EPFL vs TAMU

[gradApplcnt]

Hi everyone,

I really need your advice in choosing between EPFL & TAMU:

I have applied to EE PhD in the area of Coding/Information theory and Algorithms, and was only admitted at EPFL & TAMU.

At EPFL I have been admitted but without a fellowship, but a Prof recently contacted me and gave me an offer. The problem with this Prof is that he’s really young (never graduated any student yet..) and one of his student whom I contacted told me that this Prof. is not a good advisor, and that among 4 students he advised, 3 left him ! He currently only have one PhD student in his group (I hope I am not making it too obvious whom I am talking about).

At TAMU, I have been admitted and I contacted Profs for funding, two replied to let me know they’ll be taking their decisions by end of April or even later because they’re waiting for grants…

The problem is I need to reply to the Prof at EPFL before April 19, and I am torn between the better reputation to EPFL compared to TAMU, and the fact that I know my potential advisor at EPFL would probably not be a good advisor… Also I am not sure if it would be possible to go to EPFL and then try to switch there to another advisor (there’s many excellent profs in my area of interest at EPFL)?

On another note, I am still awaiting a response from Cornell (didn’t receive anything from them), I was hoping to get maybe a response after April 15. I know my chances are probably low now to get admitted at Cornell, what do you think?

Sorry for the long posts, but I would really appreciate any advice

Thank you !

[NaqmeK]

I have been to Lausanne, EPFL, nice place but small. cost of living is toooooo much there! I do not recommend without funding. having a good adviser is crucial in grad study. I do not know very much about TAMU but I would go with funding.

[gradApplcnt]

Hi Naqmek,

yeah I know switzerland is reallyyyy expensive, I did my internship at EPFL. Of course I'm not considering accepting any offer without funding because I simply cannot afford it.

The problem is I'm worried I would not get funding from TAMU, and then I would had turn down my only offer...

I have to reply for this EPFL prof by Friday morning while TAMU profs won't get back to me before end of this month or next one :S

[awwdeerp]

To be honest I don't see that much difference between the reputations of TAMU and EPFL. If you check their rankings for engineering (yes, I know, rankings are not the best indicator), they are practically equal: http://www.shanghairanking.com/FieldENG2011.html

TAMU is actually ranked several positions higher. Plus, as a fellow EE who got his undergrad + MS in Europe and now working on PhD in the US, I would say that their reputation is comparable (though I'm not in your subfield so I can't say for sure). EPFL is better known in Europe and TAMU - in the US, so you have to take into consideration where you would prefer to work after you graduate.

I'd say that personality, reputation and research interests of your potential advisor(s) are more important in this case. Generally, students (even former students) don't like to say a lot of negative things about their advisors so if you received such negative response it may mean that he is really bad (or it could be just a disgruntled student's opinion).

As for Cornell - you never can be sure. If it is past 15th of April and they did not send you a rejection letter, you may be waitlisted or at least you have a (more or less) decent chance.

If I were you I would try the following

- ask EPFL professor for an extension - it is a very common request so why not give it a try? Even if it is only one week, it can still be very helpful - a lot of universities make their $$$ decisions in the second half of April.

- if you still have no response from them 1 or 2 days before EPFL deadline, you can write a POLITE request (try not to make it sound like an ultimatum) like "I am very interested in attending your program, however, I would be able to accept your offer only if you can make a final decision by $DATE". If it works - you have one more admission to choose from, if not - you would go to another university anyway.

- finally, some people change their mind after they have accepted an offer. This is generally frowned upon, so you should not do it unless you have a good reason, but still - it is in your own interest to get the best offer you can (after all, you paid admission fees and spent a lot of time on your applications)

Good luck!