MS in Industrial Engineering [Production systems] for Fall 2013

[bharadwajpd]

Hello all!

I am planning to apply for MS in IE. This is how my profile stands as of now.

Academics:

BE: Electrical Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad.

Aggregate: 70.7%

GRE: 1430 (Q800, V630, AWA3.5) [August 2009]

TOEFL: Planning to give in next few months

Work Experience: Relevant to IE, Working in reputed automobile manufacturing company in India. Work profile is related to production. Will have 3 years by Fall 2013.

Research/Publications: Nil

Extracurriculars: Decent enough.

Aiming for the following programs:

Ambitious:

1. Virginia Tech

2. North Carolina State University

3. Texas A & M University

4. University of Texas, Austin

5. Iowa State University

Moderate:

1. ASU

2. UFL Gainsville

3. Rutgers University

Safe:

1. RIT

Please help me in assessing my chance of acceptance in the above programs. Feel free to add/delete any programs.

Priorities:

1. Low tuition fee

2. Good location for IE jobs.

[efh0888]

I would encourage you to go by these rankings: http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124751/. US News is not as reliable. I would also encourage you to shoot for a few higher end schools like Georgia Tech and Stanford. You never know unless you apply!

If you look at the NRC rankings, when ranking by "S-Rank High", you actually would reverse some of your categories. For instance, UF and ASU are (surprisingly) on par with Berkeley and UT Austin, while schools like Virginia Tech and NC State would be in the moderate to safe category. Keep in mind these are specifically PhD rankings, so perhaps it would include things you don't care about (i.e. research productivity, level of financial support for PhD students, etc.).

One consideration, of course, is that in industry I am guessing name brand matters a lot. Hence, a school like ASU loses appeal, even though they have a top IE dept.

Schools you should consider adding:

1-2 of the very top, i.e. MIT ORC, Stanford, *Georgia Tech, Northwestern, Berkeley

*Note: GA Tech admits an unusually large number of students each year, so it might be worthwhile to apply here!

U of Michigan

Ohio State

USC

Hope this helps!