Pecobians.com :: univs for control engineering

nehagoyal19 · 08 Mar 2005

hi!!
i have my projects in controls and papers also in this area. to be specific, modelling and simulation.
could you guide me about the universities specailisng in these areas, or probably gud for this area
neha

nmadnani · 14 Feb 2005

That list is going to be huge because almost every university that has an EE department will have a Controls specialization as well. So it really depends on what you want to do in Controls. What you should be doing is taking the EE US News rankings and going to each university's EE website and see what kind of research they are doing in Controls and if their research interests mesh with yours. Come up with a preliminary list and post it here and then I can give you some suggestions about fine-tuning that list etc.

On another note, which year are you in ? Have you taken GRE/TOEFL etc? What's your percentage? All these questions should figure in your decision to choose a university.

nehagoyal19 · 08 Mar 2005

hi!
thanx for d reply.
well, i m presently in final year. and have my aggregate of 73.6%
will atke GRE and TOEFL in firts week of october. Hav my traning in Controls , programming in MATLAB at IIt kharagpurand Rorkee. Major project in modelling and simulation on VENSIM in the same field again. got a couple of papers too. got gud curricular record as well.
how do i get the rankings? do i subscribe to USNEWS or they are available for free?..
i'll send the list with in a weeks time.

nmadnani · 14 Feb 2005

These papers that you got ... are they actual publications ? If so, where?

nehagoyal19 wrote:

how do i get the rankings? do i subscribe to USNEWS or they are available for free?..

Rank/School/Average assessment score (5.0=highest)
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.0
University of California–Berkeley 5.0
3. Stanford University (CA) 4.9
4. University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 4.8
5. California Institute of Technology 4.7
6. Georgia Institute of Technology 4.5
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 4.5
8. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 4.4
9. Cornell University (NY) 4.3
10. Princeton University (NJ) 4.2
Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN) 4.2
12. University of Texas–Austin 4.1
13. University of California–Los Angeles (Samueli) 4.0
University of Southern California (Andrew and Erna Viterbi) 4.0
15. University of Wisconsin–Madison 3.9
16. University of Maryland–College Park (Clark) 3.8
University of Washington 3.8
18. Pennsylvania State University–University Park 3.7
Rice University (Brown) (TX) 3.7
Texas A&M University–College Station (Look) 3.7
University of California–San Diego (Jacobs) 3.7
University of California–Santa Barbara 3.7
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities 3.7
24. Columbia University (Fu Foundation) (NY) 3.6
Johns Hopkins University (Whiting) (MD) 3.6
Ohio State University 3.6
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) 3.6
28. Northwestern University (IL) 3.5
29. Arizona State University (Fulton) 3.4
Duke University (NC) 3.4
North Carolina State University 3.4
University of Colorado–Boulder 3.4
University of Florida 3.4
University of Pennsylvania 3.4
Virginia Tech 3.4
36. University of Arizona 3.3
Yale University (CT) 3.3
38. Brown University (RI) 3.2
Iowa State University 3.2
University of California–Davis 3.2
University of Notre Dame (IN) 3.2
University of Virginia 3.2
Washington University in St. Louis (Sever) 3.2
44. Case Western Reserve University (OH) 3.1
Michigan State University 3.1
Rutgers State University–New Brunswick (NJ) 3.1
University of Massachusetts–Amherst 3.1
Vanderbilt University (TN) 3.1
49. University of California–Irvine (Samueli) 3.0
50. Boston University 2.9
Dartmouth College (Thayer) (NH) 2.9
Drexel University (PA) 2.9
Northeastern University (MA) 2.9
University of Rochester (NY) 2.9
55. Auburn University (Ginn) (AL) 2.8
Colorado State University 2.8
Lehigh University (Rossin) (PA) 2.8
Polytechnic University (NY) 2.8
Syracuse University (NY) 2.8
University of Iowa 2.8
University of Pittsburgh 2.8
University of Utah 2.8
Washington State University 2.8
64. Oregon State University 2.7
SUNY–Stony Brook 2.7
Texas Tech University 2.7
University at Buffalo–SUNY 2.7
University of Connecticut 2.7
University of Illinois–Chicago 2.7
University of Missouri–Rolla 2.7
University of New Mexico 2.7
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (MA) 2.7
73. Clemson University (SC) 2.6
University of Delaware 2.6
University of Tennessee–Knoxville 2.6
76. Brigham Young University (Fulton) (UT) 2.5
Illinois Institute of Technology (Armour) 2.5
New Jersey Institute of Technology 2.5
Southern Methodist University (TX) 2.5
University of Central Florida 2.5
University of Houston (Cullen) 2.5
University of Kansas 2.5
University of North Carolina–Charlotte (Lee) 2.5

nehagoyal19 · 08 Mar 2005

well, one paper has been sent to Institution of engineers India.. for publication, other is in nanotecnology, got printed in proceedings of an international symposium. my resume is at:
nehagoyal.heraldz.com

nmadnani · 14 Feb 2005

You seem to have a pretty good academic profile. I will make some suggestions:

1) First of all, DO NOT convert your percentage to a GPA by any formula. Most of these formulae are flawed. Just report your raw percentage numbers in the applications. Most US universities have a good feel for what a good percentage is for any Indian university.

2) Make sure to convert all your papers to PDF or PostScript format, the official formats for technical publications.

3) Make sure that you mention the complete names of the publications and conferences. I am sure that the symposium held at Pilani had an official name right? Also, if possible, link to the official website of the conference/publication as well.

I will try and give further input once you post your list. The Fall semester has started, so I am going to be a little busy but I will try and answer as soon as I can. BTW, I assume you have already read my GRE FAQ, it may be helpful to you esp. the section on How to Choose Universities. It's also a sticky here in the Higher Education forum but you can always find the latest version at http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~nmadnani/grefaq.pdf

nehagoyal19 · 08 Mar 2005

hi!!
just wanted further guidance...
i took my GRE. got 1490, 800+690.
You have already seen my profile at nehagoyal.heraldz.com
i chose the following univs:
Gtech
UIUC
Iowa state
Virginia Tech
USC
kindly guide about them as in wat are the chances of admission and schol.
i intend to apply in 5 more univs... could you plzz guide me as to wat ranked univs shud i apply to. As, i had told ya, i m from conrol engineering field.. and i wud pursue MS only if i get a schol.... can u guide me further

jaskirat · 11 Feb 2005

Congrats u did great in ur GRE
the chances for getting a schol for a MS degree are bleak as compared to PhD degree
The Univs you have chosen r all in the top grade.. I recommend u to choose some 2 tier univs too
Have you talked to the profs in ur field of interest in these univs If not try contacting them by mail or call them this way u wont waste money running into dead ends
this is what I think some ppl may not agree..

nehagoyal19 · 08 Mar 2005

well.. thanx for the info.. i intend to apply for MS +PHD program.. any univs specialising in controls that u know abt??
shd i apply in ranks 20-40 for schol??
is going after work ex better...??

jaskirat · 11 Feb 2005

nehagoyal19 wrote:

well.. thanx for the info.. i intend to apply for MS +PHD program.. any univs specialising in controls that u know abt??
shd i apply in ranks 20-40 for schol??
is going after work ex better...??

dont apply for MS+PhD that is same as a MS apply for a direct PhD if u looking for a schol.. to some univs u cant apply to a direct PhD check it out with the univ b4 apping
Sorry cant help you with univ selection coz im from a different field
you should apply to 3 univs in top 20 4 in top 50 n 3 safe univs which maybe in top 75

nmadnani · 14 Feb 2005

Congrats on the excellent score, Neha. If you are really interested in doing research, then I would concur with Jaskirat - apply directly to a PhD program (you can always get an MS on the way). However, if you are not sure about doing research then I would recommend that you apply to an MS program. Please don't apply to the PhD program just because of availability of financial aid. It's unethical and some universities might not let you even get an MS if you drop out of the PhD program in the middle.

In any case, here are some good universities for Control Systems:
1) Ohio State University
2) Purdue University
3) UT Austin
4) University of Florida
5) University of Maryland, College Park

Work experience will only help if your work gives you direct exposure to the field of Control Systems.

Here's how I would suggest you distribute your applications:

a) 5 Top Tier
b) 3 Second Tier
b) 2 Safe

You can afford to app to more top tier universities since you have a very good GRE score and a pretty decent academic profile. Of course, don't just go by the rankings but also according to the research. A university may be ranked lower but might still have very good research in Control Systems. So you should balance that.

Make sure to write a very well-focussed SOP and get very good LORs.

All the best !