[SOP Critique]

I sent you my SOP. I am waiting to receive yours.

I would be willing to critique yours if you will critique mine.

[SOP Critique]

Hi,

I am applying for Ph.D. program in CS in Statistical Machine Learning Area. I would be grateful if someone is willing to critique my SOP.

thanks

[Good score for international student]

I am from Iran. I have never been in English-speaking country but I have been studying statistics master in Switzerland since September 2009 (the program is in English). I am applying for computer science program in

- Top universities : MIT, CMU, Caltech

- Other: Toronto, Waterloo, EPFL

I will have two master degrees in 5 months, Statistics master from ETH (GPA:5.41/6.0) and Computer Engineering Master (16.92/20.0) from a top university in Iran.

Publications: one journal paper is under major revision, 4 local papers

thanks

You can't generalise really. An international student from which country? Having how many years of experience of living/studying in an English-speaking country? Applying to which programme at which university?

Your Quantitative score is obviously great. You don't really need anyone to confirm this to you. It is the top score.

[Good score for international student]

Hi,

I have just finished GRE exam. I would like to know (Q:800, V:450) is good score for a international student.

Thanks

[Unscored section in GRE]

I have just finished GRE exam. I was lucky because it was clearly marked the unscored section.

[Answer randomly]

Hi,

When practicing Verbal section with PowerPrep software, normally I could not finish all the 30 questions. Because sometimes in the question 24 or 25 I encounter a short reading passage (time about 25:00). I have following options:

1- To read the reading quickly and only answer the reading questions. Therefore I could not answer 3 or 4 questions.

2- just answer the reading questions randomly and then answering carefully remaining questions ( about 3 or 4 questions).

Which option would you suggest?

[Unscored section in GRE]

Hi,

I want to take GRE on 9th November. I want to know if still there are unscored section in computer-based GRE. If yes, is it easily distinguishable from the real one?

thanks

[chance for CS PhD in top universities?]

Thanks for your reply.

I have just noticed that based on following standard website :

http://www.wes.org/

I can convert my international GPA to four point system. Therefore we have:

MSc in Amirkabir university in Iran : GPA : 3.72 / 4.0

BS degree in Amirkabir university in Iran : GPA : 3.17 / 4.0 (and 3.33/4.0 last two years)

master student in statistic at ETH Zurich university : GPA : 5.5 / 6.0 (in four point scale is not clear yet)

I think WES is the system which most universities uses for converting international GPA to four point system.

Now what do you think about my chance to enter top 5 and top 20 universities? (based on converted GPAs and also information posted before)

[contacting Professors]

Hi,

I have following questions:

1- Is it better to contact professors before formally applying to a university?

2- If a professor does not answer my EMail, may I try again after several days? Or is it better to try other professors?

[When do I have to take GRE?]

Thanks a lot, I got my answer I was referring to the computer-based test not new GRE format.

[When do I have to take GRE?]

thanks for your reply. I am not from Germany.

I should add that I do not want to take paper-based GRE and I want to take computer-based GRE. Still I should take the exam 5 weeks before 10th December?

[When do I have to take GRE?]

Hi All,

When do I have to take GRE exam so universities receive my score about 10th December? I want to take the exam in Germany.

[chance for CS PhD in top universities?]

Hi All,

I would like to know my chance to be admitted in Phd Program in top universities such as MIT/CMU/stanford/Berkeley. I want to apply for Machine Learning field. My profile:

1- master student in statistic at ETH Zurich university

- GPA : about 5.5 up to now

- TA in one course

- doing one research seminar

2- master degree in Artificial Intelligence in Amirkabir university in Iran (top three universities in iran)

- GPA : 16.92 out of 20

- TA in three course

- one journal paper (to be revised in neurocomputing journal)

- 5 regional conference papers

3- BS degree in computer engineering in Amirkabir university in Iran (top three universities in iran)

- GPA : 15.78 out of 20

- First International ranked Team Rank in Robocup

- Ranked 170th in ”National Entrance Exam for B.Sc. Program“ among more than 400’000 high school students

GRE: not yet (expected Q:800 V:350-400)

TOEFL : 92 at the moment but I want to take it again.

I could get three strong recommendation and I have a strong SOP. I have a response from a CMU professor that told me "I encourage you warmly to apply".

Because I have both statistics and AI degrees, it matches profile of some professor very well.

what is my chance to be admitted in these universities?