What do you look for in an applicant? How important are grades, the quality of undergraduate or previous graduate programs, recommendations, work experience, and the candidate's statement of purpose?
In making admission decisions, we look for a balanced record of previous preparation and accomplishment, and indications of high potential for future growth and development. We look for a significant amount of overlap between what you say you want and what we believe we can provide. We do not look for the same measures of accomplishment and potential in each student. We value a diversity of skills, backgrounds and outlooks in our department. We do expect all applicants to have the required courses listed on the CEE website. These courses are the foundation of our field and provide a firm footing for starting graduate coursework. Our experience with current and previous students has shown it to be true: a diverse group of students, faculty and staff leads to a more creative, innovative and productive place to work, teach and learn.
We do attempt to learn as much about applicants as possible to aid in our decision. Your previous schooling provides some indication of whether or not you are adequately prepared to succeed and thrive in the very rigorous academic environment in CEE at Carnegie Mellon University. Your grades indicate your ability and willingness to work hard and benefit from courses and related learning opportunities. Beyond grades we look for indications of breadth of interests, good motivation, and good verbal skills. Recommendations provide insight into research skill, work habits, creativity, and interpersonal skills, especially if we know the people writing them. Pertinent work and other "real world" experience is very valuable, and many of our recent students bring the maturity, insight and motivation gained from applying their knowledge and skills in the real world.
Do my recommendations need to be from Professors?. . . in engineering or science?
The most informative recommendations are written by those for whom you have done coursework, technical projects, or research similar to the type you will do as a graduate student in our program. Most often, this will be a professor in engineering or science with whom you have taken a course, especially those with a significant project component, an undergraduate (or MS) thesis advisor, etc. It may also be a professor in the social sciences or humanities, but references from professors in an engineering program will usually be more effective. Supervisors or even co-workers in current or recent jobs are also often able to provide useful insight, however, we do expect you to include some academic references. Depending on how long it has been since you have been out of school, some combination of one or two (usually two) professors and one or two work supervisors (usually one) is the most common choice. Recommendations from people with whom you have not studied or worked are generally not considered informative and should not be included.
How important is the Statement of Purpose?
The Statement of Purpose is a very important part of your application. Graduate Admissions Committee members review these statements of purpose during the admissions process. The statement of purpose should be concise, informative and relevant to the student and their desire to attend CEE at Carnegie Mellon University. It should be written in crisp, clear English and about one standard page long (about 250 words; 12pt font, one inch margins preferable). It should demonstrate that you have thought about what you want to accomplish in graduate school, and why CEE at Carnegie Mellon University is a place in which you would thrive and that you believe would enable you to meet your objectives. Long descriptions of past history are usually not effective. Descriptions about career objectives and the aspects of the CEE program and specific research areas or projects that address these objectives are found in most effective statements of purpose. However copying whole sections of the CEE catalogue or faculty bios, web pages, etc. into the statement of purpose is not effective. Statements of purpose that suggest a few possible projects of interest but are not limited to a single, narrowly defined project are much more effective.
How important are the GRE scores?
GREs provide a standardized measure of some aspects of the math, verbal and writing skills of applicants. In making our admission decisions we do consider GRE scores along with all of the other information we receive about our applicants. The GRE writing exam tests your ability to frame and communicate written arguments and analysis, and we require that students take this exam. Writing skills are very important in graduate school (and in virtually any job you will want to have after graduate school) and we believe that this test will indicate some of the skills necessary to succeed in this activity. A perfect application is excellent in all aspects discussed above, including strong GRE scores for the quantitative, verbal and written parts of the exam. Few applications are perfect. Lower performance in one aspect (e.g., GREs) can, and often is, compensated for by better performance in other aspects (such as strong grades and outstanding recommendations).
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