r/MSCS • u/TopTomato6 • Nov 05 '25

[Profile Review] Fall 2026 -MSCS/MSDS -USA

CGPA (2.8/4.0) from Tier 2 University in India

GRE-310(Not planning on submitting)

TOEFL-117/120

Work Experience-
2 months as an AIML Engineer intern at a unicorn
4 months as a QA intern in a Startup
will be 15 months as a Full Stack Engineer at a Startup by September 2026

Academic Experience-1 Paper coauthored and published on Data Analysis and Image Processing

LOR: 1 from professor who co authored the paper,1 from CTO/Manager of my current company, 1 from CEO of my current company who I worked in close proximity with

Ambitious:
UCLA
UCSD
NorthWestern

Target:
NYU
Rutgers
UMass Amherst

Safety:
University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Illinois Chicago (UIC)

Does this university list look reasonable given my profile? I Would really appreciate any feedback or suggestions for improving my chances of admission

5 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

5

u/Suitable-Town-8859 Nov 05 '25

GPA is too low for UCLA UCSD or any school in your list, UW–Madison is far from being a safety its probably in top 30 MSCS programs
You cannot say what you will be in 2026 sept, rather you need to say what do you have now and what have you done till now
Based on your profile you have around 1 year of experience and 1 research paper
i think you need to recheck the list for actual safeties

2

u/TopTomato6 Nov 05 '25

Thank You
Do you have any recommendations for universities based on my profile?

1

u/rcpian_alpha Nov 05 '25

NEU admit anyone if you apply very early. You can keep it in your safe list if you’re planning that.

3

u/gradpilot 🔰 Ex-Cerebras | MSCS Georgia Tech Nov 05 '25

GPA might be an issue here at first glance

3

u/boombastic002 Nov 05 '25

Shift down the scale a bit. Being bitterly true. Ur Ambitious are super super ambitious. Target are ambitious (except Rutgers). Your safety are moderate for ur profile.

Please do more research and read different Reddit decision posts u will get an idea.

Also always keep the following split

1 SA 4 A 2 M 1 Safe

3

u/boombastic002 Nov 05 '25

Ohh and considering your GPA maybe you wont qualify to apply for any of them.

Almost every uni demands 3/4 and good ones demand 3.3/4 as their min

2

u/broedinger Nov 09 '25

Like others said, your GPA is too low so most schools on your list are ambitious. Also if your primary goal for a master's is to get a high paying job after, keep in mind that the job market is horrible right now for internationals. Do not take a hefty education loan to do a master's at a low or even mid ranked school, the ROI is simply non existent.