Amogh

Alright since you have made up your mind about it, let me warn you. There is a major difference between a PhD student who drops out because he realises that research is not for him and one who came for the freeride and almost 70% of professors know the signs. So, the chances of you passing off as the prior are very slim. You'll have to put on a very good act. I still disapprove of this and say that you shouldn't cheat people. Seriously. o and do find out the repercussions of leaving phd with an ms at the place you intend to pull it off at.

He did say that he was referring to a school outside of the top 50. Most of those schools dont have decent sized grants. They dont have the professors either(there are exceptions of course). So it is almost implied that if you want to do research, limit yourself to the top 50 schools.

There have been a lot of cases of late where the departments will ask you to pay back all the money they invested in you and then only leave. As a Phd student, a lot of places do not allow you to work anywhere else at all from what iv noticed. Also professors are well connected people. They could just stall your degree or give you the damned degree but spoil ur recruitment chances anywhere through their vast networks. I would advise you to not attempt this at all as the PhD seats are few and are exclusively meant for people interested in research. So if you do get admitted somewhere, you'v almost dickblocked someone who might have actually been interested.

Interested in a terminal ms or research(want to continue on to earn a phd later)?

I totally agree with the point you present. However, i have observed that a lot of people don't move out of this comfort zone no matter how long they live there. it's like they are trying to construct what they left behind in the new place too. kinda self-defeating but i guess comfort is important. I just find it ridiculous.

I don't think any courses are actually going to help you out. You will be forced to take really varied courses already so that doesn't matter. What will help you decide is working in both the fields and then making up your mind. If you indicated in your sop that you are interested in cog science as well, or even if you did not, i am quite certain that either group (or maybe you'll find that you actually want to work in something entirely outside of these two areas! who knows?) will be welcoming and will let you dabble in some work with them before you decide. This is how most students head through PhD from the looks of it (imho). Don't fret. You will be allowed to pursue advanced study where your interests lie. Ensure you network really well and get to know people from both groups. Things like fit into the group, your ability to work with them etc will also play a surprisingly large role in helping you make a decision when it is time. Please take my opinion with a pinch of salt as it is a second-hand opinion accumulated from reading these message boards and not something i'v experienced firsthand.

Most people think they know what they want to do. They get there saying ill do whacked-out-mindbogglingly-awesome-subject1 and end up doing Also-mindbogglingly-amazing-subject2. so no worries. People don't bind you to what you say your interested in. Interest is a really temporal thing so you can't hold it as binding.

Hey, erm dont mix currencies man. and dont use lakh, crore outside of an indian context. They aren't standard monetary units and no1 else would understand them. Also always use $ when posting. Now back to the topic, i think you are really confused. Why do you want to do 2 different Masters programs? Unfunded, a masters program could cost you anywhere from 30k to 60k a year. So, you really should chose a field and stick to it. If you intend to work in the field of robotics, apply to robotics programs. You can also take your fill of embedded systems while you are in a robotics concentration. And Embedded systems is Computer Engineering. Not Computer Science per se. Some places will classify it under EE so do look there as well.

I completely agree with frenzydude. But i also get where the OP is coming from. I think he wants a PhD to expand his options and for career growth maybe in the same company or other options. And i would say that yours is a special case. You should contact professors you are interested in working with before hand and tell them you are going to apply. Also try and explain that you are open to changing your focus a little(not too much though and that too only if you are willing to) to fit the current work going on there. I think you should contact some famous profs working in your area and see what they say. Also do talk to some people from the physics depts, tell them how you are not qualified to apply for physics program but you would love to work with them in interdisciplinary research if they could put in a good word for you with admissions in the CS dept or directly recommend you for admission in the physics dept itself. Many times there are exceptional cases where the standard procedures are abandoned to accept stellar students(and with pubs in nature and prl i'd say u fit the bill). All the Best

Ok i do not understand this. I find a lot of international students posting on various forums for other international students of the same ethnicity attending the same school or in the same town/area to room with etc. Why are people so ethnicity bound! Why do people move to a new place and then try constructing a subset of the old place there? I mean each place is new. Absorb the culture and appreciate it. It makes no sense to me that people would move all the way to a new city and then stick to people of only their ethnicity. I mean whats the point! Alright i'v reiterated my point too much. Sorry.

Guys i must say.. I finished my entire undergrad(in india) within $4000 and next year when(and if i get in) i move to the usa, i could expect to spend the same amount on settling in?!? Woah..

Well, from what i have seen changing specialty is not uncommon. Most people enter Grad school with one thing in mind and come out having done work in something else. The same can be said of startup founders too. About LORs, i think the second option of getting a letter about you teaching ability will serve you better as it is substantial and not one of those DWIC lors which count for absolutely nothing. Even though he is not a professor, i think that doesn't matter much because your other two recommenders are and he is in a position to describe something that will contribute to who you are and this is what adcomms look for.

Dont make duplicate posts on the same thing.

Erm, you are asking for the sky.. the general gre will be sent to 4 schools for free. You have to pay for it to be sent to the other 4 schools. The subject test fee only covers sending the subject test report to four schools. It doesn't cover the general gre report. You essentially have to pay for the two tests and for 4 reports of the general gre. If you were to take the subject gre in oct, it takes 6 weeks for the report to be sent out and say another week to reach the colleges. Check if that meets your deadlines. My advice would be to send in your gre scores as soon as you can.,

Well i think i'd go with the second one. He meant to say that he is sorry he can't be of any further help to you.

Well, i don't see why that should be a problem. You have done EE in your undergrad so you are free to pick anything in the entirety of EE to study. People actually do encourage you diversify your interests as that gives you a wider spectrum of view. I don't think this will affect your chance of admission in anyway.

Hey erm, they cant really accept 100% of applications. they get around >1000 applicants for ms a year. I dont think there are even enough rooms/professors to handle that many students in the cs dept alone.

Good point. I will do that. I actually started this topic to assess the impact of IARC on my application but doesnt seem like any1's ever heard of it lol. .. Do any of you think professors will actually take the time to look up IARC if they have not heard of it and i describe it quite well (top10 schools participate in it and it is organised by a prof from Gatech so...) in my application?

That kinda sums up what i thought too. .. hehe.. thanks.

If they just started their PhD program, i advise you to be wary unless they have superstars there as professors. That said it's not really the prestige(thought that helps too) that lands you a job but the quality of your work, your publications, invited talks, conference presentations, your personality that count. So try to avoid UW-M if their program is brand new unless you feel you are ready for a crazy uphill struggle. of course with a new place comes a lot of freedom too and probably very enthusiastic teachers too but just be careful with what you are getting into.

I am a part of the team from my college that is attempting the IARC 6th Mission. We are required to present a paper on indoor autonomous navigation at the symposium that takes place along with the competition. And all of us on the team contributed parts to the paper(each person wrote about his module on the bot). So technically we're all first authors. lol. Now, i do know that the IARC is considered a pretty advanced competition and everything but i am trying to get into Graphics or Systems research and not really in Robotics. I was involved in systems on this project as well. So my query is two-fold: a) Does this count as a paper submission?(It was required that we submit the paper for the competition) Will it be of any use to me on my application? Does the IARC hold such prestige? If so, is this relevant to Graphics/Systems too? Any info on how people regard IARC will be awesome. Thanks in advance

You my friend are considering the immediate future. Consider this situation instead. You join a research lab. You excel at your work as you are very passionate and publish a number of papers. Yet you see that the management considers you a little (mind you it could be just a second of doubt no more) less than your other colleagues with PhDs some of whom you have clearly outperformed. How will you feel then? Do not make lifetime decisions based on how you perceive life is currently. life is a continuous journey. not a series of journeys. always plan ahead. a couple of years living frugal wont harm you and i think your SO will understand this. Also getting a PhD, as others have pointed out, is preparation for a career in research. It is very different from MS+dissertation. All the best in any case.

What'r ur interests?

Logically, it wouldnt hurt you but wouldn't help you either. You would be better served publishing one really awesome paper at a top conf than publishing multiple papers at low ranked ones

Considering you'v been working at tcs for a while, i'm gonna assume you're from India. Well, other than if you get yourself an internship with some professor at some lab(IISC, IIT, TIFR etc) i dont see how you are going to improve your LoRs. Just my 2 cents(or in this case paise ).