<p>Hi!
I am a college freshman and i was wondering whether it really is true that it is easier to get into a top grad school like Stanford/MIT/Cornell for masters than phd because of the funding issue? Also how much does research experience play a part in masters admissions?</p>
<p>While not needing funding may knock off a couple or tenths off the desired GPA to get admitted, the Stanford/MIT/Cornell is still not easy. Usually those schools do not offer the “backdoor option” to get into grad school without the undergrad credentials.</p>
<p>Backdoor Option = take graduate courses (and A or A- them) as non-degree and use those courses as your main reason to qualify.</p>
<p>Since MIT/Cornell/Stanford has so many applicants, they will still based admission based on undergrad GPA and GRE than letting applicants (like myself) use the “backdoor option”.</p>
<p>bumpbuuuuump</p>
<p>Confirming GLOBALTRAVELER: Getting into a Masters (I speak only for Electrical Engineering, btw) is easier than a PhD, but still not a “piece of cake”.</p>
<p>what about m.eng prgrams at these schools? I’ve been under the impression for these you don’t need research experience just a good gpa and GRE.</p>
<p>this is an easy Yes</p>
<p>MEng programs vary greatly from school to school. Many MEng programs are now tailored to working/part-time students who want the Masters but who want to go directly into practice. Since there is little to no research required, there is no thesis.</p>
<p>As far as admission into MEng programs, of course a nice GPA/GRE helps but good work experience can get you admitted even with slightly lower than 3.0 GPA as an undergrad (since you have work experience in the industry). Now, the below 3.0 GPA probably won’t fly at the Top-10 schools (MIT, Cornell, etc), but you can get into decent big state universities.</p>
<p>The curriculum of the MEng also varies from school to school. Some schools have:</p>
<p>a) specific majors within the MEng with only a few required courses
b) specific majors within the MEng with no required courses…just take courses in the major
c) no major and take a “hodge-podge” set of interdisciplinary engineering courses (N. Carolina State and Texas A&M has those).</p>