your major Math? GRE score, papers or working experience.)

Thanks.

Don't want to give too many details because I don't want to identify myself.

First of all, I am definitely NOT from a famous institution

In my last 2 years I received A+s in every paper except 1 (that was an A)

My major was not math, it was engineering with an operations research specialisation. It was a 4 year honours degree.

GRE scores were 800 for the math bit, 700ish for the verbal bit, 5.0 for the essay bit.

I have one paper that hasn't been published yet, its not in the area of operations research though.

I was second author on a conference paper for a new opensource optimisation tool.

I worked for two summers at companies (one civil, one electricity industry), and have done two summer research studentships.

Apparently a big thing was my references, which were outstanding. I think my application letter was pretty strong too.

[OR_Dan]

Dan, do you know what your top choice would have been?

Probably MIT, I really like their professors for research. However it will be nice to go somewhere that has a proper industrial engineering department, not just the OR center.

[OR_Dan]

How did you get rejected by Columbia OR and accepted by Cal IEOR?? Cal IEOR is supposedly much harder to get in with much smaller intake than columbia....

I have heard this a couple of times, and I don't really know. I think it is mostly my University is probably not known at all by Columbia profs and maybe someone at Cal has had 1 or 2 students from there. It is really quite a good program (comparing with people I know from several US programs), but I know that South America is on nobody's map when it comes to higher education.

[OR_Dan]

Hi everyone,

I've been accepted with funding to Operations Research PhDs at:

MIT's ORC

Cornells' ORIE

Stanford's MS&E

I am not from America, so its hard for me to figure out which one is best.

What do you guys think? I'm going to go visit them, I think.

WOW, congratulations, that is an achievement in itself. But the truth is the big thing you shold focus on is what do you want to do research on? Have you thought about possible advisors?

This will be your focus for the next 4-5 years. Go wherever they have profesors whose research you are particularly interested in. And if you can where they have several professors working on that kind of research.

[Johnny2]

Hi everyone,

I've been accepted with funding to Operations Research PhDs at:

MIT's ORC

Cornells' ORIE

Stanford's MS&E

I am not from America, so its hard for me to figure out which one is best.

What do you guys think? I'm going to go visit them, I think.

Each has its own advantages. Stanford is very strong in mathematical programming, especially in large-scale linear programming. It is in the MS&E department so you might have more options to explore around. Cornell has a couple of very famous people in stochastic modeling, but other OR-related areas appear rather lackluster in comparison. MIT is very strong in all areas compared to other OR departments. Nonetheless, you definitely should visit them all. Isnt it Stanford's Open House today?

This might be irrelevant but in case you're interested. Location-wise: Palo Alto > Cambridge > > > > > Ithaca. As the matter of fact, just forget about Cornell. Ithaca is horrible place to live, especially during winter which seems to last forever. The suicide rate is rather high there.

Edited March 4, 2011 by Johnny2

[sylvia2011]

How did you get rejected by Columbia OR and accepted by Cal IEOR?? Cal IEOR is supposedly much harder to get in with much smaller intake than columbia....

I think Cal and Columbia have approx same size of intake. (I think Columbia intake is even smaller. One of my friends who gets in this year said they take less than 10 ppl. Berkeley normal intake is about 10-12.)

I got in Berkeley but rejected by Columbia as well... so is another of my friends....

[Mind_Left_Body]

Hi everyone,

I've been accepted with funding to Operations Research PhDs at:

MIT's ORC

Cornells' ORIE

Stanford's MS&E

I am not from America, so its hard for me to figure out which one is best.

What do you guys think? I'm going to go visit them, I think.

-------

Congratulations on the admits. Very well done. In my opinion, MIT is your choice hands down. Stanford MS&E doesn't have great job placement, as far as I can tell (others have commented on this all over the web). Also, the San Francisco area is a VERY expensive place to live. Some polls say it is more expensive to live there than New York City. Cornell is a great school, but it is cold and tough weather there. MIT is a very prestigious school with great job placement after you finish. Boston is a fun place too. MIT is the best....no question about it.....best of luck with your decisions. I'm jealous of you.