shr0d1nger

I am not so sure if they will even look at my application for PhD and I am not so sure about going for PhD too. I plan to do MS so that they take me seriously for phd but mostly I will join ML division of a company upon graduation. I don't want to do it from india because if I don't get into Google/MSR I'll be at the same situation as a software dev in some tech company where I will be if I just keep working for two years. So I am looking for any US MS programs that may consider me. Thanks.

Dear All! I have done my B.Tech in Metallurgy from IIT Kharagpur( 8.1 cg). I planned to go for MS in operations research but that didn't happen (GRE: 329 with 169 quant; TOEFL 108; Year 2012). After graduation(2013), I joined a financial tech company as a software developer where I supported their C++ product, then I switched to a quant dev role in a bank where I work in C++ to create in-house applications and do excel work. I have one paper in a elsevier journal on machine learning (2011). My primary interest lies in the same domain. Should I apply in this field given fierce competition?Or should I opt for less favoured ones? Or maybe go for HCI? Reco: One from the prof under whom I did the paper, one from my manager(maybe) I have worked mainly in C++, have some experience with web technologies. I have no UG coursework in CS apart from introductory one in first year; I have completed Algo I, II in Coursera and Machine Learning in both coursera and edx - thats it. Now I have a wish of doing MS in CS from one of the top schools in US. I have to give toefl again. Any suggestions on the schools that might consider me given my background? Thank you very much