<p>I'm currently a sophomore at Purdue studying materials engineering, and will likely want to pursue a Phd at a top tier university like Berkeley, Northwestern, Columbia, or MIT. I expect to get a 3.7-3.8 GPA (no grade inflation here:( )...all I know is that it's important to have a decent GPA and high GRE scores as well as good letters of recommendation and some research experience. Is that really all one can do? What is there to do that makes someone stand out for grad school admission?</p>
<p>One way you can improve your chances of getting accepted is to take one or two graduate courses at Purdue. Doing well in graduate coursework will demonstrate that you can succeed at the grad level.</p>
<p>Another thing you can do is figure out exactly which professors you want to work with and contact them directly.</p>
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<p>You know more about your field than me, but make sure this is true in your field. The top schools in your field are not always the top overall schools. Choose a PhD program based on where you see the research you are most interested in and whichever program is the strongest in your specific research area. For example, for the specific area I research, the top programs would be places such as Texas A&M, Arizona, Purdue, Minnesota and a touch of Caltech. The other big ones like MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, etc. don’t really do anything in my research area.</p>
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<p>That GPA won’t keep you out of anywhere so if you keep that up, good job. You are kidding yourself if you don’t think there is grade inflation at Purdue, though.</p>
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<p>Research, research, research, research, research and more research. You can try and take some graduate-level classes if Purdue allows it, but the top schools will look at that and say “Well that’s nice, but why didn’t she use her time to really dive into some research to see where her graduate school interests lie and get valuable experience?” Of course if you already have outstanding research, then it is just icing on the cake.</p>
<p>The takeaway: by far, the most valuable thing you can do to help your chances is do research. You will help strengthen your reference letters that way and you will prove to potential graduate schools that you can not only hack it in research, but thrive. Attrition rates among PhD students are fairly high, so schools like to know not just that you can do the classwork (most people can handle that just fine, after all), but also that you really want to be doing the research and aren’t just in it for a piece of paper (which is a terrible reason for a PhD anyway). They make a sizable investment in graduate students and they like to know that their investment will pay dividends.</p>
<p>The most important factor in PhD admissions for STEM is research fit. Good research fit can get you accepted to a high ranked school and bad research fit can get you rejected from a low ranked school.</p>
<p>If you have a couple publications and an MS, how does it affect your odds for a top PhD (stanford, berkeley, princeton)? Or are those schools so competitive that all applicants have publications?</p>
<p>I know that Stanford requires an MS before admitting a PhD at least for some departments. I’m not sure about MIT. I will say that there are no schools that require publications for people fresh out of undergrad. That would unfairly exclude people from smaller schools with little research. They will care if you don’t have research despite having the opportunity, though.</p>
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Pretty much. I mean, assuming that you are applying to departments and professors that match your background and interests, ultimately there is not much else they can go on. </p>
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First, excelling in one or more of the aforementioned areas (not GRE) will usually help. Second, fitting really well with the needs and interests of a particular professor - grad admissions are a gamble, and showing that you are a perfect fit for a specific spot can really help you. Third, bringing your own money in the form of external funding can help in many departments that are funding-limited. Finally, if you reach the point where you are contacted by the department after submitting your application, your ability to communicate clearly, professionally, and maturely can help to convince the professor(s) that you are ready for graduate study.</p>
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Very department-dependent. For example, I know that MIT ECE does not care one lick about the possession of a previous MS - you will do their program and it will not change at all, nor will you get preferential treatment in admissions. Other departments/schools will have different requirements and may prefer someone with an MS.</p>