What are my chances of getting into a good PhD school for electrical engineering? I know I am set for lower schools, but what about the top in the nation?
I'll have my bachelor's in EE (potentially in applied math as well) in May 2019 at 21
3 years of research experience: programming, circuit board design, PCB layout, and most importantly, I led a project and did it nearly on my own where I designed a hybrid electric power grid for an aircraft. This was heavily related to controls which is what I want to focus in.
Three semesters of industry experience. Two semesters in analog circuit design. One semester in a field role at a major company (Texas Instruments)
Senior design project in combat robotics (I want to go into robotics specifically)
I’m not currently planning on getting my master’s degree because of the lack of funding. I don’t have any papers published either, because my professor kept saying we would but never did actually allowed it. I haven’t taken the GRE yet but I will be doing that as well.
Eventually I’d like to get my MBA and open my own business, but for now I am just focusing on getting into a good PhD program.
You don’t give enough detail for any assessment. Yes, you have research experience and internships which is a plus, however, the most selective programs generally look at GPA and GRE to make a first cut through the many applications they get. I am also a bit confused about why you says that an MS is out of the question because of financing. Does that mean that you are applying for a PhD only because of the funding possibilities. If that is the case, then perhaps you should consider working for a few years and then decide if a PhD (which is primarily a research degree) is really what you want or if an MBA will be better for your career.
I have a GPA of 3.6. I forgot to add that at the top. I do want a PhD in the end. My original plan was to do an MSEE and then a PhD, but now I am going to skip the MSEE because they are no funded. The end goal was always still the PhD.
MBAs do very different types of work than PhDs. Do you prefer technical work, or do you want to raise funding and talk about others that do the work for you? MBAs get payed a lot more than PhDs, in some cases, but EE PhDs do well and can often manage companies later in their careers without an MBA, depending on their career path.
GRE score is important as are your recommendations. Also what university is your undergrad degree?
There are pipelines between some EE programs undergrad to grad school.
I understood you to want to study control theory as it pertains to robotics.
Yes you need a PhD for that type of work!
For your interests–see if you can find an advisor you like at Georgia Tech and Carnegie Mellon , but yes your GRE needs to be near the top. Find other schools with easier admissions standards as well.
. Try to make contacts at both schools,
with faculty. Ask your top research advisors at Texas Instruments and your undergrad program, for recommendations
on robotics programs too.
You can and will pick up a masters degree along the way, so don’t worry for a second about masters degrees.
Also, if for some reason you want to ball out of the PhD program you can do that and take the masters and it will
have been payed for by teaching assistantships and/or research assistantships. You may need to teach for the first semester, so faculty can evaluate you. Ask about that.
Finally look at FELLOWSHIPS, like Hertz, DOD and NSF. They may be pretty hard to win, but writing the application
will help you a lot in thinking about what you want to do in your graduate school program. Even if you don’t win,
you will be ahead of the game. (if you are not a US Citizen some of those options may be closed to you).
PhDs are the best kept secret. They are like fun jobs for six years. You get payed enough to have
a nice life, and its truly a lot of fun!
@Coloradomama has good advice. The only thing I would add is that you really have to want to do a PhD. Don’t just start it because you have nothing better to do. As an engineer, you will never make up the lost earnings from starting to work right after college, even if being a TA or RA pays enough to live the graduate student life, so this needs to be something you really want.