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London, I posted a reply on your previous thread, but saw this and want to offer my opinion again. This is a very important choice to make, I hope you choose Berkeley CS. I am a current student at Stanford. Some points to consider (both pros and cons below), I am very opinionated. 1. It is order of magnitudes easier to start a company in CS than in EE. Lot more initial capital needed for EE companies. EE was the hot field 20-30 years ago, now it's all CS. 2. Berkeley CS is the 2nd best CS program in the world for startups. It is very hard to get in (depending upon the subfield it can be harder than Stanford). This year was really hard to get into Berkeley (due to budget cuts), so congrats! 3. Heard that Stanford EE admits ~200-300 students each year. You're not really considered a "PhD" student until you pass the quals, find an advisor, etc... The program is way too large, too many students competing for the attention of faculty. Friends have said that it's a like a "jungle", some in the program absolutely hate it. 4. It is extremely difficult to find a CS advisor as a Stanford EE student. 5. Stanford is much much more prestigious than Berkeley (you'll find this out if you enter industry looking for a job). If you were admitted to Berkeley EE rather than Stanford EE, than yeah bite the bullet and go to Stanford. In my opinion, the main choice is between CS and EE. Regardless of where you go, identify potential advisers and start emailing them. The competition for good advisers has already begun. What areas are you interested in?

Go to berkeley, berkeley CS is much more prestigious than stanford ee. The only thing better than berkeley cs is stanford cs. any cs phd program in the bay area will give you opportunities to start something up. CS >>>>> EE in that regard. Once you're at Berkeley, you can choose to do CS or EE depending upon your interest. It's easy for a CS student to find an EE advisor, the other way around is difficult. At Stanford, many EE students look to find CS advisors, few are successful (and those that are, are usually in fields which are closer to EE than CS). CS students in general are treated very very well... http://ee.stanford.edu/phd/quals/stats.php Stanford EE quals stats. If you're good and think you're in the top half of the class, you'll pass the first year.

If you don't hear back from any schools this year, the only reason I can think of is getting screened out in the first round ( possible by secretary or computer) due to low GPA and GRE. If your app makes it to the later rounds, your research credentials will be better than 95% of the other applicants. GPA may be impossible to bring up now, so work on your GRE (both quant and verbal).

Your research is exceptional, but nothing's a given. I highly suggest you get your quant GRE to 800. Anything less is a red flag for a dept secretary at one of the top schools. Don't get screened out for something trivial. Apply to Stanford, MIT, CMU, and Berkeley. I think you have a good shot at one of the top 4 schools.

Was told that official decisions will be sent on Friday. Adcom is still finalizing admit list today. Good luck to everyone.

MIT is Mar 6-7

MIT started sending out notices to American students yesterday. Can confirm that multiple students at my university received admits.