SoP was mainly about what got me interested in the field of VLSI Design and how I took steps to develop my understanding of the subject further. The primary factors were the great reputation and moderate prestige associated with the program. Second was the location of being in California, and picturesque San Diego.
Course Curriculum :
Syllabus is great to cover the fundamentals thoroughly, especially if you don’t have any work experience in the field of Digital Design. The courses were fairly limited, so there were not too many options to choose from. Everyone from my program ended up completing almost the same courses by the time they graduated.
Exams :
-GRE 170 Verbal 164 Quant 5.0 Writing; -TOEFL 119/120; -No minimum score that I know of; however, most of my friends seemed to have an average of 320+ in the GRE" -Interview: No interview round -It was an amazing experience no doubt. My peers were very intelligent, which was intimidating at first, but automatically made me strive harder. The best part about going to a school that is hard to get into is your fellow students are very hard-working and are a good influence on you. Since it has a quarter system, it’s very fast-paced, and the school year is very, very busy and stressful. I’m glad I was able to live in a place as beautiful as La Jolla for 1.5 years because of my MS.
Placement :
FAANG companies, along with some smaller ones, visited campus a few times. The job fairs were not great, though. I found my internship and job through my applications. Everyone from my program graduated with great jobs. I am not sure about the median salary since it varies greatly with location, but let’s say $100-150K median.
Internship :
I interned at a San Diego startup called XCOM Labs. I worked for a total of 12 weeks and got paid around $24K for it. It was my first online job application. UCSD has a great reputation in San Diego and so it was not difficult to score interviews. Big credit to UCSD for this.
Fees :
It is $11K per quarter. Usually, students finish in 5 quarters, so my total tuition ended up being $55K before any waivers.
Scholarship :
No
Faculty :
The faculty-to-student ratio depends on courses, of course, but I would say the max I experienced was 1:100 and the minimum 1:7. Average would be around 1:20. There is Great teaching staff, particularly shoutout to Mingu Kang, Ryan Kastner, and Niema Mosh.
Campus Life :
A lot of accessible and well-maintained sports facilities. I used to regularly play tennis, badminton and swimming. The ocean is very close by, so surfing and kayaking are also popular.
Hostel :
I, along with almost all of my friends, lived in on-campus housing. I rented a studio alone for $900/month. A room in a 2br/2ba cost similar on campus. Some of my friends shared a room, so their rent ended up being around $450/month.
