Electrical Engineering PhD: MIT vs Stanford vs Berkeley

[hikaru1221]

Hi guys,

 

As the title goes, I'm wavering between the three choices. Since I cannot come for visit days, I feel kind of disadvantaged - I simply have few clues about the schools. As they generally say, the impression is that MIT is an energetic place, Stanford has the start-up mindset, and Berkeley seems to be classically academic. However at the end of the day, I believe those are only the dominant qualities of the schools, and each does not necessarily completely lack other qualities.

 

At the time, I have already scrapped off the idea of sticking to (or "reserving") some famous professor to work with, since it doesn't seem to be the way that those schools work. Correct me if I'm wrong: students there seem to first decide to attend the school, then try out some projects with a number of professors until they find out the match. So although I do find some sort of "research fit" with all the three schools, the definition of "fit" just seems fuzzier (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

 

With those two criteria gone, I'm quite clueless of how to proceed for a decision. So I would want to ask for your opinions: If you ever decide NOT to attend one of those schools, what would be your reason(s)?

 

By the way, I'm international student, so although I can google around for the cost, life factors, etc in Boston and locations near San Francisco, I would appreciate it if you enlighten me with your perspectives.

 

Thanks!

 

P.S.: Stanford EE is notorious for its qualifying exams, that it admits a lot of applicants then fails a lot of them through the qualifying exams. Although I would stay alert, some professors there have contacted me, expressing their willingness to take me in. Naturally I'm more or less on the safe side in this aspect. Now I seem to be contradicting my earlier aforementioned impression that the students pick the school before choosing supervisors - but yes, this adds more confusion to me.