Research Experience for Grad School

[yoconman]

Hi everyone, I'm currently a sophomore at the University of Texas in Austin in the ECE department who is trying to plan ahead.  Right now my desire is to get a phd and then hopefully become a professor one day.  I have just declared my major tracks (there are 7 at UT for ECE) as nanotechnology for my primary and computer architecture/embedded systems for my secondary.  I realize that in order to get into a phd program, I need research experience.  This semester I have been talking with my embedded systems professor quite often, and believe that there might be an opportunity to be a part of his research group this summer on a project.  However, my main passion is in nanotechnology, but I am unsure that at this point in my studies I would be able to join in any research projects dealing with nano tech. My question is about whether research experience in embedded systems would be helpful for my main focus which is nano tech.  Also, when eventually apply to a grad school, should I at that point have fully committed myself to nanotechnology?

[ShortLong]

I am a super senior is Aerospace engineering at UT Austin. I think that any research experience will help with grad school applications, but before you commit to the embedded systems prof, you should look into the professors that do nano tech and email them to see if they need help. They understand that as a sophomore you don't have much expertise, and that they will have to train you. They also will look at you as cheap labor.  It will be a good experience. Either way, more research will not hurt your application.

[tarrman]

Having research experience is typically more important than what field you did the research in (to a reasonable extent). Keep in mind people change their minds about what they want to study in grad school. Grad schools can't expect you to know exactly what topic you want to do research in when you start out undergrad, especially when you haven't had experience with everything EE has to offer, so I wouldn't be worried about this hurting your chances. But if you're interested in one topic over others, you ought to try to get in a lab in that topic as early on as possible to see if you like it or not.

 

Summer projects are nice because you're typically only committed for that one summer and you can accomplish a great deal because you don't have to worry about classes. I'd recommend trying out the project to see if you like it. If you do, it can turn into something that you do during the next year or so. If not, try to get in with some nanotech people for your junior year.

[yoconman]

Thanks for the information!  Obviously I'm nervous about getting into grad school, and just want to make sure that I do everything correctly.  I am also hoping to maybe have a TA position for one of my junior year semesters, which I hope will look good on an application.  It looks like both of you got into very good grad schools, Congrats!  For your own senario, what do you think made them say "This guy is for us."? Was it research experience in general, or was there a project that you got your own paper published?

[ShortLong]

For Georgia Tech, I emailed a professor while I was filling out applications asking about a possible project that wasn't his typical field and it turned into a project idea that he wants me to work on. It was a shot in the dark that worked out really well. For the other schools, I am not entirely sure. I have had a lot of internships over summers and a couple semesters where I did not take classes (co-op program, which I highly recommend), two of which were research internships. 

 

I think the letters of recommendation are very important though. Make sure you get to know professors by going to their office hours, and asking them to be your mentor in career decisions. Working in a professor's lab is also very important. That is a very strong part of my application.

[tarrman]

For me, I think there are three key things that have helped me this season ranked by order of importance:

1. I fit really well into the programs I applied to. I'm a rare breed of an ece student because I'm uninterested in design; I'm looking to do theoretical signal processing, machine learning, etc. It doesn't seem like many EE's are interested in this side, so I think it's given me an edge over some schools. For example, at UT the graduate admissions chair for CommNetS track is doing research that perfectly aligns with my interests. He contacted me, I expressed interest, and I was admitted in late January and given A TON of funding. I think fit had to do with most of it. Same with Princeton; they're unique in that most of the professors there are doing theoretical work, and I think many people who apply there only do so for the name, not realizing there is much less design going on than other schools. It's a perfect fit for me in every academic aspect of the program.

2. I have good recommendations. I've never published anything and the Professor's I've worked with aren't as well known (two were physicists, one was an electrical engineer doing DSP work). But in spite of this, I managed to impress all of them while I was working with them. I know they wrote me strong recommendations, and that always counts more than a reference from a well-known professor who knows very little about you.

 

3. I have done two internships at Lincoln Lab. Everyone knows about the place, so it's a good way to converse with Professors who interview me. It's also very competitive (acceptance rate is comparable to the grad schools I applied to; about 10%), so schools know that I'm a good student if I can get an intership there. I also got one of my references from one of mentors there.

[yoconman]

How many letters of recomendation did you have?

[ShortLong]

Pretty much every school asks for three, no more, no less.

[tarrman]

@yoconman Just three letters.