Is Grad School for me?
Almost every ECE student wonders if grad school is the next logical step after undergrad. Here is some insight from former ECE grad students from the last 15 years (We are working on getting insight from more recent grad students).
Ask yourself, is grad school really for me?
"The most important thing to realize about grad school is that it's a career move, not just something you default to because you're not ready to grow up and work full-time. I think it's good to start thinking about grad school as you start taking the 300-level ECE courses. By then, you have a decent sense of whether or not you'll be incredibly sick of school by the time you graduate."
-Tom Comberiate EE '08, UIUC PhD alum
"It wasn't until I had to tell someone else what I wanted to do that I figured out for myself exactly what I wanted to do. Talking to professors helped me focus my thoughts and be honest with myself whether I really wanted to work on something. Every professor has been there. The smartest thing to do when applying is to take advantage of that."
-Matt Trower, CompE '10, with pursuit of grad school at UIUC Department of Computer Science
Research Experience >> all other factors
"I don't think the senior thesis is a must, but it certainly helps to have research experience. In an ideal world, you are already doing research for the professor you'd like to be working for in grad school. That way that particular professor can support you and make your case to the admissions committee. I've heard of many cases where a student with a relatively low GPA got into grad school based on the fact that a professor handpicked them."
-Tom Comberiate
"Obviously things like grades and extracurriculars are important, but I'd say what helped me more than anything else was getting involved in research relatively early. The sooner you start, the more you can get done. Spending the summer after my junior year on campus working on my research project allowed me to really immerse myself in it, because I didn't have any classes to worry about. I also think that getting involved with an EOH project is a fine idea. Like a research project, it gives you another outlet to practically apply what you've learned from your coursework. Research experience and independent projects will set you apart, and give you meaningful things to write about in your statement of purpose."
-David Harwath, EE '10, with pursuit of grad school at Stanford Department of Electrical Engineering
Getting letters of recommendations
"Also ask professors for letter of recommendations EARLY. They are very busy people. Give yourself plenty of time to fill out the applications. To fill them out requires a lot of time."
-Nicholas Corso, EE '10, with pursuit of grad school at UC Berkeley Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Taking the Graduate Record Exam (GRE)
"I would take the GRE during the summer (any summer during college but before senior year is best). That way you can take some time to prepare and go over the types of questions you will see on the exam. I think the biggest mistake people make is just winging the GRE totally. They take it during the school year while they're stressed out by problem sets and exams. Avoid that if at all possible. Get it out of the way early."
-Tom Comberiate
Grad School is anything BUT predictable
"Nothing is a sure thing. When applying to those top research programs, it is very competitive, considering the acceptance rates are well under 10% at these institutions. The key to being accepted is that your research interests have to align with a certain professor, and by chance he/she reads your application, and he/she has funding to bring you aboard. So diversifying your applications is very helpful as you can have varying degrees of luck and success of getting accepted at different institutions. In the end, if you are confident in your abilities and your application, you should not take any rejection too personally as it does not reflect that strongly on you, it just means that that particular institution is not a good fit."
-Mingxun Wang, CompE '09, with pursuit of grad school at UC San Diego Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering
"Never assume grad school as the default approach. Really think about if you still enjoy the academic environment. Overall, getting a master's degree is fairly painless. 3 or 4 semesters more semesters for a $10-15K pay raise is generally a good financial move assuming you get those semesters funded by an RA or TA."
-Tom Comberiate