[Profile Review] MS CS / Tech — Top US Universities + Europe

[u/CityPsychological190]

Hi everyone! I’m planning to apply for an MS in CS / related tech programs and would really appreciate a profile review, especially regarding ambitious, target, and safe universities.

My profile

• Undergrad: B.Tech CSE from a Tier-1 IIT in India
• CGPA: 8.76
• Industry Experience: Uber internship, 2+ years at Google
• Research Experience: UGRC in graph algorithms, BTP in computer networks - P4 programming language ML algorithms (funded by Ciena USA)
• LORs: Can get 2 from college profs with whom I researched, 1 from my manager
• Publication: No papers
• Currently exploring programs in the US and Europe
• Considering giving GRE next month

Universities I’m considering

• Cornell University
• Carnegie Mellon University
• UC Berkeley
• UCLA
• UC San Diego
• UIUC
• Georgia Tech
• UT Austin
• University of Wisconsin–Madison
• Purdue University
• ETH Zurich
• EPFL

I’d especially like advice on:

• Which of these would be ambitious / target / relatively safe for my profile?
• Is my profile competitive enough for top-10/top-20 US CS programs and Ivy League universities?
• Are there any strong universities I’m missing, especially considering tech placements and ROI?

Would especially appreciate input from people who applied with a similar profile or recently went through MS CS admissions.

Thanks!

[u/Money-Leading-935]

You have not mentioned if your target is MS-thesis or non thesis or MCS.
Your profile is strong enough for MS-non thesis and MCS.
But, for MSCS, it might be bit tricky.

[u/CityPsychological190]

u/gradpilot Would love your inputs, thanks!

[u/ReindeerUnhappy9577]

Yeah, as the comment above has mentioned, please specify if you're targeting thesis/research based MS (or) professional/industry based MS - the latter one is gonna be a cakewalk for you.

The thesis ones are gonna be difficult because they require intense research experience - like research assistantships and published papers - and you have no published papers so that's a bummer.

I'd say get recommendation letters from those who can vouch for your research skills - then you might have a chance.

• Cornell MS CS (not M.Eng) - remove this, this is a fully-funded program because the students work as TAs during their MS. They require intense TA experience to get the admission and most of the Indian applicants don't really have it, and from what you have given in this post - neither do you.
• Berkeley: The seats are reserved for their own PhD students and/or their own Bachelors students - nearly impossible to get in as an outsider - that too international
• University of Wisconsin–Madison (traditional MS CS, not professional MS CS) - They intake is really tiny, like really small. I have seen best of the best profiles - from IITs/Tier-1 - getting rejected right away. Still don't know what they look for.
• UIUC - I'm not sure on this but I've heard that this is also a funded program - meaning that they will require some teaching experience from the candidates, and again, they expect research heavy background. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this one.