Chances of getting into computer science grad school if from small university

[kyleW]

Hi I hope this is the right place to ask this, This fall I will be a senior at a small college in Oklahoma about to finish my BS in Computer Science and plan on pressuring a PhD in CS in Oklahoma, Texas, or Kansas.

 

I am wondering what my chances are of getting in anywhere let alone getting financial aid given the grad school admission climate that I have heard of lately.

 

Some background about my education, The university I am at was in the past a community college but is now a small regional commuter university our CS program has graduates about 10 people a year and only has about 4 full time teachers and has ABSOLUTELY NO research opportunities unfortunately.

 

So, I have no prior research, my gpa is good its a 3.76635 on a 4.0 scale my gre scores are less than stellar but I plan on retaking it this summer.  My scores are 157 verbal 144 qualitative and 4.0 writing. 

 

I'm interested in studying artificial intelligence in my PhD program but may change given that I haven't explored many specialties in CS due to lack of classes in my department.

 

I'm interested in applying to Oklahoma University, University of Texas Austin, Dallas, and Arlington, University of Texas A & M ,and University of Kansas.  Are theses schools too far out of reach should I try to find other places or what?

 

Basically I just want to know if anyone has any opinion on my chances with my grades and test scores and such and if I even stand a chance of getting in preferably with an assistanceship at any of the schools I mentioned, thank you!

 

[dat_nerd]

Basically I just want to know if anyone has any opinion on my chances with my grades and test scores and such and if I even stand a chance of getting in preferably with an assistanceship at any of the schools I mentioned, thank you!

Yes, I do think you can get into a school. However, to do so, you'll need to start getting some research experience right away. Your research experience and letters of recommendation are the most important aspect of your application, and you can get both by starting on a research project ASAP. Since the summer is coming up, you have the perfect opportunity to start on a project. The more experience you have, the better.

 

 

 

Some background about my education, The university I am at was in the past a community college but is now a small regional commuter university our CS program has graduates about 10 people a year and only has about 4 full time teachers and has ABSOLUTELY NO research opportunities unfortunately.

Would your professors be willing to advise you on an independent research project? While the school may not have research opportunities, it's my experience that professors are more than happy to give guidance to an independent student researcher. You could also ask if your program will let you do a thesis option instead of a capstone project.

 

 

So, I have no prior research, my gpa is good its a 3.76635 on a 4.0 scale my gre scores are less than stellar but I plan on retaking it this summer.  My scores are 157 verbal 144 qualitative and 4.0 writing. 

My view is that GPA and GRE scores can't substantially help your application, but they can hurt you if you don't make it past the cutoff point. I'd try to get the quantitative score to at least a 160 for a CS program.

 

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about the CS applications.

[Abc_adams]

As dat_nerd said - get that GRE score up. For a CS program, you need to be in the upper 160s to not fall below any random cutoff.

 

The colleges you chose are ambitious, but you certainly have a chance. Now, to get into a PhD directly after a BS is not going to be easy. You need to have done a lot of independent work or research with experts. It helps to have samples of your projects that display your coding proficiency. Make sure you are truly competent in the computer science that you do study in your Bachelors. It will not hurt to have certifications, etc in your CV to show that you have the knowledge (though this is minor point).

 

Start contacting people who work in your domain of interest. Try to get to work for them. You need recommendations from people in active research to boost your chances. So get working and contacting people. You can even try to get in touch with professors in the universities you are interested in.

 

Network. And stalk professors till they give you work. Learn as much as you can to be able to decide on your area of research....

Work on independent projects. Document. And if you work on your own, have a portfolio of the work you have done.
Build that CV.

And best of luck.

[kyleW]

Thank you for your advice guys!

 

I am studing currently to try to get my gre up so that I don't run into the cut off issue that was mentioned, and I'm currently trying to get a independent study class started at my university next fall so that I can have some research experiance, I've tried to do this in the past and it allways falls through but this time I think I should get it. 

 

thanks!