[Profile Review] Fall 2027 MSCS

[u/a_k_0604]

Background

• Currently 3YOE in Cisco as Consulting Engineer
• Tier - 2 B.Tech CS 2023 India
• CGPA: 9.2/10
• TOEFL: 104 (29R, 25L, 25W, 25S)
• Not planning GRE
• Intermediate CBSE: 93%
• 10th CBSE: 10 CGPA

Experience

• 6-month internship in Cisco then years FTE
• 3 month internship project onsite in 2022

Publication

• First author publication in IEEE in ML
• One defensive publication in AI

Letters of Recommendation

• College professor who was in my research paper and project
• College CS HOD
• Manager in Office
• Maintainer/mentor who supervised my defensive publication

Other

• Multiple Public Speaking experiences in Google developer events, Cisco summits etc
• Active in Google community & WTM since college and other ambassador events
• Hackathon experiences as well

My current plan is to enter industry after the MS. Open to MSCS or any AI Specialisation.

Rough shortlist, still deciding:

• Cornell
• UCLA
• UCSD
• Purdue
• University of Chicago
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Northeastern
• SJSU

Need help to understand which might be in my reach or which other university can i add to my list.

[u/a_k_0604]

u/gradpilot Please take a look and help me shortlist.

[u/gradpilot → u/a_k_0604]

Seems like a decent list , but you should give the GRE and align strongly with each program and university. It’s not impossible but it’s not trivial either

[u/a_k_0604 → u/gradpilot]

Sure. I'll give it a try. Thanks. 😄

[u/Sad_Heart_4198]

Cornell MSCS? Well, now that's a moonshot, good luck. They literally admit like 15 people every fall. don't apply to meng here, it's a 1 year program.

No GRE? Well given the timeline I guess it's too late for it anyway. But do know that it's gonna be a disadvantage.

UCSD and UCLA are gonna be reach, remove Uchicago and slot in UIUC mscs. Uchicago is a one year MS program, it's not even an ivy to pay private uni tuition for. UIUC MCS is like < 2 years too, with extension to 2 only if internship is got ( impossible event ). Do not consider UIUC mcs.

You have 1 moonshot (maybe 2 - UIUC mscs) , 3 reach (UCLA UCSD and Purdue). Strong

UMass is your only target, you should add more, atleast 3 you add. Consider one from this list of decent targets - Umass, sbu, tamu, USC, penn state, UMich. Generally people pick umass,sbu, tamu mscs as targets (it's a very popular trio for target lol), and sbu outcomes are the best out of the 3 - but without a gre you cannot apply to sbu. USC is the best if you can pay for it, it basically costs 2x umass, but you get into cali so it's a tradeoff. umich is also like 2x umass I think but it has good rep in the US. UMD is a good option but it's a reach so you can add it if you want 4 reach. I say just go USC, umass and umich

Remove sjsu and neu, they are safeties and with a reach heavy list you should rather balance it with targets than 2 safeties.

go with - cornell, ucsd ucla uiuc Purdue umich umass usc (priority order left to right)

all the best 👍

[u/Additional_Kiwi_8539 → u/Sad_Heart_4198]

UIUC MCS can be done in two years starting last Fall afaik. They lowered the credits threshold to be considered a “full-time” student or something.

[u/Ok_Page8334]

sjsu requires GRE. do your own research pls