ssk2
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Posts posted by ssk2
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Ah, missed that. Yeah - I would think a 4.5 upwards would be good enough since that is 73rd percentile (https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table1b.pdf).
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Your GPA looks good - I think the main use of the CS Subject GRE is to offset a lacklustre (or missing) CS GPA - so that shouldn't be a prolbem. (IIRC, they're discontinuing the test too!)
Your GRE score looks good too - at least the quantitative and verbal sections. I don't really know how much weight (if any) is put on the analytical writing section - that does look a little low, especially if you're not coming in as an international applicant. You could probably bump your score up in the verbal section quite easily by revising vocab for 20-30 minutes a day using a flash card application (like Painless GRE) - just make sure you start a month or so before your test and it shouldn't be a problem. I found that really helped me when I took the GRE for the second time. As for analytical writing - did you do much preparation before? I did a handful of practice essays under timed conditions which I think helped - again these don't take too much time, maybe an hour a week.
I think the key things for a PhD application seem to be letters of recommendation and research experience, these will matter much more than where you did your undergraduate degree, your GRE, and GPA.
Have you seen these sites? You might find them useful:
http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/oleary/gradstudy/node4.html#SECTION00042000000000000000
http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~wgg/grad-school.html
Good luck!
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It depends what you plan on doing afterwards and where - you'll get a slight 'home field' advantage to having a PhD in the UK when applying for jobs in the UK - and similarly for having a US PhD in the US. Plus, I'm not sure US employers will give any weight to some of the less prominent universities here (and possibly similar the other way around).
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What program? I'm still waiting to hear back from University of Michigan for my Master's application. I'm guessing from the fact you have funding that you're a PhD applicant though?
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As for UCSD - no idea. There have only been two admits on the Results Survey and judging by last year's results, we could still hear back between now and the beginning of April.
It looks like they send out rejections after the April 15th deadline though, which is a bit lame.
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Danbeals - I doubt it. I think the two programs are very different (academic vs professional), and the MEng program costs more (tuition) too! Perhaps you could ask them? They're very good at responding to queries via Google Talk at the listed times.
naijaba - yes, I extrapolated from those statistics! It's a very small department. I think the program you've applied for is new for this year though, so hopefully they're growing the class size for Fall 2013? When did you hear back from them? I'm expecting a letter at the end of March, but applied for straight Computer Science - not CS&E.
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Are you applying for a PhD or Master's?
If Master's, I know that from past results, if you haven't been admitted by UIUC by now, you're probably not going to get an offer.
As for UT Austin - AFAIK, they normally send out results in March.
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MPhil friend says that it most likely doesn't matter.
As for interview content, no, they're most likely not going to ask you obscure questions about 1st year data structures and algorithms... You should know a reasonable amount about your proposed research area though, and be able to back up / validate anything from your application.
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The Student Room is indeed where most British students tend to go.
I'll find out about the MPhil course and admissions from a friend who studied it.
Out of interest, who's the professor who's interviewing you? I might remember him/her from my undergraduate course :-)
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Yep, still the same for me. I applied in early October and it hasn't changed since then.
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Yes. Did you not read/receive this email sent on the 12th of December?
Dear applicant, If your application status is showing as 'incomplete' and you have already sent us 2 sets of your official transcripts, have had your test scores sent to the university, and have three (3) letters of recommendation submitted in the system, please disregard the application status message. Because of the volume of mail that we are receiving at this time, we cannot respond to individual inquiries about materials not yet received. Rest assured that we will contact you if we have questions about receipt of your supporting materials. Sincerely, Computer Science Graduate Admissions Stanford University
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Thanks for the reply!
I've now done the same - I figure it can't really hurt and may, hopefully, boost my profile a bit.
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We've just submitted a paper that we've been working on for the last few months to a conference (http://www.icwsm.org/2013/index.php) - and should hear back within a month whether it has been accepted or not.
Since that's going to be after most departments have made their MS decisions, is it worth contacting them now and asking if they can update my application?
(I won't be able to give them a publicly available link to the PDF, but should be able to provide a private link to it.)
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A lot of 'Google level programmers' get that good through doing a PhD. Most CS PhDs will involve a substantial amount of programming - so you're likely to improve a LOT by the time you finish.
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I applied to the S.M. in Computer Science - but I'm not hopeful. They take (from what I can tell) less than 5 people per year. Their courses on multi-agent systems and robotics are really pretty interesting though, so it is near the top of my list!
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I submited my application in early October - before the Spring deadline. I think they must have assessed with those applications because I saw a decision letter online (on Apply Web) in November.
Congratulations on CMU! That's awesome - such a competitive department to get into to! Are you specialising in anything?
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March isn't so bad! A couple of the places I've applied to send their decisions through in early April! And Harvard apparently sends their decision by post. I really hope they allow extra time for international applicants - although I have a feeling it won't matter either way, since the Royal Mail will probably lose the letter.
I applied at the beginning of October too...will be glad when this is all over!
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Just turned 25! Although I see that a lot of people who apply to CS Master's courses have some work experience so hopefully the age difference won't be so bad. The thing that worries me most is that it will have been 4 years since I left university (and last did any real studying) when I start...adjusting is going to be tricky!
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You're correct - it's a MEng program. Not such a concern for me since I'm most likely not going to do a PhD afterwards! In fact, it works out slightly cheaper because of the shorter course length (although I hear it's all the more work during that year).
Going for AI / Robotics courses - although I don't have significant experience in either - which seems to be desirable even at Master's level! It's weird how self-fulfilling admissions for these courses are, i.e. you need robotics experience in order to study robotics (or even that you need research experience to do a PhD). UPenn rejected me - probably because of lack of experience (and the same with CMU's RI last year). Hopefully I'll have more luck with generic CS Master's where I can then just choose the AI/Robotics courses.
UMich should be giving out results this week for their Robotics and Autonomous Vehicles Master's, according to the administrator I emailed this week, so I'm currently regularly checking their status website!
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I'm also applying for CS Master's programs this fall. So far I've heard back from (and been accepted at) UCSD and Purdue. looking forward to hearing back from more! Although I like UCSD a lot
Awesome! When did you hear back from UCSD? I'm still waiting to hear back from them - I sent in my application pretty early, so hopefully they'll have some news soon...
What area of specialism are you aiming for?
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I applied to a few UC's and Stanford and CMU MS CS programs. So far I've only heard back from UC Irvine. BTW, anyone know how CMU's MS CS program is? I've looked online and it seems good but I wanted to get an opinion
See this post for more on the CMU MS: (and the rest of the thread has some good admissions stats too).
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I sent mince pies to all of mine for Christmas - although perhaps that was a bit premature :-D.
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My Brown application (for Master's admittedly) shows 'Awaiting Materials' because I'm an international applicant and they're awaiting TOEFL scores. I emailed them a month ago to ask them if they can update my application to waive the requirement since I was born and studied in an English speaking country! No change yet though, which frustrates me.
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I applied to four programs at three universities (Stanford, CMU and UT Austin) last year without really knowing much about how competitive these programs really were. The first two rejected me outright and it later turns out that one of my letters was not submitted for UT Austin. It was quite disappointing! I had predicated my career at the time on the basis of going to graduate school in Fall 2012, and my relationship with my girlfriend at the time came to an end on the assumption that I would soon be moving away.
That said, I realise a lot of my application simply didn't fit the bill, so I've spent the time since March 16th (my last rejection) improving every part of my application that I could. I've taken everything as conservatively as possible - e.g. Stanford's FAQ states strong applicants have GREs in the 90th percentile. My previous GRE was 89th percentile, so I retook it and bumped the score up. I didn't have any research experience, so I've engaged in a research project in my spare time.
My essay wasn't good but didn't really address why any university should let me into their program - so I rewrote it, three times! I also sought advice from anyone who had more experience of the process, which at first was a career adviser at university but eventually, other friends who studied in the US.
As for my letters of recommendation, I swapped two of my letter writers and gave them both detailed advice on the style and content that is typically expected.
This year round I've applied to 12 universities, versus the 3 last year. So far it's a mixed bag - I know CS admissions are super competitive though, but after all this work, I'm hoping the outcome is generally positive. Still, I've got one acceptance at least - so it could have been worse!
Besides going back in time to somehow do better at university, there's absolutely nothing further I could have done to improve my chances - so whatever happens, happens!
Berkeley M.Eng
in Waiting it Out
Posted · Edited by ssk2
I applied to the MEng program directly and haven't heard anything back yet.
Their website mentions that interviews will be in February and March - which is interesting. There are no interviews on the results tracker from last year - but there are several acceptances for that program. We should hear back within a couple of weeks if it follows the same schedule, or by early April if it follows the schedule listed on the website.
(BTW, in reply to the earlier poster - we are applying for the second year that the program has been running. The current class are the first batch.)