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I recently got accepted to both programs for computer graphics & technology. I don't know if anyone else is in the same boat that could pick their brain to make a decision? Congrats to all who got accepted!

Just got admitted a couple days ago for U Penn Computer Graphics Master I'm very thrilled... except for the funding part. Is anyone here international student also looking for funding? Any tips? And congrats to all of us here!

I'm applying to 7 or more schools, and my boss at work has been helping me out a lot with my application, which I am very grateful for. Do you guys just send a thank you note via email? Send a card? Or a physical gift (which I don't know what would be appropriate).

The closest thing I saw was section 7. Test Scores/Experience (Applying for the Media Lab, so the application is slightly different)

Thanks for all the response. It made sense to me to wait to update on new progress as I'm getting more results on the project I'm working on. Maybe it could help strengthen the application more.

I've finished my applications for phD program for the Fall 2015. The deadlines for most of them are in December 15, and they were open on Sept 1st. I'm pretty excited to hit the "Submit" button to take off a large burden on my shoulder, and also I heard that if you applied early, then the admission committee tend to be more relaxed early in the season and more positive reading the applications. Is this true? How early do you guys submit your applications? The only reason that's holding me back is because I still have the option to update my SOP and resume, and I still have a chance to fix up mistakes if I keep staring at it.

You almost always should apply for top schools because that's the highest bar you're shooting for. It also increases your options and probability, and you won't have any regrets (if you're questioning about it now, you will want to know in the future the "what if" question). I would say here's the order of importance in grad school: recommendation letters > research experience > statement of purpose > GPA/GRE. So in your boat, I would say you have a good shot. Go for it!

Sounds like what you're doing with transdisciplinary design is really fun, be jazzed! Where are you applying to? Here's a link to my SOP draft: http://1drv.ms/1mj2o3o I'm happy to review yours if you want to PM me or reply here. Doing SOP trade has been extremely helpful for me.

Hi folks, Here's a draft of my SOP for wearable computing, applying for the pHD program at UW. If you are interested in giving me some feedback, I would greatly appreciate! http://1drv.ms/1mj2o3o

I'm haven't finished my SOP, but I can point you to some good example. This is a really good post on grad school application by Jean Yang, a current pHD student at MIT. If you read her SOP , it starts out very concise: why programming languages are important, and what does she want to do in grad school. I think there are a lot of reasons why ML interests you, and also you know what you want to do in grad school. That would be my start for your SOP.

I think for a creative program such as the MFA, maybe it's more about "breadth" than "depth", so it would be fine if you have multiple interests to explore and not have to stick to a focus? Make sure that you have space to explain your past experience and why that would make you a strong candidate. As a reference, I used one interest on mine and spend the rest show "evidence" of why I'm good at it. Total SOP was 802 words.

I agree with a lot of what you mentioned. Thanks! This confirms much of my thought. Will try your advice on writing 2 SOP for each interest (after all, I'm already writing 6 for each program I'm applying ) Love to hear that you want to do work in wearables. I'm working for Jawbone and they have some really really cool design from Yves Behar (he's like a rock star in industrial design). Honestly, the commercial wearables space is in desperate need for good design. I suppose Apple Watch is ok, but I feel that it could have been lighter or more blend in than standing out so strong the way it is. Anyhow, what are you going to grad school for in design? Just curious. Also, I would be happy to review anything from yours too. I'll have mine polished over the weekend and probably will do another post here on gradcafe to get feedback. Thanks!

You probably don't need the very first sentence. They already know you're applying for the MS program, so it's just wasting space. Similarly, the last two sentences don't quite convey any useful information about yourself (of course this is an extension of your academics, and of course the SOP will explain in details). There are a useful post somewhere on grad cafe that discussed the MAP format (I can't find it though), which is to write your SOP in this structure: Motivation (Why you want to do this research in machine learning), Aspiration (What do you want to achieve and contribute to the field of machine learning), and Perspiration (What did you do to get there). So, I would start out with what you have in the second to last paragraph, but shorter, that describes a lot of your motivation and aspiration: your primary research interest in semi-supervised learning for social media, such as exploring TWCNB, Bayesian SVM and clustering techniques. If you're applying for the pHD program, explicitly state that so they can give your statement to the right readers. Make sure to state your goal for the program is (it's not just about learning or exploring, but it's also about solve *something* using machine learning with your potential research). Continuing going into the main body, I would structure with the most relevant or most recent experience first, instead of chronological. It's because most readers will scan for relevant information before they read in details your statement (remember, because they have to read thousands of these applications). Have the most important stuff laid out first will increasing your chance of catching attention. Seems like you have the following: 1 low cost navigational aid for the blind that costs less than $5 2 slitherlink solver 3 interning under Prof. G. Sivakumar at the Formal Verification lab, IIT Bombay to investigate group dynamics 4 predictive analytics based applications at Goldman Sachs 5 SVM classifiers to categorize malicious users on Twitter And from my first glance, 5 and 3 are most relevant since those are research project and you worked with professors in academia. Then 4 is next because of the complexity of the project. You could extrapolate strong on those ones, and include 1 and 2 in the end if you feel that those will justify your potential as a graduate student. If you know the names of researchers or groups you are interested in, mention them at some point and how they're tied to your aspiration. Overall, I think you have some strong experience in ML, and I think you stand a high chance. Good luck with your application!!

I've done a lot of work with wireless energy research, and currently working in industry on the next wearable device generation. Really cool stuff. I have a lot to say about wearable computing, and there is a great chance I could get into my school of choice (University of Washington - Seattle), plus all my letters of recommendations come from that field. However, one of the reasons that I want to go back to graduate school is because I have always wanted to build scientific visualization software to be able to engage a broader public with research (graphics has been a great tool for story-telling, just look at the popularity of Cosmos by Neil deGrasse Tyson). They also have a program of that at UW. Unfortunately, this has been a hobby, and not at all aligned with my professional experience. In my SOP, should I go with my true interest in visualization, or go with the highest chance of success? Since I don't have to declare a focus just yet while doing my master, I don't think it would hurt much either way, but it is quite difficult to justify my reason for leaving industry to come back to academia. Just wonder if any of you guys out there running into a similar situation. And good luck to yall applying for next school year!

I'm currently sending mine out to friends, professor and other grads for reviews (going to upload mine on here soon too for feedback), but ASAIK, this is still early on to start with SOP. I just think the process of getting feedback would take sometime, and also I'm personalizing mine for each program I'm applying to so effectively that could take longer.