<p>I go to a state school that is top 20 for undergraduate engineering. I have a 3.87/4.0 overall GPA, and a 4.0 in major. For the past year I have been working in a research lab with a professor, and I have a few internships under my belt. I am going to do a senior thesis with the research that I have been doing, but I am not an author on any publications. My question is, what level of schools should I be applying to that are in my range (Assuming two good but not mindblowing recs from profs, and one from industry.)? Obviously the top 10 are crap-shoots for anyone, and I'll have some safeties. Right now, UCSD is my top choice, but I'm not sure if I am really at that level. Could someone with more knowledge on this please help?</p>
<p>What is your major? What research area are you applying for / interested in? You NEED publications for top PhD CS programs.</p>
<p>I am a computer science major, and I am interested in parallel algorithms/programming. This is the area that I have been doing research in. The lab I am working in has maybe 20 PhD students, many masters, and a few undergrads working on the same project, so it is very hard to get your name on a paper because you can’t exactly put 30 authors on a publication.</p>
<p>Ace6904, who’s ass did you pull that out of?</p>
<p>If you are currently working with a professor, the best person to ask these questions is that person. He will know what the top CS programs are in your field and have an idea of where you stand wrt other CS PhD hopefuls. Surely you are also taking other classes in the department with other professors; ask one or two others about this information.</p>
<p>CS is not my field, but I do know that one year of research isn’t a lot. You will be competing with CS MS holders and people who did research in industry or after college for a few years. I would say you need at least 2-3 years to be competitive. (But I wouldn’t think you need publications, since very few applicants to PhD programs have publications.)</p>
<p>You should get three academic references for a PhD program, unless the industry one is straight research comparable to what one would do in a university lab and the supervisor writing the application has a PhD as well.</p>