GitInTheCloud

Thanks for the feedback! This is actually the kind of stuff I wanted to hear because I don't have enough money to waste on application fees that are an automatic no. I guess I'll scrap the top 30 schools and look more into the 60+ range! Thank you, svent.

I would only be applying to their masters programs, not their PhD. I know GT isn't a safety in any regards, so that would also be a reach but I've gotten pretty friendly emails from potential advisors from UCSD and UVA.

Hello, I'm trying to figure out if I'm aiming too high and any advice or reality checks are highly appreciated. GPA: 3.8 from average university (not top 50 for CS) GRE: 157V, 158Q - Retaking November Letters: 1 from professor who knows me well and has done research with meme (very supportive!), 1 from professor who is famous and has done research with meme (supportive, but moody and busy) and one from either my advisor or lecturer (neither will be very special) Research: 1.5 years of full time research after graduation in SE, NLP, Databases and ML. Publications: third author on journal Pending publications: second author ICSE, 4th-6th author ICSE, first author VLDB Applying for all the big STEM fellowships as I'm American. I've gotten lots of help on my NSF application from my two good letter writers and a former winner. I'm also an older student, so I don't know if that hurts (28). Target schools: Harvard, Brown, WashU, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, UPenn, Yale If these are all a major reach, I'm considering applying to masters and would apply to Georgia Tech, UCSD and UVirginia. All schools are in order of faculty I would like to research under because I like their work.