heheman3000

I've got to say I was quite impressed by the UCSD visit day. I will post more details when I get a chance.

You know, I am kind of in the same boat as you. I did a dual degree in finance and computer science, but I couldn't really put that on my CS applications so I just picked a field: systems. I was also hoping to just wing it and find something interesting to do. Luckily I was picked out by this Harvard group that sounds like it is right up my creek. I will still keep an open mind as I visit the other systems groups I was accepted to. In any case, be honest with your visit day faculty. They are more than willing to give you advice.

I just got back from the Harvard open house. I really enjoyed the campus, and I got the feeling that faculty and students were both very candid with each other. This isn't the time to play tricks or bargain - it's your chance to figure out if the school is the right place to spend the next 4-6 years of your life. Regarding your first couple of questions, it seems like you are looking at programs where you don't know your prospective advisor yet. That's fine, don't worry about asking them hard questions. Also, I don't think you should worry about courses too much, nor hours in the lab unless you're an extreme experimentalist-type person. And yes, I think you should be honest with your other offers. Faculty will compare and contrast and you can certainly compare what they say on different visit days. They will tell you even if you don't "force" them to, but since they know their colleagues in the same field at other universities, there's nothing to lose by telling them. On to the visit day - first of all, Harvard is a small faculty with no department lines, that emphasizes cross-disciplinary research. The faculty are perfectly honest that they don't have some of the depth of larger departments, but what's special is that there is research in new areas that are just breaking ground (such as economic combinatorial and prediction markets, algorithmic game theory, etc). They have a pretty much brand new computer science building, (built from funds by Gates and Ballmer and named after their mothers) and I got the distinct feeling that there is no politics going on between faculty at the school. Since Boston was blanketed by 9-14 inches of snow the night before, some professors brought their kids in and another showed us his dog, who is in his office every day he is at work. By the way, I love snow, but it just happened that the biggest snowstorm this winter happened this weekend. For my potential group, I saw a lot of possibilities because the senior professor was just tenured and we also have a new assistant professor who will have relatively more time to spend with students. The group has been cranking out papers like a printing press because there is so much new research to cover. Also, both professors are married, one is tenured, and the other plans to have kids, which goes to say a lot about their understanding of your need for work-life balance. This is something some of you might want to consider, and if you are working with an assistant professor who is a few years in you will need to consider their tenure situation. Harvard's faculty, albeit small, also claim to be very high quality. Their proximity to MIT really offsets the disadvantages of the small department as well. You can take MIT courses, and even have MIT professors as an advisor. This seems to be ideal since you will have faculty that will pay attention to you but also have access to the course listings of a huge department. Finally, if you are interested in interdisciplinary research, then the other world-class departments at Harvard are all open to you. Boston may be cold but it's a really fun and quaint town to be in. Public transportation is efficient and there are tons of things to do for students (80 universities in the greater Boston area alone.) Students all seemed happy and not half-dead like the ones at certain other grad schools down the river that I won't mention. There were about 25 CS admits in total, but from my random non-scientific sampling almost all of them (except me) also got in at "higher-ranked" schools. Harvard really was trying to sell them but I think they will probably get a low yield. If you're on the waitlist, you might have some good chances.

Got contacted by Columbia professor yesterday. I feel like I'm a 2nd-tier choice.

Looks like Penn's visit day is this weekend...Lots of free food around engineering for me!

It's not even that early. Most of the decisions are in for me... Anyway, I'm going to visit UCSD. Hope to see you there March 12-13, whoever you are...

I really should have withdrawn my application, as I feel like I'm taking up one of your spots. But I promised myself I'd talk with the UCSD faculty even though personal and professional factors are strongly pulling me toward my other acceptance...

Correct: 53 Incorrect: 9 Omits: 8 Formula Score: 51 You?

Goin to Haaavad....

What's AGRE? Are you talking about the GRE subject test? <-- 850 (93%)

I know the CV and robotics here is pretty balla...but I was never impressed by what the CG people were doing. They just had a brand new lab built for them though, although I don't know why CG people would need a lab, but it has a pretty big kitchen...

me <-- undergrad at Penn. I think they are still moving, so don't worry.

I'm an undergrad at Penn. I don't think you have anything to worry about yet...a couple of professors have trickled out acceptances but the whole mass is still moving.

Wow, you guys prepared a whole lot more than I did in choosing which schools to apply to... In October I was just like, crap, got to take the GREs now and apply to grad school because the job market sucks so much...and start turning my focus from employment to research!

One of you guys can have my UCSD spot...at this point I think I will 99% be going elsewhere.