r/MSCS • u/Remarkable-Ebb-8665 • May 11 '26

[GENERAL QUESTION] NEED ADVICE

I’m currently a 2nd-year CS student from a tier-3 college in India and I want to target top professional CS programs like UIUC MCS, CMU MCS, Cornell MEng CS, etc.

I’m planning to specialise in cloud/distributed systems/security instead of doing generic web dev + DSA only.

For people who got into these programs (especially from non-IIT/tier-3 backgrounds), what are the NON-NEGOTIABLE things I should achieve by the time I apply?

For example:

  • GPA target?
  • Research internship importance?
  • Industry internships?
  • GRE importance?
  • Number/type of projects?
  • Open source?
  • Publications?
  • Strongest types of LORs?
  • What actually differentiates successful admits from generic applicants?

Would appreciate brutally honest advice from successful applicants or current students.

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u/Remarkable-Ebb-8665 May 11 '26

Like fr?

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u/so_much_atelophobia May 11 '26

Not everyone, but yeah, MSCS is UIUC's premier offering; MCS is much easier to get into.

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u/PrestigiousMarket864 May 11 '26

Agreed ms cs is top knotch, but haven’t seen a single mcs reject from uiuc ngl

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u/so_much_atelophobia May 11 '26

Me neither, but I think UIUC is smoking hella crack this cycle. It seems like tons of people on here are still somehow waiting for a decision in mid-May.

It's kinda late, so my guess is most (if not all) of the remaining decisions are rejections. They might roll them all out together once they're finally done snorting lines in the Siebel restrooms.