explorer-c

Hi guys, August is just a few weeks away and I've been trying to search for a suitable flight to the US. I'll be going to Atlanta and so far almost all the airlines that I want will have a connecting flight from either Chicago or JFK. So my question is, how long does it take to pass the immigration service and transfer to the next flight? Are 2-3 hours space enough? Any information on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Yes if that 1 prof would vouch for you and send a personal email/phone one of the professors in your target university.

I have yet to see a school that states CS GRE as a requirement. I did my undergrad outside US and got into several top schools without taking the CS GRE.

I'm enjoying it while it last. Go out whenever I want. Hanging out with friends, staying out late, clubbing, etc. the kind of things that I probably wouldn't be able to do as freely once I became a grad student.

Generally all the top 10 univ are considered top universities and all of them has around 10% or less admission rate for PhD students. So that means, while UIUC and Gatech might be easier to get into than MIT (which is always a crap shoot), they're still pretty hard to get into. Umich is just outside the top 10 and I believe also has a low admission rate for PhD (~15% I think, still not an easy university by any measure). So again, plan your applications accordingly. Just FYI, the average GPA for the accepted PhD students at the top 10 schools always hover around 3.7-3.8, and they also have plenty of research experience on top of that. That's why even a 4.0 GPA is not a guarantee for admission at any of those schools.

I didn't know UNC offers fully funded masters. Financially, do they give you the same deal like the PhD students?

The two are perfectly comparable with UMich probably slightly better for CS. Since you're only going for masters, I'd say choose more based on the location.

Aren't you supposed to have given decision to your other schools by this point though?

Go to San Francisco for a conference in June. The timing kinda sucks though because it's exactly in the middle of the world cup, but I pretty much have to come and present my paper. Anybody else going to CVPR? Maybe we can hang around to watch some football match together.

You still have time until the end of this year though. So if you can find a research position in a university and managed to publish I think it would be a significant boost for your application. Anyway, good luck! It's definitely a tough process. Also, definitely apply to more than just 1 university because even if you have a perfect profile, there's no guarantee that you'd get in.

To be honest there's nothing that particularly stands out from your application to warrant an admission to Software Engineering PhD at one of the top CS dept in the US. Sorry if it sounds harsh, but I'm just trying to be blunt here. 3.75 is not that high of a GPA for an MS, and it's not from a top tier university either. Your research credential is also average for an applicant with an MS. I think your best chance is to publish more and have someone really famous in Software Engineering write a glowing LoR for you.

Depends on what your field is, but in most areas like vision, robotics, HCI, theory, etc gatech wins. But you're a master student, so I'd say research is less important. If i were you I'd choose more based on the location because the two universities are not that far apart in ranking (Gatech ~9-10 UNC ~20-25)

Depends on what you want to do. For Graphics definitely Brown, for PL/Systems definitely UWisc.

How could I forgot UMD. Azriel Rosenfeld, the godfather of computer vision was there. He was deceased half a decade ago but UMD is still one of the best for computer vision.

I'd say not that many people (relatively speaking) in the computer vision community work in SLAM. SLAM is more popular among robotics community, so I think you should try to focus more on finding a department with excellent robotics program instead of computer vision (because the two don't necessarily coincide). Having said that, of course the best option for you is to go with departments that are good in both like CMU, Stanford, MIT, Gatech. Unfortunately I think outside the top 10 it'd be harder to find good robotics program because robotics is rather resource heavy ($$$) compared to just pure computer vision research. Anyway, here's a partial list of what I think to be a good computer vision program outside the top 10 and Oxbridge. Europe: - ETH Zurich - Lund University, Sweden - University College London - MPI Germany USA: - Caltech - UCSD - UCLA - Harvard - NYU - Columbia I don't know which one among those have people working in SLAM, I'm not that familiar with robotics. But I know for sure that Caltech's robotics program is one of the best in the world.

Both are neck and neck and I'm sure nobody that is familiar with dsp would tell you otherwise. If you're doing PhD then I'd say go with the fit, but since you're doing masters, from an academic standpoint it honestly wouldn't matter which one you choose. For me, location is just as important. They're located in two very different areas. If you like living in a small suburb, go with UIUC; if you like living in big metropolitan city, go with Gatech. If you like snow, go north, otherwise go south. Etc. For what it's worth, I was faced with the same choice (but different program, CS PhD for me) and I go with Gatech because it's better fit for me and I prefer living in Atlanta compared to Urbana-Champaign.

I'm also in Computer Vision. Take it for what it's worth but I definitely have heard more about UMD compared to Purdue.

It's as simple as this: If you know how to maintain a computer, go for PC; there's no reason to go for a Mac. Otherwise, go for a Mac.

A friend of mine who had his MS in CS from Stanford especially highlighted two things. One is the excellent networking opportunities at Stanford; second is the difficulty in getting access to the professors there. Compared to the time when he was an undergrad at CMU, the professors at Stanford are relatively difficult to get in touch with. I imagine Princeton with its smaller department would be more like CMU. Add to the fact that you have to pay to go to Stanford, that seems like a no brainer for me.

It did change, but about a week late from the official email notification from them.

Nope. PhD in CS for me.

If you don't like your current programs, then by all means reapply next year. But if you want funding I suggest that you still reapply for a PhD rather than master because a funded MS is very rare. In fact, I don't know any other top program other than Princeton that offers funding for an MS student.

I know a guy there who was able to find a faculty to work with while he was still an MS student. He later went on to do PhD under different faculty. So I think you should be fine.

I've narrowed it down to UIUC and Gatech. Finally choose Gatech because it's better fit and just as importantly, better location.

I applied to Stanford PhD, they offered me MSCS without funding. I've a principle of not taking unfunded offer so I'm not going to take it. Besides, fortunately I already have other offers. Stats: International, 3.3 overall 3.5 major GPA, 800/570/4 GRE (the least important stat I think), 2 publications with 1 of them as a first author in the best conference in my field. As you can see from the stats it's clear that my research credential is the factor that got me in. Anyway, don't feel bad for yourself. Way too many people applied to Stanford (or other top 10 programs, for that matter) so it's always a crapshoot. I hope you applied to other top 10 programs. I honestly believe they're just as good, so don't worry about not getting accepted to Stanford.