malmadur

I applied and was accepted to GaTech and UT Austin as well (but did not apply to Caltech), so here are my thoughts. Caltech - top-notch faculty, but the department is extremely small (both the theory group and the overall CS department -- on the theory group website, apparently there are only 4 grad students!) so I would not even consider it UNLESS you are interested in quantum computing (since Caltech has Kitaev, Preskill, Schulman, and perhaps others, while I don't believe anyone at GaTech or Austin does anything quantum-related). GaTech, UT Austin - similar in many ways: good weather in mid-size towns, overall large schools, similar prestige levels, great theory faculty (though GATech has a larger theory dept, so maybe is a little better in this respect), GATech has a new CS building and UT Austin is building one soon. Personally, I would choose UT Austin (since I liked Austin the city a little better, I thought the other prospective students were a little stronger, and UT Austin gave me a higher stipend), but it seems really to be a coin toss.

This is what I was wondering about -- how awkward/bad it would be to transfer from a PhD program. I've gotten into a couple top 10 schools, including one of my top choices, so my goal isn't to pretend to do a PhD for two years just to transfer later. I'm just wondering in case I don't end up liking the school as much as I do now. (For example, for undergrad, I applied to only 1 school, since I got in Early Action and thought I would absolutely love it... But for various reasons I wish now that I'd transferred away.)

For students who enter CS PhD programs that involve completing a master's degree, how common is it to transfer to a different school after getting the MS (or even before)? Is it harder to get accepted?

I've never really known how some things in grad school happen/what happens in grad school, so I figured I'd ask here. (In case things are different between departments, I'll be a grad student in computer science this fall.) 1. What exactly does it mean when a professor gets a grant? For example, if a theoretical CS or math prof receives a grant for $500k over 3 years, what do they do with the money? I can see them maybe spending some on travel or faster computers, but I'm confused where all the rest goes. Does it mainly go towards funding students? (If so, what happens to professors with less funding -- do they simply have fewer students?) 2. If I've been guaranteed TA funding by my department, does this mean I don't really need to worry about who I want to work with (i.e., I don't need to worry if my professor can fund me), as long as I'm willing to TA? 3. What do CS graduate students do in the summer? I know many companies offer research internships (Microsoft, Google, etc.), but it seems like a lot of students stay at school anyways. Does summer funding usually turn up? (My acceptances only mention being funded for the 9 months during the school year.) 4. What is the relationship between you and your advisor? Is it mostly your advisor just suggesting a thesis problem for you to work on, and you meeting to discuss progress?