Professor Dan Sievenpiper's Applied Electromagnetics Group
Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego

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Admissions

Each year I receive a few hundred inquiries from students who would like to join my group, and I can only take one or two. This means that I cannot review your resume right away to give you a yes or no answer, and I will not generally respond to email requests. Admissions in any particular year depend on the pool of available candidates. If you are interested in joining my group, it will be helpful for you to undestand this process, adn I suggest you review the information below.

We collect applications by research focus. I'm part of the Applied Electromagnetics area, so if you're interested in working with me, you should apply to that topic. In some cases, I may also accept students from other fields within Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, or Material Science. Each research area gathers applications from all interested students through the normal graduate application process, and then we sort them to identify the best candidates. Each professor has their own criteria for what they consider important. Here is what I typically look for initially:

After sorting the applications, I review the personal statements and letters of recommendation for the few highest candidates. In this process I'm looking for evidence that you can write coherently and explain your interests, and why you would be a good researcher. I'm also looking for an interest in topics that are related to my research. You should have very strong letters of recommendation from highly qualified professors. If you already have a Masters degree, then I also look for:

Communication and presentation skills are also very important. I will contact the top few candidates for a video interview. If this happens, you should plan to locate a webcam so that I can properly evaluate your communications skills. If you are located in the US, you may be invited to a recruitment event held at UCSD.

The best candidates will be offered admission with support, such as a departmental fellowship or a graduate student researcher position. My target group size is about eight students, so I will typically accept one or two per year. However, this is highly dependent on fluctuations in the magnitude and timing of funding.

Due to the high volume of requests that I get, I cannot check on the status of your application for you, answer questions about the mecahnics of the application process, locate forms for you, and other such things. You will need to figure these things out for yourself. For more information, I refer you to the ECE department application page.

 

 

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