hunzzzz

I completed my undergraduate studies in Computer Science Honors this year. My GPA is 3.88/4.00 (First Division) -- Also I am an international student! My profile : - Currently working as a SWE at a UK based startup (1 year work ex) - Co-Founded a tech startup 2 years ago (Shipped and dealt with various clients) - 2 Research Internships at research labs in my university + co-authored 2 research papers published at International Conferences (IEEE, Springer) - 3 Internships as a SWE - International + National Awards in some leading competitions and hackathons + Student of the year award - Dept. of CS - Founded and leading a Technical Club in my university, conducted hands-on workshops and mentored students + contributed to open-source + Tech communities volunteering - Built multiple impactful software projects - 3 Strong LOR's (2 from my professors who taught me + I conducted & published research with them and 1 from the CEO of my current work place) I aim to target some of the top schools in the US & UK. Where do y'all suggest me to apply to based on my profile? I haven't taken the GRE exam yet. Do you suggest me to take it or leave it? The earliest I can appear for it would be around 10th Dec though (I have been preparing for a while), but the COVID situation is terrible in my country at present - so I'm worried about this too. I won't take the home-based GRE at all. Will I be at any disadvantage if I do not submit GRE scores to universities that have only made GRE 'optional' like Columbia, UPenn, CMU, Princeton etc?? Help and guidance would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I completed my undergraduate studies in Computer Science Honors this year. My GPA is 3.88/4.00 (First Division) My profile : - Currently working as a SWE at a UK based startup (1 year work ex) - Co-Founded a tech startup 2 years ago (Shipped and dealt with various clients) - 2 Research Internships at research labs in my university + co-authored 2 research papers published at International Conferences (IEEE, Springer) - 3 Internships as a SWE - International + National Awards in some leading competitions and hackathons + Student of the year award - Dept. of CS - Founded and leading a Technical Club in my university, conducted hands-on workshops and mentored students + contributed to open-source + Tech communities volunteering - Built multiple impactful software projects - 3 Strong LOR's (2 from my professors who taught me + I conducted & published research with them and 1 from the CEO of my current work place) I aim to target some of the top schools in the US & UK. Where do y'all suggest me to apply to based on my profile? I haven't taken the GRE exam yet. Do you suggest me to take it or leave it? The earliest I can appear for it would be around 10th Dec though (I have been preparing for a while), but the COVID situation is terrible in my country at present - so I'm worried about this too. I won't take the home-based GRE at all. Will I be at any disadvantage if I do not submit GRE scores to universities that have only made GRE 'optional' like Columbia, UPenn, CMU, Princeton etc?? Help and guidance would really be appreciated. Thanks in advance! -- Also I am an international student!