newms

Definitely upload a copy, if they give the option to do so. That way they'll have your scores no matter what. Perhaps you could also wait a week and then send a friendly email to the admissions people if you haven't seen your application page change yet. It could be that they just haven't got around to updating the application pages yet. One school I applied to last year didn't update the application page until several weeks after the deadline.

I think most, if not all grad students go through this at some point. I always like to look back at this article which talks about how important it is to feel stupid/inadequate in science (and I believe this is applicable to other fields) and to be able to deal with that feeling.

I agree with everyone else. Prof 2 is your best bet. A letter that speaks (positively) about your research potential is so much better than a letter from a prof who can only say you did well in class.

About $1500 - $2000 in my case, basically getting furniture, appliances/ phone and deposits on utility services. That didn't include rent which I had paid before.

Yeah, I don't think the group is too big. My group as a starting CS Phd student has 6 students. We have the weekly group meetings, but we also meet one on one with our adviser once a week. Perhaps you could ask your adviser if you could check in once a week with him or so? As for a big group, I've heard of groups that can have 20 people or so with one adviser - I have no idea how they make it work.

You're absolutely sure about this? In some fields admission committees expect letters from people that can speak to your research potential from a supervisory point of view - i.e. they usually want to hear from a prof. So if I were you I would double check the requirements that the each of the schools you're applying to have for letters of recommendation.

Did you say bad project? Seriously though, I agree with Eigen. Have a talk with your adviser about the progress of your work. He or she should be the best person to give you advice on what you should do in this situation.

What area in CS are you interested in? That would help us to give you information on which schools might be of interest to you. Generally the best CS grad schools in Canada are Toronto, Waterloo, Alberta, UBC, McGill.

Thanks! I do plan on keeping a social life and the grad students here do go out for dinner, have movie nights etc, so even when it does get hectic, it's not all work.

Scary thought - I was talking with my advisor about this same thing -i.e. having a structured time for research and school work and he said that he didn't think it would be possible to get a PhD without your research work eventually basically consuming your life

Hey stackoverflow, I think you have a pretty good range of schools that you should definitely be competitive at. Your research experience looks pretty good, especially if it's in the areas you're interested in for grad school. I'm not exactly in your area so I can't really comment on the strengths of those programs in those areas, but I've also heard that UM-CP has a good program in the areas you're interested in, so perhaps you could also check out their program if you haven't already. If you can put together a strong SoP and if your letters speak well of your research potential (as expected) then I'd think you'd have a pretty good chance with most (if not all) of the schools on your list. Good luck!

I second zeb that you need to tell us about your research experience before we can really assist you. A word of caution though, most of those schools on your list are pretty hard to get into, so I wouldn't classify only CMU and UTA as ambitious.

Congratulations!

Hi Kimmo, If the school uses an online system for applications and letters then you shouldn't have anything to worry about as your letters would be matched in the system with your application. If your letters are being sent by mail, then the department (or grad school) would (or should) keep your letters as well as any other application material (such as GRE scores) and then match them with your application once it arrives. Of course, since this scenario is a manual process, there is always the possibility, no matter how small it is, that something could get lost, so it is always recommended that you, as the applicant, follow up and try to get confirmation (if possible) that your documents have been successfully received and paired with your application. Some schools will have a website where you can check to see if they've received your materials, in other cases you will probably have to email and/or call. It's best to follow up as soon as you know when something has been sent, rather than wait until close to the deadline, because at that time, departments will probably be so busy that they may not be able to respond to your queries. Good luck!

Yeah, I don't think it would raise questions, since in some cases, because of departmental policies, students may have to redo courses that they did as an undergraduate. I'm redoing a course I did as an undergraduate because it's a required course for my area of interest and I can't get a waiver because I did that course too long ago as an undergrad. So I don't think anyone any eyebrows will be raised because of you redoing a course.

Some programs might ask for a title (i.e. 'Statement of Purpose" or something like that) and your name/ID number at the top, but that usually goes in the header section (at least that's been my experience. Otherwise you don't need a title, like you would need a title for an essay. i'm not in your field, so requirements might be different for your field, but I don't think you need a title beyond something like 'Statement of Purpose' to identify the document. Keep in mind that many online application systems have strict word limits, so a title might not only be superfluous, but might also reduce the space you have to write about what really matters.

Your department might have a process where you could get a waiver for a class that you've already done in undergrad. If your department doesn't allow waivers or you're not able to get one, then by all means take the course if it's important for your desired study. However, you say that your area of research is not in OS, so I wouldn't take the course unless it either helps your research in some way, or it's required by the department that you do a course in software (for example). I don't think the fact that the course title is 'Introduction to.." will hurt you when you apply to PhD programs - after all it is a graduate level course and many 1st year graduate courses are similarly titled. What might be more of a concern is your rationale for doing that course. Choose courses that are related to your research interests in some way. That way you can tailor course projects so that they dovetail with your interests and will help you put together a strong application that shows your documented interest in your research area. As an alternative, perhaps you could look at courses outside your department that are related to your research interests somehow? Maybe you could speak with your academic advisor (if you have one) or the graduate secretary or even older graduate students in your department to see if there are better alternatives out there. If this course (even if it's not related to your research field) is the best option you have to take, then take it - the title won't hurt you.

I'm using Virgin Mobile's prepaid plan. I'm international too and would have needed to put down a huge deposit like Strangefox, if I were to get a contract phone. Virgin Mobile has $35, $45 and $55 monthly plans with unlimited data. They have a couple mid range Android phones that, while more expensive than what you would pay for with a contract plan, work out to be a lot cheaper in the long run, considering there's no contract involved and it's only $35 - $55 per month.

I think it's useful in that it's good place for people interested in your field to find you. What's good about it is that your page on there tends to show up high on search results, so it's a good way to put yourself online so that people interested in your work can find you.

As someone who is a new international student, one approach I think would work is check if they're settling well and offer to help if they need it. Also, they'll be looking to make friends as well, since they're in a new city in a new country and may not know many people (unless perhaps if there are other students from their country). So like Eigen suggested, invite them to do stuff outside of work and see how it goes.

Hey Strangefox, we'll have to show them our I-20 (in addition to the student visa) every time we enter the US, so we'll always have to carry it when we travel, so I don't think that would be relevant for only the first entry.