<p>I am currently pursuing my B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech. I have an offer from GaTech for a MS in Electrical Engineering (With full funding). The program I got into is a 1 year program, which means that if I do take up the program, I will graduate in December 2011. </p>
<p>I have a good academic record and hence think that I have a good chance at atleast one of these- MIT, Stanford and Berkeley.</p>
<p>I want to do a masters but am not sure about where to do it from. MIT, Stanford and Berkeley have a better reputation than GaTech, but if I do decide to apply to them and if I do decide to wait for their decisions, I will have to start my Masters program in September 2011. Also, I am not sure if I will be able to secure funding from these schools. </p>
<p>Do you guys think that going to one of these other schools will really make a big difference in my career? Should I even consider applying to those schools or should I just take the Georgia Tech option?</p>
<p>You’re graduating in December 2010 and have not applied to those other programs yet? </p>
<p>I usually tell people to not attend the same school for their MS and BS. The second school adds an additional alumni base and career center for you to use in finding employment. It also broadens your perspective of the field. That said, because you’ve waited to apply, you’re in a tough situation. If you attend MIT/Berkeley/Stanford starting in Fall 2011, you’re probably looking at a 2 year program, so graduation in Fall 2012 or Spring 2013. That delays your graduation by 1-1.5 years. That length of a delay really isn’t worth the “prestige” difference, and you can always attend one of those schools for another degree later.</p>
<p>Also consider that if you have not already applied for a Spring+Summer internship, you’ll probably be unemployed for 9 months. Is that financially feasible?</p>
<p>My general rules for grad schools are the following:</p>
<p>1) Always try to go to different school that is better than the one you attending.
2) Make sure you have a free ride scholarship in the form of RA.
3) If you are going to do PhD eventfully go directly for PhD, instead of MS then PhD. But never go to MS in one school and PhD in another.
4) Always try and get any of the two year prestigious scholarships (such as Gates to go Cambridge) and go to Europe and do Masters!</p>
<p>Having said that, I actually found it compelling to do the BS/MS combination as long as it is not going to cost you and you could finish all these within 5 years.</p>
<p>I have to disagree. If you’re talking about Stanford MS then MIT PhD, that’s one thing. However, many students will do the MS-jump. If you’re an above-average but not outstanding BS student, you can often make a “jump” to a good MS school if you attend on a GTA fellowship instead of an RA fellowship. Then, you can jump from the good MS to a good PhD. For example, I knew one above average (but not outstanding) GT grad that went to MIT for a professional master’s, then used the MIT degree to jump to a UIUC PhD program. He would have never been accepted to UIUC directly out of GT for a PhD (in fact, he was rejected from there, as well as from VT, GT, UT, UCSD, and Berkeley).</p>
<p>Apply, but do not attend if you do not get funding. MS graduates from the schools mentioned in the OP are no better off than GT grads – and certainly are not $50-100k better off.</p>
<p>P.S., yes it is possible to get a funded MS, at least at MIT. A friend of mine was a TA while he was doing his MS.</p>