adelashk

Then why not ask that question directly instead of giving a whole intro about your future plan? To answer your question, it is very difficult to get into Harvard.Getting into a higher ranked program than Harvard does not necessarily mean you have a good shot getting into Harvard, it only means you are probably qualified. Good luck at Michigan.

Anyone who doesn't respect an engineering PhD from Harvard should not be posting in this forum. Seems like your career path would eventually take you to management. I suggest exploring business school instead. The road to holding a PhD, coming up with an idea, creating your own company is not easy. From your plan, first you need to get into Harvard, work in an industry relevant research area, graduate, come up with a technology that is feasible and interesting enough for the market, obtain funding, and succeed through the first year. Keep in mind that most startups fail the first year or two. Your future plan is very shallow and has no clear path. "I want to get a PhD from an IVY/top school to be a CTO of a company or start a successful company" is not what successful people with PhDs had in mind when applying to grad school. You need to rethink what your end goal is.

Congrats!!!!! That's great!

Sorry to hear that Pratik. You still have an admit from UCI and waiting on UPenn so you are in a good position right now.

A lot of schools do not require a CS GRE but some recommend it. If your undergraduate major is not related to CS and you have not taken CS classes then top grad schools have no way of gauging your potential as a CS student/researcher. You might be a god in Sociology but that only reflects that you're a great social science student. The competition among candidates applying to top schools is not based on who is qualified or not, almost all if not all are qualified. If you take the CS GRE and do well then you will have a fighting chance at an admit. My advice only applies to top grad schools and undergrads majoring in a field not related to CS. For example, many physics/math majors get into top CS schools as compared to psychology/economics/etc.. majors.

You are missing the point here, AI and HCI are somewhat related but they are different fields. I knew a lot of HCI graduate students back in my alma mater (top 10 in engineering) who were very interested in AI and, against my advice, decided to take an AI class in the EECS department. They ended up dropping the class within 2 weeks never to venture into AI again. As you said, you need to do more research into the AI field and find out exactly what interests you about it. It is not all about cool robotics projects and shiny applications. It will not give you an advantage if you talk about doing HCI, AI, and some other field.. Be specific. If you are applying to top CS schools without a CS degree, consider taking the CS Subject GRE.

Ah! Gotcha. In that case, if you get into UMich or UPenn DEFINITELY go for it. These are not only U.S. known but world renowned institutions. UC Irvine is well regarded too. I would disregard Bloomington and NCSU (given that funding is not a factor for you). So to recap, UMich > UPenn > UC Irvine > IIT > Bloomington/NCSU. IIT is an amazing extremely competitive school but you already did research there and diversifying your profile will work better for you (this is very true for internationals). UMich/UPenn/UCI will certainly give you an edge when going back to India and will also open the door for a career in the U.S.' high tech industry if you decide to explore so. Congrats on UCI and IIT.

If you are already ahead of the curve (given you graduated from IIT and already have research experience) then why do a master's? India has a lot of R&D offices and I am pretty sure with your profile you can easily find a good job at any company. Some argue that industry experience is more valuable (in terms of knowledge gained) than getting a master's degree if a PhD is not the aim. You need to evaluate your priorities, goals, and what you really want to do in the future.

Pratik, It all boils down to whether you want to do research/PhD in the future/want an education experience in the U.S. or just a master's. If you are going for research/PhD definitely go for the U.S., while IIT is known for its competitiveness it is not as revered for its research. If you get into UMich or UPenn I would highly recommend going for it. UC Irvine is worth it if you care about the location/job prospects (although prospects are just as good or even better at UMich). Sometimes diversifying your profile gives you a better perspective of how things work.

I would go with Princeton (better in engineering and CS, brand name, better job prospects).. I can assume the professors are more known at Princeton's CS dept.

Hi Christina, Welcome to TGC. Part of what the adcomm wants to see is that you are as specific as you are since graduate school is more about depth as opposed to breadth. Instead of trying to dual specialize, focus on one area.. AI is a relatively more theoretical field with many people who specialize in it aim for the academic path as opposed to going back to the industry. So you should ask yourself, are you interested in a theoretical field that requires a lot of math and logic?... I am not very familiar with HCI but I do know for some schools HCI does not fall under the CS department. Also, you mentioned that you are interested in HCI due to your bachelor's background but what interests you in AI?

Apologies, I pretty much missed your original question. Your stats look good however as the previous member mentioned, good stats cannot guarantee to get you in but does keep you in the run. Some universities focus more on research experience and treat it as important or even more important than GPA. When it comes to graduate schools there are no 'target' or 'safety' schools. You can get rejected by any/all or accepted by any/all. Good luck.

In undergraduate studies, Computer Engineering is a standalone major much like CS or EE. In graduate studies, Computer Engineering is usually a subfield of EE focusing on networking or computer architecture. Stanford has a CS and EE department, with the EE department having a Computer Engineering subfield.

You will have a universal 3 month grace period once you apply for your OPT during your last term. However you can get a job offer during a career fair which happens early of your last year (assuming you are going to berkeley).

Career fairs help a lot, but they are not everything. I graduated from a top 10 engineering school and went to the career fair where I landed over 5 interviews with major/global companies. Job offers? 0. I ended up with an offer from a global company by applying online through their new grad. system. Morale of the story is do not expect the job offer to knock on your door. In the end, if you want to do research or go for a PhD go for an MS (i.e. columbia) if the industry is your main goal then do an M.Eng. (Cornell)

Please don't post the same thread in multiple subforums.

Seems like you should rephrase it to UMich vs gf. Go to UMich if you value a degree more than a relationship.

There are subtle differences between private and public schools, mostly the experience/funding.. the quality of education and research should not vary much. It is true that usually private schools are ranked higher (has nothing to do with respect) due to endowment per school, student:faculty ratios, and acceptance rates which are all factors in general rankings. I suggest you do not read too much into that and focus on the program at hand, i.e. the professors, class size, etc.. As for specific program ranking of the schools (#3 vs. #6 vs. #7), they are still top 7 so don't make it your primary factor (if it was #3 vs. #20 then that's a different story). It does make sense to focus on umich and CMU due to location/reputation... Are you planning for a PhD? If so then plan ahead and ask whether umich or cmu accept their master's students for PhD. If you're main concern is the industry then you should be fine, whether you have assistantship (which looks nice on a resume) or not you will still have a glorious degree. Top companies frequently visit a limited number of universities including the three you were admitted to. Go on the website and read about their program, it should mention somewhere about the class size.

Which ones accepted you for MS? M.eng? There is a difference between these two degrees.

Regarding funding status for getting a job.. You mean a job in the industry? Not sure about the chances of assistantship. Ann Arbor is a nice college town, Pittsburgh is more of a city, I have not heard good things about urbana either. Location-wise I think Ann Arbor would be the best. One more thing to add is that CMU is a private school and to some people that matters. Also, check out the class sizes for master's in enviro. eng... Some people prefer smaller class sizes for a more intimate experience, others prefer a larger class for the abundance of many courses, competition, research opportunity, etc.. As for the international reputation, I believe UMich > UIUC > CMU. Times Higher Education UK ranked universities based PURELY on reputation: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/reputation-rankings.html

ETH Zurich has a better reputation around the world and more academic connections. Not sure about UBC.

CMU is more known for techie stuff than environmental (even though it ranks as top 7 or top 5).. I would focus on UIUC and umich only. UIUC is excellent in engineering. Reputation wise, especially internationally you can never go wrong with umich. Umich is top 10 in almost every science but UIUC is mostly known for their engineering department. ICL is an awesome school but given you got into engineering behemoths in the U.S. it would make more sense to stay here. Good luck. Edit: Just read you got some funding.. Go where the funding is. A degree from anyone of these schools (not sure about ICL) will take you anywhere in the U.S.

If you are going back to the industry after your master's then go to Cornell. If there is a chance you would do a PhD or get a research gig then go with a master's of science (i.e. Columbia). Both are great schools, Cornell is more known and might be more competitive in engineering though. If location is a factor, Columbia trumps Cornell any day. I would try to connect with Columbia EE students to get a better perspective of the job opportunities/career fairs that go on over there. Good luck.

In that case, GA Tech hands down.

I think you misunderstood my point, my appraisal for Georgia tech does not undermine my opinion about UCSB whatsoever. I think UCSB is an amazing school. However, as I previously mentioned "from a shallow point of view" and at least in the international scene outside the U.S. Georgia tech is more valued. In addition, the students/faculty at georgia tech are guaranteed to be more of high caliber (I am NOT saying or claiming that UCSB students/faculty are any less). Take Nuclear engineering as an example, UMich is a well known school in that area even more so than MIT or Berkeley. What is the value of a UMich degree vs an MIT degree in engineering? UMich is an engineering behemoth and an excellent school. In Nuclear engineering it might outweigh MIT/Berkeley in terms of reputation/productivity but from a distant and shallow point of view an MIT degree would seem more valuable. Anyway, as I stressed before GT and UCSB are great schools. Personally, I would prefer GT for many reasons primarily because I am an international student. My opinion and your opinion does not matter, it is what the OP feels about either school.