SANDIEGO

That's a pretty good profile for MS in Canada IMO, I'd say you have a decent shot for the listed universities. Those are all among the best CS schools in Canada, so I hope you have a few backup universities as well..

I second Cambridge. Georgia Tech is probably a top 10 in the states, UBC and McGill are both top 5-10 in Canada, but you're looking at Cambridge which is arguably a top 5-10 in the world. Not to say that you should be basing your decisions on reputation alone, but the gap here is significant.

Chinese professors tend towards Chinese students probably because there's some inherent cultural understanding, communication in native tongue, etc. It just removes (or mitigates to some extent) a few of the unknown variables that come with accepting grad students. Internationals seem to tend to cluster around certain locales in the U.S. where there are good schools/jobs (e.g. California as a whole, NYC).

Yes, it can help substantially. You'll be bringing industry skills that others won't have and experience with working under pressure with deadlines. Depending on the specific industry experience you have, it can be anything from a tiny boost to being equivalent to research experience.

Stanford doesn't fund but students can find RAships, Princeton provides funding through TAships, other schools will make rare exceptions for individuals (e.g. fellowships). Typically funding for masters is extraordinarily rare.

It means you were insufficient for entry into the PhD program (relative to other applicants who made it in) but someone they would accept into their masters program (whose threshold for acceptance is higher). Some schools explicitly separate their PhD and masters streams for explicitly this reason, they don't want the masters program perceived as some watered down version for people who couldn't get into the PhD program (so you only apply to PhD or masters directly, not both, and there is no cross-over). Schools who don't fund their masters students typically want their masters programs full, since self-funded students means cheap(er) labor.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_college_laboratories_conducting_basic_defense_research

Actually there is a HUGE difference in "cachet", or even global recognition. UBC is well known here in the states while Western is virtually unheard of. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Western_Ontario#Reputation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_British_Columbia#Reputation Given that this is the school that the OP wants to attend, feels that their fit is better with, has some degree of funding, AND has a leg up in reputation, I think it's preposterous advice. You can always quote people who end up hating their "dream school" or "dream professor", but this would be like taking the anecdotes from people who dropped out of school and were successful. By and large, your instinct and gut will be correct in deciding on a school. Obviously, you might end up hating it, but it's a risk regardless of what school you take, and you're mitigating it to some degree by taking the choice you feel is the better one at this point in time based on the research you've done. Good luck, hope this helps with your decision.

I disagree completely. UBC > Western in both reputation and fit in this case. You will end up doing better work at UBC in any case since that's where you want to attend and has your dream professor (i.e. you have a higher likelihood of producing higher quality publications). The reputation will also come into play regardless of what you decide to do next (i.e. apply for PhD programs). You will find funding if you are committed to doing so, TAships and RAships are there if you are willing to put in the up front work of asking around and following up on leads. Like I said, only pick the other option if going to UBC kneecaps you so hard that you have to be miserable for the next few years of your life (which I doubt is the case).

Hi fwoomp, CMU is great! I would take it over UIUC, Georgia Tech and John Hopkins. Most masters programs in CS are considered terminal programs, even ones with research components. If you end up getting accepted to Stanford, you'll find that their MS is course based as well, unless you find an RAship on your own time. If you want to leave the option of a PhD open, it'll be in your best interest to get some research experience. It doesn't have to be in the form of a thesis, get involved with a professor, ask about RAships, do some work over the summer etc.

16,000 isn't absolutely awful.. except Vancouver is incredibly expensive. I think you could save some money if you were willing to live in less expensive locales (Burnaby?) and use public transportation (I'm not sure what the cost of student housing there is). But on the upside, Vancouver is mostly an incredible city to experience, even if you don't have a lot to spend (Stanley Park, Grouse Mountain, Whistler, etc.). I would pick UBC for reputation/professor/city, and I'd pick Western if I was in some kind of a desperate financial situation. Can you ask your parents for help if the scholarship falls through?

So, this essay is bad, but would definitely not get anything as low as a 2. Take a look at the percentiles for analytical writing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graduate_Record_Examinations#Analytical_writing_section Analytical Writing score Writing % Below 6 99 5.5 96 5 92 4.5 73 4 49 3.5 30 3 11 2.5 6 2 1 1.5 1 1 1 0.5 1 There is simply no way this essay is in the bottom 1% of the essay submitted. A score of 3-3.5 is much more likely. This isn't to say that the points that AnthonyGose rose are invalid, they're good, but the grade itself is not going to be a 1-1.5.

There's nothing really wrong with his question imo. He's asking about the general brand recognizability of Harvard vs. the less recognizable (in general, but with higher dept. recognizability) brand of CMU, it's a legitimate concern (even if the choice is more obvious to some of us).

This is Computer Science, not Mechanical Engineering. So yeah, duh.

Personally I would go with funding. I also turned down name brand (Stanford) in favor of funding. I don't regret doing so. It also looks good on a cv/sounds great when you can tell people you paid nothing for your masters.