beanbagchairs

love the thread! ...so here we go worst: 1) Stanford, for the following reasons: a) App fee ($125!) was a rip-off b.) need to go through every single page of the app to edit one minuscule thing at the end of the app c) finding where to login was not straightforward d) after submitting 2 official transcripts and 1 scanned transcript, I still got an email that they want another set of scanned transcript!! e) on top of that, my chance of admission is pretty dang small!.. arghhh 2) Purdue, for requiring me to list all my classes with their textbooks.. thank Goodness, they only want me to list *only* cs courses.... best 1) princeton. easy to navigate, received all of my supp materials with no fuss 2) u of washington, their cs admission advisor is just a very helpful woman!

I dont see any prob. with your GRE ...I am not familiar with your GPA system, so I cant comment on that.. I am under the impression that getting in into a master program is a bit easier, but funding is hard.. In the case that you do not seek funding, I'd probably classify these universities as follows: ambitious 1.Georgia Institute of Tech moderate 2.University of Southern California (they have a huge master program.. but in some cases,you may not be able to do a thesis. (i.e., course based). If you dont foresee a PhD in the future, then, that's fine) 3.Ohio State University 4.Arizona State University 5.IOWA state university 10.SUNY , Stony Brook NY safe 6.Univ Texas Dallas not sure where to put them 7.Univ of Florida,Gainsville 8.North Carolina State univ 9.Univ of Maryland Baltimore County Database is not my thing.. so I dont really know... but I remembered Georgia tech has good profs that work on databases

How did all of ur apps turn out?? I am applying to CMU-Pitt this fall.. I am nervous!!!

Urgh..I totally understand.. I have this colleague of mine who uttered his astonishment after learning the number of apps I submitted. Granted that he DOES NOT know how grad school admission process works and how competitive these schools are.. He made me feel that I am stupid for sending these many apps.... After that, I dont share as much about my apps to anyone, except those that understand how extremely competitive these programs are

If PhD is want you want, then go get it... Dont get a phd for a better job prospect (unless you want to obtain a professorship, then phd is a must), because the job prospect after phd is, uh oh, uncertain.. With that being said, I dont think anyone can resist the "charm" of a graduate from ***CMU*** and to a lesser extent, NTU. It will be more true if you manage to have great pubs.. Some people can only dream of going to CMU, so.. yeah make the best of it.. cheers

What's your area of interest? I think you definitely have a shot at 10-20 program.. GPA is great, GRE is near perfect (it's rare to get 700 in verbal for a cs student ).. not familiar with toefl score. I presume you have a good research exp for undergrad.. hype that up in your SOP. If i were you.. I would also include programs from top 10 program and those in the 30 or 40 ranges... just in case

so what happens to peeps with oh-not-so-impressive (~3.4) GPAs (((((((( but great research exps

I dont think your first GRE score is bad.. your verbal is fantastic (well I'm from computer science...so).. Dont worry, they'll pick the best set of scores focus on your research outputs

I emailed mine a week before Christmas.. due to a "panic attack" after duke told me that they did not receive his (paper) recommendation .. when he actually sent it already... I apologized in the email and he hasnt replied yet.. I think it's fine.. as long long as I dont "demand" him to reply the email during the holiday season.. but I wont make it a habit though, just be calm.. adcomms will meet in mid jan anyway

Argh.. hate those extra forms... Asking (multiple) recommendations are hard enough.. let alone asking them to fill these extra bits... profs are, uh oh, extremely busy I did not submit these forms for some of my apps.. others. I did...

I dont know if what you're referring to diploma is a bachelor degree or master degree (I remember that Europeans have that 5 year BS-MS and calls them "diploms"). Anyway I'll assume that it is a bachelor.. and I'll only comment on your second area of interest (bioinfo) I dont know how your GPA system works, but it looks like that your GPA is almost perfect.. I dont know what's a good score for TOEFL, so cant comment on it GRE is a bit on the low side, but not low enough to exclude you.... esp the quant .. We are applying for quantitative programs, you need to get near 800s.. Although great pubs will get you VERY FAR despite your GRE score. Your research exp looks great.. you want to emphasize that on your SOP... I'd also put why your background in physics is particularly great for your future in bioinformatics. I cant tell you safe schools, but I'll give you some suggestions: maybe schools: boston university (GREAT research), george mason u, USC, johns hopkins, duke I find these univs that have decent CS programs but IMPRESSIVE bioinformatics/biomedical programs.. so basically, it's another way to be advised by those great bioinformatics profs without having to compete with the whole population of bioinfo-hopefuls: UC santa cruz, WUSTL, johns hopkins With that being said, also apply to those dream schools... just in case you get lucky... and I'm pretty sure you know what are those dream schools are..

Ah yeah.. I downloaded that document. I was ultra-excited when I realized that it was written by a SHE, not another HE... (it's CS, you know) I also find the document produced by the MIT AI Lab to be helpful: How to do Research (MIT AI Lab)...although the latter does not talk about how to get into programs.. nonetheless, a good read for those who are trying to make it in research

I am not sure what you meant by "the general trend"; but, this is what i think about ur cousin's situation: 1) Finish her MS in India. Having an MS wont hurt, actually it's awesome.. Just make sure that she complements that MS with great research experiences. What I'm trying to say is that being in a master program will help her to get research experience... which counts a lot for PhD programs... 2) If she did not finish her MS, then she probably need to address that issue in her SOP... or else adcomms will be wondering why. 3) I am assuming she's halfway in the MS program? she might be graduating just in time for the next app season... getting these apps ready take a lot of time (and, uh.., money)

Hi.. Your IEEE paper counts a lot.. emphasize on that in your app.. I'll divide your schools into ambitious, moderate, and safe schools.. Anyway..is there any particular reason you opted for MS instead of PhD?. They have better funding in PhD programs. Also, I dont know your area of interest in CS, so take this rating of mine with a grain of salt ambitious: Carnegie Mellon Texas,austin Georgia Institute of Technology moderate University of California, Irvine University of California, davis University of California, Santa Barbara Purdue University University of South California. safe school North Carolina State University Michigan State Univ Ohio State Univ not familiar Univ of Minnesota twin cities