On which area should I specialize?

Hi, I am currently a 4th year electrical eng. student and I want to take my Ms and Phd from a respected university in USA. The problem is that I am not sure about the area of electronics that I should specialize on. From the 'interest' point of view, I like telecommunications and signal processing,I do not have much interest in control and I really have no interest in electronics and magnetics. On the other hand, when applying to a US university for Ms+Phd, telecommunications and signal processing areas area very competitive and getting an acceptance for control area may be easier. However,control systems engineering seems to have a diminishing reputation and considering future, choosing telecom as major seems more logical. So I need advice on the area that I have to specialize on. Should I do apply for Ms on control sytems,so that I can take acceptance probably more easily but it has a lower reputation than telecom or should I choose telecommunications which is more popular, but as a Ms area, choosing of which lowers the probability of acceptance.

Reply to
antonkiriakov
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Always go for what you like if you have any intention of being the best that you can be.

If you don't like what your doing you will end up not doing it well.

You will want, in the future, to enjoy going to work!

Reply to
mindspringnews

Anton,

I never knew that, "...control systems engineering seems to have a diminishing reputation... ". But I do know that every fad and fashion has its coming and going. I suspect that what you are referring to is only rumours local to your school.. Something I have observed is that the more 'interesting' a field is, the less the pay needed to get people to work there.

What is your objective? Is it interesting work? Some people spend their whole lives looking for something interesting. I suspect the problem is in themselves since others find something interesting everywhere they look.

Is your objective to achieve some form of 'reputation'? Then you have to consider reputation with whom. The average neighbour doesn't have a clue of the differences among the engineering specialties. If you mean within a professional society such as a university, well, the stuck up university politicking has never been my interest so I can't advise you there.

Walter.

Reply to
Walter Driedger

hi.

"getting an acceptance for control area may be easier"? is this true? if it is, i do not think the margin will be significant. i think in the better US schools the ratio of students accepted vs. students who apply is more or less the same, irrespective of whether you are lodging your application in the area of signal processing or control. it would be strange of competition in control is less, since this field seems to attract students with really good mathematical prowess. you should go with the subject that u like, not merely to go to a school you like but in a subject you don't like. if you think competition is tight then apply to less well-known schools but with a very reputable prospective advisors in signal processing/telecommunication (u can look at your prospective advisors CV, see if he has lots of good/hi quality publications, see if he is a fellow or will be a fellow of IEEE, invited lectures, etc and then try to contact him). good luck.

cheers,

Hendra.

Reply to
Hendra Ishwara Nurdin

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