pascal_barbots_wager

At least for the professors I talked to it was a relaxed discussion of my research, their research, and what the department was like overall. You should know your own research and have some idea of theirs, but the whole thing felt pretty low-pressure. That may vary by whom you talk to though. No idea on the numbers of interviewed/accepted.

Yes, there was an interview/visit day on campus for a few dozen CMS/CS/Control/Applied Math applicants - I get the sense the program you applied for wasn't really relevant, and they were instead looking to admit whoever looked like they might fit somewhere in the department - about a week ago. I think a few more were interviewed via Skype because they couldn't travel. They said they would send decisions within a few weeks.

I've had a couple of talks like this with POIs at a school that already accepted me. They were very relaxed and more of an opportunity for them to tell me more about their research and possible research directions that might not be obvious from their websites. It was more like them selling me on working with them than an "interview". We also talked a bit about the department and school overall. Not something to worry about.

I haven't had one of these, but according to others who have most CS PhD interviews are more along the lines of informal discussions of research interests than quizzes on what knowledge you already have. They're not like job interviews or oral exams. That said, it's good to be able to demonstrate that you have some understanding of the field. So knowing definitions is unlikely to matter, but being able to say a little something about e.g. different approaches to a certain problem or questions you have about a certain method is good.

Of course it would suck to go to one of these, get even more hyped on the school, and then get rejected in the end, but I'm not sure that's enough of a reason to avoid going entirely. The coordinator may say that not going won't hurt you, but I have to believe putting an actual person to the name is a good thing more often than not. At the very least I think it's a positive sign. They wouldn't invite you and pay for hosting you if they weren't thinking of accepting you.

Got an email a couple of days ago from a professor I mentioned in my SOP setting up an interview on campus in early February. The email emphasized that no admission decision had been made so I don't know how the interview relates to acceptance. Excited and nervous! The professor I mentioned does some of the most interesting work I saw across all of my applications.

@sisyphus1: Math/stat major in undergrad. Mostly pure math, but my research is in math/CS. I was originally going to apply to the CS program but the C+MS program sounded really interesting.

Second this. Reading something like The Economist will improve both reading comprehension and vocabulary. Plus you'll stay up on current events!

I'm talking about this if it's not clear. I haven't heard anything, and since it's the first year of the program there aren't any real precedents for timelines to expect.