Stanford EE Masters Fellowship

[jscr]

Hi all,

I have an offer to enter Masters in EE at Stanford, and I'm waiting for an offer of financial aid.

Does anyone know how much the 1 year fellowship stipend is? Not the 3 year one for PhD students, but the 1 year one for Masters students.

Thanks

[anotherflunky]

Stanford EE never gives fellowships to MS students. I know the wording of the acceptance email makes it sound like you just have to wait but this is how it works in practice.

1. A few nominated students get 3-year graduate fellowships from the university (not the department).

2. Then the EE department gives 1st year fellowships to a few students.

3. Stanford then waits for these students to decide if they will come to Stanford or go somewhere else.

4. Those that decide to go elsewhere free up fellowship offers that are given to PhD students that didn't get one in the first round.

Both the 1-year and 3-year fellowships are only for PhD students and truth is that even the majority of their PhD students are NOT funded the first year. 0% of the MS students are funded by the university or the department. The only financial aid is through external fellowships or employer funding (and there may be some extremely rare cases of students knowing faculty and getting RA/TA). The purpose of the MS-only program is to make money for Stanford through tuition. It's sad that Stanford is not honest about this and instead carefully lies to students and gives them hope for financial aid.

[jscr]

Are you sure about that? The e-mail says "Recipients receive 8-10 units of tuition per quarter and a quarterly stipend, usually for up to 3 quarters", which doesn't sound like it could apply to to PhD students ("units" is surely referring to coursework...?). Also I'm pretty sure I remember talking to an academic who knows students that went there, and said that they got a Fellowshop for their first year of Masters and then got money in the second year by a Teaching Assistantship.

When you say "2. Then the EE department gives 1st year fellowships to a few students.", do you mean they are offered a fellowship which doesn't come into play until they have completed Masters and started PhD?

Edited March 2, 2011 by jscr

[anotherflunky]

"MS" here refers to MS-only students, i.e. terminal MS, rather than PhD-track. Stanford differentiates the two degree programs. PhD-track students who are admitted with a BS are still eligible for fellowships for the first year even though they're doing their MS first. Which were you admitted to?

[jscr]

Here's the appropriate part of the admission letter:

"We are happy to inform you that we are able to offer you admission to our Master’s degree program for the start of Fall quarter 2011-2012. Congratulations! While you applied directly to our PhD program, this year the number of well-qualified applicants has far exceeded the number of people we can accept. Students enrolled under the MS option exclusively pursue the Master of Science degree. You may, however, take the PhD qualifying examination and advance to PhD candidacy by filing a petition with the EE Admissions Office after completing two full quarters of graduate study (excluding summer) and identifying a faculty advisor."

and their response when I asked about funding:

"Thank you for your email. We are currently in the process of allocating funds and students will know no later than April 20 if they receive a fellowship. Fellowship awards are based upon merit achievement, including undergraduate academic performance and research potential. Recipients receive 8-10 units of tuition per quarter and a quarterly stipend, usually for up to 3 quarters. Incoming students who are admitted to the Ph.D. program will also be considered for the Stanford Graduate Fellowship, a prestigious three-year University award. More information on the Stanford Graduate Fellowship can be found online."

So you're saying that since I'm not yet accepted to PhD I won't be offered funding?

Edited March 2, 2011 by jscr

[jscr]

I should also point out, I'm an international student, not sure if that changes anything

In any case, does anybody know how much the 1-year fellowships pay? According to http://sgf.stanford....ram/fellow.html the 3-year ones have a Stipend of $8,550 per quarter - would 1-year ones be the same?

Cheers

Edited March 2, 2011 by jscr

[anotherflunky]

So you're saying that since I'm not yet accepted to PhD I won't be offered funding

This is correct. In fact, even most of those admitted to the PhD program are not offered funding and they're prioritized over terminal MS students. This is just the nature of Stanford EE. It's well-known and they're not honest about it. You can ask on the Stanford EE topic in the Engineering forum if you want others to confirm this. The departmental stipend is in the neighborhood of 23-24k/year.

[albertlee]

Stanford EE never gives fellowships to MS students. I know the wording of the acceptance email makes it sound like you just have to wait but this is how it works in practice.

1. A few nominated students get 3-year graduate fellowships from the university (not the department).

Ok, this sounds a bit absurd. If it's not the EE department admissions committee deciding who should get the 3-year fellowships, then who does it, some liberal arts-y deans trying to recruit well-rounded charismatic dudes?

I hope some one can clarify.

thank you.

[card]

I know a lot of students at Stanford working on their EE Master’s and other engineering Master’s degrees who got full fellowships through Stanford from outside sources. Each engineering department has the student’s essays and basic application information sent out to outside sources for consideration of a fellowship.

This is quite prevalent in the engineering departments. There are a lot of students working on their Master’s degrees who have gotten full funding this way. Let us know how it works out, jscr.

[eesj]

I just applied for the Stanford HCP Eng EE. Does checking "No" for financial aid assistance improve my chances for admissions? I currently am not requesting aid since my employer will cover the tuition costs.