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2 is your best bet if you can do some meaningful research in your year off. 4 won't give you much spare time to do anything research-related - and it might look bad to leave a job after just a year. Are you able to get a RA job somehow? That'd be the best option I think.

It's for their CS MEng course - so no defined speciality yet.

Positive thinking dude! I know you're probably trying not to get your hopes up in case you do actually get rejected but there's no harm in taking a neutral/mildly optimistic position. It'll probably help you live a normal life while your 'fate' is decided. Desperation is unproductive, especially when (it looks like) you've already been admitted to two places.

What program did you apply to? The MEng looks like it gets decided last (with decisions being sent out in early April). No idea about the MS though.

Hello! Since I'm nervously awaiting admissions decisions for my Master's applications, I thought I'd start a thread in a similar vein to the CS PhD thread. How are you all coping? When do you expect to hear back? I've heard back from a couple of places and UMich should be next...

Out of interest pogopuschel - where did you study as an undergraduate / what's your profile like?

Sure - I started this thread last year - I've improved every part of my application (except for my GPA, since I graduated three years ago!) for this year's round.

Sounds like you have a good chance although I'm a bit wary about your GRE. I think Stanford gets a lot of applications and they themselves state on their FAQ site that a strong application for the MS would be in the 90th percentiles - http://cs.stanford.edu/content/faqs/#c6 - which I take to mean all sections of the GRE. The research experience shouldn't matter so much for the MS. Your GPA/class rank is favourable, albeit from an unknown school, and the fact that you've taken NDO graduate courses and done well is very good too because it shows that you can cope with the Stanford courses. I've applied there too - for the second time, and from what I can tell, it is something of a lottery because of the sheer volume of applications they get. So, try not to obsess too much about your application beforehand and not to put too much weight on the decision when it comes - whatever happens! (This is what I've been telling myself anyway!) Anyway, if you do want to indulge your obsession about the application process, check out this document: http://actr.nsk.ru/eic/info/Karthik.pdf - written by someone on the Stanford applications committee. While it's meant to be a general description of the process, I imagine it has been heavily influenced by how they work. Good luck!

I've replied to your PM. Check out this map to see what colleges are near your faculty - http://map.cam.ac.uk/Centre+of+Development+Studies Cambridge is a very small city so nearly all colleges are close to the centre of town. Unless you're very unlucky, you'll be within a 15 minute walk of the town centre - and most people cycle around anyway.

Sorry ab2013 - I'm not entirely sure. I applied because they have some interesting AI courses.

Surely they'd contact you if your application was incomplete? It seems harsh to reject people on the basis of a missing document.

Howdy, just thought I'd bump this thread up - in case anyone else has any questions about Cambridge. I studied there for 3 years.

Both have deadlines - UPenn has three application cycles, I applied before the first. Cornell has just one deadline for Fall admissions but I applied before the Spring deadline so it appears their adcomms considered my application then. Cornell is less competitive than many other courses because it's a professional Master's course and isn't sufficient for people looking to do a PhD afterwards.

I don't know how regimental these big tech firms are, particularly in the US, but certainly when interning at big banks, I've known people who intern and then join as permanent hires just a few months later. You may have a bit of downtime but it's not like you'll have a whole year on your hands.

University applications aside, it might be possible for Amazon to fast track you into a graduate position after an internship - if you intern with them and don't go to graduate school. I wouldn't worry about that too much.

What seems to usually happen is that the status online changes first and you receive an email later that tells you to check the status online. Unfortunately, based on the information you've given, it looks like you have been rejected from Purdue. My commiserations ab2013! This is how I've been notified from the places I've heard back either last year or so far this year. All for Master's courses in CS. Cornell - decision available on ApplyWeb status page but no email notification. I applied for Fall 2013 entry but applied before the Spring 2013 deadline. UPenn - email with link to online page, entitled 'Admissions Decision Notification'. Stanford - email on March 15th (2012) containing the decision, entitled 'Stanford Computer Science Graduate Admission: Details'. This date is similar every year. CMU - SCS - received email on February 13th 2012 containing the decision. CMU - RI -received email on February 21st 2012 containing the decision. UTexas - I didn't receive any notification from them. I contacted the CS admissions department who said that I would receive an email by the end of March if they wish to admit me. (I did not get such an email unfortunately - but my application status showed as incomplete for some bizarre reason.) Hopefully this helps anyone else eagerly awaiting decisions.

Strange - I normally get an email weekly telling me who has viewed my profile and I have not upgraded my LinkedIn account? I'd take it as a good sign. If they weren't considering you seriously, they wouldn't go to the effort of looking you up online!

I applied pretty early - so saw a status change (and acceptance) for Cornell in November (I managed to apply just before their admissions committee met to decide Spring admissions, so I guess I was considered in that group - although I'm applying for Fall). Also caught the first round at UPenn and was disappointed to be rejected by them! I don't really know if it works in your favour or not to apply early - nearly all of my other applications all have set notification dates.

It might be possible to get involved with a group at your undergraduate university - it's worth getting in touch with a professor there. (I'm in a similar situation - doing some research in my spare time with my former supervisor from my undergraduate university. It's hard to find enough time while working full time though - maybe an internship is a better option?) Unfortunately I don't know enough about robotics departments to comment on your last question. It made me remember this group at Harvard though - http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/ssr/

What's your work experience like? (Assuming that you've been working for the last 6 years.) The common factor between successful PhD applicants at all the top universities seems to be research experience (whether that's in academia while studying or in industry). Ideally this has to be relevant to the area you're applying to. See these two links for more information. http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-apply-and-get-in-to-graduate-school-in-science-mathematics-engineering-or-computer-science/ http://idleprocess.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/why-go-to-graduate-school-and-how-to-get-into-the-program-of-your-dreams/

TakeruK - thanks for clarifying this! Very useful information. I'll check with my school once it's all confirmed.

I'm hoping to do an internship in Australia immediately before starting my Master's course in the US. Does it matter where I apply for my F1 visa? If I do intern in Australia, time constraints would probably mean the Canberra embassy would process my application. I live in London, so that is most likely the embassy that I'll be returning to in the future (if necessary).

Most spring deadlines were earlier this year. A lot of fall deadlines have just come and gone - there are a few that have February.rolling deadlines which you might be able to make (for fall 2013).

This might be a good starting point re: pre-requisite courses: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/grad/MEngProgram/MEngAdmissions/Prerequisites/index.htm

Apply to where you think is best for you. That said, make sure you explain (even briefly) your rationale for your selection to your letter writers. This will help avoid antagonising them (in case they think you've ignored their advice) and may even help them write your letters with a better understanding of your motives. Looking at your profile, it seems like you should have a reasonable chance at schools ranked 10-25. Then again, I'm less informed than your professors :-).