<p>I was actually referring to Shrouded with my previous post.</p>
<p>It is definitely much easier to get in if you have your own funding. For instance, many students here who win external fellowships that were previously declined often have their admissions decisions changed after acquiring their own funding. </p>
<p>Most of the Swedish engineering students I recall meeting were from Chalmers.</p>
<p>I would say that for internationals, there’s a much larger emphasis placed on numbers (i.e., GPA&GRE scores) because there really isn’t any other basis for judgment for such different cultures. Letters of recs may even be minimal contributors for internationals.</p>
<p>UCSB is the most beautiful campus I have ever seen. Everything pales in comparison IMO. BY FAR. It’s surrounded by beaches&mountains. Perfect scenery, but honestly, I don’t get how anyone can get anything done there because of that. </p>
<p>I’m biased, but Berkeley is a really crappy location, partly because I dislike San fran&Oakland. </p>
<p>As I vaguely recall, Sweden doesn’t have much when it comes to beaches since it’s so far up North. Nocal beaches suck. If you’re interested in good Cali schools with nice beaches, you can’t go wrong with UCSD/SB. Florida beaches feel more tropical, but I don’t think they have many good engineering schools, especially not close to the beach except maybe UFL (few hrs away from the beach It hink).</p>
<p>If you wind up going to UCI you’re within a pretty short ride. A few grad students I knew there went surfing every morning since they lived close enough to walk.</p>
<p>Yeah, the great location, in addition to a widely different country where I’d like to explore the culture as well doesn’t leave much time for study. On the other hand, in Sweden we have six months of depression every year during winter and while this may seem as a perfect time to study your ass of and only that, which it basically is, I’m so fed up with it. A change of scenery is in order for a few years. I should add that the middle and southern parts of Sweden are particularly bad as the winter is basically just ****ty weather. The northern parts have beautiful winters with a lot of snow, but not extremely much in terms of technology and great cities. Also true, not much beaches, but the archipelago at the east and west coasts is really beautiful (you just don’t want to jump in to the water).</p>
<p>I’ll definitely have to check out Irvine too then, to see whether they have some interesting programs. What about UCLA? They seem to have some interesting programs and match my other criteria as well. Also, how is the funding for the UC universities, I’ve heard the state funding has seen some cuts, but from my understanding UCLA, UCSD and in particular UCB have quite large endowments which might compensate for this. What I wonder is if it might be even harder for internationals to gain funding due to these cuts (if what I heard was true)?</p>
<p>I have one more question, which is not really related to the topic but is concerned with graduate study and with a focus on the UC system. I’ve been trying to find some information, unsuccessfully, in postgraduate handbooks and other sources about what times students and staff are permitted to work at the university facilities. I understand that it might be different for different schools (especially in larger cities due to security concerns), but are students usually permitted to stay the whole night if they want (not sleeping, but working) without the need to acquire some special access?</p>
<p>Generally you’ll have access 24/7 to your PI’s lab, and on a permission basis to any other user facility or other lab you collaborate with (generally once you’ve proven you can be left on your own to do work without breaking stuff or killing yourself). It’s advisable to do any sort of laboratory work when you have at least a buddy on the same floor to check in on you every 30 minutes to make sure you’re safe. Lots of grad students run on a nocturnal schedule. Sometimes you have to. Examples would be busy machines that require you to come in during whatever hour it’s open, experiments that take 24+ hours and need a switch thrown or a measurement every hour, needing to use equipment during vibration free hours (ie Sunday nights), etc.</p>
<p>Generally your funding as a grad student will come from your advisor, as well, so there’s not as much to worry about with endowment and such. You’ll be required to establish California residency ASAP since it lowers the tuition payments your advisor will have to make on your behalf.</p>
<p>You could also look into USC or Caltech as privates in the SoCal area, though Caltech isn’t that close to the beach.</p>
<p>Interesting, I had thought USC was a public school. Caltech has an especially good fluid&solid mechanics group in their aero, mech&civil departments. They really focus on fundamentals though, which may or may not be for you. </p>
<p>If you’re going for a PhD, then you should really expect to have a narrow focus. If you’re interested in fluids&solids, then you may want to look into fluid-structure interactions. Fluids&controls are not very connected. I doubt you’ll be able to focus on both at the same time. Fluids itself is broad, so realistically, you’ll have to narrow in your focus even further.</p>
<p>@shrouded - Yeah, there’s a difference between master’s and PhD applications in this case, I think. For the PhD you’re expected to come in with more of a focus, so there really should be 2-4 professors at a university with your focus who you really want to work with. For the master’s I get the impression that it’s OK to be more general.</p>
<p>With a master’s degree you’re only going to be around for two years at most. Worst case scenario where you don’t really like your lab or advisor is you tough it out for a year of rough lab work. That’s not nearly as possible in a PhD program where you generally take over five years and will have much more extensive interactions with your advisor.</p>
<p>The fact that I haven’t narrowed down my focus more is mostly due to the electrical engineering BSc curriculum (of my university). To explain more, what I want to study in graduate school is the quantum and nano-scale phenomena, things that are very physics-based and for which there are not many courses in bachelor’s studies of EE Dept . Actually, I 'm considering both the EE programs related to those fields and applied/engineering physics programs for master’s. To learn more and out of interest, I’ve taken, for example, quantum physics courses from physics department, which are not in EE curriculum.
I just don’t want to rule out any possible research fields yet, not until I know more about them.</p>
<p>That being said, in the last few days I’ve found two master’s programs in the US and now it seems like a good idea to me to choose 1-2 professors in each and email them, if it can actually increase my chances of being admitted. Should I send them my resume? </p>
<p>@DoubleD: “I would say that for internationals, there’s a much larger emphasis placed on numbers (i.e., GPA&GRE scores)” : so are these two the most important factors for international students? I was under the impression that GRE isn’t that important. Luckily, I think I did good on GRE, though I don’t have the results yet. Why aren’t the recommendation letters that important for international students?</p>
<p>Recommendation letters vary in importance from one country to another. Some cultures value brutal honesty, some tend to downplay achievements of others, some are always glowing no matter what, and sometimes they’re just flat out fabricated. If you’re coming from a school that’s known by the professors you’re applying to (or one of your recommenders has a connection to the school you’re applying to) it might carry a little extra weight. Doubly so if a recommender of yours is connected to someone on the admissions committee.</p>
<p>I agree with RacinReaver, culture differences make it so that it’s really hard to compare letters of recs. For national applicants, the GRE is generally not the most important factor.
For internationals, it is probably the most important b/c we really have no other basis for judging you guys. The reputation of your international institution will certainly matter and probably above all us. Personally, I’ve never seen anyone from an unknown international undergrad to go a prestigious graduate program, except for a few instances where the student paid for their own MS.</p>
<p>I had heard from some people that GRE is important, but based on what I’d repeatedly read here I thought they were overestimating its role, but now,… Does it mean if I get very good grades, it can help me a lot?
I don’t know if what you said about recommendation letters applies to GPA as well.(making it less important for international students) How about toefl? can it possibly play a role? I guess at least SOP is important for all applicants!</p>
<p>Look. International applicants are at a noticeable competitive disadvantage. If you want to get into a top school, you’re gonna have to be exceptional in all areas. If your letters of rec says anything bad about you, it doesn’t matter how good the rest of your app is, you’re going to get declined. If you letters of rec is mediocre and a mediocre letter does not have to necessarily be bad, you’re still going to get declined. </p>
<p>You should think about emailing potential professors with these questions, seriously.</p>
<p>@shrouded, for engineering and science the GRE is quite important and for physics programs, the most selective want to see the Physics GRE as well. Yes the Quantitative score is the more important of the two but some schools have a minimum for the composite score as well. The TOEFL (or equivalent) also has a minimum, particularly for Ph.D. students which sometimes are offered Teaching Assistantships. In those cases a very strong TOEFL is required.</p>
<p>good to know. My only concern is my GPA which is not competitive mostly due to my initial semesters. The more other things such as GRE, TOEFL, recommendations,… are valued, the happier I get! since I consider mine to be quite strong in those respects. I’m not looking for the top programs though, but still a good one, for master’s, which possibly has financial aid.</p>