<p>My general opinion is that once you get into the top 15 or 20 programs, you should no longer differentiate on rank, but on what is the best fit for you in terms of research. You are going to be spending 5 years of your life working basically one on one with an advisor and a research group. Your life is going to be miserable if you do not like the research topic and especially if you do not have a good working relationship with your advisor. I did an undergrad thesis with an advisor that was an absolute nightmare. That lasted two years- I don't think I could have survived three. So my advice to you would be, take an in-depth look at the research at your top choice schools. If it's still a toss up after all that, then think about location and/or rank. Delaware is ranked 10, Wisconsin in ranked 5. If that is a big factor in your decision, and you are still equally interested in both schools' research, then maybe I would pick the higher ranked school, but only if I was truly undecided between the schools' research.</p>
<p>I agree completely with OchemE. Choose the program that offers the best research fit for you - don't just choose Wisconsin because it's ranked higher. They are both top-10 programs with excellent reputations.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hi people/students allover the world,</p>
<p>My name is Alex, I am from Greece, and I need some advice. I have applied for a Phd to 5 Departments, and I have already received the offers. Princeton shut the door on my face, while Wisconsin/Delaware/PennState/Tufts hugged me. So, now I have to choose between Wisconsin-Madison and Delaware (I have eliminated options 3 and 4).
Is there anything at all you know about these 2 uni? How would you compare those?I know that W-M has probably a better department, since it is ranked 5th, right? Do you think it would be a "mistake" to choose Delaware over Wisconsin?.......lots of questions there
Anyway, thanks for reading this. Hope you give me your opinion.</p>
<p>Ciao
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I may be wrong, but I think it depends a little on your goals after obtaining your PhD.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a career as an academic, I mostly agree with Aceflyer and OChemE because your peers will most likely be familiar with your advisor's work and be able to assess the quality of your work.</p>
<p>If you are looking for a career outside of academia, it may be wise to look at job placement records of recent graduates of the program. Companies may not be as intimately familiar with your advisor's work/your work.</p>
<p>hey guys,</p>
<p>i’ve had the great pleasure of reading through your impressive list of accomplishments and accolades, and so a lot of you seem extremely informed. i’m currently a rising senior cheme, hoping to apply to a phd program next year, and was wondering, with a 3.8 GPA (which would put me around the top maybe 10%) from a top 10 engineering school, what types of schools should i be looking into? top 10? 20? 30? I have research experience, but nothing that would turn heads. </p>
<p>Also, I haven’t taken the GRE’s, but I feel like I don’t need to take it too seriously…am I wrong to assume this? I feel like I could get 800 for Quan. in my sleep.</p>
<p>Any opinions would be great.</p>
<p>I think before 2009 you would get into most top 10 schools and surely most or all top 20 schools. This year though, and maybe even next year, was a crap shoot. You certainly sound qualified to get into top schools, but a lot of qualified people are getting turned away. To give you an idea of how admissions have changed I will list some information I gathered from professors this year while I was on visits. These are changes in total admits from 2008 to 2009.</p>
<p>Berkeley: Down from ~75 to 55
Caltech: Down from 70’s to 57
MIT: Down from 80-90 to 41
Stanford*: Way down, but I don’t know by how much
Princeton: No information, but rumor is they are also down.
*Stanford had 26 people accept their offers in 2008. This was way more than Stanford had spots for. Admissions were cut this year so that the class size is around ~15</p>
<p>Keep in mind private schools like MIT and Stanford rely heavily on endowments to fund graduate students. Those endowments have lost over 25% of their value in the last year. Thus the funds generated by the endowments are down, and the number of students they can fund is down.</p>
<p>To give you a better idea of your chances, I will give you my own personal results and you can use them as a reference point. I applied in Fall of 2008 and will start school at Berkeley this August:</p>
<p>I graduated first in my class from a top 3 chemE program. I had independent research and a senior thesis. I got into Berkley, Princeton, and Caltech in the first round. Stanford accepted me after I won two national fellowships (DHS and NDSEG). At first they only offered me the MS program. MIT waitlisted me, then when they finally got back to me (April) I had already accepted Berkeley (my top pick initially) and they never gave me an admit after hearing that. Personally I think MIT was waiting around to see if I got a fellowship but I guess I will never know since they didn’t share the info with me. People I went to undergrad with that applied in 06, 07 and 08 are currently at MIT. Would have been interesting to see if I’d gotten in if I’d applied immediately after undergrad.</p>
<p>As for GRE scores, I know the average for engineers is around 700. I got a 770. A lot also score above that. It’s not a very hard test. As for what you need on the verbal, I don’t know. I have heard of people getting into MIT and the likes with a 460 verbal but a decent writing score. I personally got 520 on the verbal, but I had a 5.5 on the writing, which was in the high 90’s for percentile at least for engineers in 2005 when I took the test. Overall it was 90th percentile. </p>
<p>Some other things to keep in mind- Getting into MIT or Berkeley or Caltech doesn’t necessarily mean you will get into lower ranked schools, especially with admits the way they are. There were a lot of people I ran into on visits that were accepted to MIT but rejected by Berkeley, people that were accepted to Berkeley and Caltech but not to Northwestern, people that were accepted to Caltech but not MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, MN, or Wisc. These are very strange times for grad school admissions.</p>
<p>Hello all! Bumped into this thread while researching the application process for PhD programs in Chemical Engineering. I have a few questions that I hope you all would help shed light on:</p>
<p>I am an international student (although I have lived in the US for over 12 years and earned my bachelors at an US university). How much of an effect does this have on the admissions process for top PhD programs? </p>
<p>I do have over 5 years of research experience, excellent LORs, good GRE, publications (in progress), and 10+ conference presentations. I have a 4.0, but my undergraduate chemical engineering program is not really considered at top notch program. Because of the fact that I am international, I was unable to apply to opportunities such as REU, NSF fellowships, Goldwater…etc, but quite a few students from my school have won them, and I find my credentials to be on even ground with theirs. </p>
<p>I’m really hope to get in a top 10 program, but I’m very concerned about how my status as an international student will effect this. </p>
<p>Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>