Electrical engineering grad school

[snowman_]

Hi guys and gals,

I'm an EE major working towards my bachelor's degree, I would like to apply to PhD programs when I'm close to being finished or finished with my bachelor's. I need advice for some schools to consider and if I'm on the right track to an alright school. Reader's digest at end.

My interests are computer architectures and embedded systems as well as some other things. I see a future in hardware inspired by human biology/interacts with our body in new ways, "autonomous" design of hardware and autonomous operation of devices, FPGA + microprocessor co-mingling like Intel recently announced for their Xeon line.

My GPA is 3.73 for my major and I think 3.8 overall. By the time I'll graduate I'll have taken my school's entire "digital hardware sequence" (up to and including the first computer architecture course), a course where we design an FPGA, VLSI design, CMOS IC design. I'm self-teaching myself verilog instead of taking the elective course.

I recently began working with my school's computer systems/architecture research lab on evolvable hardware using genetic algorithms to control the evolution (insanely interesting field btw). By the time I apply for PhD programs I'll have my name on a few papers as co-author and I'm planning to write a small paper on my own likely on applying genetic algorithms to FPGA design.I'm not looking at the elite schools (which I know is a crapshoot even with a perfect applicant), I would like to be more realistic. I go to the University of Central Florida and they have strong selection of faculty active in areas of my interest, but I would like to be exposed to new surroundings. North Carolina would be an ideal location as my girlfriend's family lives there. My brother lives in Texas and practically everyone in my family graduated from University of Texas, I would consider that. MIT and Stanford will always have my <3 along with having interesting research, for the hell of it should I apply to 1 of them?

-------In short,---------
GPA 3.73 Major, 3.8 Overall
Involved in research and will have published papers
Very nice person ;)
What grad schools should I consider, and am I on a decent path for an alright program?
------------------------

Thank you :)

 

[R.Mesri]

It sounds like you are well on your way to successfully applying to graduate programs. You have a strong academic background and research experience, which will be helpful in getting into grad school. With regards to schools to consider, some good options might be the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of Texas Austin, MIT, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Georgia Tech, and UC Berkeley. All of these schools have highly ranked EE programs and offer research opportunities in areas related to your interests. It's important to keep in mind that while these are some of the most highly ranked programs, there are many other excellent schools out there that may be better suited for you. It's worth researching different programs and seeing which ones fit your interests and career goals best. Good luck with your applications!