I am going into my senior year of Electrical Engineering at University of Florida (top school in the state) and was wondering if it would even be worth applying to these schools. I am thinking of applying for Master’s instead of PhD right now (not totally sure) mostly because I imagine getting into the PhD program will be even harder (in general if I apply for PhD and get denied would I be considered for Master’s?).
Anyways here are my stats:
3.96 GPA
GRE: have not taken it yet. I am hoping for 310-320. I expect to get a high quantitative score but lower verbal mostly because my vocabulary isn’t very good
TA experience for Circuits 1
2 internships at Lockheed Martin (one of them I did work on the subject I am interested in pursuing)
My biggest downfall is no solid research experience. I am reaaallyy going to try to do research in what I plan to study in grad school this upcoming semester to hopefully get at least a few months of experience that I can talk about on my application.
I also don’t have great LoRs at the moment. I can get 1-2 from the “instructors” (technically they weren’t professors) I worked under when TA-ing. But other than that no professors really know/remember me enough to write a letter. I have gone to office hours and such but my classes are just so large they barely even remember me as someone who took their class. I am hoping if I can do some research under a professor next semester this could give me another LoR. Would it look bad to get a LoR from a coworker from my internships?
It would be really nice for me to go to a school like Berkeley/Stanford since my boyfriend of 7 years is working over in that area now and on top of that they are obviously great schools. If I don’t really have any chance at getting into a Master’s program at either of these schools what kind of schools should I aim for? I am kind of lost at the moment.
There’s no surefire way to “chance you” for graduate programs. Not having research experience will definitely be a knock on you, though, especially coming for a research-heavy program like UF. I’d definitely say go out of your way to get that under your belt. Unfortunately, it will probably be too late in the game for that experience to net you a really great letter of recommendation, but at least you would have that experience.
Out of curiosity, why are you set on Berkeley or Stanford? Do you already have a research area in mind? Have you checked to make sure those programs are strong in that specific area?
I’m not sure if this is cause and effect, but doctoral programs can be tougher admits, but you’re more likely to get money. Will you be able to afford either of those if you don’t get funding?
@Walrus96 - My son was all set on checking the masters degree box and then applying for a PhD. Then he saw on a top school’s website concerning their engineering masters program, that if he was ultimately interested in a PhD, he should instead look at a different page. He learned that for the vast majority of engineering colleges, he should apply directly to the PhD program. These are typically funded as compared to most masters programs where the student is expected to pay tuition and cover living expenses. Well, that was an eye-opener. He was half-way through his junior year at the time, so he completely refocused his efforts. He first had to decide what subject really interested him, which he realized was space plasma/ion propulsion. Then we evaluated which schools had the top programs in plasma propulsion. We arranged for some visits to learn more about the programs and for the schools and professors to get to know him a bit. He also got some great admission tips. He changed a few electives to focus on subjects that would be most applicable, including an actual course in plasma propulsion that was only offered every few years. Finally, he stopped applying for internships and started focusing on research. He is in Germany this summer conducting some more general AE research and this fall has arranged some plasma-focused research.
So you have some time yet if you intend to apply in December for fall 2018. Your grades are outstanding in a very tough major and UF is a very good engineering school. I’m sure that you will do well on the GRE, but it’s not as important as grades, research experience and solid recommendations (Georgia Tech wanted all three recommendations to come from professors familiar with my son’s research. That’s not anywhere on the GT website.) You still have time for some visits. Because college calendars differ, my son was able to visit both Michigan and Purdue over his winter break and Georgia Tech over his spring break. Also, it should go without saying, but don’t take a parent with you on a grad school visit… As I told my son, this is much like a job interview and it would be equally inappropriate for me to go along (even though I wanted to see the cool labs).
As @boneh3ad (the go-to guy on this forum for engineering graduate school admissions) said, you really need to decide what you are passionate about, what do you want to spend the next five years researching? Berkeley or Stanford may not have the top programs in this field. And you still have time to arrange some research this fall.