Profile Eval

[Spamus]

Hey all, My info :

 

Double major in BS Math and BS Computer Science (graduating this May)

Missouri State University (Useless I know) 

GPA : 4.0

GRE : Practice Results (taking early October) 167Q / 160V 

Research Experience : None, nada, zilch

 

Work Experience: Interned one summer for Alabama state police

and interned one summer at an electric cooperative (just doing programming at both)

 

LORs: all from professors (but they won't be well known, I did work for one of them but not doing research)

 

 

Schools I plan to apply to (in order of preference) (all PhD in Comp Sci):

1. WashU in St. Louis

2. Duke

3. Purdue

4. Texas A&M

5. Notre Dame (not certain if I'll apply here)

6. Mizzou (safety I hope)

7. Arkansas (safety I hope)

 

 

I wasn't planning to go to grad school until late this past spring which is why I have no research, and even trying to get research this fall is basically impossible at the school I'm at.

 

Do you think I have a legitimate chance at any of the schools I'm applying to? (even Mizzou and Arkansas)

I would try to apply for Masters but I can't afford the student loans.

 

 

Thank you.

[dat_nerd]

What about taking a year off as a research intern, or gaining research experience in some other way? Not only will it vastly improve your likelihood of getting into a program, but it'll give you an idea of whether you'll even like research before you commit to 5-6 years of it.

 

It'd also help to know what you're wanting to get out of a PhD program. Do you have a particular research interest in mind?

 

Missouri State University (Useless I know) 

 

Not so! I graduated from an unranked CS program without having written any publishable material, and still got into several top-10 schools. It can be done! What helped me was having recommendations from two professors I did research work with, a strong SOP, and communication with professors I was interested in working with.

Edited September 11, 2014 by dat_nerd

[Spamus]

What about taking a year off as a research intern, or gaining research experience in some other way? Not only will it vastly improve your likelihood of getting into a program, but it'll give you an idea of whether you'll even like research before you commit to 5-6 years of it.

 

It'd also help to know what you're wanting to get out of a PhD program. Do you have a particular research interest in mind?

 

 

Not so! I graduated from an unranked CS program without having written any publishable material, and still got into several top-10 schools. It can be done! What helped me was having recommendations from two professors I did research work with, a strong SOP, and communication with professors I was interested in working with.

I'm most interested in Numerical Methods/Scientific Computing. My goal with Grad school is to eventually be a Professor at a non-Research University, I don't need to be in a top 10 school, but I also don't want to end up stuck teaching at no-name U  for the rest of my life.