TexasGuy
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Posts posted by TexasGuy
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you have done more than enough already with OOP1 & 2, data structures, computer organization and all those other 'core' cs courses you listed. Of course taking as many of the core courses as possible is great but if you have to struggle to queeze all those courses in, it's not necessary.
i would HIGHLY suggest Georgia Tech OMSCS program. It is a master of computer science program that is done online but it is NOT an 'online' degree. meaning it is exactly the same degree as the on campus version. You literally have access to all the resources as on campus students. It is mainly meant for people working full time and is highly flexible. This is a new program and the cost is unbeatable. and obviously you have the prestige of gatech to go along with it. Type in OMSCS in google to find out more about the program. They accept studens from very diverse backgrounds. I think you can definitely get in. also it doesnt require the GRE.
the on campus programs are more selective but i still think your credentials are enough to make it in. If anything coming from an unconventional background could work in your favor and make you stand out among all the CS undegrad folks. along with a strong statement of purpose and 160+ gre quant. Apply to some state schools and some really selective top 10 schools as well. good luck. i don't think there's anything to worry about really. unless you write a terrible SOP or flunk the GRE
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Texas A&M hands down...i was accepted into texas A&M and UFlorida for chemical engineering. I was able to get RA funding my second year. If you do good work and have a good relationship with your research advisor you should be able to get one....and even if you dont, if you plan ahead you should be able to get a TA ship. In terms of funding you wont have problems at A&M...
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yes i agree that admissions are holistic..... so coming from a very highly ranked school but having a GPA in the low 3's isnt a bad thing...but coming from a lesser known school with that GPA will make it difficult to get into top ranked programs....so in that sense its hard to say which is the most 'important' part of the application.....its about balancing out the weaker parts of your application with really strong LORs and a really great SOP.
this is why i suggested writing your own LOR because honestly, noone knows your strengths better than yourself.a professor may think very highly of you but may throw together some generic SOP on account of just not being in the mood or having too many other things to do....unless you are one of the best students he has ever worked with or something like that and you are really close with the person. The LOR and SOP (and getting relevant researchwork experience) are the only things you can control at this point. Getting a publication would really really help as well. fter all thats all professors really care about- can you produce publisahble work?
I think my previous post comes across like i think GRE's are really important and i didnt mean it that way. They're not important as long as you're around the average for admitted students. Actually your GRE scores are excellent- thats a 320/340. The average quant score for MIT engineering/science programs is usually around 164'ish and so im sure there a lot of people just below that score. Really, I think anything 160+ is considered great for top schools. So there is absolutely no reason to retake it.
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yeah i would say GPA. and its sad because that is not a bad GPA. but when most people have 3.8+ GPA's it makes it easy for grad schools to just filter out the applicants with GPA's closer to 3.0. Same with GRE. 161 Q is great but when a lot of people applying to top programs in science have 164+,... Its just a human thing. If i was looking at a whole bunch of applications i would probably employ the same lazy ass approach to weed out a lot of applicants. this especially goes for top 20- top 30 programs. Just make sure you look at admission statistics for previous years and see where you stand.
Honestly, write the letters of recommendations by yourself and send them to your recommenders. A lot of the time professors just dont feel like putting in all the effort to write a great recommendation letter so its best to do it yourself, make it as great as possible and tell them to edit and make changes if they want to. THey'll be really happy because it will save them so much time and they might even be willing add and tweak the letters to make it even better because it wont take them much time to do it.
And then the last thing is the SOP. Make sure others read your SOP.
- TexasGuy and Mechanician2015
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congrats jimlus..i hope you get it
Yes Manifestin...me too. Got the same email
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ortho...i've read a couple of papers published by professors I want to work with.
I will email them and suggest ways the research can be extended..and tie it into the type of research that I do
Honestly, I'm not sure what approach to take in this email. If anyone can offer some advice please do.
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3.98????
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im going to start emailing profs on Monday.
Thats something that people advise against but at this point I have to
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NO NO NOOOO!!!!!!
im gonna fucking losing it if i get rejected everywhere!
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i can see how schools would just skip over an SOP. They probably just skim through to figure out what you research interests are.
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rejected at Princeton...
4 more to go
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sjb, congrats on your early acceptances. That's amazing...all the schools really like you
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great stats gus. I hope you get in somewhere. I see you're also shooting for insanely competitive schools.
I hope school (which starts next week) will distract me from this stressful process.
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im starting to feel like i will get rejected by all schools. seems like almost all applicants have 167+ Q 160+ V and 3.9+ GPA from top chemE programs
lol so discouraging...im going crazy waiting on these decisions.
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what you should have done is offer to send them an updated SOP. 6 times out of 10 there is someone you can speak to who would gladly update your SOP for you
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Haven't been contacted for an interview. I think that will happen in the next few weeks (if companies are interested)
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also that GA tech essay section is pretty strange right? they weren't really essays, more like short answers.
lol yeah that really threw me off coz I was just ready to copy and paste my SOP
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@TexasGuy you are extremely correct. This is going to be an exciting final semester of undergrad, but I fully expect I will also be stressed and second guess myself multiple times. I talked to one of the PhDs at the company in Houston, and he told me that he did his PhD at Notre Dame, and when he finished the only job he could find was a crappy postddoc in Kentucky, and he only got the job in Houston because they found his dissertation and called him. He told me he understood why I was considering grad school but that if he had been in the same situation out of undergrad he would have taken the job because the company has a lot of awesome opportunities. That said, I don't have an offer yet (although I do think I will get one), but it still makes my decision harder to hear that from him.
Cheers everyone! Good luck to all in the upcoming weeks and months!
dont mind him too much. That situation rarely happens.
The thing is, its usually only the top companies that have R&D divisions. So in that sense theres less opportunity/jobs than for an undergrad. But PhDs also get hired for managerial positions in engineering companies. But you need to go to a school with a great engineering recruitment program, coz it makes things easier. I do not think you will have problems finding a great job if you're admitted to any of the schools you are applying to. especially if you go to UT!
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don't be so sure. I'm at one of those jobs right now. It's not very interesting imo. I feel like my brain is slowly rotting away doing rudimentary tasks that doesn't really require any college degree.
teerav, you're in Houston?? which company?
yeah i know what you mean.Jobs out of undergrad can be boring and require little to no engineering background. I worked in industry for a year and had enough.
so that is one reason to get a MS or PhD. You can join an R&D group in industry. But still, the big salary is tempting.
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I am the same guy from the results section, and I actually was admitted before my third rec got in. They called me to let me know I was in and I said "Wow I don't even have all my recommendations in yet" and they told me they don't always need all three to admit someone.
As far as industries go I haven't narrowed in on any one thing. I had an interview in the oil and gas industry in Houston last week, and tomorrow I have an interview in California with a software company. We'll see where it goes!
You have so many awesome options.
I'm sure making the choice to attend grad school will get quite difficult once that 70-90K salary offer from companies is in front of you.
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gus your scores will definitely not be a problem. i know the average quant for princeton chemE admits last year was like 162. so there you go, you're better than the average admit.
Also your english scores are above average for admits.
good luck.. i'm applying to princeton as well.
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why do professors do this? Just put you through the pain of having to ask them over and over to submit the fucking recs.
My 3rd rec is late for 2 of the 5 schools i am applying to. I'm going to have to wait till maybe January 2nd to ask again because i dont want to annoy him with an email during christmas-new years.
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i guess im screwed. I used the "tell them your purpose in life in the first couple paragraphs and tag on a paragraph at the end about why you want to attend their school" approach..
MS Programs that are lenient towards non-CS applicants?
in Computer Science
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a degree will make things a lot easier to get a CS related job IMO.. i am starting at gatechs omscs program this fall coming from a non-cs background.for preparation, everything you need is online. but preparation for gatech omscs it completely depends on what area you want to specialize in. so do some research on the specialization areas and figure out what kinds of courses you want to take