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Hello everyone, I have a paper, for which I was the first and only author, which I submitted to an conference (26th CATA 2011) last year and was accepted for publication/presentation over the break. I have also been able to update most of my applications with this news though one is yet to reply. My question is how do admission committees respond to a first author publication vs a second author publication? I get the general sense that first author is, of course, to some degree better than a second-author; but to what extent does this really matter in practical terms. i.e. This will be my only published research when the committees review my applications (though I am currently working on a senior thesis) and I will be up against people who have several second author a (and perhaps several first author too). The only real benefit that I have going for me in this particular case is that -- while I had an advisor and got credit hours -- the project idea and execution where entirely of my own conception and direction, so the paper is essentially the work I did in my bedroom (otherwise known as my lab) during the summer. Does anyone have any experience with how these kind of issues are perceived by a grad committee? Does this help my chances a little? A lot? Any insight would be helpful to ease the waiting.

It's a bit of sticky situation (molasses pun intended), but if it is mentioned, I think you should definitely say something about it (no point in throwing away your research right). You could say something along the lines "It is in the works, but my PI is understandably quite busy right about now so we have had to push it back on our schedules." That's just the first thing to come to mind, you'd have to tell me whether or not such a statement is accurate enough to say and be truthful. Just my two cents.

As a grad school applicant who is a slightly younger than other applicants, does anyone know how much (if at all) age -- specifically being younger -- influences the admissions decision by adcoms? I could see it going both ways, but I am wondering if someone has specific knowledge about this. Also, does anyone know of any stats for the ages of grad students when they were accepted? Thanks

I found this on the web today and thought it has good info in it. http://nlp.stanford.edu/~rkarthik/DAGAP.pdf

I sent you a PM.

Thanks for the link. My research focus is in the AI field and was the topic of the research I did this summer. The schools listed above are indeed all over the place and have since been updated with the following schools. MIT Stanford UT Austin UI Urbana-Champaign I will probably be adding to this list but they all have a strong focus in my area of interest as well as having specific projects that I can relate to. I don't have an absolute plan to pursue my PhD at this time though it is something which I am considering and would be beneficial (considering my goals to do research as a career). The reason that I do not have a specific plan for a PhD is that I just don't know how things will turn out. It may well be that I can get a good research position in a company without having to have a PhD. This brings me to a questions I have been wondering about. In my SOP I state that it is likely that I will pursue a PhD after my masters but that I do not yet have an absolute decision. Is this a good idea? I think I do a good job of solidifying my research ambitions as well my reasons for pursuing a masters, so I don't think my mentioning it doesn't come across to the reader as weak sounding (after all, its the truth). But I am wondering if it may be better just to say that I have goals to pursue a PhD flat out. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the reply. By all means be as blunt as possible. I tend to agree with you that my chances are quite small, in the slim to none range. Perhaps an SOP with an extremely clear vision of what I want to do and what I have done to accomplish it will help but I am inclined to believe that it wouldn't help enough (I'm sure there are lots of applications from very mature, motivated applicants). There is still time for me to get my GPA up a bit this next semester as well to publish my current research. Thanks for the link too. Any other thoughts?

Hello, Anyone interested in reading over my SOP (for a computer science masters) and giving me some thoughts? I've been looking at it for so long that I really think I need some fresh eyes to help me out. Thanks

Hello everyone, Newbie here, been reading around and have found quite a bit of good advice. Like many others I have found, I'm looking to get into Stanford but have some questions about my application strength that I would like to get some opinions on. First, even though the topic is about Stanford (since that is my first choice), here are some of the other schools I will be applying to in case anyone can voice extra information. Berkeley University of Texas, Austin Princeton Texas A&M Rutgers Background: I am a student going into my senior year at a non-prestigious, non-research university with a Computer Science major/Math minor . I will be taking the GRE in August so these scores are expected based on my study for the test. Total GPA to date: 3.71 This is what really worries me. I have never had a bad semester per se, but I haven't been able to get that 4.00 I've been after either. Every semester since I started there has been one class that I got less than an A in but never less than a C. Some of these classes are less than important (e.g. an online spanish class ( B ), a speaking class ( B ), etc) but three of these classes are. The problem classes are Cal 2 ( C ), Cal 3 ( C ), and Diff Eq( B ) -- this causes me to worry. I have all A's in my Math classes before Cal 2 and after Diff Eq. I do not currently have the explanation for these courses in the statement of purpose. All of my CS specific classes are A's. GRE: Q (780>)/V(560>)/5.0 Research Background: My only research background is undergraduate research -- pursued by me -- I did this summer in AI. Again, I don't go to a research heavy university so maybe my pushing for it might help my application? (though I doubt it) Work background: My work background is freelance web development, math lab tutor, and freelance visual effects development. My visual effects work resulted in several jobs, contactsand product sales in countries around the world such as Germany, England andAustralia as well as with companies such as Blizzard Entertainment, CBS Digitaland Lockheed Martin. I mention this in my SOP. Recommendation Letters: I have only one confirmed letter at this time but am certain that I will get several excellent letters to accompany it. The letter I have now is from a current professor with a BS from Rutgers and a Ph.D. from Univ. of Maryland. He has also worked at Carnegie Mellon and the Naval Research Labs and Bell Labs. The other letters I expect are from a professor with an extensive background in AI who is well connected in the field and possibly one from CBS. What are your thoughts? Also, what are your thoughts about the ability of a fantastic SOP to help this application? Thanks