Ranking vs. a perfect program for me? (grad school)

Graduate School
1

Hello guys.

I did not know that this amazing website existed. If I knew, my application process would have been much easier.

Anyway, I finished my undergrad at UIUC and my major was electrical engineering. I applied for the grad schools that have music or audio engineering programs which are based more on engineering stuffs. So the schools that I applied were Stanford, McGill, University of Rochester, University of Miami and UIUC etc…

My reserach professors told me that University of Rochester has a good audio and music engineering program based on engineering stuffs. So, University of Rochester was one of my dream grad schools, but lots of friends recently suggested me to stay at UIUC because UIUC has better reputation in terms of an engineering school even though it does not have the audio engineering program.

So, I would be glad if I get any advice from you especially who studied or is studying such program as your master’s degree. What would you do if I were in my position?

2

While I am not in electrical engineering, in general, engineering graduate school is much more about the research you do rather than the name brand of the school. It turns out that a school like Caltech has a lot of high-quality research groups, but if none of them are strong in the specific field you want to study, then it’s not a good school for you. It depends at least somewhat on what you want to do after you graduate, but in most cases, the research you do, the advisor you have, and the connections to industry/academia you make while in grad school will trump the brand name in engineering.