PhD in Materials Science and Engineering Stanford University
- Vignesh GowrishankarIndia
- Stanford University, USA
- PhD in Materials Science and Engineering
MSE in Stanford is a small department with about 20 exclusive and a handful of shared faculty. For admission details see below. The M.S. program in MSE covers the many concepts of Materials Science in-depth. Core-courses include Structure of Materials, Mechanical Properties, Thermodynamics, Kinetics of Phase Transformations and other reactions, Waves and Diffraction, Electronic Materials, Polymer Science. Advanced courses include advanced versions of the core-courses as well as additional specializations like X-Ray Diffraction, TEM, courses on nanotechnology and so on. The MSE courses are quite heavy and a fair amount of dedicated work is required. It will likely take one about 5 working quarters to get through all the required courses. The professors are very knowledgeable and put a great deal of effort into designing and conducting the classes. Job prospects after an MS in MSE are mainly with tech-companies in and around the Bay Area.
For a PhD in MSE the admission criteria are quite stringent. The department only admits about 15 ? 20 students every year into the PhD program and about the same number in the MS program. Coming from a well-known school is important, like the IITs. However, if that?s not the case, the department has been known to admit people from all sorts of schools and they are not afraid to try out new things. Good grades, experimental experience (for PhD program) and possibly some papers (though I had none at the time) help. Recommendation letters are not critical - good ones hardly help (because almost everybody has good letters), but bad ones will hurt. Try to concentrate on things that will differentiate you. Of course, a clear and original Statement of Purpose (SoP) also helps making your case to the Admissions Committee. If one is admitted into the PhD program the department usually provides funding for one year. After that, it is the student?s responsibility to secure an advisor and funding. If a candidate is not thought to be good enough for the PhD program, they are oftentimes admitted into the MS program, likely without funding. There is a slim chance that one can petition to be admitted into the PhD program, after one year at Stanford.
The PhD program has a little more course-load than the MS program, with much the same courses to choose from. The average length of a PhD is 5 years. The first year is pretty much only coursework, after which most students concentrate on research with one or two courses thrown in now and then, to complete the requirements. Usually by about 2 ? 3 quarters into one?s time at Stanford, one should choose an advisor. It is recommended that you choose an advisor only after you arrive at Stanford and have had enough time to test the waters and talk to many current students and faculty alike. Actual research work usually starts at the end of the first academic year. Unlike an MS, a PhD student is working year-round. The average vacation time that one gets is 4 weeks, at your advisor?s discretion. The qualifying examination is held soon after the second year begins (Fall Quarter). About 80% of candidates make it past the exam on the first attempt and almost all make it past the exam on the second attempt (if they fail the first time). However, a handful have failed twice. In such a case, the student must leave Stanford without a PhD, but with a MS if desired. The research within MSE is quite cutting-edge. PhD students are not restricted to working with MSE faculty alone, although many do. Many students also work with EE, App. Phys., Chemistry faculty. The fields are very varied. To name a few: nanotechnology (fabrication, devices), biotechnology, optics, mechanical properties, surface-science, semiconductors etc.
On campus housing is recommended, at least for starters. After that one can decide for oneself whether to continue or not. On campus housing is about as cheap or expensive as off-campus. The housing is quite good, so good that I stayed in my apartment for 5 years (did a Ph.D.). The Stanford University campus is a truly beautiful one. Set in the heart of the Bay Area, the surroundings are quite picturesque. The unique architecture emphasizes this beauty in their own eclectic ways. The campus is quite sprawling. One could really use a bicycle to be able to get around. In terms of campus facilities, there really is nothing that Stanford lacks ? tennis courts, soccer grounds, badminton, table-tennis, squash, swimming pools, fitness centers etc. There are even leagues within Stanford and in the Bay Area that play cricket. In terms of academic facilities, the university has numerous libraries (which even have a good video collection), common PC-clusters that you can use if you did not want to own a computer (but which I recommend you do, anyway), access to online journals and so on. The area has great weather. It never gets very cold, so there is no real need for heavy, warm clothing. But, it does get nippy and some protection is required. It gets really hot for 2 to 4 weeks in June-July.
Job prospects are typically related to the field of specialization, although there are companies that hire students for their general experimental prowess (e.g. Intel) and problem-solving ability (consulting). Since the MSE community is a small one, there is lot of camaraderie between students and most have a great time at Stanford. The field of Materials Science is also growing quite rapidly and evoking interest from many people. It is definitely a field of the future.
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