Stanford - Civil and Environmental Construction Applicants 2013 (SDC, CDI, CEM)

[ArizonaState21]

I recently applied to Stanford's Sustainable Design and Construction (SDC) MS/Engineer degree. Any other applicants to SDC, CDI, or CEM?

[ArizonaState21]

Additional search tags: CEE, PhD, Center for Integrated Facility Engineering (CIFE), Global Projects Center (GPC), Berkeley, (EPM), UT-Austin, (CEPM) University of Illinois, MIT, Purdue,

Hopefully this will help a few more applicants find the thread over the coming months.

Edited December 9, 2012 by ArizonaState21

[gypsywillow]

Heard anything yet??!!

 

I applied to the SDC program as well; another grad cafe forum showed a few acceptances already in February and I'm wondering if all acceptances have been sent out. Thoughts?

 

Good luck!

[ArizonaState21]

I'll be visiting Stanford and UCB in March, but I will no longer be monitoring my GradCafe account. Future applicants to any of these programs with questions can reach me at sbhollow@asu.edu. 

[patrick92]

I applied to SDC too. I would expect more people to apply to CEM though, why does sustainability gain popularity in these days, lol:) Do you guys mind posting your stats? 

[cristinna]

I applied for the CEM engineer degree and still don't have any news. anybody?

[Akshi]

Congrats Arizonastate21! =)
Any idea when Stanford & UCB send out the next set of admits? Cant wait.

[thatman2013]

I applied to the same program.

I still haven't heard anything from Stanford but was rejected by UC Berkeley a few weeks ago.

Is nothing a good sign? better than rejection I guess.

[Faith.Ze]

Hello everyone,

 

I still haven't heard from Stanford...

 

 

Is nothing a good sign? 

 

I was wondering the same thing...

[ArizonaState21]

All-

 

I don't really know how either school does "sets of admits," but I have felt they keep an unofficial waiting list, meaning they don't send all the rejections and wait until around the April 15th deadline to see if students elect to attend elsewhere. Then they would send late letters of acceptance to fill out their class. But, both visit days happened in mid-march so I imagine most have been admitted (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news). Also, Stanford's construction programs said they have a 90% matriculation rate of admitted students, so I don't think they'd keep a big waiting list. But, don't give up yet! Ha. 

 

Also though, both schools aren't very good at getting back to students. : / 

 

Hope this helps a bit.

[Brennan]

Hi everyone,

 

I wanted to let you know that I called and spoke with the secretary for the construction program, Eve Martinez-Santayana, yesterday afternoon. She said they are working to send out all remaining notifications by the end of this week. She thought that there may be a few notifications sent out next week but the vast majority of applicants who have yet to be notified will hear from them sometime this week.

 

Best of luck to all. 

[patrick92]

Did any of you also apply to Columbia's CEM program? I was interviewed a week ago but havent heard back anything yet.

 

Also, do you guys know if Columbia's CEM program has a good reputation in the industry? Is it as selective as Stanford's CEM program? Any inputs from you guys will help a lot!

 

Thanks

[cristinna]

Brennan, thank you for sharing this info with us. She has never replied to my emails. Good luck to all of you!

[Brennan]

Did anyone hear back from Stanford?

 

I was really hoping to hear from them today since I have to notify my second choice program by Monday. 

[patrick92]

Same here.

Edited March 30, 2013 by patrick92

[Faith.Ze]

I called them and they said that they are sending the results by mail and not email.

So, I guess we have to wait a bit longer.

[ArizonaState21]

My thoughts regarding Columbia's CEM program in comparison to Stanford/Berkeley: I think it's generally not as highly regarded as Stanford or Berkeley. 

1. Area: Learning construction methods, labor laws, companies, and culture of a geographic area is important. So- Where do you see yourself working, East Coast or West Coast? Also, the construction industry in CA is a much faster adopter of new trends and technologies. That ties in with the 3rd point. 

2. Size of Civil Program: All construction programs are housed within CE schools. Columbia isn't known for CE to the extent that Stanford or Berkeley is, so the program's size and stature aren't the same. 

3. "Intent of Program:" This one is a little harder to explain my viewpoint on, but I'll give it a try. I studied construction management in undergrad, so take that into account. When I began looking at graduate programs many of them seemed to be a one or two year-long attempt by engineers to get into construction. So- the graduate classes were sort of intro to construction. In fact, it seems that 30-40% of ASU's graduate CM classes were with the undergrads. Personally I don't think I would have gained much from such a graduate program and this is where Stanford and Berkeley stood out. Stanford is renowned for CIFE, which is the research group that over the past 20 years pretty much created Building Information Modeling as the market has adopted it today. Stanford is really growing with the Sustainable Design and Construction program as well. Berkeley on the other hand is a powerhouse for Lean Construction, which is a big development in today's construction market. What I'm trying to say is that many universities can get you into construction with a CM degree, but the very top tier ones will help you develop a specialized skill-set with knowledge that will help you succeed quicker in the industry/have more options for jobs. Construction is an extremely experiential field, so I've heard from many recruiters that working for a year will teach you far more than could be found in a graduate program unless a specialization is acquired. ANYWAYS, Sorry for the long-winded and biased thoughts.     I know my opinion is skewed because of my experience/undergrad so feel free to explain your thoughts. 

 

Please keep me updated on everyone's admissions and reach out to me at sbhollow@asu.edu with any questions.

[Brennan]

Hi all,

 

I called Eve again today since this is the deadline for the construction program at Auburn. She seemed very surprised that I had not received an email from them by now, even before she asked for my name. After about a minute and a half of awkward silence she said she would email the response letter. I received the rejection letter as an attachment a few minutes later. 

 

I'm not surprised I was rejected since I didn't make it into the top 10th percentile on GRE quant. I've accepted a fully funded offer at Auburn. It is not an engineering focused program but it is probably a better fit since I really didn't want to go down the engineering route. 

 

For those of you still waiting, I would imagine you will receive a response in the next few days. She said my letter had been mailed out on Friday. Just from her surprise that I hadn't received the email before she asked for my name, it sounds like they have finished the decisions.

 

Good luck!

[dh790]

I will be in the Fall 2014 batch. Applying to CEM at Stanford, along with some other schools. Still shortlisting my list of schools to those that I can see myself really fitting in. I have until this weekend to finalize!! Stanford definitely stood out as my first choice though. Despite everyone suggesting not to apply there because of their lack of funding for MS international applicants, I will still give it a shot. Also I've been working for two years since graduating, so I hope that helps for something.

 

Any advice from you guys will always be welcomed. I hope to keep updating my grad school progress.