victor.s.andrei

2.7 GPA from a top-5 public university due to multiple deaths in the family, multiple parental job losses, and years of crippling financial problems in my family. What did it take for me to get admitted to a master's program? An alternate transcript at the school where I applied - 12 credit hours of graduate courses with a cumulative GPA around ~3.25. Three good LORs - one from my undergraduate senior thesis advisor, a second from an undergraduate professor (I aced two upper-level courses with her that were directly related to my M.S. program, and I was a TA for one of the classes too), and a third from my supervisor at work. Above average GRE scores. A kickass SOP - that included a research project that I had started in one of those classes that was on my alternate transcript. The project really didn't go anywhere, but it helps to show something. Membership in my field's professional societies and standards bodies (ACM, IEEE, USENIX, Internet Society). Nearly two years of practical (but still relevant!) work experience in the same field. And...partial employer funding. My advice to folks with GPAs less than 3.0: build an alternate, non-degree transcript at your target school with the intent of transferring the credit hours once you are admitted. Do well on the GRE. Get relevant work experience at an employer with tuition assistance. Get some good LORs - no more than one from work, some from either undergraduate (or non-degree graduate, if you can't get any from undergraduate). Also, get involved in your field's professional societies. Pick up the journals and magazines. Go to a conference. Even if you're applying for a master's, like I did. And, once you get admitted to a master's program, choose the thesis option if offered, even if you don't plan on going beyond the master's to a Ph.D.

I'm in a totally different field, but here are my thoughts on your situation. 1. Beware of impostor syndrome. Just because you feel incompetent does not necessarily mean you are incompetent. 2. You might be burned out or overloaded. Perhaps you could investigate the possibility of taking a semester off - or at least backing off on a few things that you are doing this semester?

I applied to one school: George Mason. Could I have done better? Probably. Maryland is down the road and has significantly better rankings. That said, I am working full-time in my field at the same time, so it was either Mason or an online master's program (Colorado State's MSCS is the first that comes to mind). Maryland was out of the question since I would have to pay out-of-state tuition as a Virginia resident (and U.S. citizen). Plus, my office is in Virginia, and DC area traffic is infamous - there is no way I will commute two hours (or more) each way just to get to class. Bottom line: where you apply depends on your life situation. You might work full-time at the same time, like I do. Or, you might prefer a big city rather than a suburban or rural environment. One school may have interesting research, while another might not have any at all. As for GRE/GPA, the numbers are merely filtering mechanisms that do not necessarily imply success as a researcher - and graduate school, by and large, is training for research.

Your problem isn't getting admission. It's getting funded admission. U.S. universities are notorious for funding STEM Ph.D. programs but not STEM M.S. programs.

LOL. You don't want to know what "normal" software engineers end up doing. It will make you cringe.

Wall Street is shedding jobs, and consulting isn't for everyone.

That sounds passive-aggressive to me. Stay in the class, though. The semester is almost over - just drag yourself over the finish line and then run.

1. IT is not Computer Science, though there is some overlap. 2. You need the following undergrad courses: discrete mathematics, digital logic / computer architecture, intro software engineering, and data structures / algorithms. Strongly recommend calculus too.

Oh, they most certainly will.

1. What sort of IT experience? 2. Translate your grades into the U.S. 4.0 scale if you want to apply to a U.S. university. 3. The words safe, moderate, and ambitious do not belong in the same sentence.

1. Don't worry about the B+. 2. The GRE is a filtering mechanism. Register for the exam. Take the exam. Don't look back. 3. Get the letter from a professor who knows you well. 4. Your apparent lack of research experience is the weakest part of your application. Get involved in your community **now**: register to attend a conference, join a professional society, read interesting articles in publications in your field. 5. Beware of impostor syndrome. 6. Good luck. Apply. Don't give up.

Sometimes, they get their employers to pay.

A PhD in what? Information Technology? Or Computer Science? Your bigger issue is that you also probably didn't get any academic LoRs. That...and, an IT curriculum is generally weaker than a CS/CpE/EE curriculum in that it generally does not include the intense advanced mathematics coursework. If you apply for a CS program, don't tell that to the adcom. You have only shown a passion for IT - the practitioner side of computing - but not the computer science side - which is effectively applied mathematics. Look for a job in the research and development side of a major corporation...or a major university. Then take a few computer science courses - the ones with the actual mathematical theory. I'm really questioning why you want to pursue a Ph.D. If you want to pursue really cool, cutting-edge work in either robotics or artificial intelligence, you're better off getting a cool R&D type job and then taking courses on the side (from a school like UW Seattle or UC Santa Cruz) in various programming languages, hardware design, and so forth.

Frankly, I can't. Graduate admissions is a black box that isn't just based on straight numbers. But I can say that your chances of obtaining a funded MS in the US are very, very low...and that's not you. It's the fact that Ph.D. programs are mostly funded, while MS programs are generally unfunded.

You can add them to your CV and mention them in your SOP or goal statement.

Significantly...that's hard to tell. But, yes, it will decrease your chances. Of course, graduate admissions can at times feel like academic Russian roulette, so... Yes, it is. Apply to a Canadian university - Toronto, British Columbia, Waterloo - for a MS and then apply to a PhD, either in the US or Canada. In the US, master's degrees are generally unfunded while PhDs are funded, while in Canada, you start with a funded MS and continue to a PhD if you're any good. Or, at least, that's what the folks at Alberta told me a few years back. YMMV.

Lenovo makes good ThinkPads. For safety, stick to ThinkPad model series that were carried over from IBM: R, T, and X, for starters.

MS in IT at what school? That sounds more like a professional, terminal master's degree to me, in which case you would be much better off getting relevant work experience in the information technology field.

Don't come to the DC metro area. Way too many government jobs, atrocious traffic, rushed lifestyle, and cost of living through the roof. Plus it feels like we all work for the DMV here.

I second this. The OP should go west.

1. I hope you made friends at Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 2. Most of the areas with a hopping IT job market have an above average cost of living. The only real exceptions are Dallas, Austin, and Houston. Of the three, the only one with the school with a ranked graduate program is Austin. 3. Having a Ph.D. will hurt you when you go looking for an IT job.

Dude, your GPA is fine. You did a double major in engineering at a known, ranked school. It's over the 3.0 mark so you won't get immediately screened out. Chill. Apply to Berkeley if you want. Let that professor know you applied. Who knows what sort of strings might get pulled...in your favor.

If your school is any bit like mine, you can withdraw your intent to graduate and then refile in a subsequent semester. Talk to your department and your advisor now.

What you said.