CSallday

Thank you everyone for the replies! I will definitely do this! :-)

I am currently a Masters student. I am working on a computer science paper at a top conference along with 2 other classmates. One question we are having is about the author ordering of the paper. We are all planning to apply to PhD programs, and so the author ordering matters a lot. Since we all contributed about equally, we agreed that we would put author names alphabetically by last name. My last name happens to be last of the 3 of us. Will being the last author of this paper not help a lot, as compared to being first or second author. Is there any way that I could indicate to PhD admissions committees that I had a large part in the paper - just as much as the first author? Will the committee assume that I took more of an advisor role in the project? (Advisors are usually last authors in grad-student papers). Thanks in advance for the advice!

I am interested in building technology to help people in the medical field, and I have some computer science publications related to this area. I have a Bachelors and Masters degree in Computer Science focusing on human-computer interaction for health, and have also taken multiple computational genomics courses. I have never taken a pure biology / natural science course at the university level. I have an otherwise strong application (test scores, GPA, rec letters, computer science publications). Am I likely to not get in due to my lack of coursework in the natural sciences or biomedical engineering? Is this program suitable for someone like me who wants to take some of the medical coursework offered in the program but coming in with a primarily technical background?

If your ultimate goal is a PhD, definitely become a full-time Masters student where you focus on research and getting publications. One nice strategy is to take lots of courses that are project heavy and result in publishable work. I know people who have gotten 3-4 solid publications just from the papers they wrote for their projects in their grad-level courses. Good way to kill 2 birds with one stone. Also, since one of the most important aspects for PhD admissions is rec letters from professors (not your work managers), you will want to spend as much time as possible interacting with your professors and possibly doing research with them.

I disagree that OS is a prereq as well. I know a PhD student at Stanford focusing on SYSTEMS who didn't take OS in undergrad. Don't stress about this.

As tough as cicada2014's advice is, I mostly agree. I think you could apply to some Masters programs to get more research experience if you want to go to these top-20 schools for a PhD. I think your profile is good enough to get you into some top Masters program, where you can build up your profile for PhD admissions. Also try to get some publications out of your current research for when you apply in the future. If you don't want to go for an intermediate Masters, you can apply right after you graduate from UW and make sure you get publications (ideally first author) out of your current research during the rest of your senior year. Good luck!

I am a Masters student at a top-4 CS school and I am currently doing research here. I have internship opportunities at Microsoft and Google, but I also have the ability to stay here over the summer and do research. Would taking the internship negatively affect my chances of admission compared to doing the extra research here over the summer? I will be applying to the PhD program here as well as other top places next Fall.

Thanks! Does anyone know of any other fellowships that I would be eligible to apply to as a Masters student?

I'm about to start my first year of a 2-year (fully funded) Master's program. Afterwards, I plan to pursue a PhD. Since the NSF fellowship requires that you apply within the first 2 years of *any* graduate study, I need to apply this year and/or next year in order to be eligible. If I apply this year and get the fellowship, will I 1) be allowed to accept the fellowship given that I won't enter a PhD program until 2017, and 2) be allowed to put off funding until I enter the PhD program?

This is all very good to know. Thanks!

I am only familiar with top-20 programs. From those: Stanford funds their 'strongest' incoming MS students with a TAship. Princeton funds its Masters. If you count MIT Media Lab, their Masters program is funded as well.

As somewhat of a side note, I have seen a surprisingly large number of CS professors who create startups based on their research ideas (this is particularly prevalent in my field). I have also seen people switch from industry to academia (and vice versa), so you have the freedom to try out both careers with a PhD.

@ivortytowerunlocked: I know the approach is holistic, and that for the schools where a professor will admit you rather than the department (not all programs do this), different professors put different value to different parts of the application. But for the very top programs, I feel like you need to be strong on all parts of the application, and I was just wondering what was needed for the prior publications part of the application (especially for a masters student at a top program, who would probably be expected to have a bit more publications than an applicant straight out of undergrad or undergrad/industry). @icydubloon: Thanks. This sounds reasonable for the top programs.

What level of publications are expected to get into a top-5 PhD program? Obviously, there are different levels of publications you can have. There are many different types of publications you can have with varying degrees of academic prestige: - First author in a top conference in the field. - First author in a workshop of a top conference. - First author in a non-top-tier conference in the field. - Non-first author in a top conference in the field. - Non-first author in a workshop of a top conference. - Non-first author in a non-top-tier conference in the field. - Poster presentation in a top conference in the field. - Poster presentation in a workshop of a top conference. - Poster presentation in a non-top-tier conference in the field. - Unrelated publication. - etc. (notes vs papers in some conferences) Do you need a first author paper in a top conference in order to get into Stanford/Berkeley/CMU/MIT? How "low" in the prestige of papers can you go for it to be acceptable? How would you rate these different types of publications from an admissions standpoint? Do multiple publications in lower-tier venues / lower-tier methods of publications (like a poster presentation) make up for not having a pub in the top conferences in the field? By the way, I plan to research HCI. And I am currently in a masters program at a top-4 CS program. Any insights would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!