mo7aisen

anybody got into UF? I had it among other offers and trying to figure out what's the best. I am majoring computer science.

you are on the right track. research experience is extremely valuable and will be weighted high when applying. if you make it for some publications, this will be the perfect application. it's not too hard to get admitted to *some* schools in top 20 but specific schools tend to be tough (top 5). I got into top 20 (CS) with a modest profile (GPA and GRE) but with SO MANY publications (20-some papers). btw, my undergraduate GPA was 3.3 (top 20%; i presume), graduate GPA was 4.0/4.0 (top1). Both degrees are from less known schools outside of the States. I have been working for a well-known research institute for a while. Except of being lucky to experience so many *quality* publications, nothing is special in my profile. I've low GRE scores indeed. Good Luck

This thread for those who are going to attend to the university of Minnesota on next fall. Please feel free to post any resources you believe valuable for those who are interested.

Unrealistic at all. As I am going to attend there, I figured out that a single student would need around 17500$ per annum (at least). p.s., I will be attending with my family (two lovely kids + wife) and that would cost around 30,000$ per annum (roughly). the school will pay me around (21,000-tax) per annum and I should manage the rest.

money was the only reason that i didn't attend on several admission offers from several excellent schools two years ago. It depends. Basically, when a school offer PhD students stipends, they consider the living cost in the particular place. They consider also that, under students' living standards, this stipend should be enough. Given that, I will rather be looking to the reputation of the school and specific program of interest given that the basic fund is provided.

it depends on how many credits is the single course. if 4 courses are 12 credits then it's the maximum load. Though, that's not so tough if you know how to manage your time. Btw, I agree with those who recommended you to go to UCLA. it's a fantastic place (for both academics and life aspects) -- except that it's a bit expensive, of course...

I don't know anything their strength in communication, since it's not my area. TU Delft has a good reputation in technology in general (one of the only three technological university in the Netherlands). I know that living in Delft is a wonderful opportunity. It's not so far from Amsterdam, relatively cheaper, and place that you will love (if you go there). I've heard from a friend who got in UMICH that both ECE/CS didn't offer any fund this year. I am sure of this piece of information but if not true then TU Delft is not that bad.

you have to say also that you are not associated with Gatech

I'd an offer from the CS department. In the CS department also, many didn't hear about the financial offers (they will be posted by mid of March). Those who were awarded fellowships heard from the school at the time of admission. Those waiting are likely being considering for RA/TA things. There might be a different story in the EE department Source: a faculty member in CS@UMN

Applied to UMD and UVa. I heard from UMD but nothing from UVa. Though, I will not go to any of them.

I understood you are asking about the ranking of these schools in CS. While no ranking is perfect, here's the CS ranking of the USNews (2008). 6. Cornell University. 9. University of Texas Austin 11 UW-Madison 20. USC I'd rather recommend you to consider the performance of the machine learning group at each school for which Cornell probably wins.

Purdue, Florida (Gainesville), Minnesota (twin cities), U. North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio State, Maryland, TAMU,

ucsb has many guys work on security while usc has none. i wish you had selected ucsb

I am sure that post is useless as it has passed really long send you asked, and nobody replied to you. if i am you, i would choose computer engineering offered by the school of engineering.

I think i read your post somewhere else on the net and replied to you that the minimum gpa for applicants from your home country is 3.0. exceptions may exist but i am not sure of that

I received an offer to study computer science for the PhD degree. I will *very likely* go there.

I will not forget that. I watched that movie long ago but didn't think, even for a second, that I will be studying in Minnesota. By the way, I am sad for your results but here is a relevant story that happened with me. I applied on 2007 for 10 schools, got declined by half of them and those who offered me admission didn't give any fund. I took the GRE general test again, made a decent resume (publications, research experience, a few patents, a few contacts with professors) then applied this year and got from most schools I applied to. The good part of the story is that most schools offered me fellowships this time. cheers,

Thank you all for the posts and the great recommendations. I really didn't expect to receive all of these posts. I'll be *very likely* going to Minnesota though recent offers I had have extended the pool of choices . As I am coming from out of the States, I am planning to use the university housing for the first year to become familiar with the university settings and the society around as well. After that, I may buy or rent a house but likely far from school (for all merits you've mentioned). I really never lived in a suburb (the smallest city i lived in, so far, has 1.5M inhabitants on 200 sq mi.) so don't know how the life could be in other settings. However, since many people enjoy that kind of life, it shouldn't be terrible

I've had two offers from two schools in those in west Lafayette (IN) and Minneapolis (MN). My first option was Minneapolis because a superstar is working there. But I've heard a lot about the cold weather of Minneapolis and how this could ruin my life (in fact, my family's life as I am going to move with two little kids). Is it really hard to survive in Minneapolis? How different are other aspects of the life in these two places. posts will be appreciated