herring

I was also a CS major / math minor at a tiny LAC.. I had a worse GPA than you, no publication record (but 2 research summers), and pretty unknown recommenders.

I was accepted by Wisc, GA Tech, CU Boulder .. all PhD
I was rejected by MIT, Brown, Illinois

I definitely think you're aiming too low. I don't think you'd make it to a T4 (unless you pub at a well-known conference), but you have a chance at most T20 schools, maybe aside from those smaller departments that get a disproportionately large number of applicants (i.e, the Ivies and Caltech).


If there's anything that will hold you back it's a lack of focus in your SoP. If you just write "I want to study algorithms for AI" nobody will really understand what you're trying to say because it's very vague, whereas if you say something like Machine Learning, Data Mining, Computer Vision or Control Theory then people will know exactly what you're talking about, and you can target the right professors. (Also, AI as a term/field is kind of out of fashion in the US, in favor of branches like Machine Learning or HCI)

Also, "graph theory" is a very vague (unless you're in pure math). Computer Scientists are more likely to understand you if you frame it more-- examples include high performance graph analysis, graph clustering for machine learning / spectral graph theory, games on graphs, ...

You're interested in parallel computing and PL? Sarkar at Rice is one of the best in that area.
On your list Purdue is probably the only other contender--

I know that the HPC-type people at Wisconsin (i.e Livny, Miller) are no longer doing anything particularly exciting (outside from Wisconsin's amazing architecture group).
UMass and Northwestern I don't hear much about.

Is it wrong to dismiss a program based on its lack of selectivity?

I was lucky to get acceptances at two very good programs. I have a classmate who also go accepted into the same university in an unrelated field (but still one they are very highly ranked for). The problem is that I do not believe this classmate is qualified at all; for example, he would routinely struggle with homework with classes in his major, and would always ask me if he could copy mine.

I feel like I'm being completely snobby, but the fact he got in really shakes my faith in the program's reputation. Am I wrong in thinking like this?