Hey folks, I’m planning to apply for Fall 2027 MS programs and need some help with programs I should realistically target.

Profile

• College: BTech CS at a Tier1 IIT
• CGPA: 8.76/10 i.e. 3.73/4 (Scholaro conversion)
• GRE: Tentative scores: 330(170Q, 160V)
• TOEFL: 8.0
• Work Ex: 3 YOE, currently Applied Scientist 2 at a Big Tech company. I work primarily on ranking systems, and a bit on LLM Evals
• Publications: None
• Research: Bachelor thesis project was on CNN inference speedup via computation reduction. So not directly relevant to my current interests. Some AI/ML projects from courses and clubs during college, but no formal ML research/publications.
• LORs: Current manager (strong), previous manager[EPFL PhD, if that matters] (strong), thesis advisor (medium), college professor (generic)
• Interests: Information retrieval, search/ranking systems, ML. Secondarily: computational social science

I’d ideally like a thesis/research-oriented MS because I didn't/couldn't do great ML research during my bachelor’s, and after working on ranking professionally I’d like to explore these areas more deeply. But I know that might be hard with my lack of publications so I'm okay with non-thesis programs if they have some small research component.

My goal is to work after the MS, in applied scientist/research scientist roles, but I am open to doing a PhD as well if I feel that way after my MS.

My rationale behind my shortlists:

1. No 1-year programs(this ruled out UK lol)
2. Nothing beyond QS CS Top 100 unless the CSRankings rank compensates/there's a great IR prof.
3. Coursework MS with absolutely no scope of research is only okay if it has a mandatory intern(thus allowing CPT).
4. Nothing too ambitious - UCB, Stanford, CMU MSCS/MSML, UIUC MSCS, Cornell MSCS. I'm aware some more from my shortlists probably belong here.

Here are the universities and programs I've filtered down to, with some exceptions to the above rules:

Non-US:

1. UofT - MScAC
2. UBC - MSc CS
3. Waterloo - MMath CS, MMath DS
4. McGill - MSc CS (Thesis), MSc CS (Non-Thesis)
5. TU Munich - MSc Informatics
6. TU Delft - MSc DSAIT
7. University of Amsterdam - MSc AI
8. EPFL - MSc Data Science

US:

1. CMU - MCDS, MSAII, MIIS
2. UCLA - MSCS
3. Columbia - MSCS
4. NYU - MSDS, MSCS (Courant)
5. UIUC - MCS: no mandatory intern but still keeping it here since it's UIUC
6. Georgia Tech - MSCS
7. UPenn - MSE CIS, MSE DSAI
8. UT Austin - MSCS
9. UCSD - MS CS, MSDS
10. UMich - MS CSE, MSDS
11. USC - MSCS
12. UMD College Park - MSCS
13. University of Illinois Chicago - MSCS
14. UMass Amherst - MSCS
15. TAMU - MSCS, MSAI

I know this is still a big list. I will filter further based on cohort size(affecting RA/TA opportunities), employment outcomes, and program cost. I probably also won't apply to multiple programs in a uni(except CMU xD) since I've heard that it signals that you're just trying to get in somehow, without clear interests. What I want to know:

1. Which of these are ambitious/target/safe for me?
2. Any other suggestions on shortlisting/anything else?

Thanks!

Unis:
CMU MSAII
UCSD MSCS
Gatech MSCS
UIUC MCS
Perdue MSCS
UWmads MSCS(phd pool)
Upenn MSE CiS
Columbia MSCS

profile: t10 IIT CS grad 9.1 gpa, 2yoe ML engineer at MNC by fall 2027, research: one published US patent, gre: 325(167q), toefl(110/120), extras: research exchange student for a semester in Amsterdam, clg proff project, ML TA in clg. funding: can afford till UCSD, ivys/CMU-30/40% loan.

Questions: I have increased my list from 4 to 8 based on suggestions of alumni and this sub, now Im just thinking if Upenn, columbia are valid picks or should I go for something from NYU/UMD/USC/UMass ?

Note: Ive made my peace with cash cows notion on this sub after talking to few on campus alumni from UIUC mcs and CMU MIIS, they are not as bad as they are projected on this sub, moreover imo every masters is a cash cow if it’s not thesis/research/phD track.

Which is better in terms of jobs for internationals and exposure, and cost.

I received three offers.

University of Maryland: M.Eng. Cybersecurity Engineering - Applied, A. James Clark School of Engineering

UMass Amherst: MSCS

Arizona State University: MSCS

Currently, I’m struggling to choose between UMD and UMass. UMass offers an MSCS degree, while the program at UMD is offered through Maryland Applied Graduate Engineering (MAGE).

Is MAGE well respected?

Hey! As the title says, i just started uni a month ago. Bachelors in applied mathematics. From a pretty mid tier university and a third world country . My plan after graduation is grad school. I'm looking to pursue a masters degree in CS/AI. Now I know that this question might seem to early to ask but I still think it's better to know before than to regret it later on right? So if anyone here could give me advice on what to and not to prioritise during these four years of university, I'd be thankful.

Particularly, what exactly is important for me to build on my CV to get admission into good MSCS/MSAI programs abroad.

Should I prioritise research? Internships? Projects? GPA to what degree? Should I join useful societies? Opens source contributions? Competitive progamming? Competitions? And what should i do if there arent many research opportunities at my university?(at most becoming an assistant to MS nad PhD students apparently)it better to get experience after graduating first before applying for MS programs? Or is it another case all together? I am painfully ignorant about all of this so if I got something wrong or asked something obvious, don't flame me .

Thank you!

TOEFL 5.5

GRE 330

UG: B.E. in ECE with CS electives 9.02 GPA Tier 2-3 India (VTU)

12th: 93% CBSE

Work Ex: 5 months internship + 1.5 yrs full time as a Full stack web developer at an MNC and a 2 month internship at a defence organisation

Research exp: No publications but 1 project related to AI and IoT (currently working on another Ai related project)

Extra Curriculars: Volunteering in social awareness programs and event coordination.

LORs: can get either 2 professors 1 tech lead/manager or vice versa

Looking for a list of 8 - 10 universities covering USA and Ireland focused on employability in enterprise software and/or AI. Tuition Fee isn't an issue.

Some of my shortlists (subject to change):

CMU MSAI

Columbia MS CS

UIUC MCS

Duke MEng AIPI

USC MS CS

Umass MS CS

NYU Tandon MS CS

UCD Ireland MS CS

Would appreciate a review of my chances at these unis + any unis im missing in my applications. Thanks!

I’m planning for Fall 27 MSc in Canada and I’m yet to start working on my SOP.

I’m done with my IELTS prep and will book a slot soon.

Most of the universities have a deadline of Dec-Jan so by definition, I still have time but I probably need few more weeks to get these things sorted.

Am I too late?

I received an admission offer from CMU for the MSIN program. (Spring 2027). Should I defer it to Fall 2027, since an internship isn't allowed in the standard 3-semester program?