DorkRawk

Thanks for the answers. I've been working on some some research as well. I was just curious if something like this would be worth mentioning in a personal statement if I were to participate.

So in looking toward next year's applications I'm thinking about ways to beef up my apps and show CS prowess. I was looking at the Google AI Challenge ( http://www.ai-contest.com ) and it seemed like it would be a lot of fun to play around with. How would participation (and maybe success) in something like this be viewed if mentioned in a personal statement for someone looking to work in AI?

Thanks for the responses, everybody. I'm reluctant to pursue another masters degree as I just finished my master's in HCI (and manged to get out of that debt free). I have considered taking some CS classes as a non-degree seeking student in order to develop a relationship with some more professors and better my understanding of concepts that I may not currently have a good grasp on. I don't know anything about the financial offers from OR. I know that I won't take the offer if I don't have funding of some sort. I guess I feel like I understand the application process better now and feel like I could put together a better application, but I can't gauge how much better it will be. I look back on my application and feel like I could have better articulated my research interests and I feel like I better understand the need to show more abilities in that specific area rather than just showing that I have a master's degree and I've done research. I guess it's not so much reluctance about the school, but a nagging "what-if" feeling about what I could do if I tried again with the knowledge I have now. But, I still haven't heard back from the school, so this is still all speculation.

U of Oregon for a CS PhD.

So I'm coming to the end of a fruitless PhD acceptance season (I'm 0 for 8 right now, waiting for one more school) and thinking about applying to programs next year. My main problem is that my undergrad GPA is terrible. Not bad. Terrible. Here's my background: Undergrad in Math/CS at a top 5 CS school w/ a GPA around 2.3 Masters in Human Computer Interaction at smaller, lesser known school w/ a GPA of 3.98 My GRE scores are fine 1 published paper (not first author) in a small HCI conference I'm interested in AI research, so I need to show that I can do strict CS work. How can I make up for my undergrad GPA? Would taking the subject GRE help? How can I get more relevant research experience outside of a college environment? How can I figure out what schools would be realistic for me when I have a sort of non-standard background?

Hey guys, longtime lurker, first time poster here. So I've had a rough acceptance season (all rejects so far) and I'm waiting on one last school. It was the bottom of my "safe schools" (ranked in the top 70 in CS, for whatever USNWW rankings are worth) and I'm not sure what to do if I get accepted. I think I could do my research there but it's not really standing out to me. I can't tell if I'm just discouraged because I don't want to feel like I might have to take my only option or if I have legitimate reason to be reluctant (assuming I get in). I think that my options have been limited due to bad undergrad grades and my research experience being outside my desired area of research. I was thinking about taking my subject GRE and perusing research more closely related to my current interests and then reapplying to schools next season. So, is it worth turning down an offer (if I get it) to try to get into a better school after beefing up my application? I'm 28 right now and a little reluctant to put off entering my program for another year because of my age, but I don't want to make the wrong move because I'm impatient. As we're getting closer to the end of March I'd like to have a good idea of what to do should I get the offer. Advice?