<p>OK so I'm enrolling at SUNY Maritime next fall hoping to get a degree in mechanical engineering. But here's the thing, I really want to go to graduate school at MIT or any other respected ivy league. However, looking back at my years in high school, I've realized that if I would have known what i needed to do exactly to get into a good college or would have started worrying about colleges in my freshmen year of high school, I probably would have been going somewhere better than Maritime. For this reason I want to ask you guys to help me get into MIT's graduate program for engineering. I'm starting college with a clean slate and i want to be prepared. What does MIT look for when considering applicants for their graduate program in engineering? besides perfect grades (even though it may not be the most important factor, it helps to have great numbers) what do you guys recommend i do to better my chances of getting accepted? I don't know much about what you do in college but what important exams am I going to encounter (kinda like the SAT's in high school) or what internships or other things should I be a part of? I appreciate your help!!!!</p>
<p>Do undergraduate research and take the GRE.</p>
<p>definitely do internships - and make sure you’re doing substantial undergraduate research. Internships in foreign countries look pretty good… like DAAD’s RISE program, for example. </p>
<p>Also, figure out what you want to do. “I want to get a PhD at MIT in Engineering” doesn’t cut it. You really need to know what you want to do, such as, exploring methods to make nanoscale grain structure in copper… etc. That specific. Possibly, you’ll find that MIT isn’t the best place for that work… maybe you’d rather work with a particular professor at UC Irvine (for example), instead.</p>
<p>well for now all i know is that I wish to complete a bachelors in mechanical engineering and a masters in engineering management which in MIT is the System Design and Management program. I don’t really know what i hope to accomplish in that field yet but i guess that I’ll figure out later in my college years. Do you know any other internships that i should look into in addition to RISE? Also, what is undergraduate research specifically and how would i get started on that?</p>
<p>well for now all i know is that I wish to complete a bachelors in mechanical engineering and a masters in engineering management which in MIT is the System Design and Management program.</p>
<p>But that’s just the thing. WHY do you want to get a master’s in engineering management? What do you want to do with that - what’s your final goal? You don’t have to be hardcore specific but it’s not a good idea to settle on a specific program before you have at least an idea of what you want to do with a degree. Graduate school isn’t quite like undergrad, where you just go and you figure out the rest later. It’s an intense commitment of time, energy, and money, and you need to know what you want to do on the front end at least in some vague form.</p>
<p>That said, you’re not even a freshman yet. Drop ambitions for a specific program or even university, and just get involved in stuff you like. Once you begin majoring in engineering, take classes that seem interesting to you, and visit your favorite professors during office hours to discuss the classwork and their research with them. From this, you’ll begin to form an idea of what you really like. Before you step into a single class you may THINK you want to do engineering management but when you get farther along you may realize that what you really want to do is build better prostheses for amputees or engineer better bridges or something. This connection with professors is also a great way to get to that step of undergraduate research.</p>
<p>Undergraduate research is generally when a student assists a professor or other researcher with their research. In addition to their teaching responsibilities, virtually all professors are required to do some level of research. They usually need research assistants to help them do the more routine tasks. I’m not an engineer - I’m a psychologist, but in my research labs undergraduate RAs help by doing literature searches (to help us write research grants and papers) and running participants (helping set up online or paper questionnaires, orienting participants to the projects, collecting saliva samples or physical activity data, monitoring participants as they complete the activities in the project, getting consent forms signed, etc.). As they spend more time in the lab they may move to helping plan projects and helping to write the more substantial parts of the grants. They usually get excellent recommendations from the professors when they start to apply to grad school, if they’ve done good work. And the research experience is basically an unspoken requirement to get into top grad programs - well, at least for doctoral programs, although in my field it’s just about necessary for good master’s programs, too.</p>
<p>You get started by talking to your professors. To look really good, look at your professors’ webpages and see what their research interests and recent projects and papers are. Then use your university library account (once you get it) to find some of their research papers, and read the ones that are interesting to you. Don’t worry if you don’t understand all of it; I’m a second year doctoral student and I’m only now understanding the entire research article when I read it, lol. Once you’ve done that, you can talk to them about their past work and where they plan to take it, and then ask if they need a research assistant if any of their projects sound interesting. If they say no, ask if they have recommendations for other professors who might need help. Also, if there are other universities in the area, branch out. I went to a small liberal arts college (Spelman) in metropolitan Atlanta and while many people were doing research at my college, others did research at neighboring colleges like Morehouse, Morehouse School of Medicine, Emory, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State. That enabled them to work on projects that were really salient to their interests (although you should be prepared to work a little outside of your interest area, at least at first). In addition, since your field is one related to industry, see if any engineering research firms in the area need student interns or research assistants.</p>
<p>You should also definitely look into at least one summer program. Aside from RISE look at the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (REUs).</p>
<p>[US</a> NSF - REU - Search for an REU Site](<a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.cfm]US”>Search for an REU Site | NSF - National Science Foundation)</p>
<p>Here’s a list of the areas they offer them in, and if you click, you’ll find links to individual summer programs all over the country. REUs usually offer a stipend (about $3,000 for 3 months of summer work), room and board, and a research placement with an advisor based on your interests and his or her need for a summer RA. They’re intensive programs, and many students get conference presentations out of them; some students get a publication out of them.</p>
<p>thanks a lot, very informative!!! the reason for wanting a masters in EM is that i want to make a lot of money doing something I’m interested in. I am very interested in mechanical engineering which is why i want to study it in college. I also like being a leader and like dealing with business so becoming a mechanical engineer manager will allow me to do that. Plus the avg starting salary for engineer managers is around 100k lol</p>