hello gradcafe!
I've been reading this forum for the past couple of days and found it quite the comments quite helpful. I figured I should join so maybe you guys can help me in determining my changes as well as any other advice.
I'm currently entering my third year at UChicago but due to high costs, I plan to finish in 3 years with a degree in CS and possibly math.
I want to apply to some big name schools and would prefer PhD over MS. My current list:
UIUC
Berkely
Stanford
CMU
Harvard
MIT
UNC:CH
I want to apply to some smaller schools too but would like to know my chances for these schools first
Some of my stats:
Current GPA: 3.85
Major gpa: 4.0
Requirement Engineering research at DePaul university for 3 summers with:
1 published paper (not main author)
1 paper in the works (main author but probably wont be published by the time I apply to schools this fall; can I still mention it??)
2 presentations at Argonne Undergraduate Symposium
1 part time internship at a small start up software company
I haven't taken the GRE yet but from what I've been reading, it doesn't make TOO big of an impact.
As far as the domain or field I wish to go in, I have no clue yet.
Besides my chances, I have the following questions:
1. Is graduating in three years going to hurt my chances a lot?
2. Would it be better to work for some time before applying to graduate school?
3. How beneficial would the additional math major be?
Thanks for any advice!!!
