uclacolumbia

When they say GRE/recommendation are secondary, does that mean applicants need not submit score and letters as part of the application? I've seen many programs requiring applicants to submit unnecessary stuff that they know won't be used for evaluation (things like recommendation letters).

the selectivity: continuing stanford ugrad (least competitivetive) < HCP < external applicants (most competitive) GRE score should be at least 750. (I think 700 is way too low for an engineering program.) Your GPA looks good, but where you went to ugrad matters a lot (3.4 at Stanford probably weighs more than 3.8 at Cal State Los Angeles). I also wonder when you did your ugrad.

Most masters programs (including the top ones) have rolling admissions. But some real snubby ones (such as Princeton and Cal) only offer Fall admissions.

FOr a professional masters program like MCS, it's not necessary to have research experience. As long as you have good grades and good test scores from renowned institution, you should be in a good shape.

Let me make some correction on your statement. Stanford and MIT are more quantitatively oriented, while Duke and Cornell are more geared toward "management" (i.e. less hardcore math involved). And I think the program at Columbia (M.S. Civil Engineering) is pretty good.

any of the schools from this website will be top notch. http://www.mempc.org/