Fall 2010 Final Acceptance

[SingleShot]

Hi All,

If you have accepted any offer and not in dilemma any more. Post here

I have accepted the offer from Cornell

Joining PhD Computer Science.

Edited March 17, 2010 by SingleShot

[DJLamar]

Hi All,

If you have accepted any offer and not in dilemma any more. Post here

I have accepted the offer from Cornell

Joining PhD Computer Science.

Were you at the open house for Cornell?

I have pretty much decided on Cornell but I haven't sent my notice yet.

[SingleShot]

Were you at the open house for Cornell?

I have pretty much decided on Cornell but I haven't sent my notice yet.

No i wasn't there. How was it? Was it helpful to you in making the decision ?

What other offers do you have?

[DJLamar]

No i wasn't there. How was it? Was it helpful to you in making the decision ?

What other offers do you have?

Yeah, it was helpful mainly since I was able to meet with faculty and find out just how good a fit for me in terms of research they are. My only other offer is the masters in language technologies at Carnegie Mellon.

[SingleShot]

Yeah, it was helpful mainly since I was able to meet with faculty and find out just how good a fit for me in terms of research they are. My only other offer is the masters in language technologies at Carnegie Mellon.

Its strange to see that i have acceptance from Cornell but rejects from univs like Purdue and UCSD.

Anyways i have one question. In my case its not yet decided what kind of assistance i have (any one from TA, GRA, Fellowship) but the stipend amount is decided. Is it same in your case?

Have you received a hard copy of Offer Letter. coz I just have a soft copy.

[sixpence]

Its strange to see that i have acceptance from Cornell but rejects from univs like Purdue and UCSD.

Anyways i have one question. In my case its not yet decided what kind of assistance i have (any one from TA, GRA, Fellowship) but the stipend amount is decided. Is it same in your case?

Have you received a hard copy of Offer Letter. coz I just have a soft copy.

I have accepted the offer from Cornell.. PhD Computer Science.

Same here .. i only received the soft copy and the form of assistance is not decided yet.. I was told the funding information will be available early april.

Does any one know how this is decided ?

[SingleShot]

I have accepted the offer from Cornell.. PhD Computer Science.

Well gr8 see you at Cornell!!

Same here .. i only received the soft copy and the form of assistance is not decided yet.. I was told the funding information will be available early april.

Does any one know how this is decided ?

Decision on these things depends how good fit you are for some TA or GRA. Fellowships are offered to people with exceptional credentials.

Just curious to know what other offers do you have ?

Edited March 19, 2010 by SingleShot

[sixpence]

Well gr8 see you at Cornell!!

Decision on these things depends how good fit you are for some TA or GRA. Fellowships are offered to people with exceptional credentials.

Just curious to know what other offers do you have ?

My other offer is Masters at LTI, CMU. How about you ?

[SingleShot]

My other offer is Masters at LTI, CMU. How about you ?

only Cornell till now

[DJLamar]

I have only gotten a soft copy of the letter (unless it came in at my permanent address and my parents didn't tell me, which is unlikely). I got the fellowship though so my funding has already been decided (the letter said that I received the fellowship).

[SingleShot]

I have only gotten a soft copy of the letter (unless it came in at my permanent address and my parents didn't tell me, which is unlikely). I got the fellowship though so my funding has already been decided (the letter said that I received the fellowship).

Wow! thats gr8. I guess in case of international candidates the funding info comes a little late.

Well, u attended open house. Did you explored the housing options at Cornell. Can you enlighten us in this regards?

[explorer-c]

Hi All,

If you have accepted any offer and not in dilemma any more. Post here

I have accepted the offer from Cornell

Joining PhD Computer Science.

I've narrowed it down to UIUC and Gatech. Finally choose Gatech because it's better fit and just as importantly, better location.

[DJLamar]

Wow! thats gr8. I guess in case of international candidates the funding info comes a little late.

Well, u attended open house. Did you explored the housing options at Cornell. Can you enlighten us in this regards?

Yeah, the grad student hosts took us around to see one of the school-owned grad houses. The place was really small for the 3 or so people that were supposed to live in it, the cost was at least as much as a much more spacious private house, and the location wasn't actually very convenient or pretty at all, plus the inside and outside of the house they showed us looked drab and nondescript.

I would definitely say to just not bother with the on-campus housing. You pay more and get less in every respect. The private houses around the school looked pretty nice, and we were shown the inside of one that a current student lived in. It was a very nice place with lots of room and a nice kitchen and living room. There are also plenty of houses that are only a five to ten minute walk from the CS building (and only a little longer walk from downtown). The houses are also pretty decently cheap -- you can surely find a good place with one or two roommates in a convenient location like I described for maybe no more than $600 a month (possibly with some or all utilities included in that estimate).

[DJLamar]

Oh, and if you have any other questions about my experiences with the visit day, don't hesitate to ask.

[SingleShot]

Oh, and if you have any other questions about my experiences with the visit day, don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks buddy, that was really helpful.

Well that way i have lot of common (maybe silly) questions. And Since you have attended open house you might have inquired abt it.

So here are they

1) In my acceptance email from Cornell i got a name of a faculty contact( i guess its the same for you as well). Is he my adviser ?

2) Is my area of concentration already decided on the basis of my SOP ? How difficult it is to change your area of research (i am actually interested in both theory and Machine Learning but well my profile suits ML better so thats what i mentioned in my SOP. But i would definitely like to give both a good try).

3) How often students there work with more than 1 adviser simultaneously (may be on totally unrelated projects)

Thanks !!

[darkangel612]

I too was at the Open House with DJ and others. I could answer some of your questions.

1) In my acceptance email from Cornell i got a name of a faculty contact( i guess its the same for you as well). Is he my adviser ?

2) Is my area of concentration already decided on the basis of my SOP ? How difficult it is to change your area of research (i am actually interested in both theory and Machine Learning but well my profile suits ML better so thats what i mentioned in my SOP. But i would definitely like to give both a good try).

No they are not your advisor. They are just some faculty who work in a related area and can help answer any question you have about Cornell. Cornell is very flexible about picking advisors. You are not tied down to a professor or area. Rather they give you time till the end of the third semester to decide who your advisor will be. They actually encourage you to work with different people (for e.g. by doing courses which have a small research project involved..) in your first year and to gage what your interests are. Similarly your area of concentration too is not decided outright, and you have flexibility in that aspect too. Given your interests someone like Bobby Kleinberg, Jon Kleinberg or Eva Tardos maybe of interest to you, as they are all primarily in theory but are sound in ML as well.

3) How often students there work with more than 1 adviser simultaneously (may be on totally unrelated projects)

As I mentioned above, students generally do small projects with multiple professors before they choose an advisor. If you were asking about co-advising, then some of the faculty I spoke to, were open to the idea. Also since Cornell has a breadth requirement as well, it is likely you will work with someone outside your concentration. Plus you would have an advisor in your minor discipline as well.

I also noticed a earlier post on funding. Since I'm also from India, and have been given my funding info, so I doubt that is the reason you have yet not been told about yours. Rather I think the specifics (TA or RA) will be decided close to start of the semester. From what I understood after speaking to students is that most students TA in their first semester, unless they have spoken to a faculty who is willing to take them on as an RA.

Edited March 22, 2010 by darkangel612

[SingleShot]

I too was at the Open House with DJ and others. I could answer some of your questions.

No they are not your advisor. They are just some faculty who work in a related area and can help answer any question you have about Cornell. Cornell is very flexible about picking advisors. You are not tied down to a professor or area. Rather they give you time till the end of the third semester to decide who your advisor will be. They actually encourage you to work with different people (for e.g. by doing courses which have a small research project involved..) in your first year and to gage what your interests are. Similarly your area of concentration too is not decided outright, and you have flexibility in that aspect too. Given your interests someone like Bobby Kleinberg, Jon Kleinberg or Eva Tardos maybe of interest to you, as they are all primarily in theory but are sound in ML as well.

As I mentioned above, students generally do small projects with multiple professors before they choose an advisor. If you were asking about co-advising, then some of the faculty I spoke to, were open to the idea. Also since Cornell has a breadth requirement as well, it is likely you will work with someone outside your concentration. Plus you would have an advisor in your minor discipline as well.

I also noticed a earlier post on funding. Since I'm also from India, and have been given my funding info, so I doubt that is the reason you have yet not been told about yours. Rather I think the specifics (TA or RA) will be decided close to start of the semester. From what I understood after speaking to students is that most students TA in their first semester, unless they have spoken to a faculty who is willing to take them on as an RA.

Thanks!! A lot of things are now more clear to me.

I hope to see you, DJ and sixpence at Cornell

[dimis]

Is there anybody that has been accepted for theory at Columbia (PhD) and is going to reject the offer?

Edited March 22, 2010 by dimis

[LivingVicariously]

Thanks!! A lot of things are now more clear to me.

I hope to see you, DJ and sixpence at Cornell

Glad to help. I have also accepted the offer from Cornell, and look forward to meeting you, DJ and others there.

[BKMD]

I accepted my offer at JHU today. Will be starting a PhD in the fall.

[pretsb]

I've accepted the PhD offer from UMD College Park. Anyone else heading there?

[OH YEAH]

I think I'm heading to Princeton for PL. Anyone from here going to Princeton (and did I meet you on visit day? I'm the guy with crazy hair who sang Gimme Shelter on visit day)

[thisAintNoGame]

I'm heading to Northwestern next year to be part of the econ/cs theory group. I'm very excited about it.

[mrjd225]

I'm heading to Brown (PhD in Databases) next year. Feels good to have finally made that decision!

[MrRoboto]

I just accepted an offer to enter the MIT Media Lab in the Personal Robots group. Happy to finally have made a decision, and I feel great about it!