DeleteMePlease

Yes, if you don't study for credit or work for money during that time you can just do a visa waiver as Arcanen already hinted.

Do you actually have to borrow the money? Wouldn't a letter from your parents, that they cover your expenses in an emergency be enough? I know it was for my J-1 visa.

Yeah but at my school it sometimes takes one or two months until we receive the scores of our tests... I wonder what would happen if i failed one the tests and already attend a school in the US.... However, Ive never failed a test in my school so this is not very likely. But I guess If you do your bachelors thesis in the last semester and not much else it should be fine.

Hey All, so here is the thing. I will receive my Bachelor in Computer Science from a University in Germany next year. So I want to apply for a grad school in Fall 2014. However, the german fall semester starts in October. Most American schools seem to start in September. Do you think its a problem that I (formally) wont have my bachelors degree yet? Lectures end by the end of july so those would not overlap. Thanks!

So I was thinking about staying at Block 1949. Any experience with these apartments?

My personal opinion is that the Subject test is only important if you dont have a strong CS background already. So if CS was not your major or you didn't do any work or research in CS it might help. However, I am just a student myself. I could be wrong here. I will not take the GRE Subject Test, especially because as you said CS one was abolished. Also, I already took a lot of CS courses here in Germany and did some research. Also think about whether you've enough time to study for the test. Maybe it would be better studying a little more for the general test?

Any suggestions on schools? Should I just go after the "Systems" rankings?

Hi, I am visiting ASU as an intern from August to October. Any tips for short-term leases? Thanks!

Yes that is basically what I thought too. Maybe the best for me would be to choose a school that has a good systems/networking background and isn't that small. So I may easier find an adviser that lets me research in that field. I am extremely interested in persistent online worlds with many (10.000+) players. I think such kind of distributed systems are a little different to lets say web servers, as there is a lot of data that needs to be synchronized. I also found some papers on peer to peer online games, but not much...

Thanks for the tip. But those schools seem to focus on game design and AI. However, my interests are more towards development of (mulitplayer)game servers... Not sure if it would be more wise for me to go to a school that has a focus on networks and (distributed)systems.

Hi, I am a German Student too. About the GPA: As far as I understand the German "gut" (2.0) is more or less GPA of 4.0. As students in Germany with 1.0 are very rare (are there any?), and in the US and Canada it is possible to have a GPA4.0. About the 3 year bachelor: Keep in mind that the American bachelor can be compared partially to German "Kollegstufe". However, in Quebec there is something like the Kollegestufe in the form of the CEGEP Colleges, not sure how the requirements are over there. Most of the universities I looked at state "4-year bachelor or an equivalent degree". So, a German 3-year bachelor should be fine. BUT, there are not only 3 year bachelors in Germany! Mine is 3.5 years (210 Credits). Where to apply to: Don't think about admission chances that much. Think about what kind of research or subfield interests you. And then only apply to schools you see yourself at. Imo it does not make sense to apply to "safety schools" that you do not want to go to. A last note: You can always ask if you fullfill the admission requirements, if you want to be on the safe side. Hope I could help!

Hey Guys, I again need some little help looking for the right gradschool. My research background is in comptuer networking, especially in peer to peer networks. But I am also very interested in game development. Especially middlewares/engines that power massive mulitplayer worlds. I was wondering if there are any (good) school that do research in this area. I know there are many that do research in distributed systems or peer to peer networking, which would also be fine for me, but I don't find any that do research in this particular subfield. Maybe you guys can help me? Thanks!

Did you apply for fall semester? Normally in Germany you enroll in August or sometimes even in September for the fall semester.

If you are worried about getting a work visa, there is something called the "Blue Card" in Europe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Card_(European_Union) However, keep in mind that Switzerland is NOT a member of the European Union.

Thats what I often read too. I am especially wondering about schools that do not ask for a GRE (e.g. MIT). How will the GPA cutoff work for international students?

Keep in mind that the cost of living in Switzerland is much higher than in the US (or other parts of Europe). On the other hand the salaries are also higher I don't know about Switzerland, but here in Germany it is very easy to find a job after Graduation. The companies are so desperatly looking for employee that it is often the case that you don't have to apply for a job but the company directly contacts you. I don't have a reference for this but I remember a professor saying that 90%+ of the students find a job in less than two weeks after graduation. The average entrance salery is around 45.000 euro. But all those numbers are for B.Sc. graduates. I would suppose it looks even better for people with a masters degree.

Just out of curiosity. What is the difference between MS and MSC?

Has anybody here applied from outside the US and converted their GPA using this website/company? http://www.foreigncredits.com/Resources/GPA-Calculator/ Basically they say a German B- is equal to a GPA of 4.0. Can this be correct? I know that in Germany it is very difficult to get an A (especially in College), still I am a little shocked, because my resulting GPA would be very high.

Did anybody buy the "Engineering School Compass Access"? Is it worth 30 bucks?

And you still got into CMU? Was it just because of the work experience or do you also have a good GPA/GRE?

Hey Guys, I am a German Student thinking about doing my Ph.D in the US. But as I don't know much about American Colleges and Cities I have a hard time choosing the ones I will apply to. I don't really care about rankings or location of the college that much. More important for me is the research I will do. As I am really interested in networking especially peer to peer streaming, I am looking for colleges that are strong in that area. Any recommendations? Additionally I would like to add that I am a Linux and C++ guy. So I would not like to end up with an advisor/school that forces me to use Windows or some VM/Scripting language. Thanks for your help!

Well I am just wondering how important the reputation of the professor/school really is. In the end, I would suppose a strong letter of recommendation from that professor way more important. Am I wrong? Also I think it may be a little bit easier to make a good impression at ASU compared to a Top10 school. Maybe I am also wrong with that.

Hey Guys, I am a CS student from a small university in Germany. I am thinking about appling for CS Ph.D in the US for fall 2014. In this summer I will visit Arizona State University for a research internship. I am interested in networking so my professor suggested me I maybe should apply for an internship at UIUC as their research in that area has much better reputation. So, I am wondering what difference it would make where I spend my summer research internship. Will it harm my chances to get into a good school if I "just" spend my summer at ASU? Or do you think it is more important what research work I do during my time in the US? Thanks for your help.