Do graduate students overshadow the undergrads?

snoozn
Mon, 14 Mar 2016 16:16:10 +0000

@xraymancs That does sound like a good opportunity to work alongside grad students. I did look up a few of the research areas she interested in. One seemed to only have PhD students, but most didn’t show the make-up of the teams, just the faculty in charge. I think it would be worthwhile for her to write to some of the individual professors and find out what her prospects might be. My husband and I have also talked about encouraging her to do a 5 year BS/MS program, though for 17-year-old her, five years sounds like a long time!

@Parentof2014grad Offers for research sound promising. I’m really glad to hear she knows her professors well. That is important to my D as well.

To both of you (and anyone else who happens along!), what do you think of the competitiveness in the engineering program. The Fiske Guide mentioned heavy course-load and fiercely competitive atmosphere. Heavy course-load is not an issue (I guess kids wouldn’t go into engineering if it was for them…) But she does like the idea of a more collaborative “we’re all in this together” atmosphere. I don’t want to judge a school by one comment in a guide book, so any opinions on this area?

D will probably apply here, but just deciding whether to do a visit first.