I always tought the PhD program at EECS was fully funded. Thank you for making this video, it really helps a lot. I'll keep your comments in mind when applying again to my PhD ( I already apply once to MIT and were rejected, so I agree with the selection being kind of random)
Omg finally someone posts the relevant classes. Thank you, so simple yet so informative! Would love to hear more about your PhD, will be subscribing. Thanks for this brilliant video.
Interesting topic, thanks for sharing. It's not an easy road being in a PhD programme. After my experiences doing research as a master's student I became disenchanted with the idea of being a researcher.
I think it’s the struggle between pleasing sponsors and finding interesting research, the pressure sometimes makes it easy to choose projects that might be well funded but aren’t what you want to explore, it’s hard to get funding for things that you can’t promise significant value. there’s a paper called “Choose Your Weapon: Survival Strategies for Depressed AI Academics” that my advisor showed me that talks about this and how to try and win but one suggestion is to just quit lol
@@fancyfueko i also had no idea about the thesis defense process. i just thought that you were assigned professors that had to do with your research, without you having to do anything. it seems as if even when you get into graduate school, networking is important.
Hi! Is a research paper required to get into a PhD program like MIT, or will an MS degree, 5+ conference papers, and 1 review paper be sufficient for admission to a PhD program in the USA?
I and many of my peers had 0 papers during admissions (I know people admitted directly from undergrad) so 5 conference papers is definitely more than enough, but remember it’s the whole application being considered, so your other metrics like GPA should also be stellar, given that you have 6+ papers I would bet they are!
What do you do if you've been out of school for a while and don't have any prior undergraduate research experience? Programs generally want letters of recommendation from past professors or at least someone who can vouch for your research potential. This is the dilemma I have. Originally, I thought maybe I could get away with just having high test scores but clearly that won't do.
that’s a hard question. you could reach out to old professors (who might not agree) but they would likely write a boilerplate style recommendation referencing your grade on file. i think the best bet is to have people from your recent/current workplace write you the recommendations. i had one of mine from an industry supervisor, as i was struggling to find 3 and there’s really no way around the recommendations. also if you also know people in the field from your personal life (e.g. a family friend who is a researcher that you may not have worked with but knows you personally) that could also be a good second choice.
@@fancyfueko Dang. I can easily get recommendations from employers and/or people I've worked with but ones from researchers are a problem. Do master's programs have less stringent recommendation requirements? Because I was thinking maybe I could get experience researching in a master's program somewhere and then apply for the M.I.T. Ph.D. program once I'm done. I'm like you were, I don't want to have to go to M.I.T. but they seem to be one of the only few with researchers in areas I'm interested in.
@AfricanThinker86 I think the masters programs typically require the same number of recommendations but the focus is much less on research, so that can definitely be a bridge to the PhD if you don’t have research experience. however if you want to go straight to the phd, if you have some publications or other past research experience, having just one recommendation from that i think would be enough, given that the rest of your industry recs are positive
it’s not really preferred. I didn’t want to be “that person” who changed labs and it lowkey still feels like a stain on my resume but I had to be honest with myself, because continuing on a research path that i had zero passion for wasn’t sustainable. However I had a strange situation (my first advisor didn’t have funding for me so i was just trying to find anyone to work with in my first semester and didn’t really choose correctly and based on my true research interests the first time) and i’m really lucky to have found an advisor who lets me direct the research but still is a supportive and knowledgeable mentor. so while situations like mine occur (more often than you’d think) it’s still best to be confident in the lab you choose from the beginning
Hi there! I would love to hear more about why you took the graduate school route instead of starting work in the industry straight after undergrad? I really like your voice btw Keep it up!
hmmm since the master’s degree doesn’t have to be repeated, i would assume not, although i’ve never heard of anyone asking! even though the eecs grad office is really accommodating for students needs i think they would want you to take the classes at MIT.
thank you 😊 I believe so, at MIT there’s the Koch Institute which I believe has a center dedicated to cancer research. It seems interdisciplinary but I think people in the biology/biological engineering departments mainly do work there!
ohh yeah you can work for any lab, my lab is in aero astro actually even though i’m in EECS. the caveat is that you have to have 2 professors from EECS on your committee so you’d have to find 2 more EECS profs instead of 1 which could be hard for interdisciplinary research
Hope you are fine..actually I have a question .if we repeat a subject at university it is mentioned on our transcript(same for improve or failure ) can you tell me it effects our admission at mit or they overall watches cgpa,gre and your work
it shouldn’t really matter honestly as long as the old grade doesn’t affect your GPA… it’s pretty rare for people to scrutinize your transcript unless you like clearly stated that you excel in one subject and don’t in others (some people include statements like that in their essays to explain poor GPAs, but honestly a good GPA of 3.5+ is pretty common amongst applicants)
Your makeup 🔥 Also had a question. It would be of great help if you could kindly tell me if there is any kind of research going in the RF engineering field? I looked at the department website and this wasn't listed on the research areas. Later I found out about the Lincoln lab which has RF facility and there are some research going on. So I wanted to know if phd research can be conducted there?
there’s is a lab group called RLE at MIT that would include that type of research, although I don’t know if they specifically label it RF. many professors collaborate with lincoln lab, so if they have RF there’s likely someone working in that space on campus! edit: these links might be helpful: www.rle.mit.edu/research/major-themes/ www.rle.mit.edu/research/research-groups/
Hi, thank you this video. It was detailed. Do you have specific information or any resources tailored to getting into a Masters programme just as this one is for a PhD?
Congratulations!! Even though it is coming late. I currently applied for my PhD at MIT for fall 2023 and I am scared of my admission decision. I just want to know if you had an interview during the admission process ? Thank you.
Hi there, I am going to be doing my masters in MSc Applied Machine learning (which also contains A.I stuff) at Imperial College London. I hope to apply to the M.I.T PhD program for 2024, will I have to do extra stuff to be considered for their programme (EEE department)? Since I am not a U.S student.
the application is basically the same except for international students there is a language requirement, you either need to take the TOEFL or IELTS exams, and they typically have a score requirement, but other than that everything is the same!
@@fancyfueko Although I do pretty much have a native English speaking proficiency because I was raised here but I will check their websites to make sure.
it’s possible that you wouldn’t need it because you are a native english speaker, that might be a part of the application! so then the application would be the same!
What MIT committee do prefer for selecting PHD candidate most ( research internship/ paper publication/ Recommendation/ GPA's / other) pls mention your exp. & one more question by interacting with professor of particular department may increase your chance of getting in?
1. i think that recommendations and research experiences are the most important. I had no publications when I applied to MIT, but I had letters of recommendation from some great professors and even an Engineering Dean at Stanford, so that definitely helped. My GPA was ok (3.4 undergrad and 3.7 masters) but my research statement was written specifically about a field that MIT had a unique lab in, so that definitely helped as well. but no matter what publications are going to help you, as long as they are relevant to your work. 2. Yes, this is the most important thing in my opinion. if a professor wants you in their group, you will more than likely get into the school (as long as your numbers are okay) because professors drive the research. if tu want to increase your chances of admission greatly, getting a recommendation from a professor in the department can be a game changer. This is just harder to do unless you have done a research experience or summer program with them.
i finished my masters degree the same year I applied for the PhD, but if you are a PhD student at MIT in this department without a masters degree, you are required to do a masters thesis. usually people will know if they are dropping out with just a masters before they write the masters thesis that can happen bc of research issues or just personal issues, but usually if the research is strong you have a higher chance of completing the phd once you complete the masters requirement
@@fancyfueko Could you please let me know the average yearly expense of tuition fees as well as hostel fees that we have to pay ? and how much amount and which areas will be covered by funding (if at all) ?
i dont pay! i get paid a salary and my tuition is covered. this is what most grad students experience because of fellowship/TA/RA funding, so all you will worry about is finding housing that you can afford. for example MIT EECS pays about 3800 a month to grad students, and you can find on campus housing for 1000-1800 a month and off campus for cheaper or more expensive depending on quality. but i would be careful because I didn’t have funding one year, and had to find a TAship and fellowship to pay, but once i switched to a different advisor, i no longer worry about funding because this advisor is fully funding me.
i’m sorry i don’t take personal questions anymore because i just get so many and they are often the same question but specific to each persons own situation and it ends up requiring a deeper review. but if it’s something i really haven’t touched on in my videos or in comments and you feel comfortable anonymizing/generalizing your questions and asking publicly i can answer so that everyone can benefit!
