Can I get into CS graduate school?

[mscho147]

Hi guys.

I am here for asking my chances to get into graduate school.

please look at my following status

(Permanent resident; If it does matter)

1. Major: Industrial and System engineering (graduated in Korea)

2. GPA: Overall 3.4 / 4.0

Major 3.52 / 4.0

Upper 3.69 / 4.0

Last 60 units : 3.82 / 4.0

3. TOEFL: 100 (26/25/24/25)

4. GRE(General): 152 / 165 / 3 (I don't think I will take the GRE subject since I am out of time and I will probably not get a competitive score.)

5. Awards: Grade merit scholarship one time

6. Work experience: 8 months as a software engineer at one of the biggest company in South Korea

I really want to pursue master's degree in Computer science and become better software engineer.

and I goal schools are USC, UCLA, UCI, UC davis, UIC, UCSD, UC santa barbar, IIT, etc. (really want to go to school in california since there are a lot of companies around those schools.)

So, I appreciate any feedback. Please give me some advice and suggestions.

Thank you for your help guys.

[ponylevel]

Yep I think so. Your recommendations will make or break your application. Your GPA will hurt you the most.

[Pauli]

Your GPA will hurt you the most.

I disagree. The GPA is fine.

[ponylevel]

Fine for lower tier schools.

Edited September 23, 2012 by ponylevel

[Pauli]

Fine for lower tier schools.

You must not understand how adcomms work for computer science graduate programs in America. They judge candidates by their overall package, and GPA only serves as a filter, not a deal-breaker. The person's GPA more than satisfies the minimum even for high-tier programs.

[ponylevel]

You must not understand how admissions works for high-tier programs.

[Pauli]

You must not understand how admissions works for high-tier programs.

I like how you say that without justifying why my logic is incorrect. Most likely you are basing your judgement on what you read on forums and not what faculty members on adcomms actually look for when looking over student profiles. If you actually talked to members of adcomms (which they change occasionally as some schools rotate them), they gauge GPA only as one of many factors. For example, the "prestige" schools (high rankings stem heavily on perception, so some lower-ranked schools are great in their own right) also select candidates with decent (but not stellar) GPAs for factors that can explain their GPA, such as intense course schedule, taking challenging grad courses, a strong research background that skews GPA for research publications and results, etc.

EDIT:

mscho147, feel free to ignore ponylevel's comments. Most likely a troll. I have no idea why ponylevel would post ignorant feedback that contradicts what adcomms say they actually do (I've had lunches with these guys from various universities while attending top conferences in my research subfields, and what I say are based exactly on what they've talked about).

Edited September 23, 2012 by Pauli

[ponylevel]

I like how you say that without justifying why my logic is incorrect. Most likely you are basing your judgement on what you read on forums and not what faculty members on adcomms actually look for when looking over student profiles. If you actually talked to members of adcomms (which they change occasionally as some schools rotate them), they gauge GPA only as one of many factors. For example, the "prestige" schools (high rankings stem heavily on perception, so some lower-ranked schools are great in their own right) also select candidates with decent (but not stellar) GPAs for factors that can explain their GPA, such as intense course schedule, taking challenging grad courses, a strong research background that skews GPA for research publications and results, etc.

Hmm... nope.

[ponylevel]

When you're looking at a top 10 school (and even moreso for the top 5), they have their pick of students. The students they pick have the entire package, from GPA, to stellar recommendations, to relevant research/industry experience, to an engaging SOP. Being shitty in any of these categories ALMOST completely disqualifies you. You may be able to offset being poor in one of these by being the top 1% in another, but a 3.4 GPA will hurt. The top schools end up picking the kids who have all of the above, because they can.

I think you should spend some time looking at the profiles of people accepted to tier 1 schools to adjust your perspective. You shouldn't be giving advice about tier 1 schools unless you've applied and been accepted to them.

http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-average-credentials-for-someone-entering-a-PhD-programme-at-MIT-or-Stanford

http://www.quora.com/How-should-I-prepare-for-getting-into-the-MIT-CS-PhD-program

Find me some kids in PhD CS at the top 5 schools with GPAs below 3.5, link their profiles to me, and then you'll have built a more convincing argument. Otherwise everything you're saying is full of shit.

[Pauli]

@ponylevel:

You get your info from a small random sampling of people on the internet, and you also rely heavily on the strengths of a program based on a tier-system. You are one angry, ignorant individual who shouldn't be giving advice to people. I'll be surprised if you actually last in your PhD program.

As I said, mscho147, remember to focus on the strengths of an overall package and give compelling reasons that explain your GPA. Members of adcomms for programs in CS who are also faculty members are looking for graduate students who have qualities that are a fit to their programs. The respected adcomms are not going to seriously judge the criteria of a candidate heavily on a single number, because they are not shallow like that. Also, people who give advice like ponylevel who rely on word-of-mouth and not actual first-person experience are not people that I recommend that you give advice from. You could also e-mail the admissions office or particular faculty members of schools you're interested should help give you better specifics on an overall package.

In the mean time, while ponylevel tries to google his way to defend his weak stance and resort to throwing irrelevant words around like "Tier-1", I'm going to go back to doing better things that grad students do and work on our next exciting research paper submission for a top-level conference. Has ponylevel even been to a conference before? Hmm...

Edited September 24, 2012 by Pauli

[mscho147]

thank you guys.

anyway I do not plan to apply to top tier CS programs, such as MIT, Stanford, Berkeley,etc. I will apply to school in the range of 10~50 ranks.

So, I do not know why Ponylevel is continually arguing that my GPA is low for the "top tier". I clearly mentioned which schools I want to apply to and they are not "top tiers". So please give me some feedback based on my inquiry. By the way thank you for the all comments.

Oh and I am not pursuing PhD. I do not know what is the point of the link Ponylevel provided.

Edited September 24, 2012 by mscho147

[ponylevel]

thank you guys.

anyway I do not plan to apply to top tier CS programs, such as MIT, Stanford, Berkeley,etc. I will apply to school in the range of 10~50 ranks.

So, I do not know why Ponylevel is continually arguing that my GPA is low for the "top tier". I clearly mentioned which schools I want to apply to and they are not "top tiers". So please give me some feedback based on my inquiry. By the way thank you for the all comments.

Oh and I am not pursuing PhD. I do not know what is the point of the link Ponylevel provided.

You're welcome. For "feedback based on your inquiry" see my original post:

"Yep I think so. Your recommendations will make or break your application. Your GPA will hurt you the most."

This holds whether you're applying to a top 10 or a top 20. GPA is still an important component in Masters programs applications. And yes, I still consider a 3.4 low. That's a little bit better than a B+.

Pauli, however (I can use bolded names too!), takes offense to my blunt statement. My advice is not based on a small random sampling (where did you get that?). I've looked at thousands of applicants and their profiles.

I'll be surprised if you actually last in your PhD program.

Really? Who's the angry one again?

In any case, I don't care to argue with retards. Take my advice or leave it. Obviously my advice is geared for the more competitive programs, but several of the ones you mentioned probably will be. Pauli has a ton of experience with his applying to one school (Texas A&M) and all, so his advice definitely holds a lot of weight.

Edited September 24, 2012 by ponylevel

[Snoq]

Your GPA is ok. It a little bad for top tier schools if you haven't publish a lot, but as soon as you are not applying there you have nothing to worry about.

But I think you should also consider other universities and not only those in California. Even if you go to an other university you can still go for summer internship in Silicon Valley and this will give you a better experience.