Snowbun

I left the other post up for reference to the replies; should I take it down?

** Sorry, I had posted earlier, but I forgot to mention a few things. ** I just graduated with two bachelor's degrees in biology and psychology. But, I want to go to graduate school to study data science or machine learning. I started taking pre-reqs for ML a year and a half ago. (Discrete structures, multivariate calculus, linear algebra, probability theory, intro to programming, OO programing/data structures) I have a 3.955 undergrad GPA. ... I'm currently set to enter a CS post-bac certificate program for fall 2016-spring 2017. This program will allow me to get the rest of my CS pre-reqs covered. (For example, I'm taking advanced algorithms, software engineering, computer systems, and data science in the fall.) ... And I've done a year of neuroscience research, including an undergrad thesis. I have one paper submitted, second author that should be published by the time I apply. But, it is NOT computational neuroscience research. ... Additionally, I'll have good/great recommendations from my research PI, computer science professor, and my supervisor at my boss. (I'm like an undergrad teaching assistant for organic chemistry.) I think that the biggest obstacle for me will be the fact that I have not done any CS research, and I won't have time to do any before I apply for a masters program. Do you think it's feasible for me to get into a top 10 machine learning grad school (Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, etc.) even though I have no CS research experience? Do you think that the fact that I've done neuroscience research will be enough to show that I have research potential?

I just graduated with two bachelor's degrees in biology and psychology. But, I want to go to graduate school to study data science or machine learning. I started taking pre-reqs for ML a year and a half ago. (Discrete mathematics, multivariate calculus, linear algebra, probability theory) I have all A's currently, and I had a 3.955 undergrad GPA. (But I don't know if that matters.) I think that the biggest obstacle for me will be the fact that I have not done any CS research, and I won't have time to do any before I apply for a masters program. But, I have done a year of neuroscience research, wrote an undergad thesis, presented a poster, and I have a paper submitted. Do you think it's feasible for me to get into a top 10 machine learning grad school (Stanford, Carnegie Melon, MIT, Berkeley, etc.) even though I have no CS research experience? Do you think that the fact that I've done neuroscience research will be enough to show that I have research potential?

Do you think it would be a good idea to email professors/principle investigators whose labs I find interesting? Like an email of interest or something. I could ask them what I would need to do or what prerequisite knowledge I need to be in their lab. ... Or do you think my email would get trashed because they get a flood of emails from students asking to be in their labs? Especially if they do research at a really good school or in a very narrow research area.

The CS advising make-an-appointment thing is set up in such a way that you need to have an assigned advisor in order to make an appointment online. (I of course do not have an assigned advisors) And they have no drop-in hours listed on the webpage. So I think I will just go in person and ask if they have drop-in hours. At my university everyone and their mother is pre-health, including the bioinformatics majors, so it's just really hard to find people with an actual interest in programming. Our bioinformatics program is okay, it just focuses a lotttttt on genomics which is something I don't find particularly interesting. But I guess beggars can't be choosers, so I should just try to meet more BNFO people. Yes I do go on stack exchange when I get stuck on a homework problem; I suppose I will do that more! ** Haha I just saw your edits. Thanks for adding the link! And thanks for everything else!!! * Edit: Added the ** stuff above.

Pascal, thanks for the advice!! I would love to talk to a CS advisor about this!! But unfortunately I can't make an appointment with a CS advisor at my university because I am not in the CS program. :/ So I'm basically desperate to find anyone to talk to about this. About doing my own project ... that is a great idea and something that I would love to do once I have enough experience with python!! I just wish that I had friends or colleagues or professors or something that knew anything about programming. All of the people I know are either biology or psychology people, so I feel very alone in my endeavors.

Also, thanks for the list of pre-reqs!! Very informative. I will save them for later.

For a post-bac, you earn a post-bac certificate! (Here is an example bulletin: http://www.pubapps.vcu.edu/bulletins/undergraduate/?did=20508 As far as the CS minor ... I am staying in undergrad an extra year to take more classes and get more research experience. (But it's just neuroscience research ... I'm going to use neuroscience as a back-up because I'm pretty sure I could get into a good neuroscience program pretty easily. Not trying to boast though!) ... Also I am currently taking discrete math. (It's awesome.) And I'm signed up to take an intro CS class this coming summer '15. In addition, I'm currently doing an online MITx intro CS class using python. I'm trying to do as much as I can! Do you have any idea why people who do a terminal professional master's program tend to end up at not-so-good schools? Does it look bad or something to have gone through such a program? Because that sounds like a pretty appealing option otherwise. *Edit: spelling

Hey, thanks for replying. A post-bac is like going back and getting a sort of "mini" degree at an undergraduate college after having received a bachelors degree. It's like for people that got a bachelors in something, but decide they want to do something else instead. The only reason I don't want to do a post-bac is because it takes more time and more money (aka loans ughhhh) ... and I'm already behind in terms of where I should be with my education. Also, I'm kind of done with the atmosphere of my undergrad college. I want to get out of here. But I guess if getting a post-bac turns out to be the best option, I'd have to go for it. Yes, I'm planning on taking some CS classes hopefully!! I really would like to apply to grad school right out of undergrad.

Hello. New poster here. I am having a sort of life crisis at the moment. I am currently a senior and have spent my undergraduate years majoring in biology and psychology, and my research area is neuroscience. But I do not want to go to graduate school for biology nor psychology nor neuroscience. Relatively recently (in the past couple months) I have become super interested in programming and computer science, specifically applications such as machine learning and artificial intelligence. (Although my knowledge is limited because I have never taken any sort of CS class at my university.) ** I now wish to go to graduate school to pursue a masters in CS, and maybe eventually a PhD. But is this even possible?? ... (Given my majors are biology and psychology and I have absolutely no research experience in CS) ** But I want to take steps anyway! So I am currently taking online intro courses in programming, and I am taking pre-reqs to apply for a CS minor while still in undergrad. Here are my options as I see them: - Apply to grad school in CS straight out of undergrad - Do a post-bac in CS, then apply to graduate school in CS - Others?? What do you guys think? Do I even have a chance of getting into a CS masters program right out of undergrad? (I would like to get into a relatively good one if at all possible.) Or should I spend another year getting a CS post-bac? I feel sooooo lost. *edit: Elaborated a bit to hopefully make my post more comprehensible.