Phd programs for Distributed Systems

[distributed_systems]

QUESTIONS

1. Considering my background, which schools should I be looking at?

-Reaches?

-Targets?

(I've communicated to my recommenders that I would be sending about 10 applications.)

2. Would taking the subject test GRE help a person in my situation?

BACKGROUND

-4 publications:

1 journal (was not main contributor)

3 conferences

-Research focus on distributed systems, a little bit of parallel computing.

-Large state university (CS Dept. Rank 30~50)

-GPA: 3.55/4.00, CS GPA: 3.82/4.00

-Very close relationships with 2 full professors, 1 assistant professor: I continue to meet two of them while working in industry to have coffee and to discuss publications/personal life, also volunteer to come into class room to have talks about industry, and so on.

-2+ years of development experience (web services) - coding/implementation skills

-2 semesters Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

-1 semester Undergraduate Research Assistant

I have NOT taken GRE yet, but I assume I will have a pretty high Verbal/Writing scores (I was also a humanities major, and scored in 90th+ percentile on the LSATs when I was considering going to law school). I'm fairly decent with maths, so I'm not too worried. I will begin applying in 2012.

[OH YEAH]

You got 4 publications out of one semester as an RA? Where are you published?

[distributed_systems]

You got 4 publications out of one semester as an RA? Where are you published?

Hello OH YEAH,

No. Only the journal was published from being an RA. Also, I kind of cheated - I attend school for five years, when I really could have finished in four. I took the time to take research courses that provided me with topics that interested me, and was able to correspond with the professors even after graduating. Being given the extra time both in school and afterwards contributed to my reasonable degree of success.

I do not wish to discuss the details of my publications in public for the sake of my anonymity. If you're very, very curious, then feel free to message me.

* I do feel a little bit of sarcasm in your tone, though.

[OH YEAH]

The information you have given is not sufficient for me to come up with appropriate schools. One needs a sense of your research potential. If I had more information about your research, or knew where it was published, or had an idea of the kinds of letters people would write for you, then maybe. My first impression is that your research did not appear in very good places, because 1) journals aren't the main means of dissemination in systems, and 2) four publications is a lot for only one research experience. But to be sure, I wanted to clarify, and/or take a look at your publications to try to gauge how interesting and involved the research was (I partially work in systems).

People in PhD programs on this forum are your peers. We're generally good contacts to make, if only because you should be networking in grad school. I've met people from this forum before. Nobody is out to expose you. However, I'm not "very, very curious" -- I am doing you a favor, not the other way around.

*Perhaps you shouldn't be so sensitive

Edited December 17, 2011 by OH YEAH