The official EE Graduate Admission Results 2009 Thread

[inactive_since_inf]

Hey guys,

this is my first post. There is an 8 page thread (as of new), for the CS applicants... but I could only get a 20 post thread partially related to EE .... so thought I should start this one.

Where are all the EE PhD applicants gone????

EE PhD is one of the biggest programs with a lot of applications... So I am sure there are a lot of viewers vainly searching for EE related posts.

Coming to the topic,

Berkeley and Michigan seem to have sent acceptances ( not to me ....) for the EE program, if one looks at the results page.

MIT made their decisions on friday the 6th (got this info from the CS applicants where are you?? thread )

Anyone else got admits rejects please post here!!!

[inactive_since_inf]

Hi, anyone there?

were the berkeley offers for EE handed a week ago?

[MD0925]

I have been posting of the CS forums. Here are the results:

Waiting: Stanford, CMU, Berkeley

Accepted: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Georgia Tech

Rejections: None yet .. expecting it from Bkly and CMU though

Anyone heard from Stanford?

[inactive_since_inf]

Hey thanks for posting!

Congrats for getting admits!! I am yet to get one... :|

I too haven't heard anything from Stanford, except that it gave out a lot of rejections (as posted on the results page) in CS.

All the best for that.

I wonder what happened to my own UMich application...

[MD0925]

Well you shouldnt worry about that too much. Umich can be very late with the responses. After speaking with the admissions director, I believe that they are always in a rush to notify people being invited to the Open houses. The process of sending accepts goes on till March.

Stanford is a very department based admissions. I know that they have an admissions committee of Students and Professors. So your research professor may not even get to see the application till students are admitted. I spoke to someone yesterday and she said that EE was in the tail end of the admissions process. So it should be anytime this week or next week. Obviously that makes the anticipation worse.

Not expecting much from CMU and Berkeley though.

[fenguin]

Anyone else waiting to hear from MIT? I'm surprised they don't offer interviews - is an applicant limited to only what he/she can put on paper?

[inactive_since_inf]

On page 10 of "CS applicants where are you??" thread leogk informs:

Hi, Guys...

Today I just walked in the graduate office of MIT, and asked about when I'm going to be notified...

She said I can see the decision on the webpage (where you submitted your application to) at Feb 17th.

But I guess if you are admitted, you may get it earlier. (via an email or a package).

So I guess its next week. I too haven't heard of interviews from MIT. Probably someone else can throw light on this.

The waiting is really bothersome, especially when you don't have a single (positive) result out.

@ fenguin: Have you applied to EECS of MIT?

[aries]

Anyone heard from the ECE department - UMD? I checked the Apra website and it said that " a decision has been made regarding your application". I checked Testudo but it's still "decision pending". They wouldn't answer the decision through phone or email.

[kieldy]

Anybody know what going on with UC Berkeley EECS?

I know they sent out admissions last week, but does that mean anybody who didn't receive admission last week are all rejected, or is there a chance they'll send out more admissions?

[MD0925]

They sent outboth accepts and rejects .. So if you haven't gotten either then there might still be a chance.

Although I can't be completely sure

[finest_engineering]

First time poster, I have a lot to say:

I applied to grad school LAST YEAR.

Some brief stats because I know you guys need to have them:

3.94 GPA from a very good/hard undergrad program

1 article in undergrad publication

1 conference paper ASME, but not first-author

GRE: 800 (94%) Math, 630 (90%) Verbal, 5.5 (88%) Writing

Work experience as a programmer at a web startup and later for over a year as a researcher at a capital management firm (doing a lot of simulation work similar to what I do in grad school)

Although I made A LOT of money working at the cap. mgmt firm, I spent my prime undergrad years there (junior and senior years) and didn't get any publications even though I was doing independent research.

I got the following admissions results (all ee, ece, eecs):

Accepted: Stanford, Georgia Tech, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, U of Washington

Rejected: MIT, Berkeley, CalTech

Other: Turned down for NSF funding.

I ultimately decided to go to one of the schools I was accepted to. I immediately felt that two things kept me from getting in 'everywhere'. One being that I didn't have a 'real' first-author publication, and second that I had done well working in a few different areas as an undergrad, but I didn't have a very clearly focused research interest to carry into grad school. Things are going really well here, I am and MS student and I have a research assistantship with a great professor. I decided to apply again this year to explore my options and when admissions deadlines rolled around this year I had accomplished the following things since last year:

- wrote for another undergrad publication, but this time won an award for it (this was before I graduated)

- was the TA for the main grad course at my school in the area I specialize in (control)

- completed a first-author paper in control based entirely off my own ideas, now being reviewed

Also, I updated my applications more recently with:

- currently one of 50 Hertz finalists out of 550 applicants (nothing from NSF, NDSEG yet)

- I have done the bulk of the research for another first-author conf. paper

Before I talk more about this years admissions.. a note about this site. Last year I didn't know about this site and I am glad that I didn't. This site gives you the ability to obsess about admissions results all day every day. Last year I just waited, and waited, and finally got all my results. I don't see what checking the results page three times a day and trying to figure out if some school gave out ALL their acceptances yet does for you. Either you will get in or you won't, you will never know for certain what result you get until you are told directly. All the questions I see asked and answered here are all things that an undergrad advisor or professor could easily answer, and would be happy to. That said, now that I know about this site I watch it like a hawk =) even though I know it is unhealthy.

Anyhow, considering the caliber of school I am already at and the fact I am happy here, I only applied to three schools this year:

Berkeley, Stanford, MIT. I was going to throw in a bunch more, but a bit before the deadline I decided that any school that I wouldn't go to if accepted to is not worth the time and money to apply. Its amazing how long it took me to make such an obvious conclusion.

Anyhow, I am beginning to think I didn't get into Berkeley because results came from there and then sort of dried up, with me not hearing anything. Stanford hasn't given any EE results yet from what I have seen. I got some encouraging news from MIT the other day though: My current research advisor is pretty well connected there, I didn't use him as a letter writer because when deadlines rolled around we were still just starting to work together, but I mentioned our research plans in my SOP. A professor from MIT who knows my professor contacted him basically asking for some feedback on me because they are doing admissions. He gave them a very positive response. I feel encouraged by this for several reasons:

1) They obviously haven't thrown my application in the trash yet.

2) My application got all the way to a professor whose name I specified in my application as someone I would work with, which is good.

3) The guy I work with now is very respected there and gave me a very positive recommendation.

4) I would think that they wouldn't have bothered asking my professor about me if a positive response still wouldn't get me in...

This information also flatly contradicts the post somewhere up there that said they already made all their decisions..

Anyhow, I feel a little grimy about what is happening with MIT because I filled out their application completely and had all my recommendations sent in so why should they be seeking out other recommendations for me? I would assume that they aren't google'ing every random professor mentioned in an SOP who didn't submit a letter and asking for feedback. There is a sort of buddy-buddy thing going on here that is pretty unfair to those out of the loop. Anyhow, this corroborates my long-held belief that the admissions process at the top schools is a crap-shoot. I am not going to bother feeling guilty about admission at this point seeing as I haven't even gotten in!

A few words of advice from a survivor of this process:

1) The 'name' of the school is not that important. The professor you ultimately work for is the most important thing.

2) Your prospects after graduation will largely be determined by your level of productivity in grad school and how well you learn how to 'sell yourself' in person and in writing.

3) Admissions at top schools is so competitive that although the very best students do tend to get in to most places, there is not much difference between the last ten in and the last ten out.

Also, once in grad school, I find it alarming how many people still act like undergrads in grad school...

1) They procrastinate, rarely starting homework assignments immediately when they are assigned, but rather waiting until a couple days before they are due.

2) They let work pileup then pull 'all-nighters' and get stressed out and lame to be around.

3) They work on everything as a group. This never made any sense to me. You will learn the material best by figuring it out for yourself.

4) They think of research as 'a professor gives you a task, you do it, then write about it'- rarely do people spend time THINKING about original problem formulations or solutions.

My advice- grow up. Treat grad school like what it is, a full-time job. Get up early, work all day. Read your textbook chapters twice. You are investing in yourself. THINK. Spend time thinking about research, not just plugging away at someone else's tasks. You are sophisticated enough to think up a research question, find the relevant literature, read through it, and identify an area where a new contribution can be made.

Good luck on admissions!

[inactive_since_inf]

Thanks for wishing me (and everyone) good luck.

I wish you too get into the school you want to. And really, I am amazed by the clarity and truthfulness with which you have expressed your experiences. A lot to gain from them

I know, we as applicants become very concerned about the results. Its kind of a sub-optimal behavior (pardon my use of adjectives) to be getting anxious about the results all day. But its a career defining thing, and I believe this forum is trying to act as a support group.

But really, thanks for sharing your experience and pieces of advice. And welcome to the gradcafe!!

[MD0925]

Congrats to the two who heard from Stanford! Could you share your area of specialization and stats?

[ni1v1a]

It seems that we should wait untill Monday to hear from MIT However I think MIT has sent out the acceptances and I should be ready to hearing the rejection.

[inactive_since_inf]

@ni1v1a

All the best for MIT!!!

Weekends are really boring.... zzZzzZ...

[adewise1]

Applied: MIT, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Univ of Michigan, Univ of Minnesota, UC Berkeley, Purdue University

Accepted: Vanderbilt, Univ of Minnesota

Rejected: None so far...

I really hope to get into Stanford though but it is seeming impossible every minute

[chuck_b]

Congrats to those who were accepted to MIT, UCB and Stanford!

I was confused though if the acceptances that have thus far come in for these schools have been for specific subareas or has it been widespread?

I feel MIT hasn't sent out replies for Area V yet but I could be wrong ...

[andyxlee]

Has MIT sent out replies to Masters students?

[ali]

I did not receive any thing from MIT. Do you think, what it means?

Also, do you think, they send out any more result today?

[qpd]

I feel MIT hasn't sent out replies for Area V yet but I could be wrong ...

I'm hoping so, too.

[adewise1]

I applied to the Masters program at MIT EECS under Area III and i am yet to receive a reply. I am beginning to think it wasnt a great decision applying to a Masters program afterall... I shoulda just applied for PhD and possibly chickened out after obtaining my masters

[chuck_b]

I am beginning to think it wasnt a great decision applying to a Masters program afterall... I shoulda just applied for PhD and possibly chickened out after obtaining my masters

Is it really possible to do this? Won't you end up getting on your prof/advisor's bad side?

[andyxlee]

Is it really possible to do this? Won't you end up getting on your prof/advisor's bad side?

yah... but the people who do it don't really care if the prof's on their bad side, cuz they would have their MS degree and won't have to worry about school again.

[finest_engineering]

Dropping out of a PhD program after getting a masters is pretty common. Your advisor probably won't like it, but that doesn't mean he/she won't like you anymore. A lot of professors are pretty cool and realize that your life doesn't revolve around them. If you have a change of heart about the PhD, a lot of professors will understand and you can potentially maintain a good relationship with them. You do take a chance on that to some extent though. As was mentioned above, most don't really care because they have their MS and can go get a job and don't have to worry about school anymore.

I am aware of three reasons that people drop out of PhD programs with a Masters:

1) They only intend to get a Masters in the first place and apply to PhD programs just to get better funding options.

2) They get a better idea of what getting a PhD is all about and decide it isn't for them. As an undergrad you are exposed to a wide range of ideas that are well understood. In grad school you get very narrowly focused on ideas that are not that well understood. You are very commonly asking yourself (Do I care about this? Do I really want to put a big stamp on my career tying me to this work?)

3) They fail the PhD examinations and are forced to leave with their Masters.

A buddy of mine is leaving Berkeley EECS with a Masters at the end of the semester despite being accepted and funded as a PhD student from day one. I am a first year grad student at a top 10 EE program now and I was taken on for an RA'ship under the pretenses that I would do a PhD with the guy. This year I re-applied to the few schools I didn't get into last year (haven't heard anything yet- obviously worried about it). My advisor got a call from one of those schools and subsequently summoned me to his office. I was scared but he was totally cool about it. He told me he left the guy he did his Masters with and did his PhD with someone else. Anyhow it looks like I won't be leaving anyways unless a miracle occurs.

[EE Applicant]

Has anybody contacted MIT EECS admission office today?