mit vs berkeley vs princeton vs caltech

**ee_phd** · 04-02-2005, 03:42 AM

hi all,

i just saw this forum when i typed "mit vs berkeley graduate eecs". so far, i have received the following responses:

- berkeley(feb 16): admit with fellowship
- mit (feb 17): admit w/o yet, but prof. i talked to says that he would give me ra if i went there
- princeton (feb 24): admit with fellowship
- caltech (mar 9): admit with ra
- uiuc (mar 31): reject

i visited the places i was accepted at and really liked them. they are al very good at the kinds of things i am interested in (signal processing, communications, info. theory...)

i was wondering if you guys had any advice because i am a little confused.

thanks

my profile:
gre - 800/680/5.0
gpa ~ 3.95/4.0
majors - ee, math
a couple of publications

**Mindcraft** · 04-02-2005, 05:58 AM

Originally Posted by ee_phd

hi all,

i just saw this forum when i typed "mit vs berkeley graduate eecs". so far, i have received the following responses:

- berkeley(feb 16): admit with fellowship
- mit (feb 17): admit w/o yet, but prof. i talked to says that he would give me ra if i went there
- princeton (feb 24): admit with fellowship
- caltech (mar 9): admit with ra
- uiuc (mar 31): reject

i visited the places i was accepted at and really liked them. they are al very good at the kinds of things i am interested in (signal processing, communications, info. theory...)

i was wondering if you guys had any advice because i am a little confused.

thanks

my profile:
gre - 800/680/5.0
gpa ~ 3.95/4.0
majors - ee, math
a couple of publications

First of all, Congrats on the super-admits. Those are all dream schools, so you are in a very desirable position at this point. Of course you must make a desicion in terms of accepting an offer, this is the tricky part. I'd say it's between MIT and Berkeley, which are polar opposites in terms of location. At this point, it's really preference and matching your particular goals with the schools. If you find that you would probably fit better with the faculty at MIT, or that Berkeley is geared more towards the area of research you are interested in, or that Caltech is giving you the most money, these are possible observations that may assist in your desicion-making. I think most people here would agree it's between MIT and Berkeley, but regardless of what you choose, you will get one hell of an education!! Congrats once again.

Yousuf

**bnm** · 04-02-2005, 06:20 AM

Congrats ee_phd.

Super cool admits .... Well i agree with yousuf, that its between UCB and MIT. But it depends on your preferences for place, type of money(aid) you getting and most important the research group you will be with for rest of your grad life. So best of luck ...

I was wondering what happened at UIUC?

Chill.

**phpguru** · 04-02-2005, 06:25 AM

Congratulations ee_phd. I envy you. Hopefully I'll have the same decision to make in two years. I find it quite funny that UIUC rejected you since MIT, Caltech, and Berkeley all said yes yes yes! I would also agree its down to Berkeley or MIT and in that situation I would take the latter but its up to you. Make sure you factor in the people you will be working with. Good luck and hopefully I'll see you in two years at one of those great schools!

phpguru

**awhig** · 04-02-2005, 06:43 AM

ee_phd , congrats for fantastic admits.

**gforce** · 04-02-2005, 07:40 AM

I completely agree with Yousuf!
Oh and btw, CONGRATS!

**ee_phd** · 04-02-2005, 01:36 PM

hi all,

yousuf: thanks for the advice!
bnm: i do find it a really hilarious that uiuc rejected me
phpguru: i've visited all these schools, so if you have questions when you go through the application process, do let me know. i'll prolly frequent TM a lot now that i know about it.
awhig, gforce: thanks!

**mishum2000** · 04-02-2005, 03:50 PM

EE_Phd congratulations for your awesome admits.

Since the other Test Magicians expressed their point of view regarding their university choice I would like to ask you some questions regarding your profile:

1. Did you take the TOEFL test ? Are you an international student ?

2. What school did you graduate ?

3. You said that you have some publications ? They were at international conferences/journals ? They were ISI/IFAC rated ?

Two words about myself : I'm a control engineer who is planning to apply for a Phd in the USA for the 2005-2006 academic year.

Once again greetings for your awesome admits and good luck in your future career.

Best regards,

Michael.

Originally Posted by ee_phd

my profile:
gre - 800/680/5.0
gpa ~ 3.95/4.0
majors - ee, math
a couple of publications

**ee_phd** · 04-03-2005, 07:29 PM

hi michael,

i didn't take the toefl. my publications were at ieee conferences. i don't know what isi/ifac means actually. for control theory, it seemed to me that were better people at mit than at berkeley or any of the other places. hope this helps!

ee_phd