Hello My S is in sophomore and planning to graduate early and pursue Masters program .i have few Qs on what Top Tier college (Stanford, MIT , CalTech , GeorgiaTech ) need and the stats
Thanks in advance
@florida789 - You are where I was with my boys four years ago. Now, I have one son at Michigan starting his third year as a PhD student in aerospace engineering, a second son who just finished a masters degree in biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech, and a third son who is starting a masters degree (online) in polymers engineering at Lehigh.
You can get the average GPAs and GRE scores from the US News graduate school website. Most universities will provide such information on their websites. Based on my experience, pretty much everyone will require three letters of recommendation. Typically, these will come from professors, but for a masters degree, particularly if its a professional masters degree, a letter from an employer may be helpful. Significant research experience is a must for a PhD program, but not always required for a masters degree. I suggest putting together a spreadsheet that you can populate with all your relevant information.
Two things that I did not know when I started researching graduate school. First, PhD programs are fully funded, while masters degrees normally must be paid for. Research and teaching assistant positions may offset some of the costs. Second, in the U.S., it is generally not necessary to get a masters degree first if your son is interested in a PhD. If that is the case, he would apply directly to the PhD program. This is not true everywhere; I believe that MIT and Stanford still get a masters degree first.
Finally, you don’t say what your son intends to study. Based on this, you and he need to target universities that are strong in this particular field. Based on your identified colleges, I am guessing that you are looking for something STEM related. But, no university is strong in every area, or may not even offer relevant degrees. In engineering and STEM, many public universities, even less “prestigious” ones may be tops in specific fields. For example, Michigan State is number one in nuclear physics. My oldest son wanted to study plasma propulsion, particularly computational modeling. This is really applied physics with aerospace applications. There are only a few universities that offer PhD programs in this field. Michigan was number one and he loves it there.
Feel free to contact me directly with any questions.
Can’t speak to MIT, but Stanford does accept applications for direct admission to the PhD program. As you note, significant research is a must. (and for that reason, graduating ‘early’ from undergrad is usually not beneficial.)