timuralp

Well, I can say I spent about 2-3k to get all setup when I moved. I refused to haul any furniture, so had to buy all the stuff, but it wasn't too expensive, since most of it came from a used furniture store. A TV was an ouch at around 700, but it's obviously not required. Without it, I'd be at 2k. I also ended up buying a place, but I'm excluding the downpayment/closing costs from this, obviously.

Well, that's good. That's pretty much what I was saying: once you get into research, intimidation disappears. I suppose I had a small confidence boost having done research for 3 years as an undergrad, so I had an idea of what a grad student's life is like and who these mythical creatures are By the way, you love the word "cohort". Just an observation.

Well, the buying really depends on where you are and how much it is. In the state I recently moved to, I managed to get a pretty big one bedroom condo for 75k. The payments on it end up being around 800/month, which is similar to what you'd pay for a one bedroom apartment if you were renting. From this standpoint it makes sense for me to be a homeowner, since it's affordable and I can sell it when I leave after 6-7 years.

Heh I only joined Alpha Beta Kappa, because I was a silly freshman and then passed on Phi Beta Kappa, Golden Key, and whatever else. The thing is, no one cares about any of these for gradschool and I honestly don't see a point. I think that paying money to have my "excellence" recognized is ridiculous. I can recognize it myself and the academic community can judge me for my research work. After all, the only thing the award recognizes is a GPA, which is a questionable metric, at best, for pretty much any quality. Having said that, do as you please. Either way it won't affect your chances that much one way or another

I suppose this highly depends on your area. In CS we don't compete with each other in any way pretty much, so it's hard to be intimidated. Most professors' attitude towards classes is that we just need to pass and no one cares about the grades aside from that, since we're here to do research. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that once you figure out your research focus, you'll probably be the only person working on it and there's no real intimidation left. Maybe that's just CS though.

The CS GRE is nonsense. Most professors at most schools will tell you exactly that. There is a reason why top schools like MIT and UIUC do not require it (or any GREs I believe). When I took the test it was theory/architecture heavy. I'm sorry, neither of these has much to do with what I'm studying now. The test does not measure you research capacity in any area, nor does it really measure your knowledge. Personally, I wouldn't worry about the GRE, assuming all your other stuff is in order. I think I got an abysmal score similar to yours and was still picking between four schools for grad school: UIUC, Michigan, Wisconsin, and UMass - all of which funded me and are in the top 15 (UMass in systems should be in top 15). Anyway, don't stress out over that as much. Solid coursework and good research experience are much more important than GRE.

Well, I wrote about my life experiences that shaped my interest in CS. I described some significant parts of upbringing, college years, etc. I didn't talk about specific research, but rather broader interests, since the details were in the SOP. Apparently it was good enough to get in. Hope it helps somewhat.

I'll just voice my agreement with rising_star on both counts

I'm gonna go with neither, if by what you worked on you mean the actual implementation details, because no one cares about how much code you wrote, etc, etc. Here's my SOP from last year. I'm not saying it absolutely great, but I think it's about what CS programs look for. Essentially, you want to convince the committee that 1. you know what research is and 2. you know what your interests are, albeit somewhat broadly right now. You can do that by describing what problems your research work was addressing. The key learning from all the research is not the ability to write a paper or make a presentation, but to have a better understanding of what your interests are and what you're pursuing.

All of them will let you access the reference letters portion after you submit the app. That includes reminders, etc, etc.

well, since I'm done applying I traded mine Besides, I don't think the CS SOP would be of any help, in terms of copying and pasting and it talks about specific research I did with particular professors. So, ask other grad students, not the competitive undergrad jerks

weeble, I haven't seen any reports of hate crimes targeted at the gay community or anything like that. I've been here only 3 months though, so take my advice with a grain of salt. I live on the west side and it's just a quite residential community. I don't think anyone would hassle you there. Kerrytown may be more friendly since it's mostly populated by students/gradstudents, so tends to be more liberal in that regard. Sorry this isn't too helpful.

And this also depends on the programs at hand. For example, I went to a state school with a great computer science program, but other programs could be not as good. It also depends on the field you're looking at. In some fields the gpa just shows you can follow instructions and so long as it's not abysmal no one really cares about it. Good luck and don't focus on that so much.

I think you have to unfortunately go through the grind of the app process again, as you did before. Schools do not encourage students to leave after MS, for obvious reasons. They cannot however hold you after you get it. It's up to you. I think over these two years you should be able to develop some relationships with the faculty, and they will understand your situation. You need their support to have a good application (letters of reference) and you have to show good research potential. So, stick it out and work hard on making the best of it. After all, your MS thesis doesn't have to be your PhD thesis

It sounds like you didn't take your prelims/quals yet and thus are not a PhD student. If your school awards you an MS once you pass the qual, I would transfer after the MS and not before that, since you'll still be shaping your interests. For now, I'd say you should just try working in different labs and see how it goes.

Well, I put up my app results from last year. Any chance you could fix a post that reads "Copmuter Science" or add the option to edit things?

Usually there is a space requirement on these. If there isn't one, just submit what you have. I think you should elaborate on the relevance of your experience, etc in your SOP. That seems like the most appropriate place for it. Once again, I'm not in your field or remotely close to it, so take the advice with a grain of salt

Hey, I'm a first year student, so my CV is pretty much the same as when I applied. Hope it helps.

Besides, keep in mind the two hypothetical situations you drew are very different to a committee. Lois Lane is applying straight for PhD and will be expected to start her thesis work almost immediately and complete it within 3-4 years. Mary Jane on the other hand will probably take 1-2 years of classes and get her MA first. So, these two are not equivalent Also, research is the only reason anyone should be in a PhD program, which is why a lower/low GPA is oftentimes irrelevant. It says nothing about your research potential or aptitude. With no other factors, it may indicate that you didn't work hard enough. I know of cases, once again in CS, where an undergrad gpa of 2.0 did not impede a guy's chances of going to CMU, after he got his MS. In fact, universities were fighting for him, because of the stellar research work.

When I applied, I was always notified by email of the decisions. The decisions started coming in around February 20th and went on until around March 8th. Those were not rolling admissions though, so I guess it doesn't really answer your question, but I think each school will send you an email. t_ruth: I started on my SOP way too early probably (end of August-September), so by the time November came around I already went through 4 drafts and had something that I was reasonably happy with. Don't worry about submitting early, just make sure the apps are good. Kudos to you for doing all this with kids and a business.

One way to do this is to look at how many students the professor has and how many are graduating/nearing graduation. The point is that most of the ones in computer science will simply tell you to apply and that they are always looking for good students. This is probably field specific, but here you're not expected to be set on an advisor and usually given a year to find one. All of the good schools in the specific subfield you're interested in will most certainly have multiple qualified faculty members in it and you should have multiple in mind when you apply. Once you are accepted, some of them will contact you about possibly working with them. At least that was my experience. Also, asking faculty members in the field at your school will give you a very good idea where you should apply and who might be looking for students, who's on sabbatical, and who's, god forbid, ill and is definitely not looking for students in the coming year or so.

Exactly what mims said. Ask about the ongoing research. Oftentimes the ongoing projects are not published. Mention why you're interested in this professor, what publication brought him/her to your attention. Ask if there is more work in that direction. Who else in the department is working on it. Ask how many graduate students he or she has and if a spot's available. You should also ask about the typical way that professor interacts with students. Your research interests may match perfectly, but if there is a real personality or management clash, you should be weary. The professor will most likely ask you questions as well. They will probably be about your background/past experience, why you want to work in the field and what's your focus, as you see it right now. Hope this helps.

The only thing I did was do some more research as to what faculty at each school is doing and I held off on contacting them until I was admitted in the respective programs. Other than that just sit tight, I guess

When I applied last year, I knew that people in other schools were checking up on my references. One example is the professor I asked went to a conference where another professor from a school that I applied to was asking him questions about me as a student, etc. It's pretty likely that interested faculty will be curious. Anyway, the other problem is that the letters she wrote are not likely to be great, in a sense that the best letters talk about the students achievements in terms of research/independent study work. If the ones she wrote mention that as well, it's likely to raise follow up questions with the faculty. Either way, I would let her deal with that herself. Just do your best with yours and she'll know what she did whatever the outcome is. I think that's a pretty tough burden as is. At the same time, if you want her to pay the consequences for certain, I'd ask your advisor maybe what the protocol is at the school. At my university I would go to the department head. Good luck and don't worry so much about that as getting your apps done.

About the deadline: I have no idea, but I'd imagine there may be some - I wonder how quickly they correlate submission time with which time zone you're in? About broader impacts: these are mostly addressed in the proposed research and somewhat in the past research. I obviously don't do this as well in the personal statement. In the research proposal I describe a project that could allow for easily installable wireless infrastructure. In the introduction I point out that it may be necessary/useful in underdeveloped countries (Ghana, Uganda). It also is applicable in certain parts of the US. So I'm trying to describe how it can make the world a better place, etc. I suppose you're right that I could elaborate on the benefits of having Internet connectivity rather than just stating it. Hope it helps. P.S. thanks for the compliments. I thought section numbers actually made it look better, but who knows