Questions regarding University

[RichardE]

I am planning to go to University in Sept 2007. I have a few courses I am planning on going for, and to apply too. All of them are engineering courses. My main question is, I am planning on going on to Graduate school.

A few questions I had about this were.

How important is the school you go too in regards to getting into grad school/doctorate program?

How important is the school you go to in regards to getting research grants/employed on a research team ?

I am applying to the top 3 Canadian Engineering schools, but I am wondering how much my chances of more or less doing R&D will be if I don't go to the top one, but instead the third, or the fifth.


The courses I am applying to are:

Nano- Engineering at Waterloo
Engineering Schiences (With Nano-option) at U of T
Chemical Engineering - Mcgill

 

[habib89]

wait, so you've got a BS, and you're planning to go to grad school?

assuming the above, i think the school you got your BS from is very important in regards to your acceptance into a top grad school program...

as far as R&D that's the kind of thing that you sorta work your way up to.. i'm sure there's entry level positions of course, but i think in general you have to work your way into R&D...

as for which school to go to, the name (i think) means a lot when applying for your first job.. after that everything is based on experience..

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

grad schools will look at the scool you are from and your grades closely. As long as the other schools have good rankings though, it shouldn't matter much. Your chanses will more be based on experience and research in the field

 

[Lazy8s]

The school I'm at doesn't even rank in the top 100 for Computer Science in the US but we do research in bio-medicine, work with NASA, the International Magnet Lab in Florida, the United States Air Force, Lockheed etc etc.

The rank of your school doesn't matter at all. It's based on the individual, who you/your professors know, and how hard you work.

We send kids to get graduate degrees all over the US. Some to top 10 schools, some to lesser schools but they have jobs all over the world as well. Your grad school may give you a leg up on people IF you are the same caliber people but a Harvard grad with no experience won't be hired over an East BumbleBump College grad that has interned 2 years in a row with Microsoft and has an exelent reputation.

 

[Martin]

I'm a bit confused as well. Do you mean "courses" or "programs". As in, are you taking 1 or 2 classes, or going to engineering full time?

Anyway, word of caution: Eng Sci at UofT will rape you. Its quite hard and an incredible amount of work.

 

[RichardE]

Originally posted by: Martin
I'm a bit confused as well. Do you mean "courses" or "programs". As in, are you taking 1 or 2 classes, or going to engineering full time?

Anyway, word of caution: Eng Sci at UofT will rape you. Its quite hard an incredible amount of work.

I havn't actually talked to anyone who took that course yet. I became interested in it because in the brochures they sent me showed it had a nano option.

 

[engineereeyore]

The importance of the school has two impacts on R&D chances.

One, how good of an education will you get? Basically, will you get a good enough education to be able to really contend with other researchers.

Two, how much research does the school you're getting your Ph.D from do? The more they do, the more opportunities that will be available to you.

To answer what I think you're really asking, once you have established yourself as a knowledgable person, people are not going to care what university you went to. Sure places like MIT or the Canadian equivalent tend to carry with them a great deal of respect, but I don't think their students are really all that much smarter. I have a friend who finished his Undergrad and Master's there and then came here to Utah State to do his Ph.D. According to him, he doesn't think MIT provides any better of an education. They just have more funding which allows for more experience for their students.

You may have an interview with a guy that says, "Hey, I went there!" or "I heard that's a nice place", but if you have proven yourself through your own efforts, they don't care. I may end up getting my Ph.D from the same college I got my bachelor's and master's degrees, which most people recommend against. And you know what, it doesn't make a bit of difference. I put on my resume the work I've done and the papers I've written and they don't even look at anything else. They could care less.

Don't sweat it to much. Just get the best education you can and work your butt off. That's what really matters.

 

[Lazy8s]

Originally posted by: engineereeyore
The importance of the school has two impacts on R&D chances.

One, how good of an education will you get? Basically, will you get a good enough education to be able to really contend with other researchers.

Two, how much research does the school you're getting your Ph.D from do? The more they do, the more opportunities that will be available to you.

To answer what I think you're really asking, once you have established yourself as a knowledgable person, people are not going to care what university you went to. Sure places like MIT or the Canadian equivalent tend to carry with them a great deal of respect, but I don't think their students are really all that much smarter. I have a friend who finished his Undergrad and Master's there and then came here to Utah State to do his Ph.D. According to him, he doesn't think MIT provides any better of an education. They just have more funding which allows for more experience for their students.

You may have an interview with a guy that says, "Hey, I went there!" or "I heard that's a nice place", but if you have proven yourself through your own efforts, they don't care. I may end up getting my Ph.D from the same college I got my bachelor's and master's degrees, which most people recommend against. And you know what, it doesn't make a bit of difference. I put on my resume the work I've done and the papers I've written and they don't even look at anything else. They could care less.

Don't sweat it to much. Just get the best education you can and work your butt off. That's what really matters.

QFT by the way US has a very nice program.

 

[dullard]

Where you got your undergraduate degree is not really that important if you have a graduate degree. The undergraduate school itself has very little merit when it comes to getting into grad school or when it comes to getting a job. Just find a school that you will enjoy and one where you can thrive (scolastically and socially). You'll be fine. Many people do well going to a no-name school for their bachelor's degree and then a well-known school for their graduate work.

For getting research grants, the grad school matters quite a bit. Too much in fact. Grants are often an insiders deal. They give money to people at their school and then switch roles and their friends give money back. But for all of this, the undergrad school is meaningless.

My girlfriend got a bachelor's in chemical engineering at McGill. She loved it there. It definately gets a big thumbs up from me even though I've never been there.