ab2013

Well, the guy I spoke to seemed impatient and frustrated. Not sure why...

When I called them last week, they said that they were done reviewing applications. Not sure if that includes Masters (me)...

I contacted Maryland at College Park today. It sounds like they're close to releasing results.

That was my assumption as well. Question: I see that you're applying to Brown ... Besides graphics, what is Brown strong at in CS?

Yes. Those documents were shown in the application status as "received"

I once overheard an administrator in the CS building here at UMich telling a professor that they cannot admit a PhD applicant who had a 760 in Q. The professor insisted. Knowing a professor or two might help. I hear the PhD program here is pretty competitive. Good luck!

ssk2, I noticed that you had admit decisions in the footer... Does Cornell and UPenn have rolling decisions? (Is UPenn more selective than Cornell?)

Did you go to MIT or Berkeley? I hear that they do have deflated grades there (my school has this problem too, though the average is higher than a 2.5). The 90th percentile on the GRE CS (I presume this is what you meant by "subject test") is exceptionally strong; that is a very difficult test. I actually remember reading somewhere that the Top 10 looks for the 85th percentile or higher. The non-degree classes should help. I'm not sure about the research, because I'm not sure how relevant they are to CS and how much MS admissions factors it in. I think you have a pretty good shot. I can't say for sure; grad admissions is pretty unpredictable. For example, as you may have noticed in my other thread, I got rejected from Purdue, which I thought was a safer school for me.

Fast track? Should I not be overstressing about Purdue's rejection or be looking for alternate schools?

Amazon told me that I had until November 15 to tell them about future plans, regardless of whether I had a grad school admit or not. So I told them that I was planning on going to grad school, so they gave me an internship. My career office instructed me that accepting a full-time offer then telling Amazon that I was going to grad school would be deemed as "reneging" on an offer. I can't afford this, because our career center has excellent resources, and I've already reneged on an internship before (they've told me reneging on an offer a second time would result in them revoking my privilege to utilize career services here) Currently, I'm considering adding a few more 20s. Are Brown, USC, and UNC good choices? Brown seems to have good connections, but they are very expensive and they seem to be really strong in graphics/visuals/spatial reality, which is not an area I'm interested in. I still haven't heard back from UMCP, which was another one I sent out in mid-December; it seems that they post decisions in mid February, but I don't have high hopes for them.

Ummm ... I got rejected from Purdue last night. Should I be looking at safety schools or be prepared to tell Amazon that I'm changing my plans to go to grad school or be prepared to look for a full-time job next fall (if it sounds really bad to tell Amazon)? Sorry, I'm really panicking right now. I'm scared that I won't make it into a good masters program.

Nope. They sent it by e-mail around 1:30 AM EST. This stung and was surprising... I was only applying to the Masters program too!

In particular, Purdue. I'm having a panic attack because I just logged into the Purdue application and while it says my application is complete, it says: Submission Status: Submitted Submitted Date: 12/15/2012 1:51:00 PM EST Application denied Did I just get rejected? Why would this happen? So quickly?? Is this a mistake?

Hmmm ... I did eliminate MSU from my list of schools, but I did apply to OSU. Just playing really cautious. I'm wishing really hard that I can get back into Michigan.

Well, I have a couple of B-'s and B's... the rest are B+'s and higher (my major GPA is around a 3.4). My profile isn't too strong. The only reason that I have MSU on my list is locality (I'm a Michigan resident) and possible in-state tuition. Would going to such a "worse school" even for a masters degree affect my career prospects?

What are the stats like at Cornell for CS MS?

Right ... Actually, another factor I forgot to mention but is also important for me is location. I don't want to go to school on the West Coast. All of the schools I've chosen are in the Midwest or Northeast and no more than a days worth of driving from home (my Dad has cancer so I'm not sure where that's going to go in the next couple of years and I'm planning on working full-time on the West Coast after I'm done with my MS) My choices so far (UMCP and Purdue have been submitted) Tier 1 (<10) schools: Illinois and Cornell Tier 2 (10-25) schools: Michigan (choice), UMCP, UPenn, Purdue Tier 3 (> 25) schools: Ohio State and Michigan State When he reviewed my transcript, my research prof said that he didn't like seeing how I screwed up in one of the important core major classes (got a B-); he thinks that could go against me. The third professor, who somewhat agreed with my research prof, said that my course rigor (e.g. no filler classes, just CS, math, and econ classes) should play in my favor. I guess it might be that no one really knows.

Dear all, My program advisor (who also taught me in one of my core major classes) has been very insistent on me applying to all the top 5 ranked programs, saying that "I should at least try" and that I stand a very good chance at getting into my current school (Michigan) and that I should not waste time on schools ranked lower than the Top 20. I get the impression that he possibly has written the strongest letter of all 3 professors I've requested letters from. I understand that he's also an extremely talented and well-known researcher in my major, so his letter should carry some weight, I presume. The professor I did research with looked at my profile and told me not to waste time with the top 10 schools, even at the Masters level. He advised me to apply to lower ranked programs, expanding my search to schools under the Top 25. Though I did research with him, I do not think his letter is as strong as my program advisor's; a contributing factor is that he was a bit distant while I was active in his projects, so I ended up working more closely with his grad students. (His grad students have said that he has a positive opinion of me, so it maybe that some people are difficult to read) The professor who is writing the third and (I expect) weakest letter has not had any input whatsoever, because I have had little contact with him. The only reason that he is on my reference list is that I did extremely well in his class, and his class was an advanced undergraduate level class. I took my case to another professor, who did not know me as well, is currently teaching me but is not (yet) arranged to write a letter for me, agreed with the second professor, even going to the extent that I may not make it back into my current school, saying that my situation was "dicey" but noted that he wasn't on our school's graduate admissions committee and that he hasn't been a student for 20 years. What do I do? I currently have a few Top 10 programs and a couple under Top 25, but most are between Top 10 and 25. I'm a bit anxious because since these people are writing letters for me, I don't want to come across as ignoring them, but I'm getting very conflicting opinions at this point. The schools that I'm currently applying to / have applied to is basically a rough consensus of professors' opinions of a (competitive) match and my perception of match in terms of interest/program compatibility. Note that I'm not using rankings as a basis for selecting to schools, but I'm using it as an indirect measure of how competitive a program is, because the more prestigious it is, the more likely it'll attract competitive and talented applicants. I also don't want to apply to every program on the list due to time and monetary constraints and, most importantly, interest matching; some schools are not strong in the areas that I'm interested in, even if they do get name recognition. Thanks!

I remember reading here that someone posted that 85 %ile is about where T10 looks for, but some schools have told me that they told even look at the CS GRE anyways.

I would include it. It's a pretty difficult and competitive test, and you were quite above average.

I'm currently applying to UMCP because I felt that the school had a broader range of strengths. Is it better in distributed systems/security compared to UMass?

I wouldn't report it. I got a 700 (46th percentile, I think) and was advised against reporting it to any school. On a less serious note, I think that's a pretty cool username. It stands out in the world of caffeinated CS majors.

Hi, I am recently received my CS GRE Subject Test score and I am trying to determine if it is good enough to include in my application, as my major GPA is a bit on the low side. I got around a 700. Is this a decent score, or should I not include it in my application? Thanks!

I spoke to 2 profs at my school. One said I had a 90% of chance of getting into UMich. The other said that UMich was a slight reach... Will be talking to a few other profs, but I'm starting to worry, because both were talking about the terminal MS program here. The second prof cited the surge in extremely competitive international students applying as a reason. I want to do grad school while I'm still in student mode. I did not hear about a tuition reimbursement program at Amazon while I was there. The only well-publicized one was one for the warehouse workers for career transitions. (Amazon after all did buy Kiva Robotics) Haha ... will try! Don't know too many students in theory though.... (also not a strong point for me... those were among my weakest classes in CS)

Yes. My impression was that the major GPA is a bit low, based on what I understood in my conversations with my undergrad advisor. I do research. I think I'll be going back this year. My impression is that these, including Caltech and UWashington, are reach schools for me. What would be good safeties with my profile? (I would love to go back to UMich, admittedly) The choices are overwhelming, and there is only so much time I can spend filling out applications, and not everyone in undergrad does apply to grad school. I am taking the GRE Subject Test in CS in October, if that helps. I have a return offer with a firm in Seattle (Amazon). I don't think that they pay for grad school, but they are supportive of me wanting to go to one. Thank you so much for your help!