USC Electrical Engineering PhD program quality

Graduate School
1

<p>With several people (including myself) having received admission into the Electrical Engineering PhD program at USC, I thought I would start up a discussion about this school. I would like to focus this discussion upon the quality of the graduate program in Electrical Engineering at USC. For your reference, I would be in the Systems side of things.</p>

<p>I would appreciate the input of those who have already visited the school, or are familiar with the school. If there are those of you who are already enrolled in the PhD program, I would particularly appreciate your feedback.</p>

<p>As an international student, I hadn't heard of USC prior to beginning the admission process. I was first introduced to the program by one of my current Professors who is an alumni and has gone on to do many important things within the Wireless Communications field. From there, I took a look at several rankings and realized that this is indeed a highly ranked program. At the same time, it doesn't register on other rankings. Do I have reason for concern? Within California, how does USC compare with the other prominent schools like Stanford, Berkeley, and UCLA?</p>

<p>One of the things that I have observed about USC is that it seems like there is no shortage of research funding. As a prospective PhD student, this is an obvious plus. I would imagine that available funding translates into many research opportunities. </p>

<p>Another observation that I have made is that the faculty seem very well qualified with many IEEE Fellows and the like. I would like to attend an institution where the faculty are well respected, which would certainly help me in my own studies. I would appreciate someone commenting on this point.</p>

<p>Finally, being an international student I am not to familiar with the NSF. If I understand correctly, USC has the Integrated Media Systems Center which is an NSF "center for excellence". This sounds significant, and certainly from my research it appears as though this center has a track record of significant funding. Again, I would appreciate the input of those in the know.</p>

<p>That's all for now from my end. I encourage others who have also been admitted to USC to participate in this thread!</p>

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<p>I’d copy my post over from gradcafe but I’m too lazy.</p>

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<p>Well, maybe this video would be useful to you:
[YouTube</a> - Making Its Mark: The History of the USC Ming Hsieh Dept.](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mI0dlADJ9g]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mI0dlADJ9g)</p>

<p>It certainly looks prominent to me.</p>

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<p>May I ask if you have got an interview or contacted any professor in USC EE? Thx!</p>

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<p>Congratulations, you’ve reached the big time. </p>

<p>I have a PhD from MIT and do industrial research in this area. USC is indeed a world class department. As you know when you go for an academic position, schools like to “hire up” the rankings. Nonetheless, USC is definitely top 10. </p>

<p>Stanford and Berkeley are generally rated closer to the tippy top (along with MIT and Illinois), but off the top of my head, I’d say USC is on par with UCLA, Cornell, Princeton and Texas in this area. I’d say both USC and UCLA are breeding grounds for the next generation academics or industrial researchers. If you do well, you’ll definitely get some attention.</p>

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<p>@ccpsux, thanks for the link. It was an enlightening look at the department’s history and achievements.</p>

<p>@bozeng, I didn’t contact any profs myself. I was however contacted around the middle of January for a telephone interview with a prof in EE-Systems at USC. Have you applied to USC EE as well?</p>

<p>@ClassicRockerDad, thank you! I appreciate your perspective from someone in the industry doing research. It’s good to hear that the future is basically in my hands, and that USC is well respected.</p>