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moo

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Everything posted by moo

  1. legal? certainly. law does not require you to attend.
  2. spring application deadlines tend to be sometime in the early fall (mid-august is the earliest I've seen). as usual, check with the schools you're interested in. few programs accept spring applicants.
  3. go where the money is; you'll be much happier in the end. (unless, of course, you're so rich that $100k is peanuts. I don't know, some of the people here must be)
  4. nah. in north america it's not unusual for one's graduate degree to be in a somewhat different field from their undergrad. a friend of mine went from english literature to computer science at the university of waterloo. I know a girl who went from chemistry to control systems engineering at caltech. I am an electronics undergrad who got accepted into aerospace engineering grad programs at cornell and princeton (I mention school names only to demonstrate that it's not third-tier toilets accepting across fields out of some desperation, but the universities in the top 5-10.) the point is, if you have a clear enough vision, going from chemistry into physics will not be a problem at all. besides, it's not like these fields are all *that* apart---both are natural sciences, and having a solid background in chemistry is a definite asset in many areas of physics. so yeah, go for it. a cogent statement of purpose is all you really need. I believe the emphasis on `publications` on this board is misguided.
  5. each school has its own.
  6. if the school says that it doesn't care about the department codes, that means that it uses your application rather than these codes to route your scores to the correct department. basically, don't worry. oops, had no idea a thread at the top of the view could be so stale ;).
  7. why wouldn't you mention the prof by name?
  8. no denying, it's cute in that morbid train-wreck fashion ;). too bad ideas like this only work once.
  9. it's impossible to know, but I would be concerned that giving a detailed explanation for a small blemish on one's record would simply draw unnecessary attention to it. since statements of purpose are normally restricted in length to one or two pages (500-1000 words), I think one should look for a more positive way to use up almost a quarter of the alotted space. as for me, I didn't bother explaining marginal performance in a couple of my upper division math courses (complex analysis and group theory). applied and got into control engineering---a very heavily pure-math-oriented field---at damn good schools.
  10. heh, moby ****. **** cheney. lovely.
  11. eh. public school == tight with money.
  12. GPA: put down the last school's GPA, unless the school asks otherwise (duke does). that's what I did. as far as I can tell, this field is essentially ignored in the admission process---the schools use all your transcripts to figure out your standing anyway.
  13. in the states, master of engineering is essentially a professional degree, so no wonder few schools are interested in financing those. if you start as a PhD student, you will not be able to graduate as an MEng---if you drop out after a few years you may get a consolatory MA (yes, arts) or at best an MS. however, I'm fairly certain that those employers who're looking for graduate degree holders have a pretty good idea of what exactly such MAs or MSs represent. now, some departments in some schools (eg, aerospace at purdue and mit) require one to obtain an MS before their PhD can begin. in such cases, if you are accepted into a doctorate stream, you will be able to get a valid fully-funded masters degree out of it, even if you drop out after getting one. you are by no means bound to stay for a PhD. obviously, there are ethical issues with misleading the school into funding you for a program they would not normally fund, but it's not my place to preach ethics to you ;). as for your original question, scholarship amounts differ from school to school and from program to program. from what I gathered, the stipends offered to, say, english literature majors tend to be a lot lower than the stipends given to engineers. if you want the numbers, I have been offered $22.3k from princeton (first nine months only, +$7k in the summer if I decide to become an RA), $24.9k from cornell, and $25.8k (4-year) from caltech. just so we're clear, that's engineering, not eng-lit. first year only fellowships are still better than assistantships, because they give you a whole year to explore the school before committing to a particular advisor. also, you get to focus on your classes without having to work for the money. multiyear fellowships are fairly rare.
  14. ah, the vanity fest! I'm in. Age: 24 M/F: m Location when applying: burnaby, bc Major(s) in undergrad: ee Undergraduate institution: sfu Major(s) applying for: mechanical and aerospace engineering/controls Area of specialization: control and dynamical systems Degree(s) earned: bachelor of applied science Degree(s) applying for: phd Undergrad GPA (try to adjust to 4.0 system): 4.258 (A+ = 4.33 at sfu) Class Rank (if applicable): no idea. I expect to be up there, but the school doesn't keep track. GRE Verbal: 700 GRE Math: 800 GRE Writing: 4.5 How many months did you study for GRE general: 0.5 GRE Subject (if applicable): n/a How many months did you study for GRE subject: n/a Researched as undergrad in University (y/n & years): n Researched as undergrad in Industry (y/n & years): n Published (y/n & # of articles): n Other: interned at big-name companies for a while Accepted Schools (aid: y/n and how much and what form; date notified and method of notification): caltech cds (y, gordon moore 4-year fellowship) cornell mae (y, 1st year fellowship) princeton mae (y, 1st year fellowship) purdue a&ae (don't know, don't care) all but purdue got back to me very early in february. got the purdue acceptance in early march, but didn't care anymore (for those who're interested, yes, I turned it down already). Rejected Schools (date notified and method of notification): none Waitlisted Schools: none Chosen School: caltech
  15. definite phd acceptances are done first, the rest is sorted out later. meng applicants get the last bite at the pie.
  16. oh no, cornell is *done*. their admits in most programs went out early february.
  17. I guess that means you're sort-of waitlisted.
  18. I think Cornell's T&AM had its visiting weekend for admitted students weeks ago. at the same time, another school told me I was admitted more than two weeks after its visiting weekend, so it might still go either way.
  19. well, that's what my last post here meant. (oh, but not the official one from the school. fedexed on friday evening, it should get here tomorrow. so, for example, I don't know the stipend yet.)
  20. actually, ithaca has a very bc-ish feel to it. http://www.nameless.ca/stash/cornell/cornell.html don't rely on the weather being this nice there every march though---it just looks like that wherever I go.
  21. first year fellowship allows you to focus on your courses/quals without having to be distracted by work, and it gives you time to carefully pick your advisor. first year funding in any other form or the absence of funding altogether is a warning sign. I wouldn't want to go to a place that'd do that to me.
  22. cornell's prettier and living in ithaca is much cheaper than in ny.
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