Frequently Asked Questions for Prospective students and new Applicants

You're expected to have questions. To make it easier for you, the FAQ section below has answers for students interested in our graduate programs in Electrical and Computer Engineering. After you read the FAQs, if your questions are not answered, please contact us. This is a link to FAQs for current BU graduate students. Click this link if you are a BU student in the Accelerated Program.

General
Application Process
Interfolio Submissions
Dates and Deadlines
Degree
Examination Requirements
Financial Information
Non-Matriculation

General FAQs

Application Process

What do I have to do before a decision can be made on my application?
I am a BU student. Do I need to submit letters of recommendation?
What should a former BU student do to apply to the Graduate School?
Is graduate admission ultimately decided by the Graduate School or by the department? And do I need to send one package of application materials to the grad school and another to the department separately when I apply?
Do you consider the reputation of applicant's undergraduate university? Is it important?
What kind of applicant background is competitive? High test scores, research experiences or something else?
Is there a list of links that can help me in my application process including the graduate handbooks?
Can an MS student be a Research Assistant?
I have been admitted. How do I pay my deposit?

Interfolio Submissions

What is the web site for Interfolio's "My Credentials Vault"?
Is there a tutorial for "My Credentials Vault" in Interfolio?
What is Interfolio's contact information (My Credentials Vault)?
I submitted an application for the Graduate School. How long until I will be able to pay my application fee?
How do I submit letters of recommendation?
Can letters of recommendation be sent electronically?
How do I submit my application fee?
How do I submit non-electronic documents to my Vault?
I paid my application fee but the status checker doesn't show it has been received. What should I do?

Dates and Deadlines

Degree

What is the difference between the MS program and the MEng program?
I am a non-matriculated student but I'd like to apply to be a matriculated student. What should I do?
I'd like to apply to a computer engineering program, but I cannot find such a program in your department.
What are the specializations offered within Computer Engineering?
I am still a senior undergraduate student. Can I apply for the PhD program along an MS/PhD track... or should I apply for the MS program instead?
I would like to work toward my PhD as a part-time student. Are there a minimum number of credits I need to take?
If I apply to the PhD program and am denied, can I be considered for the MS program?
I am an Accelerated Senior. What 500 level courses should I take? Is there a guideline?
I am a PhD student about to fill out a form to be ABD. What forms do I need to graduate?
How many years would it take for a graduate student to complete the PhD program in Electrical Engineering?
Does the department prefer applicants immediately out of undergraduate programs or applicants who have work experience?

Examination Requirements (TOEFL, GRE, IELTS, GPA, etc.)

Financial Information

What about the financial aid for master's students? Is a teaching assistantship available?
Where can I look for funding as a master student or PhD student?
What are the approximate tuition, fees, and living expenses?
What Financial Information will be needed for an international student before an I20 can be processed?

Current Student FAQs

Click here to go to FAQs for current students.

Answers

General

Where is the Graduate Coordinator?

The Coordinator of Graduate Programs can be found in the Engineering Building (H11).

What about the job opportunities after graduation?

Job opportunities depend heavily on many external factors (e.g., the economy, the particular area of specialization, the student's job search skills, etc.) so it is hard to give precise information on this. Graduates from our master's and PhD programs have been successful getting job offers from both large and small employers throughout the U.S. For additional information, consider conducting an Internet search or contacting the ECE Program's Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Mark Fowler.

What percentage of your students are international students? Are there any Chinese students?

Roughly 60 percent are international students. And yes, we have many students from China.

Where can I find course information if I don't have a log-in yet?

Course information can be found by going to registrar.binghamton.edu, click "Schedule of Classes" at the top of the page. Choose the semester on the drop-down menu. On the next drop-down menu choose "EECE." Click submit at the bottom of the page.

I am an international student. Where can I find information about Full Time Certification?

Please click here for information regarding full-time status.

When a student is course complete as a Master’s student and therefore only needs to register for 1 credit (of thesis or project), he/she needs to complete a Full-time Certification form for students not receiving funding.

The full-time certification forms can be downloaded here; choose the correct form for funded or non-funded. You must be registered for qualifying classes before you can be certified.

As an international student you are required to be full-time. As a PHD student, 9 credits is considered full-time. If you have completed all coursework, you may register for one credit per the policy above, and be certified full-time for the balance.

Note: If you are beginning your first year of PHD study it is unlikely you have met all course requirements and can be certified full-time per the policies found at the 1st link. If you aren’t registered for a qualifying course as noted in the procedures you cannot be certified full-time

I am interested in bioelectronics. Do professors in your department work in that area?

Bioelectronics is a rather large area. Professor Chris Twigg in our department is probably the closest to that area. He works in the general area of reconfigurable analog and mixed-signal electronics but has interest in neuromorphic applications of reconfigurable circuits. You can find info about his work at his home page.

Professor Zhanpeng Jin has interests that may align with yours. His interests include medical cyber physical systems and instrumentation, sensor-enabled embedded systems, reconﬁgurable computing, hardware systems (FPGA/SoC/VLSI/ASIC) and electronic devices design, neural networks and neuromorphic systems, computer architecture and microprocessors.

Finally, we are currently looking to hire a new professor to start in Fall 2012 with a research interest in a biomedical area. We are looking at candidates from a wide array of backgrounds but almost all of them will likely be researching something that aligns well with your interests.

Application Process

I am a BU student. Do I need to submit letters of recommendation?

Both current students and former BU students are required to submit at least two letters of recommendation for graduate applications.

Please click here for guidelines that current, former, and accelerated BU students should follow when they apply to the Graduate School.

What should a former BU student do to apply to the Graduate School?

Former BU students should fill out the online application and pay the application fee. Please click here for guidelines that current, former and accelerated BU students should follow when they apply to the Graduate School.

Is graduate admission ultimately decided by the Graduate School or by the department? And do I need to send one package of application materials to the grad school and another to the department separately when I apply?

The department decides. You should send only one package directly to the Graduate School, which will organize the application materials and send them to us.

Do you consider the reputation of applicant's undergraduate university? Is it important?

Yes, it is important and we consider the reputation of an applicant's undergraduate university.

What kind of applicant background is competitive? High test scores, research experiences or something else?

It is difficult to isolate a single factor; they are all important.

Can an MS student be a Research Assistant?

Each processor handles the hiring decisions for Research Assistants so students must be a professor in his or her area of interest and contact them. When the application is reviewed, the Graduate Director refers professors to quality applicants. However, while professors typically look for PhD students, MS students that exhibit exceptional talent are also funded.

Can letter of recommendations be sent electronically?

Yes. Letters of Recommendation can be sent either electronically or through in paper form. This is what the request email looks like when the student uses the online submission form for Interfolio. This link will take you to more Interfolio information: http://www.interfolio.com

Interfolio Submissions

I submitted an application for the Graduate School. How long until I will be able to pay my application fee?

Check your e-mail for a receipt of your Binghamton ID# (B#) and Binghamton University Computer Accounts User ID. This e-mail will be sent within two business days of submitting your online degree application, to the e-mail address used on your application. Your user ID is required to pay your online application fee and check your application decision status. If you do not receive an e-mail within 2 days, please be patient. This is done manually and could take slightly longer during heavy submission times.

I paid my application fee but the status checker doesn't show it has been received. What should I do?

We have no record of your application fee payment. If the payment was made online, you should have received a web confirmation of a successful online payment. If you still have this confirmation please forward it to us so that we may research and credit your payment. If you no longer have the confirmation, the payment should be reflected as a debit on your credit card statement. Please send us a copy of your credit card statement showing the application fee debited so that we may research and credit your payment. If you paid by check, please scan the front and back of the check and e-mail it to the Graduate School. Online payments are completely system-processed. It may take a few days to update, but if your payment doesn't show that it has been received, please contact the Graduate School at gradsch@binghamton.edu to resolve this.

Dates and Deadlines

When does the fall application process start?

We begin looking at fall applications in November of the preceding year. Deadline for funding consideration is January 15.

When are the deadlines for fall and spring applications?

The deadline for fall applications is January 15 to be considered for funding. The deadline for spring applications is October 15 to be considered for funding. If you would like to apply and do not need to be considered for funding, you may apply closer to the beginning of the semester. If you are an international student, the time frame for you to get your visa and travel documents in order may be a concern for you. For your best interest, please begin your preparation as soon as possible.

Degree

I'd like to apply to a computer engineering program, but I cannot find such a program in your department.

Our program name is currently Electrical Engineering with Computer Engineering as a specialization within that. We have courses and research in computer engineering but we do not have a separate PhD degree NAMED that.

I am a non-matriculated student but I'd like to apply to be a matriculated student. What should I do?

To submit an application for degree study, please go to this website.

You will need to create a temporary username and password, however, once submitted, you should be able to access it using your PODS login.

Please make sure to enter your name and birthdate as it appears on your current school record, because if there’s any difference the system may stop your application from going through or assign you a new B number, which would create an obvious delay in your plans. If you get a new B number, please let me know.

All application material, including recommendation letters, must be submitted for consideration through Interfolio. Once you establish an account with them you can send an email to your recommenders and the response they make will be returned confidentially as a recommendation. If you have hard copies in your hand, you may mail them in to Interfolio and they will add them to your credentials vault.

For information on how to establish and use Interfolio, please see this online tour.

I am still a senior student, can I apply for the PhD program along an MS/PhD track... or should I apply for the MS program instead?

You can apply for the PhD program directly and earn the MS as you progress.

If I apply to the PhD program and am denied, can I be considered for the MS program?

Yes. If you apply as a PhD applicant but you are denied, you can request to be reviewed for the MS program. If you know, in advance, that you are interested in being reviewed as an MS applicant (in the event you are denied) when you apply for the PhD program, please e-mail the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department as soon as you send your packet to “My Credential Vault”.

I am an Accelerated Senior. What 500 level courses should I take? Is there a guideline?

The requirements you need to meet for the MS degree are spelled out in the ECE Graduate Handbook located here. Your regular academic advisor can help your during your advising session as well. It is important for you to be aware that Accelerated (4+1) students can take up to 3 500-level courses during their senior year and have them double counted, so it is recommended that students choose these in order to fill their various requirements for the MS degree (refer to the handbook).

I am a PhD student about to fill out a form to be ABD. What forms do I need to graduate?

If you have not already done your prospectus & colloquium please see the ECE Graduate Handbook.

There is a form you will need when you take your comprehensive exam on our forms web page called the "PhD Comprehensive Exam Approval Form" at this link. The "Recommendation for Admission to Candidacy" form (to be advanced to ABD status) is also at that link.

Information about deadlines and what the Graduate School needs you to do.

You need to fill out the Graduate Application for Degree Form before the date listed on the Graduate School's web site.

There is a triplicate form in the ECE secretary's office that needs to be filled out and requires signatures.

After that, the triplicate form, your proposed course of study form which is also found on our resources page-see the link above (signed by your advisor, found at the forms link) and your PhD Comprehensive Exam Approval Form go together to our Graduate Director, Professor Fowler. From this point our office handles the travel of the forms through these next steps. Once they are reviewed and signed, they go to the Dean of Watson. From there they go to our Graduate Coordinator, Ellen Tilden, who processes them and takes them to the Graduate School.

How many years would it take for a graduate student to complete the PhD program in Electrical Engineering?

For students who come in with an MS degree, the typical time is 3 to 4 years, although 3 years is a bit rushed. If a student comes in with a "perfect" background (e.g. already quite familiar with the literature and issues in the area, possibly from their MS thesis work or from R&D-type work for the dissertation topic they choose), then 3 years is doable. Otherwise, 4 years is more common. If you do not yet have an MS degree, that adds another 1.5 years. It is possible to go straight from BS to PhD and that would only add 1 year to the 3 to 4 years stated above (the risk though is that if you don't complete the PhD you may not have met the degree requirements for the MS, so you might leave without a degree). Those numbers are for full time students; part-time students are quite different because such students progress at variable rates.

Does the department prefer applicants immediately out of undergraduate programs or applicants who have work experience?

It does not matter if a student has been working as long as the student's "academic skills" have not gotten rusty. If it has been a while since you've done R&D-type work then it can be rough getting started. However, I found that students who come in with some experience that is nicely aligned with their research interests are very well-suited to our program.

Examination Requirements (TOEFL, GRE, IELTS, GPA, etc.)

What is the Binghamton University code?

The code to give to your testing center for your scores to be sent to Binghatmon Unviersity is 2535.

What are the exam requirements for international students? What is an acceptable TOEFL or IELTS score?

ECE exam requirements consider a variety of aspects such as course grades and/or strong research experience.

I'm an international student, but I will be receiving an undergraduate degree from a U.S. school. Am I required to submit TOEFL/IELTS scores?

The TOEFL/IELTS score is not required if you have received a degree from a U.S. institution or if you have received a degree from an institution in a country whose native language is English.

I am a US citizen and I graduated from an ABET accredited school. Do I need to submit TOEFL/IELTS or GRE scores?

No, if you have graduated from an ABET accredited school your scores are waived.

I am a BU student, do I need to submit GRE & TOEFL scores?

No, if you are a BU student your GRE and TOEFL scores are waived.

Financial Information

What about the financial aid for master's students?

Occasionally master's students receive financial support as a teaching assistant (TA), and sometimes as a research project assistant (RPA). Exceptional academic performance, high test scores and research experience can increase your chances of receiving support. Usually the TA positions are given to PhD students. When Research Assistantships are available, they are usually offered to applicants after they become students and after they show a driving interest in a specific area and also show an excellent work ethic. Other funding options are available.

What are the approximate tuition, fees, and living expenses?

The total costs for your graduate studies can vary depending on the number of credits you will be taking and your living expenses. The Graduate School's web site lists tuition and fee rates. (based on the Student Funding Survey published by Graduate School).

What Financial Information will be needed for an international student before an I20 can be processed?

Financial paper work will need to be submitted. Please see the International Student Financial Statement here. Complete the form as required, attach the necessary documentation supporting proof of the funds. The completed form and bank documents should be uploaded to your credentials vault. This needs to be complete before ISSS can begin processing an I-20.