<p>You have PM and email disabled so I'm forced to do this. =) But this is relevant to engineering students here so hopefully it doesn't get deleted. If anyone else has the experience to answer this, by all means do so.</p>
<p>I know you went from UIUC -> Stanford PhD in ECE so I hope you can answer a few questions.</p>
<p>When did you get your first research experience?
It seems it's difficult to get research experience until junior year. I'm assuming we apply to graduate schools at the beginning of senior year. So does this mean we have just one year to get enough experience to impress grad schools? Do we need to go after prestigious programs like REU?</p>
<p>What kind of GPA is necessary (from UIUC if that matters) for top 5 EE programs? top 15?
I'm thinking 3.9 and 3.7. Am I off?</p>
<p>Do internships matter for admissions (and how much)? Am I better off trying to get internships or stay on campus over the summer to do research with a professor and maybe take classes?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>When did you get your first research experience?
I actually didn’t get my first research experience until the summer after junior year, under an REU program. After that, I did a senior project and got a good recommendation out of it. Many profs only take juniors or seniors for research, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask different professors after your freshman year. It’s not necessary to do REU, but try to get the right balance of quality (professors known in their field) and quantity (long enough time period). You would apply after fall semester of senior year, so you should aim to have 3 professors to write recs by then.</p>
<p>What kind of GPA is necessary (from UIUC if that matters) for top 5 EE programs? top 15?
I’m thinking 3.9 and 3.7. Am I off?
I had a 3.9 and was accepted to Stanford/UIUC but not MIT/Berkeley, but I’m guessing the latter is due more to my (relative) lack of research experience. I would aim for a 3.9 for the top 3 (MIT, Stanford, Berkeley), maybe a 3.8 for UIUC, and around a 3.7 for top 10-15, but again that depends on your research experience and recs. I believe my graduate class at Stanford had about 5-6 UIUC graduates, so if you graduate in the top 10-15 in your ECE class, your chances should be solid for a top 5 program. Also, your last semester is not considered, and only a couple of schools (Stanford and Princeton in the top 10) consider fall grades, so put off any classes you feel would be GPA killers.</p>
<p>Do internships matter for admissions (and how much)? Am I better off trying to get internships or stay on campus over the summer to do research with a professor and maybe take classes?
It’s better than doing nothing at all, but internships matter very little for admissions, and recs from managers are useless. Go for research with a prof, even if it’s unpaid. And it never hurts to take more classes, especially if you can ace a couple of grad-level classes.</p>
<p>Thanks! It’s great to get advice from someone who’s gone through it all before.</p>
<p>Just wondering, when did you guys take ECE 385? I know that class is notorious for being a lot of work and frankly, I’m not that interested digital logic design compared to other areas such as controls and communications. Would it make sense to “put it off” a semester or two? I have taken ECE 290 and 190.</p>
<p>ECE 385 is definitely one of the most time-intensive classes, especially since it’s only 2 units. If you’re not interested in digital logic design, it isn’t a prerequisite for anything else, so I would advise putting it off until senior year after you get a job or get into grad school so there’s not as much pressure.</p>