<p>I'm a senior EE looking at doing PhD in RFIC design. I applied to </p>
<p>Berkeley, Stanford, UTAustin
UCSD, UCDavis
UTD, Vanderbilt
(in rough order of my preference)</p>
<p>my GRE was 800math, 680verbal, 4.5 writing... i go to a small engineering school that's well known in the midwest but not many other places. my GPA is 3.72 (3.52 major) - here's the thing, before last quarter i had a 3.87 (3.91 major), i took a really difficult quarter and worked more hours at my campus job and then some personal stuff came up and everything kind of went down the tube. will one bad quarter hurt me enough to knock me out of my second choice schools (UCSD and UCDavis), especially considering that i only have two years of classes on my transcripts - i'm finishing the curriculum in 3 years (does that help any, either?)</p>
<p>anyway, i'm thinking now about applying to Purdue (my school has a really good reputation with Purdue and i'm pretty sure i have a good shot at getting in), but i've visited and didn't like it at all, so i wouldn't want to go if i got into any of my top 5 choices. any thoughts? or suggestions for schools on the west coast i may want to look into that i have a good shot at getting into? graduates from my school generally don't pursue grad studies, so i haven't had much information to go off at all and i'm really nervous... waiting until february and march is killing me :-x </p>
<p>thanks in advance for your input!</p>