MS CS at Stanford chances

[xGeek]

Apologies if I am not adhering to board policies by posting this, I'm new here and saw many similar posts

 

I applied for the MS CS program at Stanford Fall 2013. I work full-time as a Software Engineer so I am looking to enroll in their Honors-Coop option.

 

My undergraduate GPA is very high (equivalent to 4.0/4.0) and I graduated first of my class but I am an international student and come from a rather unknown school. I took 4 graduate courses CS at Stanford as a non-degree student (1 A+, 2 A and 1 A-). 2 LoR from professors from my undergraduate college and 1 from my manager at work which should be good. 90% percentile in Quantitative GRE but mediocre/low scores for Verbal and AWR (English is not my first language...).

I have no research experience but about 2 years of industry experience at a major software company.

 

Thoughts? Waiting is making me anxious

 

 

[ssk2]

Sounds like you have a good chance although I'm a bit wary about your GRE. I think Stanford gets a lot of applications and they themselves state on their FAQ site that a strong application for the MS would be in the 90th percentiles - http://cs.stanford.edu/content/faqs/#c6 - which I take to mean all sections of the GRE. 

 

The research experience shouldn't matter so much for the MS. Your GPA/class rank is favourable, albeit from an unknown school, and the fact that you've taken NDO graduate courses and done well is very good too because it shows that you can cope with the Stanford courses. 

 

I've applied there too - for the second time, and from what I can tell, it is something of a lottery because of the sheer volume of applications they get. So, try not to obsess too much about your application beforehand and not to put too much weight on the decision when it comes - whatever happens! (This is what I've been telling myself anyway!)

 

Anyway, if you do want to indulge your obsession about the application process, check out this document: http://actr.nsk.ru/eic/info/Karthik.pdf - written by someone on the Stanford applications committee. While it's meant to be a general description of the process, I imagine it has been heavily influenced by how they work.

 

Good luck!

[pogopuschel]

I think you have a great chance. I somewhat disagree with ssk2 about the GRE, I don't think your verbal score matters much, even less so when your first language isn't English.

ssk2, do you mind sharing your stats for when you were rejected? I applied to the same program and I'm pretty anxious as well

Edited January 28, 2013 by pogopuschel

[ssk2]

Sure - I started this thread last year - 

 

I've improved every part of my application (except for my GPA, since I graduated three years ago!) for this year's round.

Edited January 28, 2013 by ssk2

[pogopuschel]

Ah, thanks for the link. Good luck to both of you.

[ssk2]

Out of interest pogopuschel - where did you study as an undergraduate / what's your profile like?

Edited January 28, 2013 by ssk2

[pogopuschel]

I went to Berkeley as an undergraduate, my GPA was around 3.8 and my GRE was 92% Quant and 7x% Verbal. (English isn't my 1st language either, I hope that helps me, haha). I have some research experience though not too much. My recommendations were from two professors and one guy I started a business with. My SOP was mostly about the research and how I'd like to apply it to the industry..

Edited January 29, 2013 by pogopuschel

[josefchung]

Hi xGeek,

 

I agree with others that you should have a good chance! One thing that would have greatly boosted your chance is getting a recommendation from a Stanford faculty. Who your recommenders are matters a great deal, and getting a good letter from the professor of one of your NDO courses could have made for a stellar profile.

[xGeek]

Thanks all for your replies, I feel better now lol

 

josefchung: Yeah I did try to do that but being a remote NDO student it was hard to get the professors to know me enough to write a meaningful letter.

 

Good luck ssk2 and pogopuschel with your applications too, hopefully we can become colleagues soon!

[justsayani]

hey xGeek: if you don't mind sharing, what are the four courses you finished as an NDO student at Stanford? just curious!!

 

Thanks all for your replies, I feel better now lol

 

josefchung: Yeah I did try to do that but being a remote NDO student it was hard to get the professors to know me enough to write a meaningful letter.

 

Good luck ssk2 and pogopuschel with your applications too, hopefully we can become colleagues soon!

[xGeek]

CS242, CS243, CS245, CS255