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It is a good idea to let the profs who you've been in contact with know that you have applied. That way, they will be reminded to look out for your application. I haven't heard about sending your application to the profs in a .pdf. It is generally not advised to send unsolicited attachments to profs during the application process, but I guess if you send it after you have applied and let them know that you're not expecting them to reply to it but have just attached it for their convenience, then it should be ok. I fear some profs might not appreciate it though, and insist that the application go through the official channels.

Thanks for your reply. I'm thinking that the references I made do not necessarily need to be cited since they are pretty well known in the field and certainly the PoI would know exactly what I'm referring. I've also heard of putting the SoP in sections to make for easy reading by the adcomm, but what I am going to do is to bold the important points, such as my interests and profs I'm interested in working with.

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I think you can still send it, but I don't know how much it will help you though. Generally the GRE isn't very highly thought of by top schools and when they say that they don't require it, I'm guessing there's a pretty good chance they won't even look at it or consider it.

Your GPA wouldn't necessarily keep you out of a 'good' program. If by 'good' you mean a top-10 school, then it will be difficult, but there are many good programs outside of the top 10, say top 20 or even top 50. That said, you seem to be unsure of what it is you want to do - that might cause you more problems than your lowish GPA. A PhD program will expect that you have well defined research interests and the adcomms may have questions about why you switched to do a law degree only to leave the law program. As for doing a Master's, if you want to do research and get a PhD ultimately, then apply straight for the PhD. You could hedge your bets and apply to a few Master's programs, but there isn't usually much funding available for Master's students. GRE scores aren't that important among all the things that make up your application (such as your SoP, and your letters), and the only part of the GRE likely to have much impact is your quantitative score. Many engineering applicants score a perfect 800 in the quantitative GRE, so the closer you can get to that, the better.

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I think you could look at a few top 20 schools, as well as a few top 30-40 schools. It's always best to apply to a range of schools since getting into top schools is hard. Have you decided whether you want to focus on Architecture or Systems? Also, do you have any research experience? If you go with Architecture, I think you could focus on your work with the IR guided vehicle and possibly the buzzer system - anything that could show your prowess in electronics (since you say you have no work in computer architecture). The other projects you worked on are interesting too, but I'm thinking the skills you used on those projects *may* be transferable if you want to get into computer architecture. Is it a research based degree that you are interested in or a professional MS? I ask because if its a research based degree, you should consider applying for the PhD since there is more funding available for PhD students, but be aware that profs will expect you to have well defined research interests if you are applying for the PhD. As I said before, I don't know too much about which schools are strong in Architecture and systems/compilers so I'm not sure which schools are good in those areas.

Thanks. PM sent.

I'm not entirely sure about your field, but while applicants in the sciences are expected to have a pretty good quant score, the GRE isn't a particularly important part of your application. I think admissions committees will be much more interested in your 2 publications than your GRE score. That said, for peace of mind, it might make sense to do over the GRE and try to get your quant to at least 700 and there is still time to do that this application season, so your 640 should not stop you from applying to PhD programs.

Thanks. I sent you a PM.

I have a draft SoP that still needs refining, and I would greatly appreciate it if someone could give me a second opinion on what I have so far. Please reply to this thread if you're interested.

I wonder how I'll fit in at grad school too since I'm not the socially gregarious type either. I suspect quite a lot of academics aren't particularly socially adept so I'm quite sure that there are probably lots of people at your school who feel the same way you do. Since your group is small, perhaps you can look for opportunities to mingle (I know we academic types don't mingle very well, but you have to try) with others in your department - does the department have social events? Outside of your department, some schools have events for grad students only, and those seem to be a good opportunity to make friends with people outside your immediate circle. In any case, it's going to require you to make an effort, so just look for any opportunities you can find to meet new people who might have similar interests or hobbies as you. Perhaps you can try a new hobby that you've always wanted to try but didnt have the opportunity, and meet new friends in the process.

I agree with eucalyptus. I don't think it would hurt, it was 2 years ago right? So I don't think it would make you look unfocused and it is interesting and shows that you can do research even if it is unrelated to what you are doing now.

I think you have a fair chance of getting in to Stanford. As you know, they'll be most interested in your research experience on your application. A publication would have been great, but you seem to have some pretty good research experience. A really good SoP and some good recommendation letters will help your app a lot.

No. I think profs realize that there can be different standards from different countries in terms of what constitutes an 'acceptable' level of praise and what is over the top. What they are going to be looking for is not how effusive the LoR is, but rather what the writers say about your research potential (if its a research based program you are applying to) or your ability to do well in grad school and beyond.

I think I'd be so excited about the upcoming semester I couldn't help but think about it

In putting together my SoP (SoPs really, since I'm tailoring them to the schools I am applying to), I mention results from specific papers and I am wondering if I should have the references at the end of my SoP. I haven't seen this in any sample SoPs I've come across and I'm wondering what would be the best way of handling this. Thanks in advance for any help.

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