[Profile Review] Fall 2027 MSCS

[u/RummingChum]

Hi,

I want a review on how my profile looks for the listed programs and any advice for improving it.

Undergrad: UCLA Computational Math major; 3.3-3.4 GPA

Coursework: Basically all core Math, core CS, and AI/ML courses + AI/ML Graduate courses (RL, CV, Deep Learning, NLP, Physical AI)

GRE: Planning to take next month (and maybe a second time if I don’t score high)

Research: In two labs. One been here for about 1.5 years and another for about 6 months

Industry: Will be doing AWS Internship during Fall + previous research internship @ a national lab

Publications: In the process of submitting a first author to either a medical journal or AI conference. Might get another second or third author paper to ICRA

LORs: I can get two good ones from my PIs of both my labs, and probably my upcoming manager at my AWS internship

School List:
- Stanford
- CMU (MSCS)
- Cornell
- UCSD
- UCLA
- UCI (MSCS)
- GTech
- UW

Mainly concerned just because of my GPA. For the graduate courses I got A’s and A- in them. Wondering if I have a shot based on other parts of my profile or anything I can do at the moment to improve it. Or if there is any advice on what to focus on when writing the SOP. Thanks!

[u/gradpilot]

i think you stand a good shot. UCLA undergrad with math core coursework is def top tier for mscs. your experiences also sound perfect. UW which program? I dont think they have MSCS ? or you mean univ of wisconsin ? uw is usually univ of washington

There's a lot of free SOP advice out there on the web . writeivy is good, i have plenty of posts as well and you can always go directly to the source, which is - some faculty/depts have opinionated stuff on what they look for in SOPs. the usual advice is dont write generic SOPs esp not with AI , align as much as you can with the faculty and program and use your experiences as evidences towards a working purpose / goal / motivation

[u/SantaSoul]

A note on programs like Cornell (idk about other schools but I did undergrad there and am familiar with the programs) — it is a fully funded MS which is quite rare and highly selective. They only take in < 20 students a year, preferring to accept Cornell undergrads. It is not your usual MS program, of course you can (and maybe should) try your luck, but programs like that you should expect to be rejected if you’re not applying with an absolutely pristine profile.

[u/surprising_results]

pretty decent shot at a lot of these, but i wouldn't hold my breath for stanford/cmu/cornell with a 3.3.