<p>Hello CC forum people! I've been reading posts on this site for quite a while, and I finally decided to post my own...</p>
<p>I have been accepted to UIUC, UMICH, and UCSB for a Ph.D in Computer Engineering, but I'm struggling trying to choose a school. I have a full fellowship at UMICH with a $2300 stipend, an assistantship at UIUC with a $2100 stipend, or UCSB which has not given me status of a financial aid package at all (but California seams great.. ) The research group I was accepted to at UMICH is more aligned with my interests, but UIUC is ranked as a better school, so I'm not sure what to do.</p>
<p>I'm going to visit both UIUC and UMICH in the next month, but I was wondering if anyone on this site could shed some light on the better choice? </p>
<p>Your decision should come down to research group / adviser fit. Certainly, check out the campus environments during your visits, but I would choose primarily based on the research, people, and program. I wouldn’t advise choosing UIUC over UMich because of ranking – they’re both easily top 10 programs… </p>
<p>Also, look at research in your field that is outside of your group. It’s generally wise to choose a school with multiple investigators performing researching related to your specific field. That will open up more opportunities for collaborative projects and could provide you some flexibility to switch to another group if you so desired, as well as provide you with numerous expert sources. </p>
<p>By choosing based on program, I suggest considering: how many classes you need to take, when you’ll be required to take the qualifying exam and what that will entail, etc. i.e; I am rather familiar with UMich’s MechE Ph.D. program and found it to be quite appealing. Funding is guaranteed for five years, and you need to take four classes your first year (may be outside of your department) and get at least an A- in each (as the first part of the Ph.D. qualifier). The program acceptance rate is 8% while ~95% of students pass their qualifying exam. </p>
<p>Additionally, do you hope to enter academia or industry? Your Ph.D. adviser turns out to have a fairly significant impact on what opportunities are available to you upon graduation. If you know you’d like to become a professor, look for an adviser who’s students have become professors. They will know how to tailor your experience to best prepare you, and they’ll have the network in place to help you find a position. </p>
<p>Some thoughts on University of Michigan Electrical Engineering and Computer Science(I very recently completed a PhD there). They give you a full funding for several years up front. This seems like a “great” thing…It’s not a bad thing, but it is not a “great” thing. First, even if you pass quals, they can easily pull the funding through their yearly evaluation process. In my opinion, this evaluation process is a poorly thought out and arbitrary. I would guess that of the people who start the program only 60 - 70 % make it through, so they are pulling funding for students regularly. It is not always the “quals” process that gets your kicked out either. Qual pass rates are usually 80% - 90%. The point is sometimes they just kick students out whether students pass quals or not. Also, at Michigan losing funding and getting “kicked out” are almost same thing.</p>
<p>All Michigan grad students must be “Continuously funded”. It is a Michigan policy (about 2 or 3 years old). It means, somebody must pay tuition for your entire time at Michigan as a PhD student. It dramatically limits student and faculty flexibility. For example, you can’t take a semester off. It is very hard to take a part-time job after finishing classes while you complete your research because you owe the school tuition. I know many students who successfully did this (worked full or part time while completing the research) before the policy changed. It also means that if an advisor looses funding (i.e. losses a grant) he is under lots of pressure to graduate you or kick you out. Being that the evaluation process is arbitrary, you just better hope you are close to graduating rather than in the middle of your PhD if your advisor looses funding. There are TAs (GSIs), but this money is far more limited than you would think. </p>
<p>With all this being said, Michigan EECS is great. The graduates do great. Many professors are amazing. The funding process is misleading is all I’m saying, but it is likely not worse than other places. Perhaps other places are just more up front about it. Don’t make the decision on the fellowship and stipend you think you are receiving from Michigan. Make your decision on the viability of your potential advisor’s research, and whether the advisor and your advisor’s research is a fit.</p>
<p>Alright, thanks you guys, that was very helpful information.</p>
<p>I’ll be visiting Illinois very soon, and although I am more interested in the research group I’ve been accepted to at UMICH, Illinois may have some other groups whose research interests me more.</p>
<p>Hai there! I can tell you a lot about UCSB. While I’m not in your program, I did undergrad in CS and Math and will be doing a MS in CS in the College of Engineering next year. If you have any questions about UCSB or the College of Engineering, let me know!</p>
<p>One of my favorite things about UCSB is that it’s a great school (especially for engineering…very highly ranked), but it still has that laid-back beachy feel. Helps keep the stress levels down tremendously. =)</p>
<p>Oh! Forgot to add. In the CS department, PhD students are (I think) guaranteed funding one way or another (grants, fellowships, research positions, or teaching assistant positions). They just don’t really figure out the funding stuff until wayyy later (closer to the start of each quarter). So I’d contact the department at UCSB and ask about funding. I’m sure you could TA if you wanted to and if funding is an issue for you. </p>
<p>A lot of grad schools do this…see who shows up and then fund them. Umich EECS used to do this. I think there were problems, so they changed policies. Who knows, they may change it back some day. If you are really are thinking about UCSB contact them about funding…contact the coordinator or profs you are interested in working for.</p>
<p>Some additional info about umich EECS…</p>
<p>Quals: Oral exams with 4 profs based on course work (50%) and your research (50%). You spend approximately 45 minutes with each professor. The pass rate is generally high 80 - 90%. You need a certain GPA to take it… 3.57…this is not horrible to get in the grad programs here. There has been thoughts about changing it…making it harder etc, but Profs. know that if they give a real written test students who they want to pass will fail and students who they want to fail will pass. </p>
<p>Like I said before, Quals is not the main way students leave the program. The main way students leave the program is not getting the GPA to take quals in the first place. Other ways include just waking away once quals has been passed or your advisor firing you after you research goes no where for 4 or 7 (strangely in EE I’ve heard of this happening 7 years…ouch)</p>
<p>Other positives and negatives</p>
<p>Positives of EECS and Michigan in general include: Ann Arbor, EECS focus on entrepreneurship, high quality profs.</p>
<p>Negaitves: Ann Arbor’s weather and North campus is crowded. </p>