Search the Community

It’s quite a hard choice for me… Let me first describe a bit about my struggle. I wanna pursue an academic career in the discipline of international relations. My main research interests include international cooperation, IR theory, IOs, and Asia-Pacific. Both schools have very significant pros and cons in my view. ANU is a leading institution in Asia-Pacific studies and very rich in academic resources. However, I tend to complete my doctoral studies (PhD) in the US. As you guy may know, ANU is a base for the English School (emphasize the value of traditional research methods, which means I won’t have enough quantitative training if I choose to study at ANU). And I worry that if my quantitative background is weak, it might hurt my chance to get into top US universities (well, honestly, I found the English School is attracted to me, whereas I still more fond of scientific behaviorism with regard to research methodology…). Also, the location of ANU make me even more hesitate… (in Canberra). University of Kent, Brussels + VTech (DC campus) can hugely widen my perspective I guess since these two cities are the political centers and have plenty of IOs. In addition, I suppose if I get a US degree (by VTech), it would be easier for me to apply for other American universities. And I might be able to build my networking in the region of DC. But these two schools seem not as prestigious as ANU in the field of IR. So, I am concern about it might influence my academic career if I cannot get good enough academic training in these two schools. Hence, my questions can be simply summary as follow: 1) Is ANU’s IR programme highly recognized in the US? Will it affect my chance to get into US universities for PhD? (in the negative sense) 2) Is VTech’s Government and International Affairs programme (the programme I admitted in) known in the US? Or would you say it good? My apologize for type a lot, but I really want to describe my concerns clearly. Thank you guys!

It’s quite a hard choice for me… Let me first describe a bit about my struggle. I wanna pursue an academic career in the discipline of international relations. My main research interests include international cooperation, IR theory, IOs, and Asia-Pacific. Both schools have very significant pros and cons in my view. ANU is a leading institution in Asia-Pacific studies and very rich in academic resources. However, I tend to complete my doctoral studies (Ph.D.) in the US. As you guys may know, ANU is a base for the English School of IR (emphasize the value of traditional research methods, which means I won’t have enough quantitative training if I choose to study at ANU). And I worry that if my quantitative background is weak, it might hurt my chance to get into top US universities (well, honestly, I found the English School is attracted to me, whereas I still more fond of scientific behaviorism with regard to research methodology…). Also, the location of ANU makes me even more hesitant… (in Canberra). University of Kent, Brussels and VTech (DC campus) can hugely widen my perspective I guess since these two cities are the political centers and have plenty of IOs. In addition, I suppose if I get a US degree (by VTech), it would be easier for me to apply for other American universities. And I might be able to build my networking in the region of DC. But these two schools seem not as prestigious as ANU in the field of IR. So, I am concern about it might influence my academic career if I cannot get good enough academic training in these two schools. Hence, my questions can be simply summarized as follow: 1) Is ANU’s IR programme highly recognized in the US? Will it affect my chance to get into US universities for Ph.D.? (in the negative sense) 2) Is VTech’s Government and International Affairs programme (the programme I admitted in) known in the US? Or would you say it good? I apologize for typing a lot, but I really want to describe my concerns clearly. Thank you guys!

Has anyone heard from EPFL regarding their master's applications?

Hi Everyone, I just wanted to start a forum on those waiting for admission to Fall 2018 University of Michigan School of Information Master's program! Here is a space for you to discuss your worries, get information from others applying, and ask about acceptances/denials. We're all in the same boat! UMSI '18!!

Hello everyone ! I am an international student, applying to PhD program in Biological and biomedical sciences in USA. I would like to ask about " Writing samples", what are they? I have a master degree thesis, is it suitable to post? Should I post" the introduction, aim of the work, materials and methods, results and discussion" parts? Should i include references or not? Also, can anyone provide me with "samples" of relevant "writing samples" ? Thanks a lot

Hello, I'm currently a fresh graduate student in economics from reputable university in Indonesia. I have 3.48 GPA, scored 7.5 on IELTS, and scored 164 in GRE quant and 161 in my verbal. I have several working experiences, as teaching assistant for Introduction on Microeconomics, internship at a local social enterprise and currently I'm a research assistant at independent think tank. I seem to have chance for not relying on financial aid (self-support). My biggest consideration is time, as I have to start my master degree by 2020. I plan to apply into several universities, but I strongly prefer Boston: 1. Boston University-MA. Economics 2. Illnois-Urbana–MSPE 3. UCL, Warwick, LSE–Economics 4. Erasmus, UvA, Tilburg–Economics Do you think I have a chance to get into one of the program considering my low GPA and imperfect GRE? Thank you

Just wanna start a post for Columbia Data Science 2019 fall applicants. Has anyone heard back yet? Or what is your process?

Hey everyone here, I'll be applying to various universities this December onwards, I'll graduate next year in May. I plan to pursue a Masters degree in Statistics, and would realistically like to know my chances at one of the top 10 universities (ETH Zurich claiming top spot). Thanks! Here's my profile: Undergrad: IIT Guwahati (India) - Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science - CGPA 8.39/10 Profile: Indian, Male, 20y TOEFL: 116/120; GRE (expected): 170Q 162V 4W Relevant coursework: I have attached my course structure for MA101,102, 201 as well as the CS courses down in the attachments section since I didn't know how to filter stuff out. Here are the minor course (CSE) contents: Functions, relations, partial orders, recurrences, summations, generating functions, asymptotics Graphs: basic concepts Elementary Logic and proof techniques. Alphabets, Languages, Grammars Finite automata: regular expressions, regular languages Context free languages: pushdown automata Turing machines: recursively enumerable languages Chomsky hierarchy. Review of fundamental Data Structures Models of Computation: random access machines, space and time complexity measures, lower and upper bounds Design techniques: the greedy method, divide-and-conquer, dynamic programming, backtracking Sorting and Searching Graph algorithms Hashing: separate chaining, linear probing, quadratic probing Search Trees: binary search trees, AVL trees, B-trees NP-completeness. Boolean Algebra Minimisation and realisation of switching circuits Basic building blocks of combinational circuits: Multiplexer, De-multiplexer, Encoder, Decoder, Adder, Subtracter Design of synchronous sequential circuits: Flip-flops, Registers, Counters, Finite State Machines, State tables and diagrams, Excitation functions of memory elements.Instruction sets with various addressing modes Memory organisation: ROM, Cache, Main Memory CPU design: ALU, Control unit design: hardwired and microprogrammed I/O transfer: Program controlled, Interrupt controlled and DMA. Introduction to structure and organization of computer systems, operating systems, and networks Processes and threads and their scheduling, synchronization, deadlocks in concurrent processes Memory management basics, demand paging and virtual memory implementation File system design and implementation.Basics of digital communication, digital transmission of data, modulation Multiplexing Data link control with sliding window protocols, error control Local area networks, Ethernet, wireless networks Concepts of switched networks Internet addressing and routing algorithms Transport protocols, UDP, TCP, flow control, congestion control Application layer protocols such as DNS, SSL, Web. Introduction: software engineering principles, life cycle Requirement specification: styles, operational and descriptive Design: a brief concept on objects, data abstraction,inheritance, polymorphism, data encapsulation, software design using functional andobject oriented approaches, architectural, component-level and user interface design Brief introduction on database system (specially SQL, MySQL) Verification: testing, validation Software reuse: design patterns Software management Software Modeling: UML. Research experience: None, haven't released a paper in my undergraduate studies. This might be the weakest point on my profile along with the subpar CGPA (I think). Letters of recommendation: I'll probably get good letters from my BTech dissertation supervisor (reinforcement learning) and I have a good one from a company I interned at this summer (neural networks). Other than that I'll be able to get one from the Mech Dept professors. What do you guys think? Please let me know if I haven't mentioned anything important, I tried being as clear and open about it as possible. Thank you! ❤️ CS101.pdf CS110.pdf MA101.pdf MA102.pdf MA201.pdf

Hi, I'm going to apply to Statistics master's and PhD program this year, hopefully focusing on machine learning / deep learning. I have several concerns, including 1. changing my field from Economics to Statistics 2. did not take many courses from Statistics department 3. did not major/minor in Mathematics, and for these reasons, I am applying to master's as well, so that I can have a better chance to get into PhD program afterwards. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Undergrad Institution: One of the top 3 in South Korea Major(s): Economics GPA: 3.95/4.00, graduated with Magna Cum Laude Exchange Student Program: UCLA (undergraduate, one year during junior) Major(s): Mathematics GPA: 3.79/4.00 (Math upper division GPA: 3.89/4.00) Graduate Institution: The same university as undergrad (One of the top 3 in South Korea) Major(s): Economics GPA: 3.90/4.00 Type of Student: International Asian Male GRE General Test: Q: 154 (65%) (trying to retake to improve the verbal score this summer) V: 170 (96%) W: 4.0 (59%) Subject(Mathematics): 930(99%) TOEFL: 110/120 (S 25, W 27) Courses taken: Mathematics: Calculus (A+), Calculus with Vector Analysis 1 (A+), Calculus with Vector Analysis 2 (A+), Linear Algebra (A+), Math for Econ 1 (Linear algebra/Calculus, A+), Math for Econ 2 (Optimization/ODE, A+), Number Theory (A+), Probability Theory A (A+), Probability Theory B (A), Stochastic Process (A-), Real Analysis A Honors (A), Real Analysis B Honors (A--), Topology (A-), Scientific Computing (A+), Numerical Analysis (P), Optimization (A+), Mathematical Game Theory (A+), Real Analysis A (Graduate, B), Real Analysis 1 (Graduate, A-) Statistics: Intro to Stat (A+), Statistical Methods (A+), Computer Programming (A+), Econometrics 1 (from Econ department, A), Mathematical Statistics 2 (A+), Mathematical Statistics (Graduate course from Econ dept., A+), Statistical Learning Theory (Graduate, A+) CS/EE: Software Programming (A+), Data Structure and Algorithm (A), Discrete Mathematics (A), Artificial Intelligence (A+) Courses will take this fall (all graduate courses): 1. Real Analysis B (for sure), 2. Artificial Intelligence Theory (possibly), 3. Searching and Text mining (if not take 2) Research Experience: One research on applied Econometrics project (irrelevant to Statistics) / currently working on bridge regression Working Experience: 3 years experience of TA (Math for Econ, Econometrics, Mathematical Statistics (graduate)) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honors for every semester in my home university and one Dean's list from UCLA, several merits-based scholarship Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Statistics club (one year), data analysis assistant for the university freshmen evaluation team Letters of Recommendation: One Econometrics professor (with whom I did research), one math professor from UCLA, and one Statistics professor. The first two will presumably be strong, and I am not sure for the last one. Any Miscellaneous Points that Might Help: 1. I got B on graduate Real Analysis A (measure theory) from UCLA when I was junior. I believe I was not mathematically-matured enough at that time, and I did kind of retake the course in my home university and got A-. And I am going to take Real Analysis 2 this fall to complement B on measure theory, even though I am not sure if it can fully compensate B on the measure theory. 2. I got P on Numerical Analysis just because it was my undergraduate complement course and I was not allowed to take it with letter grade. The class rank was 1/37. 3. Even though I am currently in Economics department as an graduate student, I have not been taking Econ courses for a while. And I am not getting MA in Econ here. I just happened to have a chance to take three semesters without tuition in Econ graduate program in my home univ., and I was complementing math and CS/EE courses during the this period. 4. I actually applied to 8~9 Statistics Master/PhD programs last year and got all rejected. Most of them were top schools like Stanford MS or CMU PhD, but it also included non-top schools in Statistics like UCLA MS. I had pretty similar profile except that my GRE subject math was 830 (83%) at that time, which I submitted to all of the schools I applied. Program: PhD/Master in Statistics (and possibly OR MS) School List: Master's in Statistics: UC Berkeley, U of Chicago, U of Washington, U of Michigan, UCLA, UCSD PhD in Statistics: NCSU, U of Wisconsin, ISU, PSU, Purdue, UCD, Florida State U, UC irvine, UCSB I don't know which schools are my reach/match/safety. I am also thinking to apply to Georgia Tech OR Master's and USC CS Master's if it fits my profile better, since OR and CS also work on machine learning / deep learning. Thank you for your time and advice!!

Hi! I am planning on applying to Columbia's MSW Online Advanced Standing Program here in the fall, I was hoping someone who applied in past years or who might be in the program can give me some insight as to what they might be looking for, how to make me a more competitive candidate or anything to help out a stressed college student. Thank you much!

Sup everyone, My name is Elia and I applied for a Master in Robotics, Systems and Control at ETH. I also applied for the ESOP scholarship. I thought it would be nice to start a new thread for this year's waiting process, in order to share our interviews (if any), advice, etc. Let's see if this works

Took the GRE two weeks ago and got the scores (Q169/V161/AW4.0). I'm a non-native English speaker. I think I could probably improve my AWA to 4.5 with enough practices, yet I doubt I could reach the same QV scores again (during mock exams my average is around 323). Just curious if this score is good & safe enough for applying HCI master programs, or is it worth it to retake the test simply for AWA's sake? Other background info: Foreign Languages and Literatures Major - 3.96/4.3 or around 3.7/4.0 GPA 2 years working experiences in digital advertising agency as project planner / product marketer Currently working on UX side projects as I have relatively few experiences in the field I have okay relationships with my professors and boss (I think lol) I am currently researching programs I am interested in and their average/required scores; Sadly, a lot of schools do not have them posted. Any advice would be great and would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Hi I am from a developing country and I got a scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in the U.S. but I failed some courses and I got dismissed. I continued my program in another campus, still in the U.S. but it didn’t work as I wish. Again, I failed some courses but I could not repeat those. The problem was my sponsor. They could not give me another funding to repeat those courses so I had to go home. I realized that I was lack of academic training particularly on courses that I failed. I am applying to other Master in Chemical Engineering because I already have some credit from those campuses with B, A-, and A and I wish to transfer that credits. Any idea on other Master’s program suitable for a student with Chem. Eng. Background? What should I do to strengthen my application due to my shortcomings? Thanks

I have applied to 2019 philosophy MA in Stanford and it has been radio silence since then. My application status is always 'submitted', making me wonder is there even an 'under review' status? I have checked past results posted on this site, the only information I get is that in 2016 someone recieved their MA offer on May 4th and someone else said Stanford forgot to send the rejection letter. I am really anxious since this is my first choice and I have turned down Tufts(and any other funded masters) before April 15th. Anyone heard form Stanford's philosophy MA now? Anyone knows whether there is an 'under review' status in their online application system? Should I solicit their decisions? Any advice/comments/information? Please say something to me! Thank you so much!

Hi y'all! Since the Erasmus Mundus International Master in Central & East European, Russian & Eurasian Studies (IMCEERES) has been revamped and significantly expanded since last year, I created a separate forum thread. Are you as psyched as me about the programme? Are you as stressed as myself about the scholarship? Let's share backgrounds, information, tips and co-ordinate in order to have an as much as stress-free experience as possible and get to know each other! :-) I will start. I am from Greece and I am a journalist! Studied and also worked in London and the FSU region is my life's main interest!

Between Brown Biotechnology (Master) and Northwestern Biotechnology (Master), what should I choose?

Hello, I have recently got admitted at the computer science programme from the university of Helsinki. Since I am an international student , I was wondering if it is possible to also have a full time job during this time. Is the timetable from the university permissive enough? The job I was thinking to be something IT related of course.

I'm an American applying to masters programs at business schools in France. My GPA is quite low, 2.91, don't have any special work experience, research, etc. I really wanted a high GRE score to make me stand out - also considering most applicants probably aren't anglophones, so the way I see it, a mediocre score reflects particularly badly on me. I've only been studying 6 weeks and I think I could at the latest retake the test in 4 weeks to make the last deadline for an American school I'm applying to as a safety (French schools have later deadlines). Is it worth pushing through another few grueling weeks? Would a higher score really help me?

Hi, I am looking forward to enrolling myself for the fall semester of 2019 period for my graduate studies. I am keen on pursuing a course in behavioral science and taking a track along with marketing. I am lost in figuring out whether will an MBA fit correctly to go forward with or a Masters. If MBA- Which would be a college that you will recommend and why? If Masters- Which would be a college that you will recommend and why? I have done research on my own for this course, but it is all seems to masters by research.

Hi, everybody. I am a senior student from Beihang University in China, studying the aeronautic engineering. I have applied the coursework master of engineering of National University of Singapore & Australia National University as well as University of Melbourne. My average point is over 84% and have lots of awards in school level. I have already gotten the offer of ANU, waiting for the others. Here are some questions. 1、what the possibility of getting an offer of NUS @ UNI of Melb? 2、In nus website, it is said that i will know the result in mid-may, whether i could get it earlier? 3、Best wishes to you all.

I'm an American applying to management programs in France with no background in business (they accept all academic backgrounds). My cv is unfortunately very unimpressive so I'm looking to make the best of what I have. Any tips? The programs are in English so no need for it to be in French.

Dear readers, Hello, I have been recently admitted to Carnegie Mellon University Mechanical Engineering's M.S. - Research Program. The offer letter says that this program is self-funded and there is no available scholarships or fellowships from the department. Does it mean that I cannot take a research assistant position from any laboratories? I thought M.S. students can also receive tuition waive + stipend if they find proper RA position. This is really big deal cause I cannot afford whole expenditures by myself, and then I should decide the university that I admitted as Ph.D. program... I am trying to contact with professors asking possible RA position, but I am not sure this is the way that I can get tuition waiver. Thank you for reading the topic!

Hi everyone! yesterday I had an interview with a professsor. She was trying to show me that I am a over-qualified candidate for the master program... I asked her would it affect my chance? She told me she wouldn’t definitely introduce her ‘personal opinion’ in this decision and she emphasized that will be my decision... after the interview, I think I couldn’t convince her why I applied to the master program (I couldn’t apply for the phd program this year at that school). however, I’m too worried... I haven’t yet received any email regarding my application... should I send a followup email to her telling what my reasons are for applying to the master? Is a ‘over-qualified’ candidate meaningful in a master program in physics? dying out of stress. Any help is appreciated! thanks

I major in biochemistry and graduated with a bachelor degree in Spring 2018. I got a poor GPA (3.0) and a little bit of academic research for 4 semesters, 2 for one semester long and 1 for a year. All of them didn't get to a published paper by the end. I got a research opportunity at the University of Southern California this summer and I'm really excited about this. If there is a chance, I want to be a lab tech in that research lab for next year, which means I need an OPT for that. Also, I accepted an offer at the Tufts University for a one-year master program in infectious diseases and global health. I am trying to decide between these two options and trying to add some impressive stuff to my resume so that I can get into a Ph.D. program (hopefully) in Fall 2019. Which one should I choose?

Can anyone tell me which EU universities offer masters in economics with scholarships that cover tuition and living expenses? I do not want to apply to Britain universities and I know about Bonn, CEMEFI, Carlos, BI, and Tinbergen. I applied them all.