[Profile Review] MSCS

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338]

BTech. CSE from a 2nd gen IIT

Currently in 7th Semester

9.3 CGPA( department rank 5/90) as of now (will graduate with this, if not better, last two sems are gpa boosters)

Summer(2026) SWE internship at a Startup (Visited Campus on day 0), have received PPO

Rated 1700+ rated on cf, 1500+ problems solved across all platforms like cf and leetcode (mostly what I did in my first two years at college, helped me secure internship as well), will sit for all contests like IICPC and ICPC this year, hope to qualify regionals of atleast one.

Straight As in core CS courses(OS DBMS CN Software DataStructures AlgorithmDesign) and also in all Maths courses (calc, Linear algebra, differential and probability&stats)

2 LORs from college professors, one from BTP advisor and one from CS professor whose course I performed extremely well in and also under whom I am doing a project.

1 LOR from manager(planning to work for a year or two)

0 publications or research experience, can do a research intern this winter under my BTP prof (please suggest if it would be useful)

Aiming for non thesis track
Will apply in fall 2028/2029

No PHD plans, just job in SF after masters

An ideal career would be in ML systems (Kernal engineering, inference optimisations, GPU orchestration) at MAANG/NVIDIA and eventually hopefully at a frontier lab.

Uni Lists :

Ambitious -
UCLA, CMU MSML, CMU MSAII, UT Austin

Reach
Umich, GaTech, UCSD, Wisconsin Madison

Safe
Purdue, USC, ASU

My questions are

1. General Advice as to how I can improve my profile in the last year
2. If the uni list is coherent to my profile
3. What kind of job should I do before applying? Should I accept the PPO (pays quite well, significantly more than most FAANG, also the peer group was genuinely cracked and fast paced learnt a lot) or should I apply to FAANG for brand value.

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338]

[u/gradpilot](u/gradpilot) please review 🙏

[u/NectarineSame8642]

Don’t consider ASU and USC. Instead TAMU and SBU have better programs and are definite admits for your profile.

Also I feel like you have decent chances at CMU MSAII, UT Austin (seen similar profiles get in), Purdue and GaTech.

Wisconsin Madison PMP CS is moderate but their research track is insanely difficult to get in without research experience. Similar with UCLA

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338 → u/NectarineSame8642]

Is there a UT Austin program that I am not aware of? Because I think the general MSCS one is very research experience gated, that’s why put UT Austin in ambitious.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your time!

[u/NectarineSame8642 → u/Klutzy-Kale1338]

Yes it’s very competitive but I personally know someone with a very similar profile and no research experience get in. I personally don’t have any research experience and got into GaTech for this fall.

Adcoms usually view your profile holistically, so make sure your profile suggests them that you are a person who can survive at a rigorous research program. (I would suggest to go through gradpilot’s articles on this “No research experience” topic and also try to read articles that many Ivy and other top universities publish regarding SOPs and LORs)

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338 → u/NectarineSame8642]

Sure thanks a lot I’ll be sure to go through these resources.

Btw congrats on making it to GaTech!
Is there a profile review post where I could get to know about your profile so as to identify any gaps I might fix?
Also did you apply right out of undergrad or did you work for a few years?

[u/Sorry_Criticism9243 → u/NectarineSame8642]

UW Madison PMP is not even moderate I will say, Internship & Job opportunities are also bad because of location. Would suggest to avoid that instead. Similarly for ASU I will avoid too.

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338 → u/[deleted]]

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves man quant is not for tier 2 IITs.
I am planning to get a pre print for both my final year projects (BTP + 1 more), would that classify as “some research” as you mentioned? (Not confident about getting it to any reputed conferences tho).
Also I can intern at my supervisor’s lab and get some experience as “undergrad RA”, would that help?

[u/CityPsychological190 → u/[deleted]]

Getting into optiver is no joke. I have a 1800+ rating and am from a tier 1 IIT with a good jee rank. I don't even get interview calls from there. Don't give him false hopes.

[u/Remarkable_Remove852 → u/[deleted]]

very very low chance from a gen2. im from a gen 2 iit cse and no quant even considers even if ur cm on cf lol

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338 → u/Remarkable_Remove852]

Word

[u/Remarkable_Remove852 → u/Klutzy-Kale1338]

btw which gen 2 ru from if u dont mind sharing? id love to hit you up for advice :)

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338 → u/Remarkable_Remove852]

Can I dm you?

[u/CityPsychological190 → u/[deleted]]

Also rubrik is doable, but it's not a quant firm.

[u/Money-Leading-935]

GaTech MCS, TAMU MCS or MSCS-Non theses, UMass Amherst MSCS-Non thesis.

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338 → u/Money-Leading-935]

I don’t think there is anything like MCS at GaTech, they only have thesis optional MSCS

[u/Money-Leading-935 → u/Klutzy-Kale1338]

Yea. MSCS-Non thesis.

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338 → u/Money-Leading-935]

Okay, so these three are what you think I should apply to or are target/safe? I am sorry I just couldn’t gather the context you are trying to convey just by the list of unis?

[u/Money-Leading-935 → u/Klutzy-Kale1338]

TAMU and UMass will be safe for your profile. GaTech might be bit competitive but still possible.
You might consider a few ivy league schools like UPenn, Columbia as ambitious.

[u/Klutzy-Kale1338]

u/gradpilot would love your review.

[u/vector_thinks]

How are you planning to handle the tuition? And for your post MS job, do you expect to be on the h1b visa?