Which Stanford EE graduate program should I apply, Master or Ph.D.?

Graduate School
1

Hello, I’m having hard time for deciding which grad program I should apply to (Master or Ph.D.). I know some schools (such as CMU) allows you to submit applications for both master and phd program at the same time, but Stanford allows only one program per every admission cycle. I want to get into Stanford EE because there’s this particular professor that I really want to work with.
My application is like:

  • I’m an international student from an Asian country.
  • I have 3.95 GPA from descent research university (U.S Ranking 30~40 for engineering).
  • I have two research experience at my university. One of the research got published in IEEE CVPR, and I am third author.
  • I have strong recommendation letters from professors that I worked with.
  • I am awarded a funding (~$20,000 per year). I have applied another scholarship that offers (~$100,000 per year) but still waiting the result (I should get the result by December).
  • Although GRE is no longer required, my quant is 170/170, and verb is 160/170.
    Do you think it is worth a shot to apply for PhD? Or should I apply for Master program to maximize my chance of acceptance? I am not sure which is better since all I care about is to work with this professor at Stanford.
    I appreciate your comments.
2

Well, do you want to get a master’s degree or a PhD?

The MS in electrical engineering at Stanford is a professional degree, designed for people who want to seek work in the field after graduate school:

It’s also course-based, which means it’s focused on coursework as opposed to research. There’s no thesis requirement, and given that it is professionally focused, it’s possible that it’s uncommon or unexpected for MS students to do research with a professor.

Based on your background and your interest in working with this particular professor, it sounds like you’re interested in research. A PhD is a research degree, with built-in opportunities to work with a research advisor/PI and a dissertation to complete. Based on that, I’d say that you should probably apply for the PhD program. (It also helps that a PhD is funded once you are admitted.)

To me, it doesn’t make sense to apply for the MS to “maximize your chances of acceptance” because you’d be maximizing your chances to do a program you don’t really need or want. That’s like maximizing my chances to win a year’s worth of peanut butter when I don’t like peanut butter. If you want to do research with a professor at a department that doesn’t have a research-based MS, the PhD makes the most sense. If for some reason you no longer wish to work with this professor, you can always leave the program.*

It’s generally a bad idea to apply to a PhD program hoping to work with one professor: Professors leave, die, change foci, or sometimes don’t get along with you. However, since it sounds like you don’t really care about getting a PhD, if you find that you don’t get along with this guy you can always just leave.

*Note that I’m not advocating going to a PhD program when you don’t really want a PhD, just because it’s funded. I think that’s a bad idea, and is bad faith. But this is a special case - this person’s actually passionate about doing research, and a structured PhD program is probably the best way to do that given his international status. Plus, if you really love research, a PhD will totally be your jam. Probably.

3

Thank you for your detailed response.

Yes, I understand that EE MS program at Stanford gear towards industry rather than research. However, at the same time, MS students are allowed to get involved in research through MS research assistantship.

Thus, I would be able to get involved in this professor’s research regardless of MS or PhD once I get in EE graduate program. (There are in fact a few MS EE students in his lab.)

The funding is not an issue in my case since I’m already awarded some scholarships. The only advantage of PhD for me is that I don’t have to reapply to Stanford after 2 years, whereas I need to reapply if I were to get into Master.

Do you think my application is strong enough to be considered for PhD candidate? Is it true that Master is relatively easier to get in compared to PhD?

Thank you for your comments.

4

Well, you have high GRE scores, a very high GPA (especially for engineering), and you have research experience, including a publication. You also clearly have a strong desire to work with a professor at this university, which I assume indicates at least some level of good fit.

Graduate admissions is difficult to ‘chance’ people for because it depends a lot on many factors that are unknown to us, but I’d say that you seem like a relatively competitive candidate. Depends on the quality of your research experiences and how well you can make the case for good fit with the department.

5

Thank you for your response. I am a bit relieved to hear my application is relatively competitive for PhD.

As you said, I agree that there’s no way of measuring the chance of acceptance for graduate admissions. Since there seems to be a chance, I am going to take this shot so that I won’t regret.

Thank you again for your advice!

6

Recommendations and research matter a lot when applying to a Ph.D. program. Most important is finding the program that matches your interest for your own research. Have you already engaged in research? Any publications?

Many programs accept masters students to their Ph.D. program should you find that a Ph.D. is more in your interest lines. Since you live in Asia, a Ph.D. also provides some societal benefits as it is more respected. In the US, it does not matter that much.