I am applying for fall 2017 grad school admissions. I want to study electrical engineering, with inclination toward power engineering. Do you have any experiences with schools like:
NYIT, NYU, NJIT, Penn State Uni, NJ Rutgers, Uni of Massachusets Amherst, Stony Brooks Uni, Buffalo Uni, Rochester, RPI.
Parameters that I am interested in:
Quality of education
Recognition of name and diploma
Chances of acceptance (I am a B student from City College of New York)
Tuition cost, and price/quality ratio
If there is any school that you would recommend, please recommend.
@Montenegro - I am an attorney but have represented electrical utilities most of my life in proceedings before state and federal rate regulatory commissions, largely in the Midwest and West. I do have a few comments based on that experience.
First, your intended major is a good one for future employment. EEs tend to have multiple job offers and tend to want to work in sexy industries in Silicon Valley. Electric utilities are seeing many of their most experienced engineers retiring, at the same time that they face numerous infrastructure and operating challenges. For example, as renewable resources such as solar and wind are added to the grid, how best can they be integrated into the existing transmission and distribution system? I have spoken with several executives who have had a hard time finding qualified engineers.
Second, I am not sure that all the schools on your list offer EE graduate degrees that specialize in power engineering. You need to narrow down your list to those that offer strong programs in this area.
Third, are you looking for a masters degree or a PhD? If a masters degree, are you thinking about a thesis oriented degree like an MS or a more streamlined ME degree.
Fourth, why are you limiting your search to New York area schools?
Fifth, have you thought about an on-line masters degree. The distance learning option is being offered by more and more colleges including the top engineering schools.
Sixth, if you expect to work in the NYC metro area, you should call the local electric utilities such as Consolidated Edison, Public Service Electric, etc. and talk to Human Resources. Find out where they hire their engineers from.
Most of them have electrical engineering master degree, with specialization at power engineering and energy systems. Some have separate power and energy systems programs. I found that curricula are often very close one to another, and that I can get many power engineering courses in the electrical engineering master plan. And electrical engineering can get me qualified for wider spectrum of jobs, (sort of a back-up).
I am looking for thesis oriented MS degree, preferably campus. However, I would consider a good online program as well.
Don’t want to be too far away from home, thats why I am looking for colleges near NYC. Ideally, I would both work and study at the same time at NYC metropolitan area. Still looking for both.
Your #6 is a good advice. I am definitely going to do that.
Thanks for the input.
If there is anybody else that could give an opinion, preferably grad students or officials at some of these schools, it would be most appreciated.
As a suggestion, you may want to try to look at some schools outside of the metropolitan NYC area. If you are a good student, you may get funding for a thesis-based MS from a good EE school - and you can always return to NYC after your two years in an MS program. It’s not a long time, and if you can save money you should try to!
Temple U, in Philadelphia, has an MS in electrical engineering. If you’re willing to go as far as Penn State and UMass-Amherst, you might also check out the University of Delaware’s MS in ECE and the University of Maryland’s MS in electrical engineering. WPI also has an MS in electrical engineering, as does UConn.
For very competitive schools, Columbia has an electrical engineering MS program, as does Cooper Union.
But I also just noticed you said you are applying for Fall 2017 admissions. If you are just getting started, it’s a little late to prep for Fall 2017. For example, NYU’s deadline is in two days, on February 15. Penn State’s deadline was December 15. UMass’s deadline was January 15. Rutgers was December 1; although their website says they welcome applications after the official deadline. Maryland’s priority deadline was December 16, although they also say they take applications after the deadline.
You may want to consider waiting to apply for Fall 2018 so you have the greatest range of programs to choose from.
Thank you very much for the input. Some of the school suggested are a very good recommendations. I am aware that I am a little late for some schools, but I still decided to apply an see what I can get. If I do not succeed in finding a program to my liking, I will apply again for Fall 2018. I will research further your propositions. I am a B student, so I will need to have a very strong application, and a little bit of luck, I guess.