Anonymous Coward

Thanks for your helpful replies. CMU, MIT, Cornell and UMass are definitely excellent ML programs, but don't they seem like a stretch? I guess I'm not really sure of how selective top CS programs are, but I was assuming I should aim lower than the most selective tier. If so, what is the next tier of programs I should be applying to? It's good to know that not having taken core CS courses shouldn't hurt me too much. Thanks guys!

Sorry for double-posting this; wasn't sure which board to post it in. I'm already a grad student, in an interdisciplinary program that combines machine learning, neuroscience, computational linguistics, and experimental psychology. I've realized during my time here, though, that machine learning is my true passion, independent of cognitive applications, and unfortunately I feel that the machine learning faculty in my own department are too narrow in their focus. Also, my mother's health has deteriorated to the point where I would really like to return to the Northeast and help take care of her. Here are my stats: 2nd-year PhD student, GPA 3.93 ... the CS dept here is top 15, for what it's worth GRE: 800M/800V/4.5W Undergrad: Econ/Math major at Ivy, GPA 3.7 Publications: Second author on an article published in Science in the past year applying machine learning methods to neuroscientific data, second author on another paper in a very low-impact journal Grad Coursework: -two Foundations of AI courses in the CS department -Information Theory course in the EE department -Course on unsupervised learning/dimensionality reduction course in the CS department -Course on computational neurobiology -Course on semi-supervised learning -Currently taking convex optimization and stochastic processes courses Interests: Unsupervised learning, semantic modeling, neuroinformatics What sort of schools should I aim for in the Northeast? Would it be possible for me to switch into CS or do I need more foundational CS courses?

I'm already a grad student, in an interdisciplinary program that combines machine learning, neuroscience, computational linguistics, and experimental psychology. I've realized during my time here, though, that machine learning is my true passion, independent of cognitive applications, and unfortunately I feel that the machine learning faculty in my own department are too narrow in their focus. Also, my mother's health has deteriorated to the point where I would really like to return to the Northeast and help take care of her. Here are my stats: 2nd-year PhD student, GPA 3.93 ... the CS dept here is top 15, for what it's worth GRE: 800M/800V/4.5W Undergrad: Math/Economics major at Ivy, GPA 3.7 Publications: Second author on an article published in Science in the past year applying machine learning methods to neuroscientific data, second author on another paper in a very low-impact journal Grad Coursework: -two Foundations of AI courses in the CS department -Information Theory course in the EE department -Course on unsupervised learning/dimensionality reduction course in the CS department -Course on computational neurobiology -Course on semi-supervised learning -Currently taking convex optimization and stochastic processes courses Interests: Unsupervised learning, semantic modeling, neuroinformatics What sort of schools should I aim for in the Northeast? Would it be possible for me to switch into CS or do I need more foundational CS courses?

Rising Star, I appreciate your honest advice, but I think you're being a bit aggressive or hostile. Cliches aside, money can buy you time, and time can be the difference between finishing a dissertation on time or not, between getting your dissertation over the top or not. Not to mention, some of us come from working class backgrounds and have some responsibility for supporting our families. You misread my post. What I was saying was that I came to school A because I THOUGHT that I could integrate ideas and approaches and all that naive stuff, but at school C I would have direction and two concrete advisers. I think the more structured atmosphere would be more productive for me. Now, I'm getting pressure to start a project, but I don't have that structure and I don't have one or two people who could form a core of a thesis committee. A foot in the door is more desirable than no foot in a door, no? I'm certain I will not get very many credits to count toward my PhD either way. This is what I'm most concerned about. I've already told my advisor about my concerns and that I'm wondering if this is a good fit. He told me that when he was in grad school, some of his friends transferred in, and some transferred out, and that nobody would hold it against me. On the other hand, I really don't want to be seen as a flake by the people at School C. Is that really unavoidable if I try to apply this year? It just seems like there aren't that many opportunities here for summer positions.

Great advice, but I just want to make sure people see that my situation is a bit different from this. Yes, my program hands out MS's after a thesis in the second year, but it is strictly a PhD program. Nobody is admitted only for an MS (of course, some people do drop out with the MS, but that is highly discouraged) Yes! I discussed my concerns a bit with my graduate advisor yesterday, and this came out as the rationale for the pressure. It still bode well for this program if people have such trouble getting degrees or coming up with dissertations, though..

No, I assumed (foolishly) that summer funding would be easier to obtain (their fact sheet even had a range for summer funding, that did not include $0). With summer funding, the difference between the two schools would be less than $2,000/year. Without it, the difference is $6,000. That's not trivial to me. I agree. What I am saying is that I had a pretty naive and foolish idea that not being committed to a project, as well as having a wide range of different researchers with divergent interests around, was desirable and good in graduate school. I thought I could spend my first few years integrating diverse inputs from many different research approaches to come up with a project. Only after coming here did I realize that getting to work with a professor or two right away is the best way to be successful in graduate school in general, and only after that did I realize that I don't know if there's anybody here whose research interests are closely aligned enough with mine that I'd want to spend the next 6 years working on their projects. On the other hand, one of the professors told me that I could work on my research interests under him, but where would that leave me after graduate school? I mean, he is not well-known and does not have much expertise in that particular area, so I don't feel good about it at all. Wouldn't I just be losing another year in that situation? I mean, I'd have to start from scratch on the PhD no matter what.

Honestly I don't know how it can be rectified. Are they going to offer me guaranteed summer funding and reduce my teaching load to levels that I would've gotten at School C? They would have done that during the admissions process if that were possible. He can't really change his entire resarch program, or hire professors that I could work with here, either. I also don't see him offering me the freedom that I thought I would have when I came--at orientation, he was going on about how if you don't have your second-year project worked out by spring, you're in trouble, and how changing/choosing advisors after that point was another sure sign of trouble. What else can he do to make things better? I just feel like School C offered me a clearer path toward a successful dissertation.

Thanks again for the advice, guys. I don't even know who the grad coordinator is, or even if there is one here--I was certainly never informed of one during orientation. A search on the website turned up dry. That said, there is a 'graduate adviser,' but he is one of the people who expressed interest in me coming here. I'm not interested in his current research to the point where I would want to pursue it (and his name also carries ideological baggage that would make it difficult for me to obtain positions at certain schools after graduation). Also, at School C their pitch to me when they were courting me was specifically that I could work on this joint project with these two professors, so I'm pretty sure I'd be able to do that there. Naively, I chose my current school because I figured it would offer me more freedom. Since getting here (and realizing everyone else in my cohort has projects and advisers, and that summer funding is contingent on your adviser), I've realized that was too naive. If I contacted the professors at School C and: --told them that I've come to believe that as I've learned more about what graduate school is really about--and come to realize what my research passions are--that I've come to think that I'd really want to work on a project with them --asked them whether they'd encourage me to apply again, do you think there is a risk in that? Would they fear that I'm getting them involved in drama, or assume that I'm not committed to graduate school/crazy somehow?

Thanks! I'm OK with starting over--I can really see myself being stuck here for 6 or 7 years (with minimal funding after year 4), without getting my PhD, and distracted by teaching. Whereas there I got the sense that I was ready to go on projects. The teaching load/funding isn't the only problem that I feel could slow me down here. I see other people in my cohort have already staked out labs and projects and advisors, and here I am, not really 100% invested in any of the projects currently going on in my department. And this is also connected to the problem of funding: summer funding is dependent on joining a lab that just so happens to have resources for you, but if not, people scramble for summer TA ships or just go home for the summer! In another department here, there is one professor whose research is similar to the work of one of the professors at school C (they collaborate very often), but the advantage is that at school C I would have been able to work on a collaborative project between that professor and another, very well-respected senior professor as a co-advisee. By working between them, I would have had a chance to stake out a research question even more aligned with my interests. I don't have that kind of opportunity here, and choosing an advisor outside of the department, while possible, makes things more difficult. This semester I've already found myself taking most of my classes outside of my department, and wondering if I can even convince them to let those classes count instead of in-department classes! Lastly, I've come to realize that the professors in my department have staked out some controversial positions with which I'm not sure I want to be associated. There seems to be a bit more polemicizing going on here than I'm interested in participating in. School C is mostly agnostic in this debate, and seems like a good middle ground. As far as my program's degree, they admit only people interested in pursuing the PhD, but they give MS's to everyone who completes the second year and what is essentially a master's thesis. Does that change things? Do you think I'd need letters from people at my present school if I applied for this cycle? Applications are due at the end of December, at which point I'll only have known the professors at my present school for less than three months.

Sorry for the long rant, I've only slept like 90 minutes in the past 3 days, so I'm being a bit incoherent here. I noticed I made some typos--I wrote 'School B' where I meant 'School C' (school B's out of the picture) School C is the program I'm looking to transfer to.

Hi there, I'm currently a 1-st year PhD student. I was very lucky to get into all three of the schools I applied to last year. School A was my original dream school, or so I thought. I had been planning on applying since junior year of college...there were just so many people there whose research touched on what I thought were really interesting topics. The diversity of work here on so many themes touching on my research tangentially was mind-blowing. School B was where the guy who literally (co-)wrote the book that founded the discipline I want to get into worked. School C was home to a rigourous program with an intermediate number of people whose work was more relevant to my own. A very senior researcher in my field and an up-and-coming young professor were ready to take me under their wing on a joint project. In the end, I ended up choosing School A--people told me to go with my original feeling. To be honest, I wanted a change of climate and scenery, and considering I was having so much trouble deciding among the three schools (because they all seemed so good), I thought the weather would be the tie-breaker. I have now realized that there are several obstacles here that will slow my progress toward my PhD. For one, the funding climate is worse than I thought. In order to work summer funding, I'll basically be TA'ing full time, leaving little time for research. The teaching course is pretty onerous now, too, while at School C I would've taught only one third as often. For some reason I thought grad school was about taking classes, when it's more about research (even in the first year!). Regardless, the teaching load is getting in the way of both. Secondly, I had a totally flawed conception of how research occurred in grad school--I really thought I could leverage the interests of all the different people in this department and cobble it together into a dissertation. Obviously, that was naive: you go into someone's lab and work your butt off there. You better be ready to be interested 100% in your adviser's work. I've come to realize that I have no idea whose lab I would be willing to work in for five or six years--lots of vaguely interesting stuff here, but is it stuff I could be obsessed about enough to make a contribution? I doubt it. Of the two professors whose work I was most interested in here, one seems to have moved on to other projects, and another is completely unavailable to students. The third professor (a good friend and mentor of one of the professors in School B.) is in another department, but might be available as an advisor. Anyway, since I entered grad school at the beginning of the semester, I've really developed more of an idea of what I want to specialize in, and I realize that the two professors interested in me at School B were my best ticket to a research program. Given these considerations, I want to transfer pretty bad. What should I do? Is it worth emailing those professors at School B? Last time around, they remarked to me in person how impressive they thought my application was, and told me they accepted me on the spot after my interview. Would this make it more likely that they'll accept me again?

Hello,<br /><br />I am applying to a research coordinator position in the economics department of a university. They seem to want people who are on track to go to grad school for a PhD. Responsibilities include contributing to research and helping write academic papers.<br /><br />I was wondering if I should list my GRE scores on my resume, or is this uncalled for for this type of position?

Thanks so much! This would be very helpful. What search terms do you use to find these programs? And I'm glad you say the Biology GRE matters. I am certain that I can do well on this with a little bit of studying.

Does anybody know of any master's programs in Neuroscience? Specifically, would any programs take an applied math major (my school focuses on econ for app. math) with some coursework in psychology but none in biology? I'm interested in computational stuff, but would love to get a grounding in the bio. I have research experience, but only in psych labs. One year work experience with statistical analysis. Have a 3.7 GPA, 800Q/800V/4.5AW

Hi all, I am wondering if I could get into Applied Math programs. Also, would I be able to get any funding? Does anyone know programs that might waive tuition? My stats are: Major in Econ-Math (joint major), GPA: 3.7 (but major GPA only 3.5!) @ a grade-inflated Ivy Coursework in Calc, Linear Algebra, ODE, Complex Analysis, Logic, Proof-based Stats, Probability, & Game Theory No coursework in Modern Algebra or Real Analysis GRE: 800Q/800V I belong to an underrepresented minority group, don't know if that would help with funding or not. Do I need to take the GRE Math? Thanks in advance!

I hope I don't sound like too much of a tool here... Hi all, so I took the GRE, got 800s on the Q and V, but a 4.5 on the AW. This board had almost convinced me that this score would not be a big deal. But then today, I went to U Maryland's website and found out that their hard cutoffs were 550V, 650Q, 4.5 AW. Obviously, I'm past that hurdle, but seeing that a 4.5 AW is the hard cutoff, I couldn't help but worrying. This means that at least some programs weigh the AW score heavily, and that in those cases my score is marginally poor! Also, my undergrad GPA, while generally not horrendous isn't that great (3.7), and included lots of peaks and troughs (A+'s and a couple C's). Considering my GRE score has the same topography, will schools see me as erratic?