CS/PHD: Profile/Grad School List

[rokxal]

Hi all,

Its been asked many times before so I'll cut to the chase I'm applying for a PHD in computer science. My research interests include computer vision, computer graphics, and theory. I'm also willing to settle for a MS/PHD route if offered. Can anyone comment on the schools (10) that I'm applying to?

Random stats:

Currently a senior at my UG

Research experience: 2 years and on going

1 1st author top tier conference publication

1 3rd author 2nd tier conference publication

Possibly 1 more publication before the December deadline

UG: Top 20 in the states

GPA: 3.58, GRE: 790q, 690v, 4.5, going to take the GRE-CS

Decent recommendations (known in the field)

EDIT: The updated list is now based on my fields of interest (Computer Graphics/Vision) , ranked by lab size/strength?

(Very large)

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

(Large)

CMU

Stanford

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin

Columbia

Purdue

(Above Average)

University of San-Diego

University of Texas-Austin

Cornell University

[bobwhoops]

Out of curiosity, what do you think is weak about your application? I had roughly the same stats as you (3.6 GPA, 800q, 600v, 4.5a), came from a small liberal arts college, didn't take the CS GRE, and didn't have any publications, and I was accepted to Stanford. Our interests don't overlap so I can't help you with that, but I think you are underestimating your chances. Yeah, even with good stats it's hard to get into a program with less than a 10% acceptance rate, but it looks like you'd be a solid applicant (assuming your recommenders don't hate you, you write a good SoP, etc.)

[rokxal]

Its difficult to gauge how anyone will do at the top schools these days. I've seen some pretty qualified people (many publications, and often with a masters) get rejected from MIT/CMU/Berkeley. And those that did get in, I don't have enough information on their stats to make a judgment call. Thus I probably assumed that its not just a solid application that gets someone into one of those schools, but an outstanding one (loads of research, patents, very inflated i know) that gets noticed.

In any case, I've edited the list to rank the schools reflect my fields of interest (Computer Graphics/Vision primarily). Some new schools were added, some old ones removed; the rank being dependent on the size of the lab/faculty size, lab's total publications, the year the lab was created, and word of mouth.

(Very large)

University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

(Large)

CMU

Stanford

University of Washington

University of Wisconsin

Columbia

Purdue

(Above Average)

University of San-Diego

University of Texas-Austin

Cornell University

EDIT: I was somewhat conservative in both lists due how Computer Graphics/Vision wasn't a hugely popularized field (at least from my experience) compared to some other fields such as Machine Intelligence/AI and system related areas. I may be very wrong about this tho.

[anese]

<3 CMU!!! My undergrad and a fantastic school. I wish you luck and hope you succeed in your applications. Pittsburgh is a fantastic city!

I think last year they received 4,000 applications alone to their computer science program and only accepted about 30? I could be wrong, but this is what I remember applicants posting.

I had a wonderful time there, but when I look back I wonder why any of my friends are going back to school again. They certainly don't miss the week-long all-nighters or the project groups that suddenly went awry because they left for a weekend and their two partners dissembled their robots. I have some great stories from undergrad and you'll meet all kinds of people. I just had to gush and wish you luck--it's all a crapshoot, work very hard on crafting your SoP so that you can stand out beyond your stats. CMU looks for innovative researchers with interests beyond just their field of study, as Dean Devine said, "someone brilliant but with that certain macabre of talents that would add different approaches to their labs and classrooms".

I think you have a definite chance.

[rokxal]

Yea, sounds just like CMU

4000 applicants?! thats even more than Berkeley's EECS's 3k applicants for 70 spots. Pretty steep odds indeed which contributed to my initial reluctance to even apply to those top 4 schools of the field in the first place.

[anese]

Yea, sounds just like CMU

4000 applicants?! thats even more than Berkeley's EECS's 3k applicants for 70 spots. Pretty steep odds indeed which contributed to my initial reluctance to even apply to those top 4 schools of the field in the first place.

I think it is the highest I have ever heard of them getting for that program. It is definitely worth it--my only complaint is that PIttsburgh winters are notoriously sucky, but I love the camaraderie between students within departments, it makes the drive to get through and finish much easier. When I was in undergrad we had a lot of interdisciplinary interaction between schools (most of my friends are engineers, cs geeks, and archies that I met on research projects--and i was in history and policy in the humanities!) I am not too sure if you would do that at the graduate level, but you would have so many unique opportunities and experiences...I definitely recommend the school to anyone thinking about putting it on their list.

I really miss sweet potato fries from Fuel n Fuddle Anyway, if you ever have any specific questions about the school/program feel free to PM me! I spent a lot of time hanging out in the CS labs.

Edited for spelling errors.