EE PhDs: CMU, Cornell, UCLA, UT Austin, which to choose?

[pro711]

Hello guys,

I recently received several offers for my Fall 2012 PhD application, and I need to decide which to accept. Personally, I am more interested in computer architecture, but VLSI and CAD are also OK for me. I plan to go to the industry after getting a PhD. I'd like to hear some advice of which to choose.

1. CMU ECE

Research Area: CAD of Integrated Circuits

- good reputation in EE/CS

- strong in CAD research

- CAD industry is very small, maybe not many opportunities

- location not so good

2. Cornell ECE

Research Area: Computer Architecture

- ivy league school

- strong in computer architecture research

- location not so good

3. UCLA EE

Research Area: Digital Integrated Circuits/VLSI for communications

- strong in IC research

- good location

4. UT Austin ECE

Research Area: Computer Architecture

- strong in computer architecture research

- good location

- overall school reputation not as good as the other three

Anyone gives me some advice on which to choose, in terms of future career prospective, school reputation and connection with industry?

Thanks in advance.

[awvvu]

I think CMU has good comp arch but it is small in general. Austin is probably the best for comp arch and good for industry. UCLA ranking isn't very high compared to the others but I think it's well regarded on the west coast, so that's good for industry. I don't know how good they are for comp arch, but they are good for RF and IC design. I don't know anything about Cornell.

[pro711]

I think CMU has good comp arch but it is small in general. Austin is probably the best for comp arch and good for industry. UCLA ranking isn't very high compared to the others but I think it's well regarded on the west coast, so that's good for industry. I don't know how good they are for comp arch, but they are good for RF and IC design. I don't know anything about Cornell.

Thanks for your reply. For CMU and UCLA, I didn't manage to get in touch with a professor in comp arch area, so I went for CAD and IC Design respectively. Any ideas about career development in CAD/IC Design compared with comp arch?

I see Cornell has some pretty good research in their Computer Systems Laboratory (www.csl.cornell.edu). Maybe its remote location is the reason that it is not well-known in industry?

[HassE]

Honestly, if your really trying to get into Computer Architecture, my best suggestion would be to go to UT Austin. Not only is it a top-10 research university, but within walking distance is the AMD research Facility and the Intel Research facility is in Austin as well.

Don't get my wrong CMU is one of the top ECE programs, however there focus a lot more on wireless/DSP/AI/robots/etc; not really so much on CompArch. I also love Cornell, an IVY leage top-15 school with excellent prestige and recognition more so than any of these schools mentioned, but again, don't think you can compare to UT Austin for CompArch. If you go there you will have excellent ties to both Intel and AMD, can you really get any better than those companies for CompArch? Isn't Texas Instruments down there as well?

If your serious about CompArch, you'd be crazy to turn them down.

[Barca]

Congratulations on all of your offers! i think you have some great options. If I were you, I would go to either Cornell or CMU, not to mention that UCLA and UT Austin are both well-reputed schools. You shouldn't get too caught up with the ranking, as there are many other things to consider--finding the right advisor, funding availability, etc. Given that public schools like UCLA tend to have far more students than private schools, one of the advantages of going to private schools (Cornell & CMU) is a favorable student to faculty ration.

Although SoCal is a pretty awesome place to live, living in LA, particularly in the neighborhood of UCLA, could be very expensive. I'm currently living in a one-bedroom apartment near UCLA and my rent is $1510 per month. You can probably find cheaper apartments but I think you would have to pay at least 1250 for one-bedroom.

[AbaNader]

Hello guys,

I recently received several offers for my Fall 2012 PhD application, and I need to decide which to accept. Personally, I am more interested in computer architecture, but VLSI and CAD are also OK for me. I plan to go to the industry after getting a PhD. I'd like to hear some advice of which to choose.

1. CMU ECE

Research Area: CAD of Integrated Circuits

- good reputation in EE/CS

- strong in CAD research

- CAD industry is very small, maybe not many opportunities

- location not so good

2. Cornell ECE

Research Area: Computer Architecture

- ivy league school

- strong in computer architecture research

- location not so good

3. UCLA EE

Research Area: Digital Integrated Circuits/VLSI for communications

- strong in IC research

- good location

4. UT Austin ECE

Research Area: Computer Architecture

- strong in computer architecture research

- good location

- overall school reputation not as good as the other three

Anyone gives me some advice on which to choose, in terms of future career prospective, school reputation and connection with industry?

Thanks in advance.

A general advice: the size of the school/department does matter. In general, private schools are better than public schools in terms of quality of life so you might want to consider that.