Graduate School Applications in a Recession

The word is out. Last week a group of American economists declared that the American economy has been in a recession since December 2007. The outlook for the broader economy has never looked as bleak as it now does (in my 28 years). Already many prominent engineering employers have enforced hiring freezes, Intel has predicted that it's revenues could be down by as much as 20%. Some prominent start-ups in the semiconductor business like Ambric have folded, because VCs aren't willing or able to fund these early-stage ventures. There are massive layoffs galore... AT&T fired 12,000 employees last week, and the Dauphin Obama said "it will get worse before it gets better".

What does this mean to you as an applicant?
So if the technology industry suffers a major downturn, chances are that experienced engineers will head back to school to either get an MS or an MBA or a PhD while the economy goes for an overhaul. The trouble is that when the economy is doing badly, it is harder to get a job after getting laid off. A secondary effect is that grad students who were about to finish their degrees, will likely postpone graduation until they can find a job.

This implies that admissions this year will be far more competitive than last year. If someone with credentials similar to yours got into a top 10 university last year, you may have trouble getting into the same university this year. So my suggestion would be to apply to a few universities as backup in case your safe bets are inundated with laid-off worker applications.

A job in India anyone?
If you are from India, and you have a job offer, you should consider taking up a job during the recession. My assumption here is that as India is a cost-saving measure for many companies, they may not fire as many employees in India as America. This is a guess, and I am liable to be as wrong as a trained economist. ; )

I don't know how long this will last. I hope we are out of the woods soon. If I lose my job and I can't find a new one for a couple of months, I would have to head back home to India too. Immigration in the US is related to employment, so I definitely need to keep enough money around to buy me a one-way plane ticket home. : ) It is best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.