PhD in Industrial Engineering/Operations Research Fall 2013

[efh0888]

 Congrats on the Austin acceptance, efh0888!!

 

It is about a week that my status has changed to "in review" for Austin. When did you get notified abour your acceptance there?

Thanks! Yesterday I received an email with the offer.

 

I applied back in November so they may do rolling admissions. My status was changed to "in review" some time ago, at least a month back if not 5-6 weeks. I wish you the best!

 

BTW was rejected from Berkeley today. Again, the top 5 are pretty much all long shots for me, except (hopefully) Georgia Tech.

[Arcanen]

Someone just posted in a Berkeley IEOR rejection about the "top 5". What are these universities and does such a rank really mean much without going into specific fields? E.g. I've heard that Georgia Tech is the best place for industrial engineering, and that Columbia and Princeton are the best places for financial engineering.

 

Such specialization could obviously have an effect on the overall "industrial engineering and operations research" rank, so do blanket ratings mean much beyond bragging rights (that aren't even necessarily a result of performance in an applicants intended field...)?

[Uche]

I got the acceptance letter and assistanchips from UT-Dallas business program. 

And i'm going to stop my admission process for the other programs

[Buckeyeee]

Received the rejection from UC Berkeley. I've never been this frustrated!

[behnam1]

Received the rejection from UC Berkeley. I've never been this frustrated!

 

Many share this feeling, like me . . .

[shiraziaseel]

I've been accepted to UC Berkeley! Financial Aid information will come separately. I'm so excited! Though I'm sorry to hear the rejection news of so many others...

If the financial aid is sufficient, this is my top choice even above Stanford and MIT.

[33andathirdRPM]

I've been accepted to UC Berkeley! Financial Aid information will come separately. I'm so excited! Though I'm sorry to hear the rejection news of so many others...

If the financial aid is sufficient, this is my top choice even above Stanford and MIT.

 

Wow! Congratulations shiraziaseel!

[warwicker]

Shiraziaseel, care to share your profile? Congrats anyway

[Buckeyeee]

I've been accepted to UC Berkeley! Financial Aid information will come separately. I'm so excited! Though I'm sorry to hear the rejection news of so many others...

If the financial aid is sufficient, this is my top choice even above Stanford and MIT.

Congrats shiraziaseel! 

[33andathirdRPM]

Shiraziaseel, care to share your profile? Congrats anyway

 

He posted it on the first page of the thread.

[sidzoo]

Hi folks,

 

I'm new to this forum - nice to meet you all.

 

I got an e-mail from UC Berkeley today saying that IEOR has recommended me for admission to their PhD program, but I need to send some documentation before the grad division can offer me an admission. Want to hold my horses, but can't help but be excited - comes as a great relief after my Columbia rejection.

 

Does any of you know if funding is provided by default to all admitted PhD students at IEOR Berkeley? Unable to find the information on their website.

 

Cheers,

Sidzoo.

[behnam1]

I've been accepted to UC Berkeley! Financial Aid information will come separately. I'm so excited! Though I'm sorry to hear the rejection news of so many others...

If the financial aid is sufficient, this is my top choice even above Stanford and MIT.

 

That is really an achievement. Congratulations shiraziaseel!

[shiraziaseel]

Hi folks,

 

I'm new to this forum - nice to meet you all.

 

I got an e-mail from UC Berkeley today saying that IEOR has recommended me for admission to their PhD program, but I need to send some documentation before the grad division can offer me an admission. Want to hold my horses, but can't help but be excited - comes as a great relief after my Columbia rejection.

 

Does any of you know if funding is provided by default to all admitted PhD students at IEOR Berkeley? Unable to find the information on their website.

 

Cheers,

Sidzoo.

 

Sidzoo, my email was different. I was told to check the website, and on the website was my official offer of admission, they didn't ask for any documents. In the letter of admission they noted that information about financial aid will come separately. But what you received is also a certain admission, don't worry about it. Congartulations!

From what I know of previous years, some PhD students are not offered financial aid in their first year, but those who aren't can contact faculty members for research positions. However, this year might be different, because unlike last year, the ECE department has offered a 1 year fellowship to all it's admitted PhD students. I hope the same will go for IEOR.

[Uche]

I've been accepted to UC Berkeley! Financial Aid information will come separately. I'm so excited! Though I'm sorry to hear the rejection news of so many others...

If the financial aid is sufficient, this is my top choice even above Stanford and MIT.

Congrats! hope to see you at INFORMS someday.

[behnam1]

Hello guys,

 

I have applied for PhD in Industrial Engineering fall 2013 and I want one of you to tell me my chances for acceptance:

 

Undergraduate GPA: 3.85 (University of Tehran)

Graduate GPA: 3.66 (University of Tehran)

GRE: V163 Q167 AW3

TOEFL: 653/677

Two published ISI papers

 

I have applied for these schools:

 

stanford, columbia, berkeley, georgia tech, illinois, michigan ann arbor

 

Has anyone any experience or insight? Please tell me my chances. I am under pressure as the time passes . . .

 

As you can see, I have received enough rejections to run a festival. Now I am well familiar with all the forms and wordings of rejection letters. When I submitted applications I could never think about these decisions. Granted, My AW is low (3) but except that, I thought the other parts of my story were acceptable. Also, some applicants had received acceptance from these schools with low AWs like 3 or 3.5

 

The above quotation shows my resume and the below signiture indicates rejected programs. Among them, there is an acceptance without funding from NCSU which I have no choice but to forget about it.

 

For the possible future applications, what do you see as my greatest weaknes? I will elevate my AW at least to 4.5 or 5 for fall 2014 applications. . .

Edited February 16, 2013 by behnam1

[shiraziaseel]

As you can see, I have received enough rejections to run a festival. Now I am well familiar with all the forms and wordings of rejection letters. When I submitted applications I could never think about these decisions. Granted, My AW is low (3) but except that, I thought the other parts of my story were acceptable. Also, some applicants had received acceptance from these schools with low AWs like 3 or 3.5

 

The above quotation shows my resume and the below signiture indicates rejected programs. Among them, there is an acceptance without funding from NCSU which I have no choice but to forget about it.

 

For the possible future applications, what do you see as my greatest weaknes? I will elevate my AW at least to 4.5 or 5 for fall 2014 applications. . .

 

Dear Behnam, you can still remain optimistic, there are still 4 schools left that you haven't received a result from, and you can also start applying to schools with late deadlines right now, such as Texas A&M and Texas Arlington. You can try contacting Dr. Kianfar at TAMU, he has an open PhD position. You should also contact professors at NCSU and say that you have been admitted and ask for open research positions.

I hope you get admitted this year, but if you don't, you can't increase your GPA, and increasing your AW might not be that much effective. Thus I would suggest that you work with some well known professors and improve the quality of your LORs, make your resume more attractive, and write a more effective SOP.

[Arcanen]

As you can see, I have received enough rejections to run a festival. Now I am well familiar with all the forms and wordings of rejection letters. When I submitted applications I could never think about these decisions. Granted, My AW is low (3) but except that, I thought the other parts of my story were acceptable. Also, some applicants had received acceptance from these schools with low AWs like 3 or 3.5

 

The above quotation shows my resume and the below signiture indicates rejected programs. Among them, there is an acceptance without funding from NCSU which I have no choice but to forget about it.

 

For the possible future applications, what do you see as my greatest weaknes? I will elevate my AW at least to 4.5 or 5 for fall 2014 applications. . .

 

There are two things that I can see.

 

The thing that seems like it would be the most damaging is your graduate GPA; it just isn't competitive for the programs you've applied to. The perception at US universities is that grade inflation for graduate courses is enormous, and so almost all grad applicants are expected to have a 3.8-4.0 grad GPA.

 

If you look at the results page, you'll notice an enormous amount of students who are very annoyed that their 4.0 from grad school doesn't cancel out their 3.0 from undergrad. Grad school grading seems to be viewed as so lenient that it can only hurt you, and adcoms likely see a 3.66 graduate GPA as a big red flag. Of course, I'm sure this is an entirely unfair way to view you, since you didn't do your grad (or undergrad) in the US, and so judging you with such standards may not be reasonable as they may not occur in your country. Yet you need to remember that you're competing with people whose applications don't have a single flaw.

 

Which brings me to the second issue, that you're almost exclusively applying to extremely competitive programs. This I can understand since you're an international, and it may not be worth moving across the world for anything less. But really, consider applying to programs that are slightly less competitive, but of course are still good fits for you.

[warwicker]

If that is the case, would one be better off if he does not even reflect his masters degree in the application in view of the less than perfect gpa?

[Arcanen]

If that is the case, would one be better off if he does not even reflect his masters degree in the application in view of the less than perfect gpa?

 

Every application I submitted explicitly said to list every bit of post-secondary education. Neglecting to mention the masters degree would (I assume) be considered gross academic dishonesty and grounds for immediate rejection. One of the books I read for my applications mentioned that all these universities subscribe to email lists so they can warn each other about people faking transcripts, letters of recommendation etc. So leaving out the masters isn't advisable.

 

I'd suggest the best approach is explaining the low masters GPA in the statement of purpose, working with people to get better letters of recommendation etc.

[behnam1]

Thank you all for your comments on my applications . . .

[33andathirdRPM]

behnam1 - You heard back officially from Michigan?

[behnam1]

behnam1 - You heard back officially from Michigan?

 

Yes !

I received an email on friday . . .

Edited February 17, 2013 by behnam1

[Uche]

As you can see, I have received enough rejections to run a festival. Now I am well familiar with all the forms and wordings of rejection letters. When I submitted applications I could never think about these decisions. Granted, My AW is low (3) but except that, I thought the other parts of my story were acceptable. Also, some applicants had received acceptance from these schools with low AWs like 3 or 3.5

 

The above quotation shows my resume and the below signiture indicates rejected programs. Among them, there is an acceptance without funding from NCSU which I have no choice but to forget about it.

 

For the possible future applications, what do you see as my greatest weaknes? I will elevate my AW at least to 4.5 or 5 for fall 2014 applications. . .

 

AW is not critical usually, research fit and funding availability are more important. I have talked about this with many U.S. professors. However, some programs set their minimum to 3.5; this is considered as an implicit screening criteria. 3.5 and 3.0 are in different groups according to ETS; professors always look at ETS guide. But' they do not simply reject students based on AW. Programs you've applied for are just extremely competitive except for NCSU, VT.But, OR in VT is quite strict in the admission. But, I think you can get at least one more admission if your research interests fit the program.

 

Prof. Kianfar has no authority to accept you even if he is interested in your application. But' I you can just apply for R.A. position. If you did not apply for TAMU, then you need to talk to Dr. Ding, the graduate advisor. If you are interested in PhD in TAMU, apply now for Master's program, and then talk to Dr. Kianfar to get aids. To tell the truth, there is no difference btw MS and PhD for the first year, if you are going to take PhD QE courses. If you already have M.S. and passed the Q.E after the first year, you can transfer to PhD with the agreement from Dr. Ding. Once you succeed to transfer to PhD your some of courseworks will be waived depending on your background. I recommend you to consider this as your plan-C.

 

For NCSU, the financial decision will start on 1st March. You still have a chance to get aid. Don't give up!

[Buckeyeee]

Has anybody heard of Georgia Tech's Operations Research PhD program? 

[efh0888]

Has anybody heard of Georgia Tech's Operations Research PhD program? 

There was one acceptance posted on the results page a few days ago for OR and one yesterday for IE.