new students - academics

Had been offered a TA which included a full tution waiver and a stipend of $1110 pm. Financial aid is usually offered to PhD students in the department. Masters students may not get TA/RA offers unless they have an exceptionally good academic record or if they impress the selection committee.
All the best for the new juntaaa!!

- Sheetalkumar Doshi , PhD student in Electrical engineering working in Wireless Networking with Dr. Tim Brown.

Hi! I am from COE, Pune (BE - 96). I am doing my Ph.D. in power electronics (EE) under Dr. Robert Erickson. I came to US in fall 98 initially to UIC and later shifted to Boulder in spring 99 because of a good program in power electronics and renowned faculty. At CU I had a deferred admission for spring and then managed to get TA for Circuits 3 course by contacting and pursuing with the grad secretary and the course professor. I transferred 8 credits (9 are allowed) from UIC to CU. In that summer I did an internship with a company in Iowa which paid about $3000 per month and provided furnished accommodation. I recommend doing internship and getting valuable experience. Then for two semesters I had half TA (for power electronics lab) and half RA position on a company project. I got MS degree in May 2000 by completing 30-credit requirement (no thesis). Since then as I have committed to Ph.D. and the company has continually sponsored the project I have been on an RA. The RA usually pays about $1100+ to take home and is more than sufficient for living nicely, having and maintaining a used car and some savings.
I will be happy to answer relevant questions. Please contact me at Praneet.Athalye@Colorado.EDU or at (303) 444 5653.

- Praneet Athalye (ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING):

Mechanical

I had a TA at the time of joining (Fall 01: Electronics and Circuits; Spring 02: Materials Science) and have been on a 50% RA this summer. This involves full tuition waiver as well as a 1.2 K monthly stipend.

PhD...this university (atleast the ME dept) wants PhD students and as a result it is in your best interests to take the PhD prelim exam in April (within the first year of arrival). The prelim exam is probably the toughest test during your MS...and needs preparation in advance. Take Math 5020 in the first semester and plan to do 5040 in Spring. That will give you good confidence for the prelim math exam. I skipped 5020 in Fall and do not advise it to anyone, no matter what other people tell you. Make inquiries about the Prelim exam on arrival itself...it kinda seperates the men from the boys: over here that means the funded from the unfunded! If you are positive you are not going in for a PhD irrespective of the post MS job scene and are on a TA, I suggest you try to finish as many courses as soon as you can. Do 4 courses in the first semester: it is possible. Follow it by another 4 and try and sandwich an independent study over the winter. Again, this might not be possible in other departments, but I think it is do able in the ME department atleast. That way you just need to take one course in your 3rd and last semester-saves a lot on tuition and gives you time to do a job, in case you need to keep the bank balance stable!

For those with no funding: Get involved with faculty as soon as you can, within 2 months at most. Identify a field that interests you: meet the professor associated and ask him if he has any projects open...discuss funding in the future...he'll mostly say it's difficult and may not happen. Prove it to him that you're worth it by working real hard and getting results. Spring should see some funding coming your way, esp. if you show PhD inclinations. Bottom line is be quick about it and give it all you've got.

- Dhruv Bhate (MECHANICAL ENGINEERING): Prof Martin Dunn's group (Mechanics and Materials).

Telecommunications

Aditya Mathur says ...

Education:

The department is mainly aimed to tackle telecommunications in its entirety. The main philosophy that the department is based on is that telecommunications is one facet of engineering which affects every possible way of our lives. It is thus not important to only study the technical aspects of telecommunications, but also the policy and regulations. The major telecommunication players in the US have to inevitably deal with thousands of regulations and policies prevailing here. The department aims at getting you to be adept in overall aspects of telecommunications. Towards the technical side, the scene is slightly partial towards networking. I came here mainly to concentrate in the technical courses, and had pre-selected my major to be networking. This department has some of the most amazing courses in networking, including Data Communications, IP Routing, and Signaling Protocols. The detail that one delves into the field of networking is truly amazing. Again, you are allowed to take courses from other departments like EE and CS. The department, like any other in the US provides easy access to labs. It has one of the most efficient and advanced labs: that is what I’ve heard from the industry people. It has equipment from Cisco, Pingtel, and a lot of other companies. Towards the non-technical side, the policy courses prevailing in the department are quite amazing. Courses such as Telecommunication Economics, Economics Engineering and a host of others prove to be really interesting. You are naturally allowed to pick course from other departments as well. In short, whichever aspect you are looking for, this school offers you adequate support. However, if you are planning on a wireless major or any other major other than networking in the technical side, I would advise you against coming to CU.

Standing:

The ITD has a really high standing in the industry all over the US, mainly because it is one of the oldest programs in its class. It was (until most recently) also headed by the former chief of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), Dr. Dale Hatfield, a man who is most respected in major telecommunications circles in the US. When I last checked, the school has an overall standing of 32 (??), and I think that department standings are way different from these standings put up by US News etc. The school standing do not in any way relate to job/internship opportunities. The two are totally unrelated. The situation in the US is not too good right now, in fact, it couldn’t get any worse. Internships are very difficult to come by, and full time jobs are a nightmare. I’ve heard horror stories out here about people going back to India, and have personally witnessed others getting laid off. If you have good prospects in India right now, I would recommend re-considering your decision to come to the US, or take the risk that things might improve by the time you decide to graduate with an MS degree. HOWEVER, my views are solely for the networking people, because I think that the VLSI and DSP side is still open, not to mention the entire CS section.

Fees:

In case you are not clear about this, there are three semesters per year: the Spring (Jan mid to May first week), the Summer (May – July) and the Fall (August last week to December 20th or so). Usually very few courses are taught in the summer semester, and students survive by getting an on-campus job, TA/RA or an internship (very hard to come by right now). The tuition for Boulder fluctuates every year or so. Right now it is around or close to $11,000. One also has to pay certain other fees along with the tuition, such as recreation center fees, Transport fees etc, not to mention the medical insurance. All this is payable to the University. Foreign nationals have to be enrolled for at least 5 credits in order to be considered full time students and thus be eligible for any financial assistance. Over and above the tuition, we have to spend around $600 on living each month. This includes everything.

Financial Assistance:

Around 25 students enrolled last fall (2001) in the ITD, and a further 11 joined in Spring. Of these, 90% of the former group has some kind of aid, that is, either a TA or an RA (maybe not in the same department though). An RA waives your tuition completely and pays you a monthly stipend of around 1100 bucks. TA’s are of different types (the dollar figures below are highly rounded off):
50% TA: pays full tuition and a stipend of around $1100 per month
45% TA: pays full tuition and a stipend of around $950 per month
40% TA: pays full tuition and a stipend of around $900 per month
35% TA: pays $6000 tuition and a stipend of around $850 per month
…and so on. These percentages are calculated using a huge formula (??), which takes into consideration the class size, whether it has labs or not, etc.

For the fall semester:

All the TA positions within ITD have been assigned, and the TA’s usually, in fact almost always, continue with the same professors in the next semester. Thus the chances of getting a TA/RA within the department are extremely slim. However, you could try for other departments and work that way. Most of the TA positions are gotten by being in the right place at the right time, which translates into luck. But still, you could write in to Edyth Mitchell, who is the graduate secretary of the department. The procedure is more or less centralized, and no use approaching the prof personally for a TA. For an RA, you could mail the profs individually, expressing your interest in what they do. As far as my knowledge goes, right now, no RA positions are open either. Please note that getting a TA or an RA right now is extremely difficult due to huge number of foreign students arriving in Boulder. In my opinion, any position, if available will probably be gotten purely by being in the right place at the right time. If TA positions or other form of assistance doesn’t come by, getting your monthly expenses by is not too much of a problem. On-campus jobs are quite easy to come by, and you could definitely make a living of around 700 bucks a month, which will definitely pull you through. IN ANY CASE, I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT YOU MAKE PROVISIONS FOR YOUR FIRST SEMESTER TUITION BEFORE YOU GET HERE. THIS IS OVER AND ABOVE THE $2000 TO MEET IMMEDIATE EXPENDITURE. I know this might seem a lot incase you haven’t encountered this kind of advise before, but it’s the truth. I had acquired a loan from India and utilized $5000 out of it when I came here, which I’m still paying off. I had secured a TA when I got here, but it was a 25% TA, and hence covered only half my tuition. As of now I have a full TA, which covers my tuition entirely.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING REFLECTS ONLY MY OPINION, WHICH I’M SURE MAY DIFFER AT TIMES FROM THOSE OF OTHERS.
So I would suggest that you talk to a few other people in case you want to be extra careful, or if I sound like a fraud in any ways. Please don’t blame me for providing you with the following information.

- Aditya Mathur
Graduate Student and Teaching Assistant Department of Interdisciplinary Telecommunications, University of Colorado at Boulder

Computer Science

Subraveti Prasad says ...

The Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder is ranked 35 according to the U.S News Ranking’s Annual Report. The Department offers a wide range of courses with the core areas of research being Artificial Intelligence, Speech and Natural Language Processing, Operating Systems and Software Engineering. The Computer Science faculty is among the best in the U.S with stalwarts in the above areas. The Department has a good blend of students from various parts of India like Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, and New Delhi.

Funding Opportunities:

According to the department catalog, funding is guaranteed for only PhD Students. Funding for Master’s Students depend on the following factors:

• Area of Research and funding in that area.
• Openings under the respective professor.
• Academic Expertise and Technical Skills of the student.
• A graduate from a good undergraduate institution would be a bonus.

- Subraveti Prasad
Graduate Student and Teaching Assistant Department of Computer Science, University of Colorado at Boulder