Should I apply to MIT Grad School

<p>Hey everyone, </p>

<p>I'm a 4th year energy engineering (mix of elec/mechanical/civil with focus on renewable energies etc.) student from Ireland and have achieved the highest grade in my class over the last two years- 87% (third year) and 85% (second year). I've also carried out a 5 month internship with Siemens in Germany as part of my degree. My grades have been high throughout my academic career. I'm interested in applying for a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering in MIT. </p>

<p>Could anyone tell me if I have a shot here, I don't want to waste a lot of money applying to American universities if there is no point, but at the same time I don't want to dismiss any chances I might have.</p>

<p>I appreciate any help you can give me here!</p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

<p>You seem to be a very accomplished student and have had the experience of a nice internship. I would apply without hesitation.</p>

<p>Have you taken the GRE and/or any other applicable exams?</p>

<p>Your professors will be able to give you a better idea of whether you’re competitive for admissions to top schools. </p>

<p>MIT’s EECS department actually doesn’t offer a master’s-only track – all admissions are for the PhD track. The admission rate is very low most years, and is sometimes on the order of 5%.</p>

<p>To clarify, MIT’s EECS department does offer a master’s (MEng) track - but only to people who completed undergrad EECS degrees at MIT.</p>

<p>On the website, you’ll notice that the department does award master’s (MS’s) to people from outside of MIT, but, as Mollie, said, that’s only part of the PhD track.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info people! The main thing that I’m thinking about at the moment though is funding- If I don’t get a scholarship I don’t think that going to college in the US is possible for me…</p>

<p>On the application form it asks for “assured” and “possible” sources of funding. My application would be consisting of no assured sources, with only possible sources being scholarships that I have applied for- is there any point in applying in this case or will it just be tossed in the bin?</p>

<p>Also, I know that in the US your undergrad admissions take into account extra curricular activities before enrolling students- for us in Europe its just academically based. Do graduate programs take these into account also, because it’s not something that I ever focused on building up, as it’s not needed over here.</p>

<p>Thanks again!</p>

<p>This is more of an undergraduate forum…you probably can gather more information on your own than asking here. :] Or you can email the graduate admissions on their website.</p>

<p>My field is not EECS, but generally I feel that top graduate programs look for steady, undergraduate commitment to some sort of research project.</p>

<p>Sorry that I can’t help you anymore. You should probably contact the program directly to answer your questions, especially since the deadline is fast-approaching for grad apps.</p>

<p>

No, that’s just for the purposes of being aware of possible sources of funding. Admissions for the graduate school aren’t generally need-aware, but they’re not obligated to fully fund you, either. Still, most people do end up getting a fellowship of some sort to attend graduate school in science and engineering – generally, for a PhD at least, it’s not out of pocket.</p>

<p>

No, graduate programs are only interested in your academic record and academic activities (including research experience in many fields).</p>