jimuf

I think thats the standard rejection letter. Although I can't say for sure. Funny wording regardless. I haven't heard from anyone who got it or got honorable mention.

Coming from a large state school, I don't believe that paying $30,000 to have USC slapped across a masters degree is worth it. USC is 20 ranks above my own undergraduate school (UF), but you are talking the difference of about $25,000 for our in state graduate tuition. I understand our tuition is extremely low, but I'm sure the same arguement holds for state tuition of $15,000.

That's really shitty, but I bet it doesn't play into the minds of your typical graduate student. You go in cocky enough that you aren't going to be in the bottom half.

I think berkeley goes on Spring Break Friday, so hopefully they'll decide this week. Or maybe they'll wait till all the students are gone on Spring Break to go through the rest of the apps... Frustrated.

I went to U. of Florida because the education was free and it was the best college in my state. Taking out loans to go out of state wasn't something I was prepared to do as I didn't even know what I wanted to major in. I grew up thinking that unless you are the best, you have failed. When I did decided to do electrical engineering I had a hard time coming to grips with my University being ranked around 20th. I kicked myself around for not getting into a better school. So I was depressed for quite a few months until my brother-in-law gave me some advice. Which was to shut the **** up and make the best of the situation. And I did by getting involved in a research lab. But of course I never really learned my lesson. After getting rejected from MIT and CMU's RI I got really depressed. If you look at the RIs invitation list, over half are from the big name techical colleges. I'm not looking forward to seeing the results of some of the other big names I applied to. But I'm confident that I can make the best of my doctoal studies at UF, even if it means that I will be heading to industry and not academia. Edit: The one thing I can take comfort in is that I will be marrying my fiance this summer. At least there is one thing that is stable in my life.

For the most part - No aid for masters students in CISE or ECE. There are exceptions of course. If you signed up for Ph.D., CISE will only grant a Masters after passing Quals.

He was Ph.D. EE. He received acceptance 2-3 weeks ago. 2-3 weeks is hard, let alone only a week.

A friend of mine is going next friday. I still haven't received word from their CSE :(

They made you an offer, you are in the position of power now. My home department asked for a deadline to accept a fellowship offer in March as well, but they extended it to April 15 with no hassle at my request. They know they are trying to trap you into their University by making the deadline mid March. Just be polite and I'm sure they will agree to an extension. You don't want to accept the offer though and continue to consider these other schools. What if they call your home institution to ask a few questions? Gigs up then. Plus its never good to burn bridges and renegging on a deal will certainly do that.

Atlanta has great weather, but GT is in the middle of the ghetto.

First, congrats on GT. I know of two people at my school (UF) that received offers from GT. Both got your 12k stipend for TA and one of the two got an extra 5k fellowship. I believe both are turning it down bc they don't want to live in Atlanta and they received better offers elsewhere. Honestly, 12k is not a large amount for ECE. If you want to go there I would push for that extra 5k that others are receiving.

You don't really sound passionate about why you want to get a Ph.D. As others have said, wanting to teach is a poor reason for a Ph.D. as it is a research degree. I'm an electrical engineering major so while I can't speak for Economics, all physics and engineering boil down to math. Most of the fields in my major are related by a common foundation of mathematics and statistics. Being afraid of math won't get you published, which won't get you the Professor job. Furthermore, you really need to be passionate about what you want to do in your doctoral studies. If you aren't passionate about what you want to do as a Ph.D. student, then you will end up suffering through a miserable 4-6 years only to have a job that pays less then most of your friends who got out with their masters.

They gave me one a month or so back. They sent me an email.

Im still waiting on Mich EECS Ph.D (CSE division). For some reason my wolverineaccess account started showing links to financial aid offers (It used to not have these links), but these pages have no information provided. Dunno if its a mistake, common to everyone, or they just forgot to email me an acceptance. heh. Every EECS applicant should have a wolverineaccess account to check your status there.

Congrats on also getting the Alumni fellowship. I'll see you there in the Fall if Berkeley doesn't come through :)