SOME SENIORS OPINIONS
THE MS PHD QUESTION
Srujana writes:
Now,
it’s like this. It is definitely more difficult for an M.S student to get aid
but depending on the university you could either apply for an M.S/PhD or a PhD
Some universities
like TAMU have their PhD program independent of M.S and they admit B.Tech
students to the MS program only .So whatever you apply for they will consider
you only for MS and you are free to choose things after two yrs but it is
generally difficult to get aid before hand unless you contact some professors
Some
other universities like UTA admit students both into the MS & PhD program (on
I-20) but the effective admission is into an MS program only and you are again
free after two yrs unless you have promised to do a PhD with a professor For
these universities apply to an M.S/PhD program (difficult to get aid for just
MS) and mention in the sop that you are interested in continuing for a Ph.D.
Then
there are some others like GTech which give admission & aid to PhD students
only (i.e. for international students with no funds). You have the option of
taking an MS but can't quit (maybe technically possible but generally not so)
and then there are some others like CMU where if you are registered for PhD you
don't even have the option of taking MS. Apply to these universities (generally
very good - Rice belongs to this kind) for the PhD program only and that is if
you are really interested in a Ph.D.
ASKING FOR AID
Make
sure you get aid without being attached to some particular professor for a PhD
preferably something from the department. ( * this is something I learnt to
appreciate only after getting to know people who got into a mess by deciding their Ph.D
supervisor before coming here itself. It is very much possible that the
professor is a nice, funda guy but I would advice you not to go for a PhD with
a professor before working with him/her for a while or taking a course with him/her unless someone you trust
has recommended him or her. This him/her business is getting silly, one of them
should do. )It is ok to take up an RA with a professor but make sure it is like
a job .you could continue on the same thing for your MS report or even thesis but
leave this open till you actually start working.
PROFFING
Srujana:
Better
to write to the professors. What I would suggest is write to the professors now
(include a brief resume) and ask them about how your chances of getting an RA
or TA. Use their replies only to decide which universities to apply to (be
careful not to get misled by a single prof's opinion though) and maybe sometime
later (say Jan end and early Feb.) write again to the professors in the universities
you have applied to asking for an RA or TA more concretely.
Karthik:
You professor-letter a professor telling him
or her who you are and what you would like to do for your grad studies. Before
that you tell him you looked at his web page and you were impressed by the work
he is doing in that area. It is not advisable to tell the professor you are
interested in the field he is working when you merely want to app because he
has funds. Fully know what you are getting into.
DECIDING UNIVERSITYS
I don't
know about NCSU but I would suggest you to definitely apply to UTA, USCD, OSU, USCLA
(?) and rice (if possible). Also consider uminn, notredame, tamu, ufl & umcp.
Actually on second thoughts include ufl (always better to have an almost
definite university) Consider only universities ranked higher than 40 (say) but
after that ranking’s almost immaterial. Decide your universities based on the
dept(& area ) web pages, prospectus, applies & professors' responses to
Your mail Don't bother too much about
how your class guys are applying, but don't apply to any place in a position lower than 4rth in the same field ( consider comm. guys even if they app in CE
unless it is VLSI) This is unless you
just want to try your luck then make it an extra one to the universities you
would be seriously applying to Make sure your final set of universities have two reasonably high ones(but keep app
posn <= 4) and two low ones (atleast one of which offered a student of your
cg aid the previous year - ufl would do ) and the rest reasonable ones (i.e.
places where seniors of similar cg and GRE
have got aid.) Actually you can do
better as your GRE score is very high, but it is always better to app
cautiously.
Karthik:
The bottom-line in applying is apply as high as you can with one or two safes and
fallbacks.
RECOS
Go for
recos in advance and make sure you have math recos (good for rice- you can get
from two math professors) and it is always better to get a goodreco from a professor
in not so related field (say EM, microP or Digital theory) than an indifferent one
from someone in your area of interest and if you get a chance to write an open reco,
make good use of it and also see to that all your recos are consistent
APP FORMS
Srujana:
Keep
your app forms ready, (borrow from friends or download from the comp) before
you decide on the university. Go through all the important information M.S/PhD
program fundas CG, score requirements etc. Resume and SOP are the things which
will decide your admission and aid .Incase you are applying in slightly
different fields (say networks and DSP), make suitable modifications in your
sops and resume. You could also write that you are interested in working with
some specific research groups (look up the web)
It's
always better to send the forms by mail than do it on the net and make sure you
keep copies of everything you have sent. Also get someone else to go thro
everything before you mail them.
Karthik:
Make
sure you send out the apps by Dec 31st. Most universities have deadlines before
that. So watch out for them. One info about SOP.
Write, rewrite and rewrite until you are satisfied. You can have one or two
sops for different universities depending on their strong points.
TIME_SCHEDULE
Aug-Sep:
Send out professor letters to all the professors who work in your field of
interest. I choose something like 15-20 universities.
Oct-Nov:
Based on the replies you get from professors, you pick something like 8-10 universities
(this includes your safes, fall backs and one or two higher ups, just to try
your luck).
For Dec 15 deadline - forms should be in the mail by Nov 25!!!