tanker11

Hi all, I was browsing through the Master's program at Columbia, and it seemed pretty interesting. I'm interested in doing NLP, and it seems like they have quite a good set of professors/coursework for doing that. Is anyone familiar with the CVN/online version of the Master's degree at Columbia? Columbia certainly has a strong brand - is this program considered strong as well? My goal longer-term would be to pursue a Ph.D. at a top school, but I don't think I have the requisite experience/strong enough profile to do that yet (I have a pretty good profile, but likely not sufficient topical research experience, which I'd like to do under a Master's program, preferably part-time so I can continue my current full-time job).

Thanks, fuzzylogician! Checking with the secretary is a great idea, and I'm going to reach out there as well.

I graduated about 3 years ago from an undergrad program (top 20). I've been reaching out to two of my professors for recommendations from that school from my school's still-alive email account. I sent an email to these possible recommenders (I'm pretty sure they'll say yes and do remember me pretty well, and they have been recommenders for me in the past after college) last week with my portfolio, which is about 8 weeks out from the application deadline. I then followed up to bring it up in their email inboxes again just yesterday (now about 7 weeks out), but I still haven't heard anything from either one. I'm getting a bit nervous since I haven't heard anything. I'm totally aware that professors can be extremely busy: for example, one of them has two classes this semester and another has one while also being a director. But I'd like to make sure that I give them sufficient time and if for some reason they decide they cannot, then I can formulate a backup plan. Some questions: (1) Am I overthinking this? Is 6+ weeks of lead time still ok for professors to write letters of rec without feeling pressured? I want to make sure I'm not at the point of annoying them. (2) Would a phone call be a good follow-up here? I live about 6 hours driving from campus but am extremely busy these next few weeks with work and other commitments, not to mention that a flight there and back to just stop in during office hours would be prohibitively costly. Are there other options that others have found to be successful?

I'm applying for an Masters in Computer Science this Fall, looking to specialize in AI/Machine Learning and NLP. The main university I'm applying to (quite selective) requires three recommendation letters. While I haven't officially asked professors yet (looking to do that this week), I believe I have the possibility of two good letters: (Side details: I did a double major in undergrad in CS and a foreign language (not English) at a top 25 university, very good GPA and GRE) Professor 1: I took three undergrad courses with this person, including one that was small and focused, getting an A in each. He knows me really well as far as my academic capabilities and potential for research, as well as teaching ability (the specialized class was a mentorship-like course, helping project groups from previously taken courses accomplish them). Professor 2: I did about 1.5 years of research supervised by this person (no classes) at a pretty prestigious research institute affiliated with my undergrad university. (S)he can definitely speak to my research ability and overall academic knowledge. I have two publications that were presented at a conference, though I don't know its academic reputation; these publications, while not directly ML/NLP combined, are potentially relevant, I think, involving statistical analysis of discourse patterns. --> Now, I'm thinking about asking this third professor, but I'm curious to see how this might be perceived: Professor 3: I took two courses under this person. Both classes are in my foreign language major, and I received an A in each: one was an intensive writing course; the other was a semester-long research course, during which time I produced an honors thesis (this person was my advisor on this). In this thesis, although it was under the foreign language department, my focus was on machine learning (simple classifiers) on language models. I think s(he) can also speak to my research, academic, teaching abilities, and awards, overall providing a strong letter. I'm curious on this aspect: while it may be a strong letter (#3), will it be viewed unfavorably in admissions for Computer Science because (s)he is not technically a Computer Science professor? I view the case as strong for this letter due to NLP being my particular interest within CS, my interest in languages (like the one I majored in), and more research experience that both I and this professor can speak to. On the other hand, it seems like a risk. Am I overthinking this, or is this potentially a bad idea? Thanks for any of your help! (and let me know if you'd like more details - kept it a bit conservative to start)