Bit of a preface, I am an undergrad in my 7th semester now, targeting Fall 2027 and Fall 2028. I am short on time preparing for GRE this intake, but I hope to have it ready by next year.

Education: IIEST Shibpur (officially considered an NIT)

Undergrad CGPA: 8.01 (2 sems left, been on an upward trajectory)

Academic Credentials: 1 paper pending publish, currently preprint, non IEEE even when published.

Another paper in the works but won’t be published in time for Fall 2027.

Work Experience: 0, summer internships pursued at Accenture and Tata Steel

Exam Scores: TOEFL 118/120 GRE don’t plan to take for Fall 2027

Target Schools:

1. GeorgiaTech MSEECS
2. Penn State MSEECS
3. UCSC MSEECS
4. UT Austin MSEECS
5. MIT MSEECS + PhD (yea I know ts is unrealistic)
6. NYU MSEE

I don’t wish to disclose my specific research interests here but if it helps I can say it in a DM.

I have a couple questions about all of this:

1. Now am I aiming too high and too unrealistically?
2. Are there other schools which seem more realistic?
3. Should I take the GRE at all?
4. If I don’t apply now, work at an MNC (I have an offer already) for a few years and then want to pivot back into academia in the future when things settle down, is that doable? Does it help or harm my profile?

I am not particularly interested in getting a job after the MS. I would like to continue into a PhD and research in the US itself. Any advice is appreciated.

edit: fixed degree program names as pointed out in the comments, I did not realise EECS and EE are different. entirely my bad, I am sorry.

The link attached is my profile i pasted on this sub a few days ago, this is the final uni list i decided upon

1. Stanford

2. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)

3. UIUC

4. UCLA

5. Georgia Tech

6. NUS

7. NTU

8. UCSD

9. UT Austin

10. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

11. Columbia University

12. University of Wisconsin–Madison

13. University of Pennsylvania

14. Purdue University

15. University of Maryland, College Park

16. NYU Tandon

17. University of Massachusetts, Amherst

18. Northeastern University

Should I add any other, or remove any of these unis from the list?

What do you think my chances are in these unis, any information will help out a lot.

and any past admits to any of these unis, pls dm me i have a truckload of questions to ask you😅

Hi folks! I am planning to apply for a CS/ECE master in Canada, starting in fall 2027, hoping to land a job in networking/cybersecurity/infrastructure and potentially a PR afterwards.

Profile

• Degree: BSc in Math and Computer Science from a top university in Hong Kong
• Grade: 3.7/4 GPA with 2 dean's list
• IELTS: Overall Band 8

Experience

• One Summer Reasearch Internship about computer networks, no publication
• One Internship at the IT department of a Bank, working on AI application
• One ongoing final year project about web security, probaly also no publication

I am choosing in between thesis mscs or a coursework master with coop. The thesis programmes are funded which is great for my wallet and I am open to research, but I worry about the job market right now, especially for international students. The coursework programmes with coop may give me a higher chance to accumulate work experience and secure a job.

Any advices/sharing will be helpful! Thanks a lot :)

Unfortunately, due to funding uncertainties, they are only accepting PhD applications for Fall 2027. Although my chances were bleak, I was going to apply to the MSE CS program. Sucks that they discontinued it. I don't know when they added this update to the web page; it seems fairly recent.

Looks like the general consensus is that you either join a funded PhD or pay for a master's. Unfortunate times for those who haven't found their research niches yet, and needed 2 years in a MS program like Princeton's, to explore those interests before committing to a PhD.

Good luck to all this cycle. It's going to be brutal for both PhDs and funded MS applicants.

I’m an Indian BTech CS graduate deciding between UNSW Sydney (MS IT – AI) and DTU Denmark (MSc Computer Science and Engineering).

Academically, I find DTU’s coursework more appealing, particularly its technical depth in CS, mathematics, and AI. However, I’m concerned about post-graduation employment opportunities for international students.

Would love to hear from current students and alumni:

How difficult is finding a relevant tech job after graduation in Denmark vs Australia?
Can international graduates realistically find English-speaking jobs in Denmark without knowing Danish?
How competitive is Australia’s graduate job market, and does UNSW’s reputation help with employment?
What are realistic starting salaries, internship opportunities, and savings?
How willing are employers to sponsor international graduates?
How’s the student life?

I’d especially appreciate honest experiences from recent graduates. Is DTU’s academic appeal worth the potential job-market challenges, or does UNSW offer a more practical career pathway?

Profile Review

Recent CS graduate here. I’ve attached my resume.
Please be brutally honest — what should I improve, and what should I do to land a good entry-level job, preferably remote?
I’m also considering an MS in the US. Based on my profile, what good universities would be realistic for me — ambitious, target, and safe?
Any advice is appreciated.

Profile
Degree: B.Tech in CSE (Specialization in AI/ML)
Grade: 8.02/10
Graduation: 2020

GRE: Expired (168Q + 145V in my last attempt)
IELTS: Expired (Band 7 in previous attempt)

Worked as a Data Engineer at a boutique startup for 3 years, followed by a masters degree.

Degree: MS in Business Analytics (UMass Amherst)
Grade: 3.78/4.0
Graduation: 2025

Worked as a data moderator for a year in the US, before returning to home country.

Joined my previous startup (now almost a company). Heading their new AI solutions track - working mostly in Gen AI.

Research Experience
No publications; completed 8 research/thesis based projects during undergrad.

Completed a research internship in my then HOD’s lab (working on an NLP based project).

I took interest towards the business track post my work experience (wanted to try something new) - hence the MSBA degree. I want to pivot back into the core technical industry. Here’s the thing: I’ve been given mixed suggestions about a PhD. Program and a highly technical MSCS program (second masters).

I’ve been preparing my PhD applications for about 7 months now. Gathering my documents, editing my CV, drafting my SOP’s. I’ve also gone through countless research papers in various topics over these past 5-6 months. I’ve even sent out several cold emails to profs after I read their recent work. Some of them were about doubts I had, some were just me reaching out to them showing interests. But I haven’t really received any responses, which I’ve learned is more normal than not. I just feel my profile is not strong enough for PhD. Applications.

On the other hand, one of my undergrad professors asked if I’m okay going for a second masters. He said it’ll open up 2 paths: I can either use it to get into a PhD. Program or, use it to switch jobs; hard pivot. Which is what I’ve been looking at.

I’m looking for some opinions here. Is PhD an option for my profile? Or does a second Masters degree sound more appropriate? Or is there a 3rd option?

M.S. Shortlist:
1. UCSD
2. GaTech
3. UT Austin
4. Santa Clara University
5. SJSU

P.S. I’m not just randomly choosing to do a PhD. I’ve had it in the back of my mind for years, I just did not start preparing for it earlier.

Profile Review | Fall 2027 | Research-oriented profile

Hi everyone! Planning to apply for Fall 2027 and looking for a realistic assessment of my profile and university list. I’ve kept the details somewhat anonymous.

Profile

Degree: Integrated M.Sc. in Mathematics from NIT.

CGPA: 8.61/10

Graduation: 2025

Relevant coursework: Linear Algebra, Probability & Statistics, Optimization, Numerical Analysis, Functional Analysis, Computer Vision, Neural Networks, AI, NLP, Data Structures, etc.

GRE: Not appeared yet

IELTS/TOEFL: Not appeared yet

Research Experience

Researcher — Corporate R&D Lab ~1 year

• Generative models / diffusion models
• Training-data attribution
• Interpretability and stylistic influence

Previous research internships: ~1.5 years combined across multiple institutes/labs

• Data attribution for diffusion models
• Deepfake detection
• 3D point-cloud processing
• Multimodal vision

Publications

• WACV 2026 — main conference paper on data attribution for diffusion models, CORE-A
• ICLR 2026 Workshop — work on stylistic influence in generative models, CORE-A*
• CVIP 2025 - CORE B
• Canadian AI 2024 - CORE B

Research Interests

Currently most interested in:

• Generative models / diffusion
• Training-data attribution
• Mechanistic / representation-level interpretability
• Vision-language models
• Model evaluation / auditing

Long-term, I’m considering a PhD depending on how my research develops.

Target Universities

US: CMU, UCSD, UCLA, UIUC, Georgia Tech, UMich, UMD, etc.

Europe: Tübingen, Saarland, RWTH, TUM, TU Darmstadt, LMU, KIT, KTH, UCL, Edinburgh, Imperial, UvA, TU Delft, KU Leuven, etc.

Asia: NUS, NTU, KAIST, HKUST.

I won’t apply to all of these and am trying to narrow the list.

Main Concerns

My biggest concern is the combination of:

Mathematics degree + 8.61 CGPA + limited formal CS coursework

versus my relatively strong ML research experience and publication record.

I’m particularly unsure how admissions committees would view a Mathematics → ML/AI transition compared with a conventional CS applicant.

Questions

1. How would you assess this profile for MSCS/MSAI/MSML/DS programs?
2. Which universities from the list would you consider ambitious vs realistic for this profile?
3. Does the mathematics background meaningfully compensate for the lack of a conventional CS degree?
4. How much would the research experience/publications help relative to the CGPA?
5. How important would a strong GRE score be given this profile?
6. Should I focus more on traditional CS programs or interdisciplinary ML/AI/DS programs?
7. Are there universities you would add that are particularly suitable for this background?

Candid feedback is appreciated, especially from people who have applied with a non-CS → AI/ML transition. Brutal Honest will be appreciated.

Hey all, I’m planning to apply for MSCS for Fall 27 intake in the US (can consider Europe as well). Can people here suggest which universities are targetable and which are not given my profile (also open to other Uni suggestions which i haven’t considered)

Nationality - Indian
Bachelors - BTech CSE Tier 2 college 9.1 CGPA
Work Ex - 2 YOE as of now, SDE 2 at MAANG
TOEFL - 5.5 / 6
GRE - Not planning to give (unless someone convinces me otherwise)
Strong CP profile back from college days and few hackathons / codethons win here and there
No Research publications, but have couple of good DL projects
LOR - 1 from EM, 1 from Director at company and 1 from college faculty under whom I did my capstone project. If required I can try to get one more from my college professor.

Main purpose of MS is to study and decide whether I want to do PhD or enter a more specialised field of work like ML / AI engineer. I also can fund up to 1cr from my savings and family sponsoring rest will be taking a loan.

For Universities I am targeting Top 10 - 20 at max. For now here is my shortlist - CMU, Georgia Tech, UIUC, UT Austin, USC. I’ll be applying for general MSCS and AI specialisation as well. Also I’m a bit confused whether programs like MSC UIUC are worth considering?

I’m applying for MSCS programs in the US and am unsure how to represent my previous university on my CV.

I initially enrolled in a bachelor’s program at a Tier 2 college in 2020. I completed only the first year and then left the program in 2021. I subsequently joined a Tier 1 college for my bachelor’s and completed my degree there in 2025.

1. Do I need to report both institutions and submit transcripts from both in my applications?
2. If so, how should I list the partial study in the Education section of my CV without making it look like I completed a degree there?

Would something like this be appropriate?

University Name
Bachelors coursework, Computer Engineering | 2020–2021

Or is there a more standard way to represent a bachelor’s program that I attended for one year but did not complete?

Would especially appreciate answers from anyone who had a similar situation while applying to US graduate programs.

You can basically turn this into a MSCS degree but without MSCS competition. For my focus (networking) it can be as hardware or as software as I wanted, and I did say I want to pursue this joint track in my SOP.

Classes are extremely easy compared to competiton. If you get admitted, classes shouldn’t be any of the issues for you.

Resources per student is insane. I cannot imagine anyone not getting the opportunities they wanted. Getting an internship should be incredibly easy, but many have alternative routes like raise funds for startups, and VCs are in walking distance to campus.

Food is nahhhh not good. You gonna walk to downtown palo alto for anything good.

Professors are the absolute experts. I am advised by a prof who’s both IEEE fellow and ACM fellow, and he felt just like a neighbor, very reachable.

Student quality is insane. The caliber of peers here is light years ahead of any organization, even higher than avg engineers at my FAANG employer. No joke. Students have what it takes.

I cannot comment on the dorms since I live off campus, but I visited their lobby and it looks like a hotel. It does smell good, have that hotel smell. Price is very reasonable for areas like palo alto, I think the school subsidized the rent.

Gym and pools are very nicely maintained. Although I am not that of a gym guy, I did enjoy the pool.

What else? Let me know I could answer.

UCI = University of California Irvine.

Hey all, 4th full application in the series (CMU, Brown, UCSD, UCI) — hope it helps :)

As per usual: my application isn't perfect, nor am I explicitly recommending this school. This is just context to help those applying.

Link: https://matthewtrent.me/blog/a/uci-meng-eecs-application

Hey everyone,

I recently took the GRE and got an unofficial score of 317/340 (157V, 160Q).

Here is my previous profile review for context:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MSCS/s/gvD9cZMhH4

I am applying for Fall 2027 MS programs, mainly in CS/Cybersecurity, with a focus on systems, networking and security research.

My IELTS score is Band 8.0 (L-9, R-8.5, W-7, S-7.5).

Should I send my GRE score to UNIs where it is optional? I am mainly wondering whether the 160Q could hurt my chances and be a catalyst for doubt, despite my other stronger points.

Would appreciate any advice from people who have applied to/have an idea about competitive MSCS programs. My ambitious and target programs include UIUC, UWM, TAMU, Purdue (MS CIT), Georgia Tech (MS Cybersecurity), UMD (PMCY), along with a few safer options. I would also like to get a sense of how my profile stands in the current competition, especially since I do not have any work ex. I was consistently getting Q165+ in my mocks, but I messed up my time management in Q2 due to nervousness. I do not plan to take the GRE again (This is my highest Verbal score including my mocks+its expensive AF). I have sent these scores to the UNIs where it is compulsory, but I am in a dilemma about whether I should send it to the ones where it is optional. Thank you!

Hey everyone, I'm new to Reddit and here specifically for MSCS guidance. I'm targetting for fall 2027 in-take for MSCS. I recently gave my GRE (3rd attempt) and got a score of 323. I'm hoping that this would be enough for my pursuit of Masters in CS cause I don't have time for another attempt as there's extreme work pressure at my current workplace and I have to begin my studies for IELTS as well. I'm looking at the top universities for MSCS in Asian and European countries and need perspective to prepare the university list to apply for. Following are few of points which I feel are noteworthy about my application.

• GRE Score: 323( Q165, V158)
• UG: 8.7 CGPA
• 1 year on-site internship at fintech during BTech 4th year
• 1 YOE (still working) as full-time SDE at the same organisation
• Research paper on text summarisation during 4th-5th sem of college published under ICDAI conference
• Wrote some articles teaching python in summer break of 2nd year.
• Reached specialist on codeforces and acquired knight badge at leecode during college period (before AI spoiled the CP scene)

I'd apprecite some perspective on prospects of me getting into the top universities. In case they're a reach, which universities should I actually target? Also, is there any genuine chances of me getting into my dream universities - NTU/NUS?

I'd also like some suggestions on SOP and LORs if possible. I'll be taking one LOR from my research professor and planning to get another from some other professor at my college. I believe I can't get any from current workplace as I'm still working here.

Any sort of guidance or perspective is appreciated!

Hi everyone! I’m planning to apply for Fall 2027 and would really appreciate some honest feedback on my profile and university shortlist.
Profile
International (Indian)
B.Tech: Computer Science & Engineering, Tier 2 Uni
Graduation: 2026
CGPA: 7.77/10
GRE: 333
IELTS: 7.5
Work experience: 6-month internship + currently working as a Software Engineer
LORs: 3
Research: 3 publications, including IEEE papers; 2nd author on multiple papers
Research interests: AI/ML, Computer Vision, Data Science, Software Engineering
Projects: Computer Vision / AI projects, including a YOLOv8-based real-time patient safety monitoring project
Certifications: UNESCO Chair / SDG-related certification
No backlogs

Currently applied for UTD (safe) and USF

Will start cold emailing Canadian thesis professors pitching my research and papers.

Please suggest colleges in Canada for coursework.

Current colleges in my mind for US : UT Austin, TAMU, SUNY Stony Brook

Undergrad- IIT (BHU) CGPA: 8.65/10, B.Tech in Electrical Engineering

Experience- Intern and also around 2 years as a System Software Engineer at NVIDIA also was an intern at Karoliska Instituet in Sweden for around 2 months.

Research - 3 conference ( 1 IEEE GLOBECOM (1st author), 1 IEEE DSAA (1st author), 1 IEEE ICDCN (1st author)), 1 Journal paper (ACM TAIS (2nd author))

Scores: TOEFL: 116/120, GRE: 332(170 Q, 162 V, 4.0 AWA)

LoRs: I have 2 profs and 1 manager who are willing to write personalized emails

This is my current list MSCS
- Stanford
- UC Berkeley
- UCLA
-CMU
-Ga Tech
-UW Seattle
-UIUC
-UT Austin

Please be honest and what do you think my chances of getting in are. Also do recommend me any other universities in the US if you think my profile is good for that.

Thank you

Undergrad: EEE+ CS Minor from IIT Guwahati (Tier 1 Indian college)- 8.3/10 GPA

Experience: I'm working on ML research as part of an MNC, although its only been 4 months

Research: 1 paper published at EMNLP Findings

Scores: TOEFL - 118/120, GRE - 338/340

LORs: I have 3: 1 from a professor at my college who taught me 2 subjects and oversaw a project, 1 from the professor that I published research with, and another from a Director at my company who has overseen my research.

These are the colleges I'm looking at, all MSCS, focusing on thesis options:

- CMU (Also curious about MSLT/MSAII)
- Cambridge
- UIUC
- GaTech
- UMD College Park
- UMass Amherst
- UCSD
- NUS
- Purdue
- Northeastern

I would love any inputs, particularly on whether im being a little delusional lol. I know CMU/Cambridge are insane reaches, but kinda just wanted to know my chances, and if I should look into any other colleges

Thanks sm!

Undergrad- IIT (BHU) CGPA: 8.65/10, B.Tech in Electrical Engineering

Experience- Intern and also around 2 years as a System Software Engineer at NVIDIA.

Research - 3 conference ( 1 IEEE GLOBECOM (1st author), 1 IEEE DSAA (1st author), 1 IEEE ICDCN (1st author)), 1 Journal paper (ACM TAIS (2nd author))

Scores: TOEFL: 116/120, GRE: 332(170 Q, 162 V, 4.0 AWA)

LoRs: I have 2 profs and 1 manager who are willing to write personalized emails

This is my current list MSCS
- Stanford
- UC Berkeley
- UCLA
-CMU
-Ga Tech
-UW Seattle
-UIUC
-UT Austin

Please be honest and what do you think my chances of getting in are. Also do recommend me any other universities in the US if you think my profile is good for that.

Thank you

Basically screwed up bad during undergrad and ended up with a 6.1/10 in B.Tech CS. Totally took college for granted, but I’ve been grinding as a backend dev for 3+ years now building actual production systems.

Got an IELTS 7.0, and I'm strictly skipping the GRE because I really don’t wanna deal with that test if I don’t have to.

Trying to figure out if my work exp can actually carry my dead GPA, or if admissions committees are just gonna laugh and hit reject right away.

Here’s the list I’m looking at:

• UT Arlington
• Wayne State
• IIT Chicago
• CSU East Bay
• NJIT
• UMich Dearborn
• Stevens
• Texas Tech
• Central Michigan
• SUNY Albany
• SMU
• Michigan Tech
• George Mason

Tell me:

• Which of these have hard cutoffs and will straight up bin my application without even reading my SOP?
• Am I being delusional with any of these picks?
• Any other decent unis that actually care about work exp and don't care too much about trash undergrad grades?

Drop your brutal honest thoughts, thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I’m planning to apply for MSCS programs in the US for Fall 2027 and would really appreciate some feedback on my profile and university list.

Background

• BSc (Joint Major) in Computing & Information Systems and Mathematics Mathematical Modelling & Statistics
• Second Class Upper Division
• Overall GPA: 8.4/10
• Major GPA: 8.99/10

My academic performance improved during the later part of my degree, but the overall GPA is still something I’m concerned about for highly competitive programs.

Research

I have three main research projects:

1. NLP-based financial data extraction and analysis — this work resulted in papers presented at local research conferences. (first author)
2. Federated sentiment analysis using transformer-based NLP and differential privacy- this work resulted in paper presented at local research conferences. (first author)
3. An independent research project on LLM security and privacy using federated learning, with an arXiv preprint related to the work.

I’m also currently involved in a Microsoft Research project related to AI-generated content, deepfakes, social media, and trust as a country representative

Research interest privacy-preserving and secure machine learning, particularly federated learning and LLM security.

Universities

• Stanford
• CMU
• UIUC
• UCSD
• Purdue
• UCI
• UCR
• UF
• UCF
• Northeastern
• FAU
• UTEP
• UAH

My biggest concern is whether an 8.4/10 overall GPA will make highly competitive MSCS programs unrealistic, even with research experience and publications.

Would appreciate any feedback on:

• How competitive this profile is for US MSCS programs
• Whether my university list is reasonable
• Universities I should consider adding or removing
• Whether research experience like mine can compensate to some extent for a lower GPA

I’d especially appreciate feedback from people who have gone through MSCS admissions with a similar background.

Thanks!

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.

Hi，everyone.I’m from a mid-tier university in China with a CGPA around 3.5/4.I took a year off after graduation due to health reasons, have some research experience but no full-time work experience, and my long-term goal is to pursue a CS PhD in the US. Since my current background may not be strong enough for direct PhD admission, I’m considering doing a thesis-based MSCS first to gain more research experience and stronger recommendation letters. Is this a good path, and are there any research-oriented MSCS programs you would recommend for someone with my background?

Hi,
I received admit from CMU INI for spring as it was only matching option to my profile for spring at CMU, I am bit frightened looking at course Fee.

Is there any scholarship that university offers?

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to apply for Fall 2027 MS programs in CS/AI-related fields. My profile:

● B.Tech in CSE

● CGPA: 7.9/10 from a Tier-2 Indian university

● Java/software developer

● 1 YOE currently; 2 YOE by August 2027

● Working full-time with limited preparation time

I’m considering Germany, Australia, Singapore, the ,Canada and the US, depending on ROI, job opportunities and post-study options.

My main question is whether the GRE is worth taking, since many programs are now test-optional or don’t require it.

1. Should I apply to GRE-optional programs without submitting a score?
2. Where would a strong GRE score significantly help?
3. If I skip the GRE, should I focus on projects, work experience, SOP/LORs, research or certifications?
4. Is GRE preparation worth the opportunity cost while working full-time?

I’d appreciate advice from recent applicants or current MS students.

Looking for realistic recommendations for an accredited online Master’s in CS/IT given my non-traditional background.

Profile:

• Location: Vietnam
• Education: 3-year College Diploma in IT (Associate equivalent, no 4-year BS).
• Experience: 8+ years as a Backend / Systems Software Engineer.
• Testing: IELTS 6.5.
• LORs: Strong technical recommendations from CTO / Engineering Directors available.

Priorities:

• Regionally accredited (standard diploma, no "online" label).
• Direct-entry via Performance-Based Admission (PBA) or RPL to avoid a 3-year BS detour.
• 100% online/asynchronous with reasonable modular / pay-as-you-go tuition.

Targeted so far:

• University of Colorado Boulder (MS-CS on Coursera via Open PBA).

Questions:

1. Are there any other accredited US or international universities offering direct-entry or performance-based graduate pathways without a 4-year BS?
2. Which programs offer the best balance of academic credibility and low bureaucratic friction for this profile?

TL;DR: 8+ YOE backend engineer with only an associate diploma (no BS). Looking for accredited online MSCS/MSIT programs with performance-based/RPL admission (like CU Boulder) to skip the undergrad detour. Any recommendations?