Minimum GPA for a Good University for Masters

[saurabh_daalia]

HI , I am from a third tire college from India. Currently I have 6.8 GPA in 5 semesters. I know its quite low, what should be considered as decent GPA for getting in good Universities for Masters in Computer Science. What should I be doing to increase my chances for getting acceptance in decent Universities despite having low GPA. What Universities should I focus on for specialization in Machine Learning/Data Science.

Thanx

 

[InstinctVegeta]

First off, I want to say that your question warrants a lot of people coming and saying that do your research. And they will be correct. I don't have any suggestion but I would like to help you in some other way though. Hope it helps.

I daresay that your profile looks like my profile from 4 years ago. If I had the knowledge of posting in forums like these, I might've been better off than I am now. Your GPA is low, and given that you have 2 semesters (worth of studying) remaining, I am guessing you won't be having much opportunity to improve that either.

So here are my two cents in order to save your sinking boat when you go for graduate application in a year or so.

1. First of all, you do have enough time to make good relation with your faculty. DO THAT! When the time came for 'Letter of Recommendation', I have suffered a lot because of this. It is a key part of the application. I think I can understand (being third tier college from India and all), that being in good terms with the professor can look trivial but it is very important.
2. Next, you have to show that you are a scholar in some way. If we assume that the GPAs are out of the equation, focus on research papers. They are pandora box of knowledge and will increase insight in your area of interest exponentially. It might be boring to read, but you have to push through. Start collaborating with your current professors and get'em published.
3. Lastly I would like to say that start interacting with professors in your prospective colleges. Go through the research that they have done and maybe they can advise you to to the adcomms when the time comes. I'm currently in this process right now.

Apart from these, if you have researched enough (which you should before posting anything), you would know that SOP is the deciding factor when the adcomms want to know more about you. So make a draft of it, review it, add more details to it and keep revising it until you have a final one.

Best of luck!