newms

Congrats on the invite and all the best at the interview weekend. So the prof's call was an informal interview, then you have the interview weekend?

<br><br>I'm applying to McGill as well, but Minerva still says they haven't received/processed my documents or letters yet - I sent in my documents by courier as well but it had to be delivered on Jan 4 because McGill was closed for the holidays. I'm guess the period they were closed for is the reason for the delay, or perhaps they just take a while to update Minerva. <br>

It is unfair. I remember someone had a similar situation last year when the school was trying to figure out if they would come before they offered admission. Basically if I remember correctly, the person told the school diplomatically that they couldn't answer a hypothetical and needed to actually have an offer before they would respond to it. That may be the way to go, since that prof is only giving his word at this time (which may be good, but its not on paper). If you really wanted my opinion, personally this situation would make me look less favorably on this school and prof, because profs push for applicants all the time and the applicant chooses some where else to go. It's part of this weird pseudo mating dance that is called applying to grad school.

I don't think that it's necessarily a question of one applicant being better than another. I think it may have to do with the admissions committees having questions about the persons they want to interview. I'm guessing that if they get an applicant they like with strong recommendations from well-known profs then they would probably just take them without an interview, but if there are things that they are not clear about in a SoP or if they are not familiar with the LoR writers then they may want to talk with the applicant. That's just my guess though.

apple cider

summer solstice

Now that the first Computer Science Fall 2011 admit has been added to the GradCafe's survey (Congrats to whoever got into UIUC today!) I thought it would be good to have a thread where we can help each other decide which would be a good place to go to (fingers crossed that we get multiple admits).

Yes, it's usually a generic letter, but actually submitting it might take a few minutes, since there is sometimes a some questions on an online form that the LoR writers have to answer.

Definitely sounds like a potential interview. Make sure you review your SoP and the other stuff in you application so that you will be prepared for any questions he might ask. Also, be prepared with a couple questions you could ask him about his lab and research. All the best!

Roger Dodger

mind control

My total was about $1800 for 10 schools.

national stadium

The April 15th deadline is about having a framework for when accepted offers are considered binding. You have until then to accept an offer from any University that is part of the Council of Graduate Schools resolution here. If you have agreed to an acceptance, then after April 15 it is seen as binding.

rock formation

Yeah, I know that feeling, but at least for me I haven't seen any Computer Science results yet on the survey page. I'm looking forward to February and not expecting to hear anything at all this month, so that helps a bit.

Verbal GRE is not very important at all for CS as long as the score isn't terrible, and even then it might not be a problem. Your score is plenty good enough.

I think you've got a very good chance of being admitted. The most important thing that top schools consider is you research experience and research potential - and you have strong research experience. Your stats are also good, so I would expect that you should have a pretty good chance at top schools. Of course, they only accept 10% or less of applicants (U Mich accepts around 15%) so many qualified applicants will not be accepted. I think you should be able to get into at least a few of those schools. Best of luck!

You're applying for Fall 2012 right? If so I would strongly encourage you to get good research experience this year. Toronto is considered like a top 10 US program for CS and the MS is their entrance program, so getting into their MS there is comparable to getting into a PhD program at a top 10 school in the US. I applied there last year and didn't get in, and if you look at the survey results on this site from last year, you will see many rejections for Toronto CS MS. So it's very hard to get into that program - you will need good research experience. If you can get that research experience this year and hopefully get a paper published, then I say go for it. If not, it will be very unlikely that you would get admitted.

Many people get admits without getting interviewed at all. Even if they only intend to have one round of interviews, it is possible that they will still have spaces available after they admit people - not everyone who gets admitted will be coming, so they may have another round of admits later in the season. Also, it is entirely possible that they will have a wait list even later in the season, so there are still opportunities to get admitted, even if they only plan on having one round of interviews.

air jamaica

lunch box

earth hour

I'm not in your field but I your stats are good and you should have a decent shot at a top program. Use the summer to intern as you say, or try to use it to get some research experience and you should be in a pretty good place come application season later in the year. Just make sure to apply to a mix of schools to increase your chances of admission. And 10 schools is not too much - I'm applying to 10 as well this year. Do make sure to give your LoR writers lots of notice though.

Congrats on your admit! Just let them know that you will need some time to make your decision and that you appreciate the offer. Schools know that applicants apply to many schools and have to ultimately make a choice based on a variety of factors. When you do make your choice however, and if it isn't that school, let them know ASAP so that they can offer your place to someone else if possible.