ECE Strategies

My ECE experience at Rice

My Experience

As an undergraduate student at Rice who managed to receive a BSEE along with a Bachelor's of Arts, all within four years, I have sometimes been asked how I was able to do it, and why I chose to take the sequence of courses I did. On this page, I hope to detail some of my experience here so that future undergraduates can use it for their benefits, avoiding the mistakes I made and getting the most of their time here.

The department is changing and so are the requirements, but here is a timeline of the ECE and related courses I took for my BSEE. My first year was standard, with the important point that I took vector calculus before taking Waves & Optics...which helped a bunch, I recommend that if possible. The department recently offered its own Waves course, though I've heard that the Physics department option may still be better.

Course Sequence

This is the course sequence I chose:

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

Looking Back...

I recommend planning your career at Rice EARLY, especially if you are intent on a double degree or even a double major. Check out the course catalog to see when specific classes are offered, to keep yourself from getting in a bind in the last year, with a required class from each major being offered at the same time (!!). I made a spreadsheet of courses in my freshman year, and took that to my advisor for review. I updated it over time, but it became my roadmap through Rice...and was very helpful when it came time to choose classes, and also when I needed to verify that I was meeting degree requirements. If you want to get two degrees, bear in mind that you will need 150 credit hours, something I found out almost too late.

More specifically, as it relates to my career here, I suggest taking foundation courses first (as they advise in the catalog), rather than jumping into something like 241 in your freshman year. There is a lot of information in a class like Linear Algebra that comes in handy in ELEC 302, and I would have had a much harder time with that class if I hadn't taken Linear beforehand. Realize that there is no "rush" through Rice, and that very often people who take classes early still wind up being around in the 4th year, often with nothing left to take. Having TA'd some of these folks and been with them in class, my general opinion is that there is little to gain by taking things early, unless you really do want to get out of Rice in three years, perhaps to save money or for other reasons.

You can see that I took several of "independent" courses in my senior year--two Independent Projects and a seminar course (603)--this was because my view by that time had turned to graduate school. If you are intent on doing research after Rice, I think it's a good idea to get involved in research projects as soon as you can. In my case, that happened in the summer after my Junior year, when I signed on to Dr. Aazhang's lab. The experience you can gain by being around graduate students and working alongside them can help you decide if research really is in your future, and if so, exactly what field appeals to you. It can also give you an in with a professor, who can become very helpful when it's time to apply to graduate programs.

That being said, if you are not interested in research (as many of my friends weren't), take hands-on stuff. Classes like 342 (Analog Design), 433 (Comms Lab) etc, all teach practical knowledge related to implementation issues--exactly the kind of information you'll be asked to draw on as an engineer in a company. I also recommend avoiding graduate courses, unless you run out of options or are particularly interested (as was the case for me in 501 and 534, which I now regret taking at that time). My reasoning behind this advice is two-fold: first, graduate courses tend to specialize...why specialize early when you can still take courses from a wide variety of areas? Second, most of those courses assume that graduate students will be taking them, with grad student amounts of time and grad student ways of doing things. Thus you're unlikely to find lots of problem sets, just a huge project at the end with a major research component. I spent too much of my senior year worrying about whether my 534/502 projects (each of which were MASSIVE) were "researchy" enough...save that for grad school. As a good friend of mine once said, "graduate classes are best left for graduate students."

Graduate School

So, if you are interested in going to graduate school, what is the best way to get in? Where should you apply at all? How do you do it? First, let me qualify my advice by saying that nothing is appropriate for everyone, and the best advice for you personally is probably not exactly what I have written below. Still, I hope I can give you a start! I did all of this stuff last year, so it's still fresh in my mind.

Where to Apply

This depends on what you want to study. By early in your senior year, you should have found an area in the field that interests you, and perhaps you are doing some independent research with a professor in that area. If so, that person is going to become your best resource. He or she will know where the good research is happening, who else is eminent in the field, and which schools hold the most promise. If you are not lucky enough to have such a professor, dive into the literature. Go to the library and browse the journals for your area, reading the articles that seem interesting. Then, take a look at where they're coming from: there may be a few names that seem to show up often, suggesting that those professors are turning out papers that get published often--which likely means that they are well-funded and doing good work, and might be potential grad advisors. However, there is more to the decision of where to apply than just "where is the best research." Another thing to consider: "will I get in?" Apply to a range of schools, some that are pie-in-the-sky longshots, some that are shoe-ins, and some in between. I applied to six schools, I'm told that's a good number.

How to Apply

Get letters! Apparently, recommendation letters matter most on graduate school applications, along with a strong statement of purpose. Approach professors in the department with favorable views of you, and ask if they would write letters on your behalf and also review your essays. Do this early (October-ish), as most applications start falling due in late November through the end of January. Also, if you are applying for an NSF grant (suggested!), that is due at the end of November for EE students. Spend time on your statement of purpose, as it is the best way the graduate school will be able to evaluate you. Mention not only your research interests but also your extracurriculars as well, and try to use a natural voice--don't get stuffy or academic, since the professor considering you is probably more interested in an exciting new student than a boring stuffed shirt.

Also, take the GRE early, leaving enough time to take it again if necessary. In my experience (which was bad!), I left it too late, and then did poorly. I took the computer version, and was unprepared for the time constraints...and so I got a little flustered and didn't do so well. Unfortunately I couldn't take it again before my app. deadlines, so I had to submit less-than-great scores. Don't let this happen to you.

Finding Money

I don't have any advice here, except that it is commonly said that "you should never pay for graduate school." Either by way of grants or fellowships (perhaps TAs or RAs), there will be some way for you to get funded, and then as you progress in the grad program, you can get signed onto the support of a particular project.

Last Remarks

In choosing an advisor, consider more than just his or her status in the field. Will the person be easy to work with? Are they going to be interested in understanding your goals and helping you reach them? Are they accessible if you need them? Are they likely to be interested in you from the start, or will you need to work your way into their group? Are they hands-on or hands-off managers, and which do you prefer? What do their current students think of them? Do their students graduate on time, early, or delayed? Is their funding reliable, or is it year-to-year? These things and others will affect your life much more than whether or not your advisor is eminent. If you can't find them for help or they micro-manage everything you do, you will have a miserable five years and will very likely do sub-optimal work in sub-optimal environment.

So there we go, I hope that helps some of you, having my perspective on ECE at Rice. I graduated BSEE/BA in 2005, and now I'm a first-year graduate student at Rice, working with (surprise surprise) Dr. Aazhang :-). If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me at the address found on the contact page.

Posted on 27th December 2006 by Gareth