UCSD vs. UCSB, MS Electrical Engineering

[akrauthammer]

I was accepted into the MS programs for both of these schools, and offered a $5000 one-time fellowship at UCSD. My interests are in Digital Signal Processing and Embedded Systems, and I have a particular interest in Medical Devices.

Speaking with administrators at UCSD, I got the impression that funding for MS students is very unlikely, as are TA positions. However, there is a medical device research group that really appeals to me, and a few others that seem reasonably interesting. Unfortunately, I emailed the director of the medical device lab (after I was accepted) and he didn't even respond, which was extremely discouraging... Meanwhile, at UCSB, the prospect of receiving funding seems reasonably high, and it is supposed to be quite easy to get a TA position. I am coming from out of state (but I am a US Citizen), so obviously this is a big help in terms of reducing my tuition. The $5k to UCSD is really not much, but they do have subsidized graduate student housing which is worth something.

In terms of research at UCSB, there are a few labs which seem somewhat interesting for a MS-timeframe sort of project, but overall nothing that truly appeals to my interests. It seems that UCSB's prestige as an EE department comes largely from their semiconductor/photonics research, which is world class. But this is not what I want to do. Looking into the coursework available, again UCSD has a bit of an edge but it's not huge. Both have impressive course offerings in the areas I'm interested in.

I like the friendly impression I've gotten from UCSB, and I'd like to go there for financial reasons, but I'm starting to worry about what will happen after I graduate. I'd imagine that UCSD has better connections to local/national industry as well, and it seems like a good opportunity even if I'll have to take out some loans.

Should I go for UCSB for financial reasons (not that they're a bad program by any means), or should I go to UCSD and take a gamble on finances and research involvement so that I can get exposure to what seems like a really good program?

Thanks for any advice you folks can offer.

[blacknighterrant]

Just go to UCSD. Your reasoning is flawed. You do not have a TA position or a gra at either school, choosing a school based on the possibility that you might get one is foolish, you may end up going to UCSB and not getting anything at all. Then you would end up not even having the 5k fellowship. At least UCSD gave you something, UCSB gave you nothing, never go with unguaranteed funding. The fact that you emailed someone and they didn't respond means absolutely nothing and shouldn't be discouraging and says nothing about your chances of getting a gra. For all you know your email went in their junk folder and they never saw it, why not try calling and talking to them on the phone?