What can i expect

[roflrofl]

Hi ALL,

I am new to this forum so dont mind if this topic seems stupid.

I recently gave my GRE and got a score of 1450, 670 verbal + 780 quants. I am yet to receive my AWA score. I am an international student and am planning to give my TOEFL soon.

I have not done any research work. This bothers me a lot. From what i can gather every university in the US pays a lot of emphasis on the research work carried out by you when they process your application.

What i want to know is what kind of universities can i expect to get an acceptance call. I am interested artificial intelligence and also in theory of computation. It would also be helpful if anyone could recommend universities for the masters in the above topics.

And what are the requirements to get an aid in pursuing your degree

[hajimemashite]

not sure about aid in the masters level, especially with the current economic crisis. However your chances might improve after you are actually on the University campus. Maybe a T/A or something of that sort.

However with your score you shouldn't have any problem with getting into a Master's program. Good job on the Verbal skills.

[thisAintNoGame]

Most universities do not fund masters students, they choose to fund PhD students. In US programs, you do not need a masters degree to be a PhD student which is why most professors recommend applying straight for the PhD program if you are planning to get a PhD (or even if you are debating between a masters and a PhD). The first two years of graduate school are usually the same for masters and PhD and many institutions offer PhD students the chance to get their masters degree after they complete their coursework and as they being their research.

In terms of recommending schools for those topics, they are both extremely common topics and almost any top 25 university (use the US news and world report rankings) will have research groups in them.

You are correct in saying that schools place a lot of emphasis on prior research experience but that doesn't mean they only take students with research experience. However, the really strong schools will typically have enough applicants that they can fill their classes up with students who have strong grades (gpa, gre) and have solid research experience (along with great letters of rec and publications), so keep that in mind when applying. That is, dont only apply to the top 5 schools or something like that because there is not a strong chance of getting in.