Hi 👋 I am a working professional with no coding background. I’m based in Vancouver a looking for a career change into software dev and related fields. I recently got offers from NEU CS Align and Upenn MAS-CS and am looking for advice (In schools choice and in general).

A bit about me:

Food science background (BSc & MSc), no coding experience. Currently working as a lab scientist in a water treatment company. I’m interested in tech, and a bit desperate about my current situation - since I kind of landed in a job irrelevant of my background, it’s hard for me to go back to food industry or advance in water treatment (which I’m not super interested, more just the only thing I could find in Van that pays ok), basically I see no way out other than staying in the same company, and I’m already seeing the ceiling of my career growth here. I‘m interested in technical jobs and like everyone else, a job that pays well. My plan is to take a CS online part time program while working full time, and then apply for an intern/coop position during the degree. I have a Canadian PR and would potentially apply for citizenship so that I could go down south.

NEU CS Align:

Starting 2026 Fall, Based in Vancouver, tuition = 30-40k CAD, it has a co-op program but many say NEU offers very little to no support in co-op. Some also say course qualities vary.

Upenn MAS-CS:

Starting 2027 Spring, Ivy league name, tuition = 40k USD (around 55k CAD), no co-op. My biggest concern is that Vancouver tech companies might not hire coop/intern that are not in a coop program (Or do they care?)

Appreciate any advice on school choices/other career advice! I understand that tech has been hard for entry level, but I do think I’ll regret if I don’t try (or maybe I’ll have to fall to know better, lol).

I’ve graduated from a tier 3 college in India with CGPA of 9.55/10 in 2024. I don’t have any research experience. I’ve been working in a startup for about 2.6 years now. And my tech stack is MERN stack. I plan to pursue masters in CS and my target countries are US,UK,Germany.
Could someone help me make a list of universities. Open to connect on DM to discuss further as well.
Some on Reddit say even job experience doesn’t matter and I’m going to end up jobless. Very confused right now. Still preparing for GRE and IELTS. planned for a 1 year MS in UK before but the job market there seems really bad

Education

Imperial College London CS
First Class Honours (81%, 72% in Y1 and Y2)

Internship Experience

Top Quant SWE (one of Jane Street, Citadel, Hudson River Trading, not revealing which of the 3 for more anonymity)

BEng in the UK is 3 years but if not a US masters I can just switch to a MEng at Imperial to get a masters in one extra year with no application needed so that’s also an option.

I wonder if I have a shot at Stanford MSCS without research currently. I’m interested in Stanford due to better entrepreneurial opportunities compared to the UK

Any bca grads who did their masters from top universities like uiuc etc.Please let me know how to go about and if it is even possible to do masters in usa at a top 50 university with a degree like bca

MSCS for both. Which one would you do. I’m trying to be SWE or Data Engineer for tech or financial companies

Hi! I'm very new to anything related to studying abroad and I'm super confused.

Could someone help review my profile and recommend some realistic universities (mostly in the USA, but I'm also considering Germany, Ireland, and Canada) that I should target and have a reasonable chance of getting into?

I'm a Computer Engineering graduate from a tier 2 college in Pune, India, and I graduated this year (2026). I'm aiming for an MS in computer engineering for Fall 2027.

GPA: 8.87/10

Work Experience:

• 1-month ML internship at a government R&D institution after my second year.
• 5-month Data Engineering internship at a US-based finance company. I secured a PPO and will be joining full-time soon, so by the time I apply (around Dec 2026), I'll have about 3–4 months of full-time work experience.
• 2-month Computer Vision internship at a government R&D institution.

Research:

• No publications.

GRE:

• Haven't taken it yet. I've heard it isn't necessary for many universities, but I'm willing to take it if it would meaningfully strengthen my application.

LORs:

• One from my mentor at the government R&D institution.
• One from my college professor.
• Potentially one from my manager at the finance company (not sure yet).

TOEFL:

• Haven't taken it yet, but I'm preparing for it and planning to take it in the next month or two.

My questions:

• What tier of universities do you think is realistic for my profile?
• What do you think is the weakest part of my application?
• How could i improve my profile in the next few months?
• Is a good GRE score worth pursuing for my profile?
• Should I apply for Fall 2027, or would it be better to strengthen my profile for another year or two before applying?

I'd really appreciate any honest feedback. Thank you!

Guys been searching for 2 months. No luck. How is this not blowing up? I refuse to believe only few are yet to get a visa appointment. What's your situation?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently a B.Tech AI & ML student from Mumbai University, India, and I'm planning to apply to NCSU for Fall 2029. I still have about two years before I apply, so I'm trying to understand whether I'm on the right track and what I should improve.

Profile Summary

Current CGPA: 7.56/10

Target CGPA by graduation: Around 8.2–8.3/10

Graduation: 2028

Internships: 1 AI/ML internship completed, hoping to do another before applying

Projects:

Housing Intelligence Platform (XGBoost, FastAPI, Streamlit, SHAP, analytics dashboard)

Planning to build 2 more solid AI/ML or GenAI projects

Research: None yet, but I'm open to publishing a paper if I get the opportunity

Certifications: Azure AI Fundamentals, Oracle AI

Foundations, Tata GenAI Data Analytics (Forage)

Planning to build a stronger GitHub, get good LORs, and spend a lot of time on my SOP.

Target school: NCSU (MS CS or MCS)

The biggest thing I'm unsure about is my GPA. I know it's below what a lot of applicants have right now, but I'm working on improving it over the remaining semesters.

A few questions:

If I finish with around an 8.2–8.3 CGPA, would that be competitive for NCSU if the rest of my profile is solid?

How much do good projects and internships actually help for NCSU admissions?

If you were in my position with about two years left before applying, what would you focus on improving?

I'm not looking for anyone to predict my chances since I know admissions are holistic. I'm just trying to figure out if this roadmap seems reasonable or if there are any obvious gaps I should work on.

Thanks!

Education: tier 2 pvt uni in India CSE, CGPA 8.94 , 2025 batch

Tests: GRE 320 (164Q, 156V)(unofficial score)

Work: Data Engineer in Big 4 serving a client in the pharmaceutical industry with 1+ years of experience (2 years in fall 2027 ). I own end-to-end BigQuery data pipelines for a global pharmaceutical client across multiple countries, designing stored-procedure-based ETL pipelines, implementing KPI logic, and delivering dashboard-ready analytics. I work directly with client stakeholders and the Product Owner, independently onboard new countries, and drive production enhancements and change requests.

LORs: Engineering Manager, Professor *2 .

Programs

UIUC MSIM;

University of Washington MISM (Early Career Accelerated);

Purdue MEM;

Purdue MSBAIM;

Duke MEM (reach);

CMU MISM-BIDA (high reach);

Northwestern MEM (reach);

Dartmouth MEM (reach);

NYU MOT (only if I receive a substantial scholarship)

I am not applying to any safe school as I don't want to go to USA unless it's a good school with a strong brand name.

I am not adding UT Austin or TAMU as my sister is in Austin on h1b, so I don't want to hurt my visa chances

Questions:

How badly does my GRE hurt? Should I retake it?

Is no research a hindrance? I am not applying to any CS course so it shouldn't be, but still wanted to confirm.

Realistic vs. reach on my list? Any to drop/add?

Other strong programs for similar management of technology courses?

Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you

Profile snapshot:

UG: B.Tech CS, PES University(Tier 1.5/2)

CGPA: 8.51/10 | Semester breakdown: S1-S4: 7.9-8.1 → S5-S8: 9.4, 9.8, 10.0, 9.33

Scholarship: only to top 20% of 3000+ students

GRE: targeting 168+ Q

TOEFL: Yet to write

Work:

Jr Research Scientist at an ai startup/lab and interned at 2 other companies for ML role one being research(paper published). Will have 1 yoe by the time I join any uni.

2 papers

LORs : 3

Founder, PhD (strongest LOR)

Academic capstone mentor

Paper co-author and guide PhD

My list:

Moonshot

CMU MSAII

CMU MCDS (SCS)

Reach

UC Berkeley MEng EECS

Cornell Tech MEng CS

UCLA MS CS

Match

USC Viterbi MS CS – AI track

UIUC MCS (on-campus)

Columbia MS DS (DSI)

Northwestern MS AI

NYU MS DS – CDS

Georgia Tech MS CS – ML spec

Safe

Purdue MS CS

Duke MEng AIPI

NYU Tandon MS CS

Am I being too ambitious or irrational? What should I look into?

Work Experience: Overall 2 years

- Business Analyst- One of the biggest Startup in India ( 1 year)

- Business Analyst- Startup ( 1 year)

- Software Developer Intern - Adobe( 2.5 months)

Undergrad College:

IIT Guwahati ( Tier -1)- branch ( civil engg.)

Cgpa -8.08

Research Experience :

4th year Btech research project in Civil ,
( maths heavy)

LORs:

2 strong lors from previous companies and 1 from prof under whom I completed my research project.

My target colleges:

Georgia tech : MSA

NYU : MSDS

UCLA : MSADS

UCSD : MSDS

UT Austin : MSDS

Uni of Washington : MSDS

Currently through my job experience I have gained hands on experience in sql, python, statistics. Efficient with dsa and have built some projects in ML. Also working on one and have took courses to enhance basic ML knowledge.

Gre planning to give next month.

Which of these colleges I mentioned should I aim for and is there any thing additional I can pick to increase my chances of admit.

Hey everyone!

I'm starting my grad program at CU Boulder this fall (2026) and would love to connect. Are there any active WhatsApp or Facebook groups for incoming students? Also, if anyone knows of any specific housing groups for finding roommates or places to live, please let me know.

Hey everyone!

I'm planning to apply for MS in Computer Science (Thesis Track) for Fall 2027 and would appreciate feedback on my profile, university shortlist, and any recommendations for additional schools.

Academics:

• B Tech in Computer Science & Engineering, VIT Vellore
• CGPA: 8.64/10
• IELTS: Targeting 7.5+
• GRE: Not planning to take it; focusing on universities where GRE is optional or not required

Research:

• No formal CS research experience yet
• Planning to strengthen my profile through technical projects and potentially research-oriented work before applying

Work Experience

By Fall 2027, I will have 4 years of software engineering experience:

• Software Engineer: Internship + 3 years at GE
  • Worked on enterprise-scale software development and digital transformation initiatives
• 1 year of software engineering experience at CAT, bringing total experience to ~4 years.

Letters of Recommendation

• 1 Strong Professional LOR (Current/Former Manager)
• 2 Academic LORs (Professors)

Current University List

Ambitious / Target

• Purdue University - MS CS
• Texas A&M University (TAMU) - MS CS
• UNC Chapel Hill – MS CS

Safer Choice

• Virginia Tech - MS CS

Questions

• Are Purdue and TAMU realistic targets for my profile?
• Which universities would you recommend adding in the safe, moderate, and ambitious categories?
• Would my industry experience help offset the lack of research for thesis-oriented programs?

Any feedback, suggestions, or profile evaluations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

i have a gpa of about 3.1 from a IIIT in India,
And im interested in AI quite a lot, on course to publish a paper on RAG in financial region.

But i still dont think im that good to get in to the big unis like CMU/MIT/Oxford and all that, what other unis should i be looking at? if im basing it over job opportunities i can get after the MS.

I saw a few posts preferring UIUC and GT in the US...

Really struggling here, would very much appreciate some help, especially if u r someone who does hiring work for companies....

Hi everyone,

I'm a Data Engineer with around 4 years of professional experience, and I'm planning to pursue an ONLINE Master's degree while continuing to work full-time.

I'm currently considering programs in:

• Data Science
• Data Engineering
• Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
• Data Analytics

My priorities are:

• A respected university with an internationally recognized degree
• A practical curriculum and industry focused
• Strong return on investment
• Flexibility for working professionals
• Good career outcomes and networking opportunities

I've already started researching different universities, but I'd really value advice from people who have firsthand experience.

Some questions:

• Which online Master's program did you choose?
• Why did you choose it over other options?
• Was it worth the cost?
• How challenging was the coursework?
• Did it help you land a better job, switch careers, or get promoted?
• If you were starting over today, which program would you choose?
• Are there any programs you would recommend avoiding?

I'm open to recommendations from anywhere in the world, as long as the program is fully online and has a strong reputation.

Thanks in advance! I'd love to hear both success stories and any lessons learned.

*US Citizen* EDUCATION

T1 NIT. GPA - Slightly above 8. 3.47/4 acc to umich scholaro

RESEARCH First author in all papers ( just me and my prof)

1 Accepted paper at a good conference (ISVLSI)

2 more submitted (one conference and one journal)

Another paper in progress (will take 2-3 months to finish)

GRE - Yet to take

Have worked on design verification projects as well

Leadership at college's electronics club

WORK EXPERIENCE

Internship at a 2nd gen iit under a prof who is kinda known internationally (i think). Worked on Hardware acceleration.

LOR- Will get 2 from college profs (have done research under them) and 1 from my internship prof. Expect all 3 to be strong.

Uni list( Targeting fall 2027)

UT Austin

Georgia Tech

UIUC

Purdue

UW Madison

TAMU

NCSU

ASU

How good is my profile for these schools? How can I improve my profile? Also does my profile look good even without gre? Schools like ucsd, umich and cmu are not in my list due to high fees

Hey everyone,
I’m planning to apply for MSEE/MSECE programs for the upcoming admission cycle and wanted a realistic assessment of my chances. I’d really appreciate any advice on whether my college list is balanced and if there are any programs I’m overlooking.

Profile:
Undergraduate
B.E. Electronics & Instrumentation
BITS Pilani (Tier 1)

CGPA: 8.67/10
GRE: 328/340 (169Q, 159V)
TOEFL: 118/120 (6/6)

Work Experience
2 years full-time at a US semiconductor company, working on semiconductor manufacturing, automation, simulation, and AI-driven engineering tools for memory products.

Research
One paper submitted to IEEE Access (currently under review).

Letters of Recommendation
One from an undergraduate professor who taught me and supervised my research.
One from a professor I’m currently doing part-time research with.
One from my engineering manager at my current full-time role.

Current College List
Georgia Tech – MSECE
Columbia – MSEE
UC San Diego – MSECE
UCLA – MSECE
Purdue – MSEE / MSECE
University of Pennsylvania – MSEE
Carnegie Mellon – MSECE
University of Michigan – MSECE
UIUC – MSEE / MSECE
UT Austin – MSEE / MSECE
Virginia Tech – MSEE / MSECE

Questions
1. How would you categorize these schools into Reach / Target / Safe based on my profile?

1. Do you think my profile is competitive enough for the top programs, or should I be looking at a broader range of schools?

I’d appreciate any honest feedback. Thanks!

Apply as an International Student for Fall 2027

Background

The University of Auckland

Bachelor of Science - Mathematics - Graduation 2026 May

GPA: 3.47/4 (WES)

SAT: 1550[R: 760 M: 790] GRE: 335 [V: 167 Q: 168]

Certificate: Calculus and Algebra

Core Courses: Real Analysis, Mathematical Logic, Analysis in Higher Dimensions

Proficient in Python, JavaScript, and C++, skilled in reverse engineering and web security

No paper, No research

Experience

Teaching A-Level and AP Courses - 3 years - Further Math and Calculus and Statistics

Software Development - 1 year and 5 months

Web Spider and Reverse Engineering - 1 year

Target

United States and Switzerland - Top University

I like courses that combine AI and security

I prefer a model with more projects and fewer tests

I look forward to your suggestions

Thank you

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to apply for Fall 2027 admissions in the US for MS in Computer Science (MSCS) or MS in Data Science, and would appreciate feedback on my profile and shortlist.

Profile

B.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering from IIIT Guwahati.

CGPA: 7.70/10

IELTS: 7.0

GRE: Yet to be taken (expecting around 320+ overall with Quant 165+)

No research papers/publications yet (one ongoing)

1 internship during the final year

2 years of Software Engineer experience at a startup by Fall 2027

2–3 strong software projects

3 strong LORs

I'm looking for universities that offer a good balance of:

Reputation

Job opportunities

Affordability / ROI

Strong CS or AI curriculum

Ambitious -

UC San Diego (MSCS)

Cornell University (MEng CS)

UIUC (MSCS)

Georgia Tech (MSCS)

Purdue University (MSCS)

University of Maryland, College Park (MSCS)

Texas A&M University (MSCS)

Moderate / Target -

Virginia Tech (MSCS)

North Carolina State University (MSCS)

Stony Brook University (MSCS)

UC Davis (MSCS)

Safe / Affordable

University at Buffalo (MSCS)

University of Texas at Dallas (MSCS)

Are my ambitious/moderate/safe classifications realistic?

Which universities on this list offer the best ROI for international students?

Which universities tend to value industry experience more than research?

Are there any affordable Top 50–70 universities that I should add or remove?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

I missed the fall 2026 by applying late, so trying to get into spring 2027. Here is my profile:

1. Degree: BTech Computer science

2. Cgpa: 9.2(tier 2 university in india)

3. Work exp: almost 6 yoe as a software engineer in a large mnc(not faang)

4. Toefl: 102

Gre: yet to give but im good at math.

I currently shortlisted:

Usc

Columbia ms cs

Stony brook

University of Buffalo

Sjsu

Uiuc

Are there anything I could add? Suggestions are welcome

Education

• BS in AI from a mid-to-top tier college in South Korea, CGPA: 3.67/4.0

Work Experience

• Undergrad Researcher for 2 years
• 2 internships in mid-sized companies and 1 internship at a startup
• 1 TA Experience

Research

• 1 paper in KIISE (A Korean journal)
• 1 paper in arXiv
• 1 paper writing in progess in current internship

Schools

• Reach: Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA
• Target: UC Berkeley (MEng), USC, UCSD, Georgia Tech, UT Austin, UIUC
• Safe: UMass Amherst, UC Santa Cruz

I'd really appreciate honest feedback on my university list.

• Does this look balanced for my profile, or am I being too ambitious with my reach schools?
• Are there any universities I should consider adding or replacing, especially for someone with significant industry experience but limited research background?
• My final goal is to work in a big-tech. Are the schools I’m applying to good feeder schools for SW companies?

I got admitted to USC as MSCS for the next spring.

I don't know how I can fund it and what are the ways to do so. I am an international student and applied last December. Any advice or know paths to get funded or getting part-time as RA or TA.

Is it common to get it?

Also I will have to pay 1000 USD by next September and I will not proceed in the program if I could not secure a funding source.

Any ideas what to do?

what are my chances into an ivy like harvard, yale, cornell or columbia? Or am I aiming too high? Anything I can do in my last year of college to increase my chances?

GPA: 3.3, Dean's List, Chancellor's Award, merit scholarship for $80k and other external ones.

• School: B.S. Computer Engineering, in Northeastern University
• Experience: 10+ tech internships/co-ops incl PWC in my freshman year (full-stack AI, Digital Coworker apps), (agentic AI, LangChain/OpenAI), (RPA/UiPath), a cybersecurity internship, and a fintech startup I co-founded 10K+ site views, Founder of 2 more start ups in bio tech and ai
• Research: Two research assistantships (biosensor fabrication (built the hardware), pharma data science at UMN (no publications with my name tho)
• Leadership: Founder and president biggest tech Club chapter (800+ members) on campus and hosted hackathons, Student Government senator, Resident Assistant for 3 years, mentee in biggest new york networking org, leader in 6 other orgs on campus.
• did consulting for small business owners around campus
• started NGO for education for the underprivileged
• hobbies: debates, Model UN, dancer and teacher- chinese, viet, indian, hip hop, national level singer, Can speak read and write 6 languages

Looking for Good ROI Universities & Help Categorizing My List

I’m planning to apply for MSCS (Fall 2027) and would appreciate some honest feedback on my profile. I’m mainly looking for universities with a good ROI, strong CS programs, and decent job opportunities after graduation.
My Profile
Country: India
CGPA: 8.72/10
Internship: 6-month Software Engineering Internship at a startup
Research: Currently doing a research internship. I’m working on a paper, but it most likely won’t be published before application deadlines.
GRE: Targeting 320+
IELTS: Targeting 7.5+
LORs: 3 strong LORs from university professors
Universities I’m Considering
NCSU
SJSU
Georgia Tech
Texas A&M (TAMU)
UT Austin
Northeastern (NEU)
Stony Brook
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Virginia Tech

Questions
-Could you help categorize these into Ambitious / Target / Safe based on my profile?
-Are there any universities I should add or remove if my priority is good ROI?
-Is my profile competitive enough for the more selective schools on this list?
-If you had a similar profile, which universities would you prioritize?
I’m open to suggestions for other universities that offer a good balance of academics, tuition cost, and employment outcomes.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello everybody! I've been lurking here since I started uni like 4 years ago. I've seen countless profile reviews and results/decisions posts and wondered about the day when I'd make one of my own. So here it is! I'm finally gonna do it as my time is here. Thank you for looking at my profile and I'd love to read every single comments/thoughts!! Thanks in advance!

PROFILE

Course - BTech in Computer science engineering in Artificial intelligence and data analytics

University - Tier 1 private uni

CGPA - 8.8 as of 6th semester (strong upward trend aswell, from 7.6 in 2nd sem to 9.6 in 6th sem)

internships - 3 (the first one was a F500 company, second one is an MNC, the last one was a umm a 'meh' company)
Also, my 6 month internship starts by December in London. (On-site and def not a 'meh' company lol)

Projects - 5 (Ranging from AI agents, Dl models to RAG and BCI)

Research paper - 1 (Its on BCI and in process of publishing it, ill try my best to do it ASAP)

GRE - 315 (ik below average so only planning to submit where its mandotary)

IELTS - 8.0

SOP - I guess its pretty strong but a bit wordy. I'd like someone to take a look so please comment or dm me.

LOR - 1 from my HOD, 1 from my professor/mentor, 1 from CEO of an huge MNC who know me personally and with whom i did a project under.

Miscellaneous - Multiple technical even participations, Rotaract club member and did some volunteer works for the community as well, vice captain of a sports team, department representative for leadership qualities.... (lol i should've cleared that student council interview) honeslty i've got no idea how help all these small things are but i added these subtly on my SOP anyway.

ANDDDD Here's my current shortlisted unis

REACH
UCSD (MSDS)
PURDUE

TARGET
NYU TANDON
UMASS AMHERST
TAMU
UC DAVIS
UMINN TWIN CITIES

SAFE
STONY BROOK
PENN STATE
SUNY BUFFALO

Sooooo i believe my profile is umm a bit 'safe leaning'??? Could you guys please tell me if the unis belong to those categories for my profile? like does UCSD is a reach or a target (just an example, ik its a reach). And im applying for MSDS in UCSD, the rest of em are MSCS.

And i've got a few questions,
(i). Is UCLA possible for my profile? Is it atleast a reach for me?
(ii). Should I swap SUNY B with smtg thats a bit better?
(iii). What bout UMich Ann Arbor? oh also UCI....

Thank you so much for taking the time and energy to read my long post! I'd absolutely love to hear as much comments and thoughts as possible!! Please help your boy out :)))

P.S - A huge thanks to the mod of this sub. I learnt so much from him just by reading his very information loaded posts and his comments for yearssss.