PhD in Industrial Engineering/Operations Research/Financial Engineering Fall 2015

[jinsout]

ndie_sosu, can I ask how much are your monthly rent and food expenses? And how difficult is it to find affordable housing near Columbia?

[user31]

Cool!  Oof, didn't even notice that last sentence saying 'see you at the orientation'.  I should read more carefully, hah. 

 

FYI, I just got another email from Columbia IEOR saying that the visit will be from March 8-10. Also the funding info was included.

[jacksun0212]

FYI, I just got another email from Columbia IEOR saying that the visit will be from March 8-10. Also the funding info was included.

Congrats, I just got the email too.

[ndie_sosu]

ndie_sosu, can I ask how much are your monthly rent and food expenses? And how difficult is it to find affordable housing near Columbia?

So Columbia will provide you on campus housing that ranges from ~800 (small room with roommate, no kitchen) to ~1100 (I-house) which is pretty cheap for the area. You could possibly do better but you'd have to really hunt and maybe be away from the upper west side which is a hassle. Most everyone stays in the cu housing, at least for the first year or so. After that food is my next biggest expense, I spend ~15$ a day on food and ~60a week on groceries which works out nicely for me. 15$ is essentially I go out for lunch, and I buy coffee and snacks through out the day; breakfast and dinner I cook myself. At the end of the first semester I pocketed a good amount of money so I could have spent more aggressively if I wanted. Conceivably you have enough that you could get away with never cooking as long as you didn't eat at really fancy places.

 

tl;dr: Money is fine, no one has any issues. You have enough that you could go out on the town every so often but not enough to do it every night.

[JHIE]

Anyone else apply to Purdue or TAMU? I've heard back from both schools so far (invited to visit weekends) but no official acceptances yet. Just curious what others have heard from these programs.

 

Still waiting to hear back from the 8 other schools - no positive or negative responses yet 

[pyar23]

I saw a few interviews for the DRO PhD at Columbia Business School in the results search. Anyone know if they have sent all the invitations out? Should be worried since I haven't heard anything?

[kleingordon]

Hi to all, here is my profile. I got admitted to Carnegie Mellon!

 

1. University (school, major, gpa): Master in Physics from an Argentinean university (GPA 9.32/10)

2. Research experience (projects, publications): Worked on two research project during my degree (in physics). Two publications. Now doing an internship in optimization.  

3. GRE/GMAT: GRE (167Q, 156V, 3.5W)

4. Recommendations (professors, supervisors, managers): Three recommendations from research supervisors, two from professors in Argentina. One from my internship advisor. (At least two of them strong).

[trustmeimanengineer]

Question from an applicant for next year/2 years.

 

Stats:

1. State School in Midwest, BS Industrial Eng. & MS Industrial & Systems Eng., undergrad 3.1 GPA, 4.0 grad GPA

2. Thesis, conference paper, and journal publication (maybe 2) topic of research is risk management currently

3. 153V,153Q, 5.5AW (took with flu and I know I could improve, had automatic acceptance to MS program already so I didn't stress)

4. Recommendations from thesis advisor, current manager of Aerospace/Defense company, school director of ISE

5. Full-time job (40+ hrs) after BS while working towards MS

 

I currently work as a test engineer at an Aerospace/Defense contractor for the government. I am looking for PhD opportunities. Still haven't decided on academia/industry.

What kind of schools should I be looking at?

 

Yes, I am retaking the GRE. I can do 160+ on quant for sure, probably 165, 35 ACT in math and killed all my math courses. Just need to prepare.

 

Thanks.

[swagmoney]

 

Question from an applicant for next year/2 years.

 

Stats:

1. State School in Midwest, BS Industrial Eng. & MS Industrial & Systems Eng., undergrad 3.1 GPA, 4.0 grad GPA

2. Thesis, conference paper, and journal publication (maybe 2) topic of research is risk management currently

3. 153V,153Q, 5.5AW (took with flu and I know I could improve, had automatic acceptance to MS program already so I didn't stress)

4. Recommendations from thesis advisor, current manager of Aerospace/Defense company, school director of ISE

5. Full-time job (40+ hrs) after BS while working towards MS

 

I currently work as a test engineer at an Aerospace/Defense contractor for the government. I am looking for PhD opportunities. Still haven't decided on academia/industry.

What kind of schools should I be looking at?

 

Yes, I am retaking the GRE. I can do 160+ on quant for sure, probably 165, 35 ACT in math and killed all my math courses. Just need to prepare.

 

Thanks.

 

Hi. With regard to the type of schools you should be looking at, you should begin with the type of research you would be interested in. I see that you've done some research in risk management. Is this a research topic you feel like you would want to pursue for the next few years? Are there any specific topics within risk management that you would want to pursue? 

[jacksun0212]

I saw a few interviews for the DRO PhD at Columbia Business School in the results search. Anyone know if they have sent all the invitations out? Should be worried since I haven't heard anything?

I was interviewed last Friday by two professors.

[pyar23]

I was interviewed last Friday by two professors.

How was it? Did they say how many people they are interviewing? I hope I hear something from them.

[frsp]

So, did anyone get into MIT's ORC program?

[OpAmp]

So, did anyone get into MIT's ORC program?

They said they made offers to 20 students (for the doctoral degree program) this year.

[pyar23]

Just got rejected from Columbia DRO. It said in the letter they recieved over 800 applications for 21 positions. Congrats to anyone who did get in.

[infiniteoptimization]

Got accepted for Berkeley IEOR PhD 2 weeks back. Fellowship letter came shortly afterwards. Have anyone received any information regarding their visit day? Seems like other schools are starting to have visit days, but it's all quiet on Berkeley's side.

[Haoyang_Cao]

Got accepted for Berkeley IEOR PhD 2 weeks back. Fellowship letter came shortly afterwards. Have anyone received any information regarding their visit day? Seems like other schools are starting to have visit days, but it's all quiet on Berkeley's side.

There is something called graduate student diversity day which will be held on Mar 15. IEOR department will not hold a specific visiting program this year but it says students may feel free to come during week days. 

[infiniteoptimization]

that sucks. I would've thought a dedicated visit day for ieor will be great for someone planning to spend 6 years in there.

[Haoyang_Cao]

A professor has contacted me for further discussion. That's more or less an equivalent option for me though.

[nubswitstubs]

There is something called graduate student diversity day which will be held on Mar 15. IEOR department will not hold a specific visiting program this year but it says students may feel free to come during week days. 

 

That's actually a bit alarming that they're putting so little effort into recruiting admitted students. I wonder if it's simply due to financial constraints.

[OptimizeForever]

Dear all,

 

As I am in the middle of a decision making process, I would appreciate if you could give me some information regarding the strenghts and weaknesses of Berkeley IEOR program. I would like to also ask which operations research programs are comparable to UC Berkeley?

 

I would greatly appreciate your help.

[jacksun0212]

I'm choosing between Columbia, Cornell, Georgia Tech, and Northwestern. Any suggestion on which one to go?

[nubswitstubs]

Dear all,

 

As I am in the middle of a decision making process, I would appreciate if you could give me some information regarding the strenghts and weaknesses of Berkeley IEOR program. I would like to also ask which operations research programs are comparable to UC Berkeley?

 

I would greatly appreciate your help.

 

Keep in mind that this is second-hand information, but I've heard that Berkeley IEOR has been having funding issues recently. At other top programs, basically all PhD students have funding -- I don't think this has been the case at Berkeley the past few years. I have a friend who spent a year in Berkeley IEOR and really didn't enjoy it so he ended up transferring to a PhD program at another school. It's rather unfortunate because funding aside, I think Berkeley IEOR has a great reputation. Which other programs are you considering?

[nubswitstubs]

I'm choosing between Columbia, Cornell, Georgia Tech, and Northwestern. Any suggestion on which one to go?

 

Can you provide some more details about your specific research interests and other considerations that are important to you?

[Dawnbreaker]

I'm choosing between Columbia, Cornell, Georgia Tech, and Northwestern. Any suggestion on which one to go?

I think Columbia has a very good program, but Northwestern might have the best overall living experience (from my limited experience, I like the Chicago area a lot). I am also trying to choose between Columbia, Northwestern, and UIUC, so do share your thoughts. At the moment, I am leaning towards UIUC, but that is more a result of my research interests (optimal control, game theory) and their strong ECE program. IMHO, Columbia and Northwestern are equally good programs. GATech might be even better depending on research interests. 

[User2Researcher]

I'm choosing between Columbia, Cornell, Georgia Tech, and Northwestern. Any suggestion on which one to go?

 

 

It depends on your specific research interest. If your research interest is applied probability or stochastic modeling / analysis, Columbia might be very good for you. If you are going to have a job in finance after your degree, Columbia's finance-oriented program (risk theory, credit derivatives, etc.) and its proximity to the Wall Street will be very beneficial.