spark1989

Exactly. Given that you applied earlier, I'll strongly suggest that you join UPenn. They may not even pick you next year. As far as jobs are concerned for a phd, it depends more on the individual (how many papers and how good are they) than the place, especially when aiming for the non-academic positions.

It's a very risky decision. It appears that only one prof was interested in your app among all the places you applied to. What if he picks someone else (after you decline) and doesn't have an opening next year. At the same time, there is a chance that you may improve your app. But you can not change your UG GPA, and top places need a reason to reject. imo, stick with upenn and it's a top school.If it was some 30-40th rank school, then you could have considered dropping it. Btw, I know a person who was rejected by big 4 and was accepted by all of them after two years. But there was a massive change in his profile.

He was an NLP guy at UCLA, turned into a ML (NN to be precise) at UT only. So no worries.

Also, do look at the placement of the current MS/BS students at these places. If very few people go to the top US schools for Phd, then it's probably better to stay away from that place.

If you plan to pursue a PhD in future, then why not pick an institute which is good in your area (meaning good faculty members) and is pretty well-known in CS. Just rank these places on these two parameters, and may be on the funding as well and see what you get. One problem with oxford is the duration of the program. One year I feel is definitely less to do anything (meaningful) and given that you'll probably be applying for a phd (that too from US) just after 6 months, it may not be the best option. Pick a place where you expect to do good research before you apply.

Just tell them that you may go for a phd/MS in future. Similar stuff happened with me twice, but I was already working at that time. In fact, my bosses at these places offered to write a reference letter for me (I accepted their offer ).

Dont go by the ranking alone. For example, Yale is supposed to be the last rank, but it has some amazingly good faculty members such as Spielman (he was a prof at MIT and is a top theory guy). If you've already been accepted at these places, then I'm a little surprised as you appear to have applied randomly. If you plan to apply, then better start researching these places.

Received a mail today saying that I'm on their wait list for PhD. Not that I care though.

very difficult decision imo. I think you'll probably end up with equally good job(in IT) from either place. However, if you may want to work in some non-IT field in future, then may be princeton is better. In short, UIUC is not going to give you any significant advantage over princeton in cs, if at all there is. My vote goes to princeton.

UCLA is not strong in ML (weak imo), as UT is. Unless you want to do RL, go for UT; otherwise you may prefer Michigan.

I don't agree with this view. WiscMad is having a really hard time in giving aid to their incoming PhD students. We've seen so many Phd admits w/o any aid. Expecting them to fund MS students is just unreasonable in my opinion.

Let me put it this way. Difference definitely exist between the top 4 and others. . In theory, princeton is definitely a better place than those places you mentioned , otherwise I don't have a high opinion of princeton (not a top 10 school for me). I'm assuming that you are able to get equally good advisors at all the places. However, if u can get an advisor say sanjeev arora from princeton, or klienberg from cornell, then things are entirely different. In fact, I'll be happy to leave top 4 for these people, and people do that very often. My sister left a top 10 school and going to a 40th one because of the advisor. Infact, I'm also doing that

I think best people to advice you are the profs at Columbia. They can tell you more about the faculty at UCLA and Wisc-mad working in their areas. From my experience, I think columbia is a better place for ML(jabera, collins,..). Btw, it's always better to change your place, and if you are looking for a better job, then may be UCLA is a better fit.

If there is absolute no match, then pick Austin any day. Otherwise, think twice before choosing. I know a person who opted for UT even though he had one from UCB. It was a tough call for him.

Similar dilemma. I've been accepted at many places by the profs working in my area. Moreover, I've spoken multiple times with these guys, so I've to be a little careful here. Also, these profs know my reference writers pretty well. Some of these profs went out of the way to offer me an admission, like calling me just two days after I submitted the application. Any advice?