<p>I'm currently a rising senior in Computer Science Studying at Virginia Tech. I'm an international student so I apologize if my questions seems inane or silly.
Currently ,
I'm an Honors Student , Have achieved Dean's list with distinction all my semesters here , CGPA is a 3.7 (right now).
I was part of a 5 member research/software development team funded by the NSF.
I am co author of a publication for the same research in a renowned bioinformatics journal.
Will be working at NetApp or Intel this summer as a software intern.
Have been a Teaching assistant for a junior level computer science course. </p>
<p>I have a few other extra curricular activities but they are not related to my major.</p>
<p>I made my share of mistakes when applying to college here in States and maybe did not end up with a college better than Tech, so I want to be clear about what my chances are in graduate schools and which ones I should apply too.</p>
<p>Any advice would be helpful.
Thank you.</p>
<p>It’s pretty hard to say what someone’s chances are for admission, but given what you’ve listed I can’t see any reason why you should have trouble getting into a good CS program. You’ve got research and software development experience, a good GPA and a publication. If you can get some good rec letters and high test scores that will help a lot too. It may also be helpful that you went to school in the US, that may give you a slight edge on international students who did not come to the US for undergrad. Your extracurriculars probably won’t matter much, unless they show academic leadership potential.</p>
<p>Grad school admission is competitive, especially in computer science, and especially for international students. Schools like MIT, Stanford, etc are a reach for almost everyone given how low their acceptance rates are, but there are many good computer science schools. I would suggest finding some professors you’re interested in working with and crafting a personal statement that makes it clear how you hope to contribute to their research.</p>
<p>Are you considering only CS programs? If you enjoyed the work you did for your bioinformatics project you might consider looking into computational biology or bioinformatics programs as well. It is a rapidly expanding field with good funding opportunities and a smaller applicant pool than CS. Admissions is still pretty competitive for many programs in bioinformatics, but the acceptance rates may not be as shockingly low as they are for CS.</p>