Got into your grad schools.. What now

So you’ve gotten into graduate school. Congrats! Now comes decision time.. Looking back on when I was making my decision, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on things I might have done differently. A bit of retrospective analysis.

[@AllahHoo-vk4eo]

Make some videos about scholarships.

[@bonchonjonjon]

I have a couple already, I might make more.

[@KuroShiiiro]

this did help alot, actually. i'm contemplating going to grad school (i hopefully finish my undergrad (Mass Comm - PR) next Fall 🙏🏽) and this video helped me really think about the process. that was definitely an option i havent thought too hard on yet, but sum i def would like to do. unsure about right after uni, but we will see. this helped me think ab it smore, at least! thanks! i liked the editing style. jus talkin fr. it is digestible

[@bonchonjonjon]

Glad this was potentially relevant to your situation! You still have some time to decide.

[@rajeevsrikar]

Hi Jon, it was really helpful. I’ve received two admits: Purdue (ChemE) and NTU Singapore (Materials). I intend to do research in perovskites, for which NTU is the best. Purdue ChemE dept is not really famous for this research and the profs I want to work are also not sure of taking students. However, many of ‘em are suggesting against going to Singapore given the low job opportunities. What to do?

[@tresellers3453]

Hi Rajeev, I went to Purdue for my undergrad in Electrical Engineering, and a lot of the research on semiconductors is actually spearheaded by the EE department. I would reach out to Professor Muhammad Alam in the ECE department. When I took a class with him and asked him about his research he hinted about working on perovskites. Also please reach out to Professor Mark Lundstrom. He is extremely approachable and very interested in helping students in my experience. He was also the head of semiconductor research at Purdue and may be the head of engineering as a whole at this time. Purdue engineering has its challenges as a school overall, but the semiconductor department is exceptional. If that is what you are interested in you have definitely found the right school. Good luck Rajeev! And if you don't already know this Mark Lundstrom founded NanoHub which provides open source education and resources on semiconductor free online (KZbin and on their webpage) ! I would highly recommend you use them to aid in your studies wherever you go, and don't forget to give back to the community when you can. Hopefully you find this advice helpful

[@rajeevsrikar]

@@tresellers3453 Thank you for your helpful pointers. Just a query, as I’ve received an admit from ChemE dept, how feasible/likely is it that the prof from other dept (in this case, ECE) will accept me as his/her student?

[@bonchonjonjon]

Wow glad to see that people are helping each other out. To answer your later question first, professors often allow students from departments outside of their own to work in their lab. I've been in medical imaging labs that included EE, CS, mechE, and BioE students. It's just a matter to reaching out to the professor to see if things are a good match. Regarding the decision between Purdue and NTU, I'm not familiar with the fields enough to give too much advice. That being said, I don't know if going to NTU would necessarily mean low job opportunities. If the program is strong, then I imagine there should be ample choices when you are looking for work after graduation, since people in the field know which programs are good. Is your concern that there might not be a great deal of job opportunities for your specialty if you want to stay in Singapore after graduation? If so, and there are not too many openings in the area, then yes, I imagine you might have to move again for your new job after finishing school.