University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) vs Texas A&M University (TAMU): ECE

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1

<p>Hi All,</p>

<p>I have received following admissions for Fall 2014:

  1. University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) for MS/PhD in ECE department. No financial aid.
    I mailed the graduate department and got to know that I will be supposed to find fellowships and advisor in my first semester. Further, depending on circumstances, I can always change my admission from PhD to MS and vice versa.</p>

<ol>
<li>Texas A&M University (TAMU) for MS. No financial aid. Can change to PhD depending on financial aid and advisor.</li>
</ol>

<p>My area of interest is (1) microelectronics and computer architecture and (2) Nano-electronics and fabrication.</p>

<p>I am international student, so fee structure would be 47000$ per year for UCSB and 34000$ per year for TAMU.</p>

<p>Please suggest me which university should I consider for above field of area considering financial situation, job opportunities and research potential given considerable “extra” amount that I will have to pay for UCSB.</p>

<p>Waiting for your responses… any suggestions and replies would be really helpful. Thank You</p>

<p>Additional Info: I have also been admitted from MichiganTech for PhD in same area without funding.</p>

2

<p>You have to evaluate the financial situation based on your own circumstances. Would you be paying that out of savings or would you have to borrow, for example? I can’t speak to that because I don’t know your finances. </p>

<p>I do know UCSB is especially strong in nanoengineering and has on site research units with groundbreaking achievements. I would assume A&M is strong in engineering generally, but I am just not as familiar with it, and don’t know if they have UCSB’s resources in this area. <a href=“Professor Receives Fellowship | The Daily Nexus”>http://dailynexus.com/2014-04-02/professor-receives-fellowship/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“Micro & Nano Technology | Mechanical Engineering - UC Santa Barbara”>Micro & Nano Technology | Mechanical Engineering - UC Santa Barbara;

<p><a href=“http://www.engineering.ucsb.edu/~nanolab/”>http://www.engineering.ucsb.edu/~nanolab/&lt;/a&gt; <a href=“http://www.cns.ucsb.edu/”>http://www.cns.ucsb.edu/&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p><a href=“UCSB Scientists Demonstrate All-Graphene Device-Interconnect Scheme”>UCSB Scientists Demonstrate All-Graphene Device-Interconnect Scheme;

3

<p>Hi Collegevetting,</p>

<p>I have savings to pay for the fees for first year (47K $) at UCSB. However, if I am unable to find funding within that period, I will have to take some loan for the second year.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for your thoughtful response :)</p>

4

<p>These two schools could not be any more different from each other than they are. I am very familiar with both of them, with relatives that graduated from each. If you are international, I realize you might not be able to visit in person before making your choice, but if you can’t visit, please talk to as many current/former students as you can about them. UCSB has a laid-back, California beach vibe. Texas A&M is generally regarded as one of the most conservative schools in the country.</p>

5

<p>Sure LongRangePlan, </p>

<p>I will try to contact more students at both the colleges. Thanks for your opinion.
However, more than ‘culture’, I am concerned about research, and of course, funding :P</p>

<p>UCSB has fantastic research in electronics domain, as I see from internet, but not sure if all people admitted to PhD are covered for expenses; or if some have to drop out from PhD (or compromise with MS) just for lack of funding…</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>If I were you I would email them to set up a time to speak to someone on the phone about the funding opportunities. If funding is the only thing holding you back, you can very frankly say so, and that your other option is cheaper so this is a concern for you in making your decision. I did see news articles about students there winning fellowships, but I think the question of how many do NOT get fellowships is a very good one, and deserves to be asked.</p>

7

<p>Hi @LongRangePlan, @collegevetting and other seniors,</p>

<p>I am in final stage of decision now and tried to collect as much information as possible about both colleges. I have one more concern, it will be very helpful if you can address the same:</p>

<p>I will be joining ECE department either in UCSB or in TAMU. Since I have not been funded, I think I will go for MS and start a job.</p>

<p>Given job scenario, I heard UCSB is not attracting many companies (due to many reasons), specially in its job fairs and most of the students have to struggle to get job on their own. On other hand, TAMU graduate students get multiple job offers in ECE department.</p>

<p>Can you please give your thoughts on the same?</p>

<p>Thanks a lot !!</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>I’m in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley area and find the above very hard to believe. There are lots of UCSB STEM alumni here.</p>

9

<p>@simba9 . Thank a lot for your input. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>What I heard in general is UCSB is best in class for research. But its courses are not industrial oriented (more research oriented kind of).</p></li>
<li><p>UCSB is comparatively small (with less than 100 graduates in ECE department per year). Thus very few companies come in their job fairs.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thus, just that job fairs are not good. Students need to find jobs on their own…
Seniors, it will be great if you can please chip in your suggestions :)</p>

10

<p>@sa123456‌ </p>

<p>Honestly what you heard sounds like ‘sour grapes’ from somewhere, not like fact. In fact from what I have heard about UCSB it sounds ludicrous. PLEASE call UCSB and let them respond to that with where their students get jobs. They have partnered programs with industry, for example. I would not be at all surprised that their students are placed more privately than at job fairs. </p>