newms

Did any give you funding?

I really hope it's not what we all fear and that this is just a false alarm. I really hope so. Ever heard of Randy Pausch? Not a graduate student, but a famous CS prof that was diagnosed with cancer - his 'Last Lecture' is pretty inspiring.

Don't worry about it - they wouldn't have made you an offer if they didn't have your materials to review. Schools can be really bad at updating their status websites. If your fears are realized, and they are in fact missing something (as unlikely as it is) then they would ask you for it rather than withdraw the offer they've made to you.

I think you'd have a decent shot at those schools. Remember though, that MIT, Stanford and CMU are very competitive so even though your profile might be good, it would still be hard to get in. I'm in CS and not in EE, so maybe someone else in EE could give you better advice. Good luck!

Another thing you could do to make sure you'll get the most out of the visit is to read up on a few profs' research and have a couple questions that you can ask them while you get a chance to talk with them. It's good to read up a little before talking with a prof, because if you ask a prof about their research in general, they will probably take up all of the conversation describing their research You got it down pat, except to say Have fun!

I found the Princeton Review's book to be pretty good, I haven't seen the Barron's book so I can't compare the two.

machine gun

solar power

Yeah, and I almost went through one a couple weeks ago before I was diverted by the TSA agent to the regular pat down line. I guess it's better to have a lock like that since you wouldn't want them to cut off your lock, but I'm also guessing that situations in which they'd cut off your lock are pretty rare.

total surrender

Looks interesting, but how often does the TSA break into luggages? I've traveled to the US several times since 9/11 and had no issues with having padlocks on my luggages. Although it may be better to have this lock than end up with your luggage having the padlock cut off.

Remember that it's the quality of your research that will make or break you in your career, not the name of the school you got your degree from. At UMD you should (I'm not particularly familiar with UMD, but I know it's a good CS school) be able to have the resources needed in order to successfully complete your degree and pursue your research interests. If it's a funded offer you have from UMD and the research there fits well with your interests, then that would be the option I would choose. Remember also that f you were to apply to the top 4 schools in the future, there would be somewhere at best around a 20% chance that you'd get into any of them since they get so many applications - MIT had 3000 applications this year and I'm sure Stanford, CMU and Berkeley each get >1000 applications as well.

UMD (College Park, right?) is a top 15 CS school and has a very good computer vision group. Go for it.

Congratulations! It's a lot better to go to a place that's great and that wants you as much as you want to go there. Don't waste your time with programs that just string you along and play with your heart. I feel like I'm giving relationship advice here...

nuclear war

The April 15th deadline is actually for funded offers from schools that sign on to the Council of Graduate Schools Resolution here: http://www.cgsnet.org/?tabid=201 I don't think it differentiates between PhD and Masters offers, but most funding offers are at the PhD level. There's a .pdf document at the link above with all the signatories of the April 15 deadline, so you can see if your school is a signatory.

I emailed about 10. The interesting thing is that my main PoI at the school I'll be attending, while he wants me in his group and is likely to be my adviser, didn't respond to my initial email. So you never know.

ticking bomb

The most important thing that adcomms evaluate about you is your potential to do research at their grad school. So the fact that you have 3 REUs and 1 published paper will stand out for adcomms. I think this is much more important than the relative rigor of your undergraduate program. And you're right, I think you're doing pretty well so far, but keep in mind that admissions at the very top schools can be a crap shoot, since there are so many applicants - so don't just apply to the very top schools. Good luck in your journey!

I'm not in your field, so someone else in your field could give more specific advice. But from what I've seen generally, when a school (especially a top tier school) says that they don't require the subject GRE, but recommend it, then you don't need to take the test if you have an otherwise strong profile. And you seem to have a strong profile, especially with your potential publication(s). Would they be in a famous journal or conference? Often times, the subject GRE is used by schools to determine an applicant's ability in the field if they have some weakness or uncertainty in their application - such as a low GPA or if they are from an unknown school. I'm assuming that those concerns wouldn't apply to you - is that a fair assumption? Another thing to take into consideration, is that you may end up applying to a school that does require the subject GRE, since it's always a good strategy to apply to a couple lesser ranked schools that would be a good fit for you. So it might be good to take the subject test to have the scores handy in case you do end up needing them. Plus, if you do take the test, and do well on it, then that would only help your application to the top tier schools. Good luck on your journey!

Yes it's possible to do so without consequence before April 15 - but keep in mind that you might be burning bridges with future colleagues as it will be frowned upon. After April 15 (assuming that it's a funded offer), you would have to get released from the first commitment in order to go to another school.

dream deferred

tenured teacher

Ace, Don't look so much at the ranking. Instead focus on how good a fit the departments are for your research interests as well as for your future goals. Where do graduates at each place end up? Do they get good jobs after finishing the PhD? You want to choose the school that's ultimately going to give you the better chance at being a success in your graduate school career, i.e at which one would you have a better adviser relationship? Which school gives you the better chance of doing quality research and getting published? Which gives you the better options after graduation? So once the funding is enough to make ends meet at both places, choose the school that ultimately gives you the best chance at succeeding,