GlassSculpture

Thanks @NitinD for the kind words! Unfortunately I don't have any solid side projects but hopefully the grades will help me out with USC

I'm applying to MS CS programs in the USA this year, to start in Fall 2021 and I'd like to know what I can do over the next 4 months to improve my profile for the schools I'm interested in. To be blunt about it: I have a 340/340 GRE and a 4.0 GPA so far (and I graduated in the top 10% of my previous MS in Economics), but that's about it. I don't have any research experience or relevant work experience. Two of my letters of rec are from professors from my previous Economics BS & MS degrees, and the third is from an instructor in the CS post-bacc I'm taking now. I'll be about halfway through my post-bacc by the time I apply, so I won't have all the courses on my transcript, although I should graduate before Fall 2021. I originally studied a BS and MS in Economics in the UK, where I'm from (these are from top 'brand-name' universities if that matters). Long story short I realised that I'm much more into CS and started an online post-bacc in CS from a top 70 state school in the USA so I could meet the prereqs for a CS masters program. So - I have 10hrs/week spare for 4 months to do something that could improve my application. Would any of the following help? Cold reach out to professors around me and offer voluntary research assistant services (unlikely to work but would help the most I guess?) Part-time dev internship/job (something to write about in the SOP?) My own side projects (something to write about in the SOP, but probably the least useful?) ??? I also have no clue what kind of schools I can get into - are any of the following even realistic for me? USC MS in CS - I hear they're grade-focused so probably my best bet UCLA MS in CS Northeastern MS in CS NYU MS in CS (Tandon or Courant) Rice MS in CS Thanks anyone who can offer some advice!

Hi all - thanks in advance for any advice, it's all much appreciated As the title says - I want to study a MS in CS in the USA with a focus on stats/ML/AI. Other programs that combine CS/stats/AI also work. I live in the UK and come from an Economics background - I hold both a BSc and MSc in Economics from top UK universities with good grades (3.9-4.0 GPA equivalent). I scored 340/340 on the GRE. My degrees included a number of statistics/linear algebra/calculus courses, but no CS courses. I finished my MSc in 2013, worked very briefly (7 months) in a policy role, and then became a professional gambler for the last 5 years. The professional gambling was almost all online and involved a lot of statistical analysis as well as coding my own simulators and web scrapers. Although I taught myself to program as a teenager I have no formal CS courses/credits/experience. I just always loved computer and programming and think I should have done CS as an undergrad in the first place but had crap career advice in the developing country where I grew up. I have the freedom of spending a year to prepare for MS applications and wanted advice on how to best spend that time. In particular I've encountered these potential issues: CS Prerequisites: most courses require upper-level undergrad CS courses. I was thinking about taking courses for credit from US colleges/universities via distance learning. Eg Foothill Community College offers quite a few. It becomes tougher to find the upper-level UG courses available via distance learning for credit but if I can that'd be great. Do you guys think this would suffice for meeting the prerequisites, given that my academic background is good in general? Personal projects / work experience: I'm not sure whether MS programs value actual work experience more/less than working on personal projects. Any thoughts? Letters of recommendation: this is another problem. My formal/work-experience is 1) not CS related, and 2) more than 5 years old. Is this a major barrier? Any ideas on how to get around this? My best shot feels like asking whoever teaches the distance learning courses I take for a reference but I'm not sure if that'd work. Finally - what kind of schools/programs do you guys think I have a shot at getting into? Any advice on this - or anything else - would be much appreciated!