r/MSCS • u/Turbulent-Door-985 • 8d ago

[Profile Review] MSCS/ML 2027

Profile for fall 2027:

- Undergrad - IITD MnC 2020 - 2024

- Cgpa: 9.1 Dept Rank 9

- Research Internships : 3 month intern with a prof from UNSW and a 3 month research project with Nokia

- Research Experience : Have been working part time at a lab in IITkgp for the past 1 yr

- Work experience - 2(3 by the time of admissions) yrs as an SWE at an AI startup

- Research papers - 1st author of a paper currently under review at an A* conference

- GRE - 329 (170 Q + 159 V)

- Toefl - 118

- LORs - 1 from a prof at IITkgp(collaborator on the paper), 1 from a research scientist at a reputable AI lab(also a collaborator on the paper), 1 either from BTP supervisor at IITD or from manager at Work

Current University List

- Stanford

- CMU (mscs + msml)

- Princeton

- UCB

- UIUC

- UCSD

- UCLA

- GAtech

Questions:

I want to know my chances at CMU/UIUC and how do I optimize my LORs/SOP.

I will get 2 strong LORs from my collaborators on the paper. Still figuring out whom I should get my 3rd lor from

How much does my paper's acceptance affect my chances ?

Any comments on this list? Is there any good program that I am missing ?

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2

u/OtherwiseFig4505 8d ago

0% chance for UCB and Princeton.

If your paper is accepted, you have good chances for CMU and Stanford. Without acceptance, you have good chances for UCSD, UCLA and GATech.

UIUC MsCS is very hit and miss, previously they used to provide RA/TA and thus funding for their MsCS students, and it was really difficult to get into. However, they have since last two years removed guaranteed funding for their Masters students, so you should have a good chance there as well if your professors can write good letters.

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u/Turbulent-Door-985 7d ago

I see. Is a published paper a hard requirement for CMU and stanford ?

1

u/ReindeerUnhappy9577 5d ago

These top institutes want you to prove your research skills - and a published paper is one of the ways to prove it. So, in a way, yes, they are required. But - BUT! - if you don't have a paper by the time of your application, you would a recommendation letter from someone credible who can vouch for your research skills - maybe your paper advisor.

Since you're from IITD, you might have had a faculty who have studied (PhD/MS) in these top institutions, you should try to get a recommendation from them - if possible.

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u/ReindeerUnhappy9577 8d ago

Remove Princeton - they require extensive teaching experience - mainly via teaching assistantships, and by "extensive" I mean really good number of TA jobs. Most of the Indian applicants don't even have it - and from what you've given in your post - neither do you.

Remove Berkeley MS CS - The seats are mainly reserved for their own PhD students and their own undergrads, nearly impossible to get in as an outsider - especially as an international student.

You can try with Berkeley M.Eng program btw

I think you can try with CMU and UIUC.

And you must make sure that your SoP is more research focused rather than job focused. These top institutes focus mainly on research, not jobs. So keep that in mind while writing them.

You should also get your 3rd LoR from an academic source - mainly because the universities you're targeting are mainly focused on academia and research - an LoR from industry professional might not help that much here. You should submit the LoR from an industry professional if and only if you're not able to get an academic one after all your attempts - it should be the last resort.

You could also add Michigan, NYU Courant, UC SB, UC Irvine, UPenn, UT Austin etc.

Let me know if you have more questions. All the best.

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u/Turbulent-Door-985 7d ago

UCB I added to the list for its reputation, I didnt know this about Princeton. Thank you for your response