I am seeking a masters in computer science, and I would love and appreciate any help with identifying schools and programs that I should consider based on my profile. I am interested in machine learning and computer vision. Here's my story:
I am a former United States Marine that served as a Tactical Data Network Specialist in Okinawa, Japan for three years. As a network specialist, I configured routers, switches, and servers. After the Corps, I pursued my undergrad in computer science - 4.0 in major / 3.97 overall. In undergrad, I worked on a research project that was a collaboration between our computer science and meteorology departments and presented at the 91st annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Seattle.
After my undergrad, I was hired as a entry level developer at a large financial institution. In 5 years, I was promoted from entry level to intermediate developer, senior developer, technical lead senior, and finally enterprise architect. Beyond technical acumen and academia, I have formal leadership experience as a Sergeant in the Marine Corps and the tech lead role.
I took the GRE in June and scored a 161Q, 165V, and 3.5 AWA. I am naturally disappointed by the Quant & AWA scores, but I am hoping that a strong statement combined with solid letters of recommendation will keep me in the running.
I am currently in Pennsylvania, but I am willing to relocate within the states. Thanks in advance for any help and insight.
As an aside, one program that particularly interested me was an Intelligent Robotics program at USC: http://catalogue.usc.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=6&poid=5609&returnto=1460
Everything I read seems to suggest that all of these programs are hyper-competitive - it's a little more than discouraging.