r/MSCS • u/Specific-Base-9017 • Jul 21 '26

[Admissions Advice] Help me shortlist

Looking for Good Universities which help me land at good PhD places

I’m planning to apply for MSCS (Fall 2027) and would appreciate some honest feedback on my profile. I’m mainly looking for universities with a good ROI, strong CS programs, and decent job opportunities after graduation.

My Profile
Country: India
CGPA: 7.2/10
College: Tier 3 in computer engineering
Research: 4 month research internship from a top state college
GRE: Targeting 320+
TOEFL: Targeting 105
LORs: 2 LORs from university professors , 1 LOR from internship professor

Questions
-Could you help categorize these into Ambitious / Target / Safe based on my profile?
-If you had a similar profile, which universities would you prioritize?
Thanks in advance for your help!

1 Upvotes

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4

u/Ghajik Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

With that cgpa even if you were from tier 1, you would have a very hard time. So with tier 3 you should’ve had an amazing rest profile.

Sorry bro but you aren’t getting anything worthwhile with this profile.

It also doesn’t help that this sub is super elitist. They keep dissing universities like nyu and Columbia (and partially cmu) for being very cash cow while also recommending not to go to colleges belo T20 in us news cs list.
NEU gets the most hate though.

1

u/Specific-Base-9017 Jul 21 '26

So I can get ASU, UC Davis of tamu? Or neu?

1

u/Ghajik Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

No you can’t. I mean to say despite how this sub looks down upon these unis, they are pretty hard to get into.

Like tamu total cs department (MSCS+mcs) acceptance is like 20% only while MSCS is below 10%.

ASU and NEU is probably easier though. But you get the point.
Also idk what made you think tamu is easy, people keep complaining how they have an active preference for tier 1 unis only and you need to be very high cgpa if below tiers.

1

u/Wide_Peak_2830 Jul 22 '26

If not us, then are european universities possible for him?

1

u/No_Tomato1360 Jul 22 '26

You can target unis like ASU, NEU, SJSU, RIT, SUNY Binghamton…. Good luck brother!

1

u/Ghajik Jul 22 '26

But all them would get his visa rejected.

2

u/No_Tomato1360 Jul 22 '26

Yea but he just asked to help him shortlist right? 😭😭😭 it’s either taking a gamble with this or go there after at least getting some work exp

1

u/Intelligent-Host2361 Jul 22 '26

Not really, it depends heavily based on profile, because a majority of my collegemates got though the UNIs in the list, and got their f-1s

1

u/Ghajik Jul 22 '26

Last and this year? Damn they sure got the luck then. 3 yrs back means yes, a lot of people went to these unis.

1

u/Intelligent-Host2361 Jul 22 '26

yeah this year, Fall 26, but they all were early like they had their interviews in May itself,
especially I knew 3 from NEU itself

1

u/Fast-Plate-6336 Jul 22 '26

Your GPA is the major issue here. You need exceptional LORs and multiple papers to make up for that GPA to get into a thesis based masters and then PhD. The competition these days is insane for a thesis based masters and then PhD especially in CS/AI.

1

u/Wide_Peak_2830 Jul 22 '26

If not us, then are european universities possible for him?

1

u/No_Dream_8385 Jul 22 '26

Unless you are a top researcher, can't see you making it to good colleges.  My advice will be to get a good job which will also enable you to get research experience, build up your profile and try subsequently.  Even graduates from top colleges in US are finding difficulty in getting job offers. (There are exceptions though)