Student review [#21872] for Material Science and Engineering
at North Carolina State University - NCSU

My department is full of older professors who mean well but no longer participate in teaching or mentoring really, milking their tenure to have something to do it seems. It is common to hear staff in the department say they care for or are proponents of your success but the action that to support those words is severely lacking. Generally speaking the department has failed me a few times in regards to professionally and safety concerns in the lab space as well as where mentorship and guidance through the PhD process are concerned. That being said there is a lot of opportunity for success here, you will just more than likely have to be self driven. If you work more effectively without a set course-list and prefer being able to explore diverse course topics that is the one upside to the flow of this departments process. Also, the wage for graduate students has stayed the same while the cost of living in the immediate area around campus has steadily climbed over the few years I’ve been studying here. Rent specifically continues to climb to the point where living alone and in close proximity to campus feels more like a luxury than it should. This should definitely be taken into heavy consideration for international students looking to study here as there will be little to no flexibility financially for you.