Stanford EE PhD Fellowship

[hutum]

I was offered an admission in Stanford EE PhD on february. They said, I will be offered a fellowship if sources are available and they will let me know before April 20. Now, its April 5th and still they did not offer me any funding. But the time to accept the any offer (my choices are Purdue or Maryland) are running out. Is there anyone like me who was offered unfunded PhD admission in EE?
Can anyone tell me what are my chances?

[mcleung]

Hey,

 

I too was offered admission into PhD EE without funding.

The best thing I can suggest to you is to start contacting profs and find one who is willing to fund you with a RA.

After receiving my admittance I contacted a few professors and obtained funding that way. It's not as great as a fellowship (free money) as the RA (Research Assisstantship) you need to work 20 hours a week for it.

Anyhow most fellowships only last a year, so might as well start research early.

 

The funding is there, you just need to be proactive about it.

[hutum]

Thank you for the info.
I contacted few profs of my backgroud, some of they even showed interest. But none of them offered me RA as they are more willing to take students after a rotational quarter. So, I thought may be they dont usually offer RAs to incoming students! Now, I am feeling desperately hopeless.

[justinmcummings]

For me personally, something I've noticed about EE's is they don't seem to like to fund us right away. Unless you are one of the TOP TOP students that they can't live without. My one PhD admit to University of Wisconsin is still without funding even after contacting professors I am interested in :-/. Many of the professors I've talked to said they like to have me in one of there courses before they can offer me anything, to better evaluate the students. Anyhow good luck, this is just what I have experienced so far. My current game plan is to knock it out of the park during my masters to make myself one of the super desired PhD applicants.

[hutum]

I agree with you.  Also, the thing which is different in Stanford is that: they have a roational quarter where students can rotate among different groups and see which fits them. Professors usually taked students from these groups after one semester. This thing is making my life hell!