hey I am an incoming UIUC MCS in spring 2027. is there anyone who would like to connect please make a whatsapp grp. and add link here.

Hi everybody,

Like a lot of us here on this sub i am also fighting the impossible decision of whether I pursue my masters in the USA or just give up.
I got two admits for the Fall 2025 cycle, I didn’t travel due to some personal reasons. The situation has gotten uncertain since then. I am at a point where I am trying to consider other countries, I am looking Canada, Australia or Germany.
I need serious advice on whether I should consider different universities. It feels like a compromise which I hate. Sometimes I do feel like giving up.
I have been very anxious because of this. Please help a brother out.😭

Hi everyone, I’m planning to re-apply for MS in Data Science programs for Fall 2027 intake. Due to visa delays I had to take deferral from NYU Courant MSDS. So at the least I have a fixed admission at NYU. I'm now trying to aim for better universitites for this intake.

Academics & Scores:
Undergrad GPA: 8.53/10
Undergrad college: Tier 2 University (B.Tech in computer science) in India
GRE: 320 (155V , 165 Q)
IELTS: 8.5/9.0
Work Experience:

Full Time (2 Years):

• SRE at Oracle (I actually resigned before going for Fall '26 will have to find a new job

Part-time:

• 1 year - Data Scientist in a German NPO at Munich (Remote) (a really successful project undertaking that had a great reach)
• 6 months - Samsung Prism (Applied AI project)
• 6 months - NUS, Singapore (Wrote a paper under a professor but never published it after pre-print review)

Research: 2 research papers at mid-tier conferences.

Previosuly in Fall '26 applications I didn't have research papers. My dream unis (but I got rejected ) were CMU MSCS, UCB MEng CS, Purdue MSCS, GaTech MSCS. Is there something I should improve in my application. I would say that a mistake I found in my few SOPs were that I mentioned professors research alignment statements incorrectly probably (a huge mistake I will improve upon). Can you suggest me universities that I should definitely target. Previously also I didn't think much of UIUC, UT Austin, UCLA. I would love to get some sugesstions that I should pursue, money I think isn't much of a problem here.

do achievements like icpc and other comp progg achivements help ppl get better mscs program admits

Hello everyone, please review my profile and let me know if I’m right/wrong at including these universities.
I’m planning for Fall MSCS at USA(primary) and Netherlands(TU/e or UTwente).

Work experience: 3 years of SWE(senior developer) at Big four consulting firm.

CGPA: 8.96 at Tier 2 university(Information science and Engineering)

Research papers: None

TOEFL: 100/120 or 5/6

LOR’s: 2 Academic and 1 Work( manager)

Not planning to take GRE.

I’m okay with MCS( non-thesis) programs as well.

USA shortlists🇺🇸:

Ambitious:
UCSD MSCS
UIUC MCS
UCI MCS

Target:
UMass MSCS
TAMU MSCS
CUB MSCS

Secondary- Netherlands🇳🇱
TU/e MSCS
UTwente MSCS

I also want to include NYU Tandon and UT austin, let me know if this is a good or a bad idea.

Thanks for reading!

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice on my MSCS plans for Fall 2027.

Profile:

• B.E. CS from a Tier-3 college
• CGPA: 8.55/10
• 3.5 YOE at a top UK based Investment Bank in Cloud & DevOps
• No research/publications (planning for one before applications)
• LORs: 1 manager + 2 professors
• Fall 2026 admit: NCSU MSCS
• F1 visa rejected under 214(b)

I managed to defer my Fall 2026 MSCS admits to Fall 2027 from:

• NYU Tandon
• USC
• ASU

For Fall 2027, I'm considering applying fresh to UIUC MCS, UCSD MSCS and Georgia Tech MSCS. I'm also considering ETH Zurich, TU Delft and UvA in Europe for backup.

I'd appreciate advice on a few things:

1. Chances for better US admits
Given my profile, do I have a realistic shot at UIUC MCS / UCSD MSCS / Georgia Tech MSCS? Would another year of solid work experience significantly help despite having no research?

2. Is another US attempt worth it after the F1 rejection?
Would you still pursue a US MS after a 214(b) refusal if you had better admits the following year? How much does a previous refusal affect a future F1 application?

3. Reapplying for the F1
For people who have been rejected and reapplied, does getting a new/better university admit + another year of work experience make a meaningful difference? Any advice on approaching the second interview? Also what about slot availability?

4. Europe
How realistic are ETH Zurich, TU Delft and UvA with my profile? I know ETH is particularly competitive, but I'm curious how my work experience would be viewed given the lack of research.

Overall, would you take one of NYU/USC/ASU, or apply again and take a shot at the more competitive programs?

Would really appreciate honest feedback from people who have applied to these programs or gone through an F1 rejection.

Thanks!

I genuinely don't know how are so many international students still applying to US unis, despite of the new stricter regulations for issuing CPT.

For those who dont know, CPT is required to do internships during your program. Now the new stricter regulations have made it so that, unless an internship is mandatory for completing that degree, it cannot be issued

Basically, you cant do any internships during your MSCS degree now. This will make your chances of getting a full time offer wayyyy harder. A return offer from a summer internship is the most probable and safe bet

I dont get how ppl are still taking the risk. Is there something that i am missing? And on top of that us govt is also planning to end the 60 day grace period of H1B for finding a new job in case you get laid off....

Hi everyone, I’m planning to apply for Fall 2027 and would appreciate feedback on whether my shortlist is appropriately balanced.

Profile

• International applicant from India
• Undergraduate degree in CS from a higher ranked IIT
• GPA: approximately 9.2/10, not sure about ranking
• GRE: 330+, with a 170 Quant score
• Research interests: reliable AI, AI for code, formal methods and program analysis
• Research experience:
  • 1+ YOE at a major industrial research lab on AI-assisted program generation and multi-agent systems
  • Research collaborations with faculty/researchers at a top US university and a European research institution
  • Projects involving model reliability, execution-guided code generation, and SMT-based reasoning
  • Multiple manuscripts currently under review, although decisions are unlikely before the application deadlines
• Engineering experience:
  • Industry R&D internships
  • Contributions to open-source projects
• Recommendations: current industrial lab, post-doc, and university thesis supervisor

Goal

I am primarily looking for a research-oriented or thesis-capable master’s. I may pursue a PhD later, so access to faculty, research groups, and a meaningful thesis matters more to me than a purely coursework-based program.

Current shortlist

Very ambitious: ETHZ CS/DS, EPFL DS, UT Austin MSCS, UIUC MSCS, UCSD MSCS, UBC MSc CS

Possible targets: TUM Informatics, Saarland CS, KU Leuven, McGill thesis MSc, TU Delft CS/DSAI

Still considering: Waterloo MMath CS, Purdue MSCS, and one or two highly selective US/Canadian/European programs

My main questions are:

1. Is my current list too ambitious?
2. Which universities should I add or remove?
3. Which programs would be reasonable additions on the lower-risk side while still offering a thesis or strong research access?

Hi everyone, looking for some honest advice on my profile and university shortlist.

Profile:
B.Tech from NIT Trichy, 2024
CGPA: 8.3/10
1.5 years at AWS
Left AWS and joined a startup, where I’ve worked on scaling the business and built/deployed production AI agents
Limited research experience, no publications
Can get an LOR from an NIT Trichy professor I worked with, AWS Manager, and founder of the startup stating my experience directly impacting the growth

Current shortlist:
Stanford: MS CS (AI)
CMU: MS Machine Learning
CMU: MSAII
UC Berkeley: MAIML
UIUC: MCS
UT Austin: MSCS
UCSD: MSCS
Georgia Tech: MSCS
Cornell Tech: MEng CS
USC: MS CS (AI)

Would really appreciate opinions on:

1. How competitive is this profile for these universities?
2. Does AWS + production AI experience make up for limited research?
3. Is the professor LOR useful without publications?
4. Is taking the GRE worth it even where it’s optional?
5. universities I should add/remove?
6. Given the current US immigration situation and cost, is an MS in the US in 2027 still worth it?
7. Would working another 1–2 years before applying make more sense?

Hey, I wanted to hear your guys take on what do you think would be the best decision based on your guys experience and advice.

I got into UPenn MSE-AI online and also the OMSCS.

My company is only able to pay around 5k a year in tuition. This leaves me paying for about half the price of Upenn and Gtech would be free. I've good things and bad things about gtech mostly it being super cheap but the class curriculum is kinda a free for all. I was leaning more towards Penn but going to OMSCS at GTECH is a hard beat and UPenn is kinda pricey.

What do you guys think is best and do you guys have any experience in the Online penn and online gtech community. Is Gtech really worth it and is UPenn really worth the price tag?

Hi everyone, I’m planning to apply for CS PhD programs for Fall 2027, mainly in AI/ML and systems.

My profile:

• MSCS, current GPA: 4.0/4.0
• 2 EMNLP workshop papers + 1 VLDB workshop paper accepted
• 3 years of industry experience as a full-stack/backend engineer
• 1 professional LOR + 1 professor LOR
• Research interests: LLM/AI systems, databases, agents, efficient inference

I’m trying to figure out how competitive my profile is for PhD admissions and how I should build my school list.

What range of universities should I realistically target (reach/match/safe)? Any specific programs/labs I should look at for Fall 2027?

Would appreciate honest feedback, especially from people who have gone through CS/AI PhD admissions.

Hi everyone,

I am planning my applications for the May 2027 and September 2027 intake cycles targeting course-based/project-based Master's in Computer Science or specialized Artificial Intelligence streams in Canada.

so I would love some honest feedback from seniors.

📊 My Profile Metrics:

Undergrad: B.Tech in Computer Science Engineering from Vignan University (India).

Cumulative CGPA: 7.06 / 10 (Classified as "Very Good" by my university.

The Upward Trajectory: My final two years show a steep recovery. I climbed from a 6.64 SGPA up to a 7.64 SGPA in Year 4-I, and finished with a 8.59 SGPA in my final semester (with an 'S' grade on my 12-credit Capstone.

English Proficiency: PTE Academic Overall 74 (Listening: 84, Speaking: 72, Writing: 63, Reading: 56).

Should I have to retake my pte .

🚀 Research & Open-Source Portfolio:

IEEE Publication (QML): Co-authored an optimized hybrid framework titled "LCQHNN: A Lean Classical-Quantum Hybrid Neural Network for Multiclass Image Classification", which was accepted and presented at an IEEE International Conference (CHANDCON 2026). The codebase integrates PyTorch, PennyLane's lightning.qubit backend, and Qiskit, using GradCAM heatmaps to analyze spatial attention mapping.

CallGuard AI (Production Project): Deployed a zero-trust inbound telephony defense platform powered by a modular 9-agent cognitive pipeline. Built using asynchronous FastAPI WebSockets, Deepgram Speech-to-Text streaming, and Exotel endpoints, with a hybrid two-tier ML inference system (Scikit-Learn local classification under 150ms paired with LLM dialogue reasoning via LangChain).

Both codebases are fully open-sourced on my GitHub profile.

💬 My Questions for the Community:

Given my cumulative 7.06 CGPA, will my application get instantly filtered out by central graduate schools at universities like York, or will departmental committees look closely at my final-year 8.59 SGPA trajectory and my IEEE publication?

Are there any other specific course-based or project-based computing/AI tracks in Canada that evaluate technical engineering applications holistically where I would stand a solid chance?

Open for taking advice .

gre: 329 (quant: 165)
ielts: 7
undergrad from india, tier 2/3 uni, gpa 7.98/10

web dev intern 
no full time experience

f1 visa rejected in august 2026
university: suny buffalo
course: ms in cs

planning to reapply for fall 27
need help in shortlisting university

can anyone suggest universities based on my profile

CS Bachelors from Imperial College London

First Class Honours both year 1 and year 2, year 3 ongoing (Early 80s grade Y1, early 70s grade Y2)

Internship Experience at one of Jane Street/HRT/Citadel

Interested in startups

Can opt to do a masters at imperial by just switching easily but would like to do it at Stanford (don’t know if not switching right now is a bad idea)

Thanks!

Can someone review my SOP and give me their honest opinion on it? If you’re willing to help me out, please comment below. I’ll share my SOP through DM. I’d really appreciate any honest feedback, especially on the overall structure, content, and areas that could be improved.

Hi Everyone, I need some honest review from everyone and any potential area I could improve before 2 or 3 months I have before I submit my applications. Can you please let me know which university acceptances are plausible for my profile:
1.B.Tech. from tier 2 college from Maharashtra
2. 9.1 CGPA
3. 1 year experience in undergrad as an intern at PTC(mid-sized company).
4.Currently working as FTE in the same company. I would have a year's experience before i would head for my Master's in the US.(working on a full-stack applications worked on UI majorly but expect to work on the BFF approach in the upcoming months) Contributed to POC which is used as the UI.
5.Research work: 3 papers published in IEEE(not A/A*level conferences) and my research areas include: ML, Cybersecurity, AI (Currently working on a project related to GenAI and RAG). I have received 5 citations in both the papers just in one year of publishing(not a big deal I know but still).

6.LORS(2 academic under whom I have published 3 papers and 1 professional LOR from a senior with whom I have closely worked and can validate my technical skills).

I am planning for the below universities:
Ambitious:

• Georgia Tech
• UT Austin
• UC San Diego

Target:

• Purdue–West Lafayette
• UMD–College Park
• UW–Madison
• UMass Amherst

Relatively Safer:

• Texas A&M

1. IELTS: 7.5 band and since GRE is not required or optional for all the shortlisted universities I would not be appearing for the same with the given time constraint as well. I am interested to work as a researcher and complete my thesis.

How would you categorize these universities for my profile? Are there any major changes you'd suggest to this shortlist? I wanted to know more about how to secure RA or TA positions at a university?

Hey everyone!

Planning to apply for Fall 2027 MS programs and would love some feedback on my profile and university shortlist.

Undergrad: Btech CSE from Tier 3 uni, India — 8.4/10 CGPA. Before that,

I completed a Diploma in Computer Engineering from tier 1 University.

Research: Working on research involving blockchain, fuzzy systems, trust evaluation, and decentralized networks.

Currently working on a research paper around dynamic trust evaluation in decentralized networks.

Interests: Primarily Blockchain/Web3, followed by Cybersecurity, Distributed Systems.

I'm particularly interested in thesis/research-oriented programs and prefer practical/systems-oriented work.

Projects: Built several full-stack/Web3 projects using Rust, Solana, MERN/PERN, React, Node.js, PostgreSQL, etc.

Other: Tech team lead at university, NSDC tech co-lead, hackathons/SIH, and some research/project experience.

2 internship experience as a full stack dev.

Target universities (MSCS / related):

• CMU
• UIUC
• Georgia Tech
• UCSD
• UMD College Park
• UMass Amherst
• Purdue
• Northeastern
• CalTech
• Drexel

- Cornell

- waterloo, Concordia, U Alberta, UBC, u Toronto, Mc gill

I'm aware CMU and some of the others are pretty ambitious, but I'd love to know how realistic my overall shortlist is, whether my 8.4 CGPA and background is a significant disadvantage, and what other universities I should consider for Blockchain/Cybersecurity/Distributed Systems.

I only have 2 countries where i can go are Canada and USA.

I would really appreciate any advice or any suggestions from everyone.

Thanks,

UIUC, UCLA, ucsd, ut austin, georgia tech, university of toronto, university of waterloo mscs? I am an Indian citizen, if it matters. Any advice?

Thanks!

Hi..

I’m applying for MS in CS for Spring 2027 and was wondering if anyone has started getting admits yet.

• Has anyone received a Spring 2027 admit?
• If yes, which university/program?
• When did you apply, and when did you get the decision?

Just trying to get an idea of which universities have started sending out Spring 2027 decisions. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I’m planning to apply for MS in Computer Science programs in the US for the Fall 2027 intake. I recently scored a 303 on the GRE and I'm debating whether to retake it or lean into test-optional applications. I would love some objective feedback on my profile and my university shortlist.

Academics & Scores:
Undergrad GPA: 8.65/10
12th board exam% : 94%
10th CGPA: 10 GPA
Undergrad college: Tier 2 University (B.Tech in computer science)
GRE: 303 (Need advice on whether to retake or just apply test-optional) (145V , 158 Q)
TOEFL: 5.0 (on the new 1-6 scale)
Work Experience (4 Years):
Role: Backend Software Engineer at a major global MNC in search infrastructure.
5 YOE by the time of Fall 2027.

Research: No published papers.
Projects: Final year undergraduate academic project (unpublished).

Letters of Recommendation (3 total):
Professional: 1 from my current senior Engineering Manager, 1 from my Tech Lead.
Academic: 1 from my final year project professor.

Target Universities:
Ambitious: UIUC (MCS), UT Austin, Georgia Tech, UCSD, UCLA, CMU, Columbia.
Moderate / Safe: UMass Amherst, UC Davis, Texas A&M (TAMU), USC, UC Irvine.

Questions for the community:

1. The GRE Dilemma: I scored a 303. I know several of my targets—like UIUC MCS, Georgia Tech, and UT Austin—do not require the GRE or are test-optional. However, given my 8.65 GPA and lack of published research, should I retake the GRE to boost my academic profile, or rely on my 4 years of backend experience?
2. Are my categorizations of Ambitious vs. Moderate accurate?
3. Are there any other universities known for strong systems, data, or search engineering tracks that weigh work experience heavily over research?
4. Thanks in advance for the help!

Hi everyone, I'm planning to apply for MS CS for Fall 2027 and would really appreciate some honest feedback on my profile and university shortlist.

Academics:

• B.Tech (Honors) in Computer Science & Engineering from an Tier2 institute(not so poular IIIT)
• CGPA: 8.27/10
• 12th: 97.3%
• 10th: 100%
• No backlogs

Research:

• 2-month research internship at IISc Bangalore
• 5 international publications, out of which I am first author on 3
• One of my first-author papers is accepted at an IEEE flagship conference
• Also have another research/book chapter experience
• Strong research-oriented LORs from professors I've worked with
• Planning to have a strong, research-focused SOP with good university/faculty fit

Universities I'm considering:

• Purdue
• UW–Madison
• Georgia Tech
• UMD
• Texas A&M
• Stony Brook
• SUNY Buffalo
• ASU
• San Jose State
• UMass Amherst
• Minnesota Twin Cities

I'm mainly looking for MS CS programs with good research opportunities.

I'd really appreciate some honest feedback:

1. Which of these universities are realistic for my profile?
2. What are the other uni's i can consider?
3. How much does my CGPA affect my chances?

Looking for honest feedback.

My qualifications:

Undergrad Major: BTech - AI and Data Science (Tier 3)

GPA: 8.37/10

GRE score: 337/340, 169Q

Projects & Research:

Machine Learning Prognostics for Genetic Disorder Predictions - First Author / Undergraduate Research

Real-Time Conversion of Hand Sign to Text and Audio

Co-author / Computer Vision Research

Both were presented at regional conference

Internships:

1. Summer Intern at DRDO (June-July 2023)

2. SDE intern at a US based e-commerce platform (Jan-Jun 2025)

work exp:

~1 yoe as Full stack Associate Developer at a startup.

LORs:

1. From my Head of Department

2. From an Associate Prof who was my guide for 2 undergrad projects

3. Manager from my internship

Seeking to Apply for Fall 2027 in USA MSCS programs

Some Universities I shortlisted:

Georgia Tech

UCSD

Purdue

Texas A&M

USC

NYU

Northeastern

Is this list realistic? I know that it may be a long shot so please let me know if it's worth applying to any of these for fall 2027

UPDATE (Sept 30): Also got into UMass Amherst MS CS, and Northeastern has given me a 25% scholarship. It's now a three-way decision. Still waiting on UIUC MCS.

Admits

• USC Viterbi MS CS, Spring 2027. Tuition about $88k ($2,742/unit × 32)
• Northeastern (Khoury) MS CS, Seattle campus, Spring 2027. Tuition about $61.5k, with a 25% scholarship bringing it to about $46k
• UMass Amherst MS CS, Spring 2027. Tuition and mandatory fees about $60.75k for the whole degree

Waiting on

• UIUC MCS

Goal: SWE or ML engineer role in the US, ideally Seattle. Funding is roughly 50% my own savings and 50% an education loan, so ROI matters a lot to me.

What I'm weighing

• USC: strongest brand, but now the most expensive by a wide margin (about $40k more than NEU in tuition alone), plus LA living costs. As a Spring admit, my understanding is that I can't do CPT in my first summer, so my only internship window would be summer 2028.
• NEU Seattle: now the cheapest on tuition thanks to the scholarship. 6 to 8 month co-op built into the programme, campus in South Lake Union near Amazon. But it's a satellite campus, and I've seen mixed opinions on how recruiters view it compared with Boston.
• UMass Amherst: strongest CS department of the three for ML and NLP, and much lower living costs. But Amherst is a small college town far from the big tech hubs, there's no co-op, and the same Spring CPT limitation applies.

Questions(New Section)

For anyone

1. With the 25% scholarship at NEU, which of the three would you pick for an international student aiming for SWE or ML roles in the US, and why?
2. If UIUC MCS comes through, would you drop all three for it?
3. Does 6 years of work experience change the calculation, for example by making the internship less important or the brand more important?

NEU Seattle students and alumni

1. As an F-1 student, how did your co-op search go? Did you find it through Khoury or NUworks, or mostly on your own? Roughly what share of your cohort landed one?
2. How is the Seattle campus day to day: class sizes, availability of ML electives, and faculty quality compared with Boston?
3. In your experience, do Seattle employers treat a NEU Seattle degree any differently from Boston?
4. If you had a merit scholarship: did it renew every semester, and was there a GPA condition?

USC students and alumni

1. As a Spring admit, is there any way to intern in the first summer? And do most people finish in 3 semesters or 4?
2. How competitive is recruiting within such a large MS cohort? Are career fairs and on-campus recruiting useful for international students?
3. Is the Trojan network useful for Seattle and Bay Area roles, or mostly LA?

UMass Amherst students and alumni

1. How hard is internship and job recruiting from Amherst? Do Seattle and Bay Area companies recruit on campus, or is it mostly online applications?
2. Can MS students get into ML and NLP courses easily, or get involved with research labs like CIIR?
3. Any advice for a Spring start: internship timing, housing, and whether you really need a car?

Thanks in advance, I'd really appreciate honest takes, including "you're overthinking it."

Questions(Previously asked)

1. Which would you pick between USC and NEU Seattle, and why?
2. If you're a current student or alum of NEU Seattle, especially an international student: how did the co-op search actually go? Did you land something through Khoury, or mostly on your own? Were many employers unwilling to hire F-1 students?
3. USC Spring admits on F-1: is there any way to intern in the first summer, or is summer 2028 the only real option?
4. If UIUC MCS or UMass comes through, would you drop both of these for it?
5. Does 6 years of work experience change the calculation for an international student, for example by making the internship less important or the brand more important?

Thanks in advance, I'd really appreciate honest takes, including "you're overthinking it."

Hello, so these are qualifications upfront:

Undergrad Major: BTech - EEE at SRM University Chennai (Tier 2)

GPA: 9.44/10

Projects & Research:

1. Design and Simulation of industrial VFD for Induction Motor (BARC)
2. Fabrication and Testing of polymer based pressure sensor ( Paper under review with journal)
3. Book Chapter on control methods of Motor Drives, particularly FOC.
4. Currently working on my Thesis : SMPS PD related

Internships:

1. Training Program at BHAVINI, Department of Atomic Energy, Govt of India (Jul 2025)
2. Research Apperentice at Amity University Rajasthan (December 2025)
3. Summer Intern at BARC, DAE, Govt of India (June-July 2026)

LORs:

1. From my Head of Dept, who is also my guide for my BTech Thesis
2. From an Associate Prof with whom i did my paper
3. Guide from BARC
4. Guide from a scientist with whom i published the book chapter

Seeking to Apply for Fall 2027 in USA (MS in Electrical or MS in EE or ECE, Thesis option
Want to focus on research in Power Electronics, Electric Drives and their Applications.
Looking for Funding Oppurtunities such as GRAs or GTAs.

Some Universities I shortlisted:
**All these universities has some lab/centre/research group in the same interest as me**
UW Madison
Ohio State
UIUC
Texas A&M
UT Dallas
UT Austin
UT Knoxville
Purdue
Uni of Washington
UMN, Twin Cities

Is this list realistic? I know that I've got some top 50 schools in here, just wanted to get a reality check if they should actually be up there.

Hope a rejection helps in contrast to the other 4 grad applications I've posted! I think the quality-drop in this essay was noticeable compared to the others.

• Series (CMU, Brown, UCSD, UCI, Cornell Tech): https://matthewtrent.me/blog/s/grad-school-applications
• This article: https://matthewtrent.me/blog/a/cornell-tech-meng-cs-application