CS PhD Profile Evaluation for Fall '13

[vision15]

Hi, I'm hoping to get into the PhD Program of a reputed school in the US next fall. My interests are basically inclined towards Vision/Image Processing and practically based on that I have shortlisted the schools below:-

 

University of Maryland College Park

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Washington University in St. Louis

Columbia University

NYU

Rutgers University

Boston University

SUNY Buffalo

Lehigh University

University of Central Florida

UC-Irvine

UC-Santa Barbara

Rice University

RIT, NY

IIT, Chicago

 

It would help me a lot if any senior can categorize them into ambitious, moderate and safe lists and also point out any school which I might have missed.

 

Here is my profile in brief:-

 

BTech: National Institute of Technology, Durgapur, GPA-7.88/10 (till 7/8 semester), last semester results still not out (top 15% in class).

Research Projects:-

1. At the Dept. of Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Dept. at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata on "Identification of Handwritten Text from Machine Printed Document Images". (Summer Intern)

2. At the Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, Jadavpur University,Kolkata on "Text and Non-text Separation in Handwritten Document Images". (Summer Intern)

3. At the Dept of Computer Science & Engineering, NIT Durgapur on "Facial Gesture Recognition using Principal Component Analysis and Minimum Distance Classifier". (Part of curriculum)

Publication:-

1. Sandipan Banerjee, "Identification of Handwritten Text in Machine Printed Document Images", To be Published in the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Digital Image Processing and Pattern Recognition, Chennai, 2012, Springer-Verlag.

2. Another paper on my departmental project is currently under review.

GRE: 1520 (800Q,720V,4AWA).

Will be joining Unisys Corp. this July as a Development Consultant and planning to work there for a year before going to grad school on Fall '13.

Guys please help me out! http://www.app2us.com/forums/images/smilies/confused.gif

[vision15]

Err...bounce.

[Elimba]

Well, you have an entire year to figure out what is best for you. The name and status of the school is not the most important for your PhD project.

A PhD is radically different from a Master degree. It is critical that you find an advisor who is expert in the domain of your interest and start communicating

with him/her from now. Then you may want to exchange research results with this person and hopefuly write academic paper in a scientific journal with your potential

advisor before you come to US. This is an achievement that will surely open the door of a PhD program for you. In the mean time check dedicated Web sites like Academic

Joy to get more advice. I wish you success.

Edited May 16, 2012 by Elimba

[vision15]

Thanks a lot Elimba I shall definitely look into Academic Joy.

One question though, should I start mailing professors from now only? Isn't it too early? Or should I wait till July-August?

[Elimba]

Sorry for the late reply. I am on several fronts at the same time.

In principle, any time should be OK. But remember that Professors are human beings, they go on vacation, get very busy with their students at the end of the year, and have mood changes.

The first thing you can do is to send a brief introduction of yourself with your research interests. Then, it may be a good idea to propose working with them on an idea that appear on one of their publications (you have to read them before). The purpose of this approach is to create a connection and build mutual interest long before you actually expose your real intentions. In fact, if things go very well between you, the professor may be the one who invites you to join his/her lab. as PhD student. Bingo !

Edited May 21, 2012 by Elimba

[Ancient CS Grad]

Look at the University of Houston. The Farsight Toolkit Project fits your interests and the ece department chair is familiar with the educational system in India.

[vision15]

Thanks Elimba again for such a detailed suggestion.

Ancient CS Grad: Thanks a lot for pointing out University of Houston's Prof. Badrinath, I had overlooked him and his research before. What do you think about the initial list of schools I shared with you guys? Are they gettable for my profile?

Also, I checked out UHouston's current research and I must say I am impressed but it is, the university I mean, placed in the lower rung on the grad school table..so my question is: is my potential adviser's reputation and research work good enough to offset the overall lower rank of the school?

I mailed a few professors in the lower rung schools, which weren't initially on my list just to test my prof-letting mail before I shoot them to my actual POI's, and got 5 positive replies from 5 different professors, all of them mentioned they are very much interested in taking me under their wing and two of them even gave me papers to peruse and report to them after a month. But like I said, they are all below the top 50 and am apprehensive about their PhD Program as a whole. Am I just making things up in my head or am i right in deeming school rank as a significant factor?

[Pauli]

Am I just making things up in my head or am i right in deeming school rank as a significant factor?

You're making things up in your head. The value of a research lab is distinct from the international perception of a university. American employers don't look at a university's ranking, but instead at the time you spent there. If there's a really strong research lab in that area, it's definitely worth checking out regardless of people's perception of it.

Edited May 24, 2012 by Pauli

[finknottle]

You aren't exactly helping yourself by flaunting your name on a public forum and talking about how professors from universities in your "lower rung" are all too keen to have you. I'm sure they would love to hear that you only mailed them to test whether your mails get responses.

Edited May 24, 2012 by finknottle

[vision15]

Thanks a lot finknottle for pointing that out..I have taken the necessary steps and will keep this in mind in the future.

Pauli, thanks for your reassuring input.