Chances of being admitted to MIT, Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Caltech for a PhD in CS

[anon1]

CA schools are on the quarter system. I don't start til Sept. 24th. While some of what I've said is embarrassing, and in some ways I wish you all thought I didn't exist, or was from another country (like some people argued on another forum), I have been completely honest in all of my posts and am in fact an American (perhaps an ungrateful, privileged one, but an American nonetheless).

[comp12]

What the heck? When did being American come into play all of a sudden?

[anon1]

comp12 -- they all thought I was Chinese, or at least of Chinese descent, (another thread), I guess I am so weirdly overachieving and name-brand obsessed that people could only rationalize my thought-process by assuming that I am a foreigner...

[ghanada]

I understand that UC's are on quarter system, I went to UCLA myself. But regardless, you are engaged and living on the east coast. If you haven't made any plans yet for moving across the country within 1 month of classes starting, it just seems crazy to me. With it being soooo late now, it probably does make sense to re-apply next year even if you don't get in to better schools.

I really think re-applying is a complete gamble and is incredibly risky and overall ridiculously painful for having to go through the entire application process again, but it really doesn't sound like you want to go where you got in so you would probably never be happy. If you do re-apply, you should update your posts to see if that extra year made any difference.

[comp12]

People have been trying to "rationalize" your "thought-process" because your whole story is very curious and probably not believable. You have made numerous threads asking for advice on picking schools that you have been accepted to over many months, and your rationale for picking them have been due to very minor, mundane factor--so much that posters don't exactly take it seriously. And now, even after all these months have passed, you are back on this board yet still without having made a decision, leading me to believe that this entire story has been a troll story. Decisions to enroll are typically made in mid April for Fall quarter. Rarely do graduate programs accept applications for Spring. In fact, UCLA and UCSD's computer science programs only admit for fall quarter. It is the middle of August; how can you possibly still have an uncommitted offer open? Did you already accept UCSD over UCLA? Are you now considering redacting your committal to reapply this coming year?

[HappyCat13]

I have a feeling that the author of this post doesn't really have lots of passion in computer science...you give me a feeling that you just go for the brand of the school and does not really care much about the actual quality/content of the program... I don't think this is good..

Let me remind you that the PhD in computer science in USA is not a easy task. It might takes years to graduate. Some people who get into top schools (MIT, UC-Berkely, Stanford) never managed to graduate from CS PhD and leave with nothing. If you do not really feel passionate about the subject, the 5~6 yrs might be a torture for u...

[anon1]

You're right

At least I can leave after the Master's if I hate it... right?