How to Earn a PhD in Electrical Engineering

Engineers are known for their systematic, logical approaches to problem-solving and decision-making. Therefore, if this is your chosen field, you should apply that same reasoned, step-by-step approach to considering a PhD in Electrical Engineering. This guide can help walk you through the process.

Specifically, the steps in the decision process described below are:

1. Considering a PhD in Electrical Engineering. Assuming you are approaching this decision from the standpoint of someone who has already earned a bachelor's or a master's degree in the field, you want to weight the merits of going on to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering.
2. Identifying an area of specialization for your PhD in Electrical Engineering. As education in any field advances, it also becomes more specialized. Before you can start considering specific graduate schools, you need to decide what specialty is of interest to you.
3. Evaluating graduate electrical engineering programs. There's a wide field to choose from, including both on-campus and online PhD programs. Fortunately, there are more resources than ever to help you identify doctorate programs and find the right fit for your goals.
4. Applying for a doctorate in electrical engineering. As with anything else, careful planning in the application process increases your chance of success.

Choosing the school where you plan to pursue your doctorate in electrical engineering is a big decision, but as you can see, if you break it down into these steps each part of the process becomes readily manageable.

Considering a PhD in Electrical Engineering

Why pursue a PhD in Electrical Engineering? This is the fundamental starting point for this process, and you want to make sure you have some conviction about the answer. Pursuing a doctorate degree requires a commitment of time and money, so you want to start out feeling strongly that it is the right thing to do.

Different people have different reasons for pursuing a doctorate in electrical engineering, but here are some possible reasons you might decide to go for it:

• It can help you make a mark on the field. Earning a bachelor's or master's degree involves learning as much as you can about the existing body of knowledge in a given field. A doctorate degree is for those who are ready to contribute to that body of knowledge. Whether you are more interested in theoretical or applied science, a doctorate in electrical engineering can put you in position to expand the existing boundaries of knowledge.
• It can put you at an elite level of academic achievement. Nearly 18 percent of the adult population in the United States has a bachelor's degree. For a master's degree, the number is nearly 7 percent. When it comes to doctorate degrees, however, just over 1 percent of the population has attained that credential. This elite status makes you more competitive in the marketplace and give you instant credibility among your peers.
• It can open up teaching as a possible career path. If you want to share your interest in the field by teaching, a doctorate in electrical engineering is likely to be necessary for any long-term, college-level position.

If you find you feel strongly about any one or combination of the above reasons for pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering, then you are ready to move on to the next step.

Areas of Specialization within a PhD in Electrical Engineering

The applications of electrical engineering are so diverse that there are many specialties within the field. Some prominent ones include:

• Communications
• Power generation and transfer
• Digital signal processing
• Imaging
• Controls and robotics
• Electromagnetics
• Electro-optics
• Photonics
• Microelectronics
• Radar and navigation devices
• Electric motors

These specialties include occupations that are found throughout a broad cross-section of industries, including aerospace, architecture, automobiles and related products, computer design and manufacture, consumer electronics, power supply generation and management, and telecommunications. With a doctorate in electrical engineering, you may be able to find employment in growth industries or in one of the major staples of the economy, or else take another direction and work in research or academia.

However, as commonplace as applications for electrical engineering are in today's society, the field itself is far from generic. As noted previously, the higher the level of learning, the more specialized a field becomes. Therefore, when it comes to choosing a graduate electrical engineering program, you must first have a sense of what area of specialization interests you. That way you can choose a program with the appropriate faculty, coursework, and equipment for your chosen area of emphasis.

Finding and Evaluating Graduate Electrical Engineering Programs

Having identified a specialty, the next step is to find the right electrical engineering program. Matching a program to your specialty is just one factor; there are other considerations at work when choosing any doctorate program. However, by identifying the resources that can help you, and then reviewing relevant evaluation criteria one-by-one, you can continue to work your way through the process systematically.

Resources Available

Online resources are a key to gathering information efficiently and comprehensively. Online college guides can not only help you identify schools, but they can also allow you to focus your search according to your interests. In addition, they can provide helpful articles with advice about the process.

Of course, once you've used an online guide to identify some candidates, you can do some in-depth digging by checking out individual institution websites. You should be able to find key details on these sites, from applications to course information, and also get a sense of what the general atmosphere of the institution is like.

Another key resource is the U.S. Department of Education. Their online resources include overviews of several educational topics, as well as details on accreditation and an entire website dedicated to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), an essential step of the graduate financial aid process.

Finally, publications such as Kiplinger's and U.S. News & World Report print annual rankings of different colleges, based on a variety of different criteria.

Seeing the Whole Field: Considering On-Campus and Online PhD Programs

As you begin your search, be sure you do not overlook online PhD programs. Start by seeing the whole field, which means exploring the possibilities of both on-campus and online PhDs in Electrical Engineering. Each type of degree has its advantages.

Some areas of electrical engineering are more hands-on than others, whereas some are ideally suited to distance learning because they are so heavily computer-based. Thus, your area of specialty may be one factor in whether you choose to earn an on-campus or online PhD in Electrical Engineering. Also, some students genuinely enjoy the personal interaction with professors and fellow students that an on-campus experience brings.

On the other hand, an online PhD in Electrical Engineering may be the perfect solution if you live in an area where programs in your chosen specialty are not offered. In that case, unless you have the money and inclination to go away to school, an online PhD program may be your only option for accessing the education you want. Also, an online PhD in Electrical Engineering might be a practical solution if you have time constraints due to a current job or family obligations, and seek an education with a more flexible schedule.

Depending on your circumstances, the choice between an on-campus and an online PhD program might be a primary decision. Ideally though, you should consider both possibilities and weigh them along with other considerations.

Criteria for Choosing a PhD Program

What are some of the other considerations in choosing a PhD program? A handy way to remember some of the most important factors is to use the acronym "FACTORS" to stand for Faculty, Accreditation, Cost, Type of Campus, Orientation of Program, Reputation, and Standards for Admission. Here are some more details on each of these factors:

• Faculty. Broadly speaking, you can evaluate a department's faculty by the degrees they've earned, schools they've attended, positions they've held, and books or articles they've published. You also want to pay attention to the student-to-teacher ratio in the relevant department. More specifically though, the more the faculty seems to specialize in your area of interest, the more useful you are likely to find them.
• Accreditation. Be aware that there are a variety of accreditation agencies out there, and not all of them meet the standards recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Use the Department's website to find out more about this issue, and to see lists of recognized accreditation organizations.
• Cost. Other attributes of a PhD program are a moot point unless you can afford to complete the program, so find out about program costs, and make sure you have a sensible budget to meet those costs.
• Type of campus. The on-campus vs. online distinction is one key choice in the type of educational environment you sign up for, but there are other big differences between college campuses, such as big vs. small schools, and urban vs. rural environments. Think about what kind of setting is most conducive to your work habits.
• Orientation of program. Just as electrical engineers have different specialties, so do different engineering departments. Make sure that the program you choose has sufficient resources devoted to your specialty, along with a history in that area and a suitable faculty.
• Reputation. The college guides and rankings mentioned previously are one way of checking out a school's reputation. You can also look at some of the leaders in your chosen area of electrical engineering and see where they got their PhDs. Also, talk to leading employers in the field. This not only gives you a feel for which programs look best on your resume when it is time to look for a job, but the effort might even yield some useful contacts for future reference.
• Standards for admission. The trick here is to aim high, but only so high as to still give you a realistic chance of acceptance. A school with higher admissions standards is likely to have a strong reputation, and the more talented the students around you are the more likely you will be pushed to higher levels of achievement. Still, there is no point in shooting for programs whose standards are well above your credentials. One approach might be to aim a little high with one application, while making another to a school whose standards you clearly meet.

There is no formula for weighing each of these factors against the others, but if you consider each of the above criteria, you can find yourself in a position to make a fully-informed decision.

Advance Planning for a PhD in Electrical Engineering: The Application Process

Applying to a PhD program might seem like one of the last steps in this process, but you would do well to check out some applications and admissions criteria early on in the process just so you know what is likely to be involved. There can be long lead times in the application process, so planning ahead can help you make sure you meet each deadline.

Some of the key issues to check include:

• Whether or not you have the requisite degrees for application to a doctorate program.
• Whether the institutions you are applying to recognize the institutions from which you earned your previous degrees.
• Whether you need any standardized testing, such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
• Whether work experience in the field is required.
• Whether you need letters of reference.

The applications themselves can be quite involved, but if you have taken the time to research schools and narrow down your choices, you can focus on a select few applications.

Making a PhD in Electrical Engineering a Successful Decision

Again, doctorates are for an elite few in any given calling who are ready to make a mark on the field. If you feel you are ready to join this select group, take the time to work through the selection process thoughtfully and systematically. With online education guides and other Internet tools, you have more resources at your disposal than ever before. The time it takes to pursue your doctorate--and then live with the degree--for a long time to come, means that the time spent planning before you commit is well worth it.

Sources

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• University of Central Florida
• University of Colorado
• U.S. Census Bureau
• U.S. Department of Education