<p>I'm an undergraduate at VCU right now and will be receiving dual degrees in mechanical engineering and physics. I have fairly close to a 4.0 GPA in my fields and I know I have at least two professors who will give me shining recommendations. I have even done research these past two summers and have my name on a paper (not first author). This is the problem I have though.</p>
<p>I want to apply to the material science program at MIT for a PhD preferably. Unfortunately, the research I have done is in the operations research field which is not something that I'm interested in for a degree. Furthermore, the two professors are not in the material science field; one is a nuclear engineering professor and the other was my professor who I conducted research with.</p>
<p>I've tried to do research in the field in the past, but every time I've applied to something I've been turned down. I did take one graduate level class in nanotechnology, but that is about it as far as non-required courses (related to material science that is). What I'm wondering is how difficult it might be for me to be accepted to a place like MIT for such a program. Half of the people I know say it will be no problem and I will get 100% funding easily; the other half say it will be very difficult and funding is very hard to come by.</p>
<p>Not having a Matsci undergrad degree isn’t a problem. I think Materials admissions committees like students with different undergraduate majors since you’ll learn everything in your grad classes anyways. Having ME and Physics undergraduate lets you bring something else to the table. My undergrad was electrical engineering and I definitely took less materials-related courses than you did.</p>
<p>Having recommenders from outside matsci shouldn’t be a problem either. My recommenders were from Math, Physics, and EE, and I was accepted into MIT’s DMSE doctoral program.</p>
<p>Not having done research in materials might be a concern. Through your research experiences in OR, you can show that you know how to do research. You just need to prove without a reasonable doubt that you want to do materials research. Most applicants do that through undergraduate research in materials, but you will need to demonstrate some other way.</p>
<p>You can also do your own materials research. Can you do an undergraduate thesis or independent study on a topic related to materials research? You can do theoretical/computational materials science without needing much money or equipment (and it really shows initiative to do your own research). You can also consider writing a literature review.</p>
<p>Grad school admissions is something of a crapshoot (so you shouldn’t only apply to MIT). If you can prove that you want to do materials research, then your background is not a disadvantage. MIT’s DMSE don’t offer TAs to first-year students, and they give few fellowships. Rather, you have to find a professor (in any department) who’s willing to give you an RA by the end of October. Historically, all the doctoral students get funded, but it will take a bit of initiative on your part.</p>
<p>I’m very interested in their Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies and want to do the exact sort of research they do there, so hopefully my interest will help. I took that nanotech class this past semester as well as another grad class the semester before that was sort of an introduction to quantum chemistry and I’m hoping to work in the nanotech lab this fall, so at least I can put that on there. Plus, I’m doing the nuclear engineering track in mechanical engineering, so maybe that could help somewhat as well. I’ve noticed one of the things they do at the institute is better chemical/nuke detection for soldiers, so maybe that could be an advantage.</p>
<p>I’ve tried doing materials research with a professor here, but he saw my OR background and wanted me to do OR research for him instead. For me, it’s been one of those things where every time I’ve tried to do materials/nanotech research, they’ve wanted someone with more background experience, but it’s hard to get that when no one will give you a chance. I was going to take this graduate level engineering mathematics course this semester, but I might see if I can do research with a professor instead now that I’ve taken the nanotech course. Either way, I’m applying to several, so I’m sure I’ll get into one. If all else fails, I could always be a nuclear engineer for a few years then try again.</p>
<p>By the way, thanks for replying. Nearly 40 views and I was starting to wonder if any MIT students/alumni were out there.</p>
<p>Basically None nailed it. I applied last year for grad school in matsci (and cheme) and it really boils down to:</p>
<p>-Research
-GPA
-Letters of Rec
-GRE
-SOP (statement of purpose)</p>
<p>Now each school will weigh these variables differently (for example I know that Caltech’s matsci program looks more at research than GPA) but these are generally the five things that grad schools look for. </p>
<p>From what it sounds like you should be fine with GPA and the GRE (really this one is the least important factor generally-it’s more a cut off than anything else). </p>
<p>It also sounds like you could write a solid SOP and that your recs are good. One thing to note however is: did you do research with these professors? Grad schools really want to see letters of rec from people you worked for. After all that’s what they primarily want you to do in grad school! </p>
<p>Finally research. It’s important to do research. Which department and in what is generally less important than actually doing the research but keep in mind that it would make your SOP a lot easier if you can link all your research experiences with what you aim to do in the future.</p>
<p>To end as None said it’s still going to be tough getting in. I personally did not get in to MIT’s program (I’ll be joining Caltech in the fall) and I know quite a few other very qualified people that got rejected as well. Grad school is very personalized and sometimes it really depends on factors outside of your control. I was told at one of the schools I was visiting that it was tougher for me getting in than other people because there was a larger number of applicants to the field I had expressed interest in. </p>
<p>I have one professor who i’ve researched under for the past two summers, another one who i’ve had several classes with and who i’m going to work with on my senior capstone project with, and if I needed a third I could likely ask the professor who I will hopefully be doing lab research with this fall. I wish I had done more during the school years, but unfortunately, i’ve been a ra for the past two years which has taken up quite a bit of time and will not likely assist me.</p>
<p>You can work for any professor in any department at MIT, so long as he or she is willing to hire and pay you. You can do materials research at ISN regardless of your home department. MIT let me apply for EECS and Matsci, so you should consider applying for ME as well. Just think of it as two shots to get into MIT.</p>
<p>At the admitted student weekend, DMSE’s dean of graduate admissions said “your grades got you into this program, but grad school is about research, not grades.” The second part was obvious, but I found the first part a bit surprising because I thought my research experience/rec letters got me into the program. Perhaps MIT’s DMSE cares more about GPA than other programs. This may be because their qualifier/general exam is considered to be more difficult than other Matsci programs.</p>
<p>You will need three letters of recommendation. Can you do some work with the third professor this summer? If you already have other plans, see if you can read the background literature and define a research project before the semester starts. This way, you can get started right away, rather than spend the first semester defining a project.</p>
<p>I also agree with everything superwizard said.</p>
<p>^You know I heard the exact same thing about MIT DMSE as well. From what I understood it really just boils down to departmental preference. MIT DMSE looks more closely at GPA, Caltech Matsci looks more closely at research and most schools probably fall somewhere in in that spectrum. You’d have serious trouble getting anywhere without the two of them however!</p>
<p>This is pretty much what I heard from various people as well. When my one friend visited during the accepted students thing she was amazed that a bunch of people there had never done any lab work outside of what was expected of them in class. It was one of the main factors that motivated her to go to a different grad school.</p>
<p>(And it made me annoyed, since I know my 3.7 wasn’t even looked at even though I either got into or was waitlisted at almost all of the other schools I applied to due to my pretty strong research record.)</p>
<p>It could be that since material science combines so many fields, they consider GPA more because you’re going to have to learn a lot of things not familiar to you in addition to your research, so they want someone very strong in the classroom. Just a hypothesis though; I have no data to back it up.</p>