BackPropagandist

I was accepted into one school, but there are other attractive schools with rolling admissions and I'm wondering if it's worth applying to them now given that the first school requires me to respond by April 15. Thanks

Would you prefer a program with lots of interdisciplinary faculty? Why/why not?

Hey, don't have much advice about your chances, but your profile looks quite similar to mine so I'd suggest watching my thread to see what people say: I've gathered that having research experience which involves relevant CS or math skills is a major factor, and good enough research will get you into a very good program, but I'm doing the research-focused route. If you go to an applied CS program, then the admissions criteria are probably going to be different. Secondly, I would guess that getting a good quant GRE score matters a lot in this case, because the committee doesn't have much to anchor on and is guessing at your CS ability. Hope that helps!

Hey everyone. There's a lot of information here but I have an unusual profile so I'd appreciate hearing what you think about this. I'm looking to do a research-oriented master's degree. I may apply for a PhD, if one of you convinces me that I have a shot at getting into a good enough program, but my plan right now is to get into as good a master's program as I can and then move on to a PhD at a top 10 institution. Partially this is because I'm not sure exactly what I want to research. I'm currently a senior at a mid tier U.S. private university, B.S. in economics. Transferred here as a junior; GPA was 3.6 for the first semester, 3.1 for the second semester and 3.3-3.4 this semester. Taking or have taken intro to machine learning, intro to algorithms, differential equations, game theory, multivariate calculus, mathematical economics (feat. bits of linear algebra), and 2 x AI ethics independent study. My CS grades are two A's in the independent study courses, a B and a "satisfactory" (pass/fail class). Grades were hurt last semester and this one because (a) I started taking seven courses per semester and am in the National Guard, and (b) I skipped two intro to CS classes as well as discrete math to get to the midlevel courses. I graduate this December but will continue studying here for a semester anyway. I'm going to take all math and CS, maybe 3-5 courses, as well as do more research. Started with 2 years at military junior college, A.A. in political science, 3.4 GPA. GRE: Just took it; I honestly do not remember if it was 167/165 or 165/167. Definitely one of the two. Analytic score will probably be very high as well. Research experience: 1. analysis, literature review and basic theorem proving with conditional preference nets and distance metrics with a professor here. 2. A couple of unpublished drafts on machine ethics. One is at least slightly technical; I'm to start pushing it to philosophy/interdisciplinary journals but it probably won't be published in time for this admissions cycle. Work experience: 1. internship with a small investment bank. Did Monte Carlo simulations with software, Excel financial modeling and mathematical decision making for the client. I independently created new ways of doing these computations and models. 2. junior officer in Army National Guard, have led tasks in training and have done some really basic network/internet stuff for the battalion. I'm going to participate in cyberwarfare drills starting this January. Research interests: artificial intelligence, primarily. Also machine learning, multiagent systems, algorithmic game theory, machine ethics and mathematical finance. (Obviously I can't do all of these subjects at the same time, but I'd prefer to have them available.) Recommendation letters: one from the CS researcher I worked with, one from philosophy professor who's reviewed my ethics work, one from game theory professor who's seen me in class and also reviewed my work. I believe all of them are going to be very positive, but none of them are going to prove that I have strong technical or programming skills. Three questions: 1. What kinds of schools would you recommend me to apply to? I know I should go to a large program so I can explore different areas in computer science, and I want to be able to get in despite not being a CS major and having this GPA. Definitely not the top 5, of course, but there are so many other schools to which I can apply. I looked at the US News rankings in artificial intelligence, but I don't know how likely I am to get into the various programs listed there. Most don't publish stats on their website. I looked on phds.org, which has a great advanced search tool, but I'm having trouble coming up with good search criteria that will get me the right tier of school, and a few of the results I got were counterintuitive. 2. How much would you suggest that I give in the way of "excuses" for my GPA on the personal statement? Should I also mention the fact that I didn't apply to an undergrad math research program last summer because of a midsummer military exercise? 3. Is there anything else you could suggest? All your comments are appreciated. Cheers.

Some people volunteer for deployment, but usually there's also mandatory deployments whenever the unit gets called up. In theory it's usually every 5 years or so, sometimes longer, but in times like the early phase of Iraq we had units deploying more frequently, like once every three years or so I believe. Thanks for the info. I'm interested in academia but also interested in working for federal research agencies as well as federal technology policy advising.

Thanks for your comments. 1. I do have time to delay the decision. The course starts in the fall and runs till May with a break in between, I believe. 2. I do have some, it's not very technical but it's unique. 3. Okay, I would also have the weekend per month and summer trip, but I was pretty sure I could manage that. I don't know how training would work (I might have online certifications to practice or even full time courses sufficient to derail a semester) but deployment would cut across two semesters, sometimes even three. I would be able to communicate and research in my spare time at a distance, but it would be tough. Some courses offered only once every 2 years... that would be a big problem. Is it possible that having to leave for, say, 1 year, would delay the completion of my PhD by a year and a half or more?

Hello all, I just posted a topic about graduate school admissions but since this is a big enough question on its own I figured I would make a separate thread. I went to a military junior college where I commissioned into the military, and I'm currently in the military reserves. I'm now a senior majoring in economics at a private university and I want to transition into CS to get a PhD. I can choose to stay or leave the National Guard. I've decided that the only reason I would enjoy staying would be if I could enter our cyber program. This would entail a 37 week training program after I finished my undergrad, which would essentially last for one academic year. I would get proficient with Linux systems, proficient at scripting, CISSP certified, CCNA certified, and trained on military cyber doctrine and operations. Currently I know almost nothing about these things. This would delay my grad school admissions by a year. It would fill in some of the gaps in my computer science knowledge (I have very little experience with programming and networking) and it would be a unique thing to have on a CV. My research interests include AI verification and reliability, and there is a lot of crossover with cybersecurity in that research domain, but on the other hand I want to do research - spending most of a year on IT type things seems like an inefficient way of learning the relevant aspects of cybersecurity when I want to be doing theoretical work. Furthermore, being in the National Guard would require additional training and possibly even deployments during my PhD. Overall it seems like I can expect this to delay the completion my PhD for 2 years or so. So my questions are: Would having this certification significantly increase my prospects for getting into a good PhD program, or would the possibility of future training and deployments make me an unattractive PhD student? And is there anyone here with experience in AI robustness/verification research who can tell me how relevant applied cybersecurity is to this research domain? Thanks.

First off, I've enjoyed doing research very much during undergrad, I have solid career goals which require getting a PhD, and I have identified certain topics in computer science that I want to work on, so I'm confident that a CS PhD would be a good path for me. However, I'm new to the subject; essentially I have a minor in math and several courses in computer science to be completed this fall, as well as some fairly technical research experience in machine ethics. I also have enough credits to graduate with my econ degree this fall. I could apply for CS Master's programs which would start this spring and hope to transfer to a PhD later on, but this will probably be too difficult because my spring GPA was low (3.1, bad semester), I haven't proven myself in computer science yet (I only had one CS activity in the spring, the machine ethics project; I skipped the entry level courses and am now taking mid level courses), and I only know one professor well enough to get a very good letter of recommendation. Alternatively, I could apply for graduate programs starting in the fall. If that happens I will have proven myself through fall coursework. But should I apply for an MS or should I apply directly for a PhD? And if I do this, what should I do for the spring - continue my undergrad for another semester taking more relevant classes, or leave to do research and self study on my own, or take some kind of internship? (Do my plans matter for admissions or should I do whatever I find personally useful?) There is a lot for me to apply to in a short amount of time so I could use some help in simplifying what I should do. Thanks. Edit: some more background info: Did freshman and sophomore year at a junior college, A.A. political science, 3.4 GPA Junior year at private university was a 3.6 GPA in the fall and 3.1 GPA in the spring. Getting B.S. in economics Got a C in multivariate calculus in the spring Currently taking intro to algorithms, intro to machine learning, and differential equations, expecting a 3.5 at the very least 2210 on the SATs, have not taken GREs yet Can barely code. But learning