Pls Help: any suggestions which PhD program I should apply

[HappyCat13]

Hi, I am from an Asian country.Please try to give me some suggestions on the CS PhD programs I could apply.

Basically, my searching criteria are below:

1. I hope to apply to some reasonably good schools. Must be good enough that my 5 years of PhD efforts are worthwhile and the program leads to quite promising prospects in research career.
   
2. The schools I apply should fall within my capacity, or that kind of schools which are jump-to-reach ones. I don't want to waste too much money and energy on complete gambles (some ppl apply to all Ivy League colleges; I won't do that because I am very pragmatic).
   
3. The cost of living there (especially the housing price) should not be above average in USA...
   
4. Foreigners can easily get a driving license and drive in that place.
   
5. Good in database systems research (because this is the subfield I'm interested in...)
   
6. Will have a lot of opportunities to do networking/connections within the local research and industry communities.
   
7. The IT industry in that area is quite promising.
   

Here is my credential..

• Good Undergraduate university
  
• Good GPA
  
• Very good CS courses
  
• Quite some industrial experiences
  
• Have been interned in R&D department of electronics company
  
• Went to U of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign for student exchange
  
• Okay scores in GRE (however verbal score is a bit mediocre)
  
• Might be able to get a very excellent recommendation from one prof in software engineering, two above-average recommendation from profs in algorithms and databases respectively, one above-average recommendation from prof who knows about me in that specialized research program.
  

Please advise..I'm so lost now... Still need to do my full-time work tmr...Thanks so much~

Edited October 1, 2012 by Eigen
Identifying information removed at poster's request

[victor.s.andrei]

Hi, I am from an Asian country.Please try to give me some suggestions on the CS PhD programs I could apply.

Basically, my searching criteria are below:

1. I hope to apply to some reasonably good schools. Must be good enough that my 5 years of PhD efforts are worthwhile and the program leads to quite promising prospects in research career.
   
2. The schools I apply should fall within my capacity, or that kind of schools which are jump-to-reach ones. I don't want to waste too much money and energy on complete gambles (some ppl apply to all Ivy League colleges; I won't do that because I am very pragmatic).
   
3. The cost of living there (especially the housing price) should not be above average in USA...
   
4. Foreigners can easily get a driving license and drive in that place.
   
5. Good in database systems research (because this is the subfield I'm interested in...)
   
6. Will have a lot of opportunities to do networking/connections within the local research and industry communities.
   
7. The IT industry in that area is quite promising.
   

Here is my credential..

• Good Undergraduate university
  
• Good GPA
  
• Very good CS courses
  
• Quite some industrial experiences
  
• Have been interned in R&D department of electronics company
  
• Went to U of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign for student exchange
  
• Okay scores in GRE (however verbal score is a bit mediocre)
  
• Might be able to get a very excellent recommendation from one prof in software engineering, two above-average recommendation from profs in algorithms and databases respectively, one above-average recommendation from prof who knows about me in that specialized research program.
  

Please advise..I'm so lost now... Still need to do my full-time work tmr...Thanks so much~

1. I hope you made friends at Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

2. Most of the areas with a hopping IT job market have an above average cost of living. The only real exceptions are Dallas, Austin, and Houston. Of the three, the only one with the school with a ranked graduate program is Austin.

3. Having a Ph.D. will hurt you when you go looking for an IT job.