Ph.D at ECE in UC Davis vs University of Maryland at College Park

[m.boy]

I will be probably got accepted for Ph.D at ECE Department from UC Davis and UMD. I was curious about which schools fit best for me. Here is the some advantages of the schools that I think so far: 

UC Davis:

- Professor has lots of projects and when you graduate, they say that you are qualified.

-Since there are lots of projects, you can work on various topics including networks, signal processing  and physical design. I am now an undergrad student  and I am not sure which topic that I should choose. It is an advantage for me. 

- UC Davis is close to Silicon Valley.

-Safety issue in campus

UMD at College Park:

- PhD advior is a successful researcher. 

-UMD has better rankings in engineering. 

- Concerning about safety in campus.

- Conserning about internship opportunities . 

 

I would really appreciate if you share your knowledge and experiences about these schools. Thank you for your interests. 

[blacknighterrant]

15 hours ago, m.boy said:

I will be probably got accepted for Ph.D at ECE Department from UC Davis and UMD. I was curious about which schools fit best for me. Here is the some advantages of the schools that I think so far: 

UC Davis:

- Professor has lots of projects and when you graduate, they say that you are qualified.

-Since there are lots of projects, you can work on various topics including networks, signal processing  and physical design. I am now an undergrad student  and I am not sure which topic that I should choose. It is an advantage for me. 

- UC Davis is close to Silicon Valley.

-Safety issue in campus

UMD at College Park:

- PhD advior is a successful researcher. 

-UMD has better rankings in engineering. 

- Concerning about safety in campus.

- Conserning about internship opportunities . 

 

I would really appreciate if you share your knowledge and experiences about these schools. Thank you for your interests. 

UMD is the far better option here. It is more highly ranked which is wonderful, but the more important point is the advisor. The quality of the advisor is perhaps the most important thing to consider and you have a better one at UMD. I guarantee you that internship and co-op opportunities will be the same or better at UMD, companies actively recruit at top tier ece schools. Are you sure you want a PhD and not a masters though, PhD's are more common for those that want to go into academia, they can actually over-qualify you for jobs depending on what you want to do, you should look at the requirements for jobs you would be interested in doing before starting your program. The thing about UC Davis being close to Silicon Valley is something that should not be considered at all. It is not close, you cannot commute from Davis to Sillicon Valley regularly and would have to move if you got a co-op or internship there regardless of if you went to UC Davis or UMD. 

[m.boy]

7 hours ago, blacknighterrant said:

UMD is the far better option here. It is more highly ranked which is wonderful, but the more important point is the advisor. The quality of the advisor is perhaps the most important thing to consider and you have a better one at UMD. I guarantee you that internship and co-op opportunities will be the same or better at UMD, companies actively recruit at top tier ece schools. Are you sure you want a PhD and not a masters though, PhD's are more common for those that want to go into academia, they can actually over-qualify you for jobs depending on what you want to do, you should look at the requirements for jobs you would be interested in doing before starting your program. The thing about UC Davis being close to Silicon Valley is something that should not be considered at all. It is not close, you cannot commute from Davis to Sillicon Valley regularly and would have to move if you got a co-op or internship there regardless of if you went to UC Davis or UMD. 

Thank you for your interests. I think that both professors have their advantages and it seems that UMD is better in terms of education quality. I did not decide on about my carier so far. To get a financial support, I had to apply for Ph.D. But, of course, I enjoyed my academic life so far. I had some issues about safety of UMD. Is this a serious problem  in UMD or do you think that people are exaggerating this issue? 

[blacknighterrant]

I'm not entirely sure but people tend to over-exaggerate safety concerns. College campuses are generally safe, except for when situations happen (like shootings) that are equally likely to occur at any school. The general rule is don't do anything stupid like wander alleys in the middle of the night and you should be fine.