Ask an Illinois Tech Professor

*xraymancs* · 11-30-2011, 02:18 AM

This thread is your opportunity to ask me questions about Illinois Institute of Technology, including, but not limited to, the following topics:

* Majors available at IIT
* Special Scholarship programs such as Camras or Duchossois Scholarships
* Careers options in science and engineering
* Getting into graduate school

If you have other questions, I will try to get an answer for you from other people on campus who know. Be patient, it may take a day or so to give you an answer.

A bit about myself (xraymancs). I have been a physics faculty member at IIT since 1983. I have an active research program and run a research facility called the Materials Research Collaborative Access Team. I have mentored many undergraduate students in my lab over the years and I have been an academic advisor to physics majors and undecided students. More recently I have become responsible for graduate admissions at IIT

OunceOfAction · 01-20-2012, 03:06 PM

Hi xraymancs,
I'm currently a senior in high school while concurrently enrolled at a junior college. I'm applying to major in Physics at IIT, and I was wondering about what you know of the Duchossois Scholarship. It seems competitive considering there are only 2 recipients per year, but I'd like more information if you have about the people considered/awarded the scholarship.
Also, I'm looking to go to an Ivy/MIT/Caltech for grad school. What are the types of schools that graduates of the B.S. program at IIT have been accepted to?
Thanks so much! Maybe I'll see you around campus next year

HCOdude · 01-21-2012, 10:30 AM

I just got accepted to IIT for architecture. Do you know how many they accept? Also, how would you rate the program? how do Arch students perceive it?

*xraymancs* · 01-21-2012, 01:42 PM

@OunceOfAction - The Duchossois Leadership Scholars program is specifically looking for students who are excellent academically but who also demonstrate leadership qualities. The program is very competitive because of the restricted numbers (a total of 16 students steady state). It is also very new. This year was the first class and the first two faculty endowed chairs were selected. The program will have a close mentoring relationship between the students and the faculty. For the coming year, we will select 3 incoming students for the scholarship program. We take a look at all the applicants (deadline for special application is February 1, 2012) and then select the students we will invite to campus for an interview. The academic criteria are like those of the Camras Scholars program but we look for students who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in high school. If you are interested, please make sure to fill out the supplementary Duchossois application.

http://www.iit.edu/undergrad_admissi...ssois_form.pdf

Now on to your other questions about the physics program at IIT. Last year, we had students from our physics program accepted to the following programs: Cal Tech, UC Berkeley, MIT, University of Wisconsin, Johns Hopkins, University of Notre Dame. This year, I know of one student who has already been admitted to University of Wisconsin. Over the years, we have had students go on to University of Texas - Austin, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign, University of California Santa Barbara, Princeton and lots of others. It is a pretty small program but we have a strong research faculty with programs in high energy physics, materials physics (specifically using the beam lines we operate at the Advanced Photon Source | Argonne National Laboratory) and biophysics. Students who are interested in going to graduate school get lots of opportunity to get involved in research (I have 6 working with me this semester) and they tell me that once they get to their graduate programs, they feel like they are well prepared for the courses they need to take (many take our graduate courses in their final year).

If you are on a campus visit, please make sure to see me. Good Luck!

*xraymancs* · 01-21-2012, 05:01 PM

@HCOdude - Over the past 3 years, the College of Architecture has been targeting an entering class size of 75 Freshmen and about 50 transfers. The number of students admitted depends on what the projected fraction of acceptances is and from what I can see, this has been about 33% recently.

As for rankings, it is very difficult to compare schools from different regions. However, it has been ranked in the top 15 country-wide in recent years. It might also be useful to look at outcomes -- the percentage of IIT graduates who passed the board exams in 2010 was about 70%. One of the advantages of IIT's College of Architecture is that it is right in the middle of one of the most architecturally vibrant cities in the US, Chicago. May of our faculty are practicing architects in the city and this affords students the opportunity to develop a network and obtain internships.

Now that you have been accepted, make sure to visit campus. It will help you to decide if Illinois Tech is for you.

Hope this answers your questions!

OunceOfAction · 01-25-2012, 01:17 AM

Thank you so much, xraymancs. I really appreciate you putting the time in to answer my many questions.
Do you happen to know approximately how many students are applying for and how many will be selected as finalists for the Duchossois Scholarship? If I am chosen as a finalist, it would be fantastic to see and speak with you during the Interview weekend. Maybe I could sit in one of your classes? One thing that I didn't understand was when the Interview weekend will be. I thought it might be the same weekend as the Camras Scholarship Interviews, but those are Feb. 9-11 this year, and the finalists for the Duchossois Scholarship don't seem to be notified until around that time. Will the interviews be conducted in one weekend, or are they spread out over the course of February?

*xraymancs* · 01-26-2012, 01:14 AM

This year the bulk of the Duchossois interviews will be held at the same time as Camras weekend. The Duchossois deadline is such that there might be candidates who apply too late to make the Camras weekend. In this case, we will try to have individual interviews. In future years, the deadline will be moved to December so that the interviews can all be held at the same time as Camras.

I believe that the total number of interviewees this year will be between 6 and 10. I'll definitely be involved during Camras weekend, however, this semester I am teaching a graduate course and will probably not be too instructive to sit in on.