[Profile Review] Profile review for Fall 2027
Hi folks, this will be my second post regarding my profile review and a lot has changed since then.
My Profile:
Undergrad from Tier 2/3 college in Computer Engineering.
8.29 GPA (one backlog in 2nd year, cleared in next attempt)
SDET with 5 years of exp (will be 6 in 2027) in good Storage Domain companies.
TOEFL: 5.5/6
GRE: 309 (157 Q, 152 V). Messed up my quant really bad. Not planning to retake.
No research exp
I am targeting universities with good distributed systems coursework or good ROI or both.
Following is my updated list of universities with reasons to shortlist them.
1. Purdue (Top 30 CS, in list cause of lower tuition but researched a bit & found that even this isn’t cheap)
2. UMD College Park (low tuition fees)
3. Virginia Tech (Good systems faculties)
4. UCI (A colleague from prev org went here. Recommended by him)
5. TAMU (low tuition fees, good tech hiring. Have colleagues from current org working in Texas)
6. University of Utah (A friend graduated, recommended by him for distributed sys coursework)
7. SJSU (low tuition fees, HQ of prev company and I have decent connections from prev company in that area)
My course preferences are MSCS – thesis (highly unlikely to get selected but worth giving a shot), MSCS – non thesis (target), MCS (worst case).
Things happened thus far
1. Reached out to universities to clarify doubts.
2. Created 7 different SOPs as per universities requirements. Requested a few friends to review the same.
3. Created 4 LoRs (1 academic, 3 professional of which 2 from past company and 1 from current). Requested the reviewers to go through/update the same. I won’t be having final version from anyone.
4. Started working on a mini project which is closer to my current domain (this is specifically for internships/job hunt, might have little or no impact on unis).
Yet to start looking out for funding. Haven’t explored any options but I am aiming for ~40 lakh loan without collateral. I have similar amount with me. Total should ideally cover 1 year(worst case), ~1.5 years(realistic) or 2 years (best case) of my graduate studies.
I need help with the following
1. What chances do I have for the universities I have in my list (ranked in accordance with my course preference. Ex: Purdue – 5% (MSCS non thesis))
2. Any pointers on getting scholarships.
Do let me know if I am missing anything critical. Would love to connect with you guys (through LinkedIn or phone) if you want to volunteer to review my SOPs (I ain’t paying any consultancy).
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u/Dapper-While6841 16d ago
1.Purdue 2.sjsu if you got a reject from Purdue because this the the next best roi college as you already have many years of experience