<p>There are some questions I would like to ask...specifically for mech e and aero grad students.. are there any here?</p>
<p>My husband got into the aero/astro master's program but is deferring for a few years to work. I don't know if that helps.</p>
<p>my questions are:</p>
<p>1). how was your husband able to get such a long deferral? on the website for mech e, they said students are not allowed to have deferral for more than 1 term only</p>
<p>2). about funding, i know they tell you to look for an assistantship for funding, but what if more people matriculate than expected and there are not enough positions for assistantships?</p>
<p>3). what's the student life like as a masters student at mit in the aero and mech e department? i heard the mech e department tries to cut half of its class on their way to the phd program. is this true?</p>
<p>The aero/astro department allows longer deferrals than the mech E department. My husband is allowed to defer for up to two years (four terms). This is pretty unusual in graduate school admissions -- most programs won't allow anyone to defer at all.</p>
<p>One option if you don't get a TAship or RAship is to get a fellowship through a participating company. One of my husband's friends got his aero/astro master's funded by my husband's company in exchange for working at the company.</p>
<p>I don't know what the numbers are with regard to continuation from master's to PhD, but certainly a lot of students are only looking to get a master's and get out -- it's not necessarily the department weeding them out. I have a friend in the mech E PhD program -- I'll see what his take is.</p>
<p>did you get a chance to talk to your mech e friend, mollibatmit? Thanks</p>