Chances of acceptance for MS Comp. Sci. at top schools?

Graduate School
1

<p>I would appreciate frank feedback on my chances of being accepted into Master of Computer Science program in the following universities that I am thinking of applying to:
1) Stanford
2) CMU
3) University of Southern California
4) University of Pennsylvania</p>

<p>Here are my background (it is quite lengthly so please bear with me):</p>

<p>I am from Singapore and did my undergraduate degree in Computer Science locally in Singapore under a government scholarship. I did well enough in my first year to be placed on the Dean's list, but in subsequent years due to laziness my grades slipped quite badly, averaging just B. At that time the university's system was patterned after the British system which did not use GPA, and the end of 4 years I graduated only a 2nd Lower Class Honours.</p>

<p>After graduation, I have to serve the scholarship bond and fortunately enough, I was accepted to join one of top government R&D institute in Singapore, working in a department focusing on Artificial Intelligence. In the first three to four years, I was a member of a research team and was the co-author of a few publications in top conferences (the main author is my project leader, who is a very good researcher and mentor). In the subsequent years, my role switched to largely application development and project management. I was fortunate to have good superiors and given many opportunities to excel.</p>

<p>Now I am into my ninth year of work with the company and have applied for a company scholarship to pursue a Master degree in US, and I have been awarded the scholarship. I have chosen to study Master as I am always keen to improve my technical depth, which I am finding increasingly difficult in recent years due to management responsibilities. I did not consider Phd because I do not think I have the motivation to complete one.</p>

<p>For preparation for application to the graduate schools, I have taken the GRE and my scores are Verbal: 580, Quantitative: 780, Analytical Writing: not known yet, but should be around 5.0. As I have left school for many years and was not close to any professor during my undergraduate days, I am asking for letter of recommendations from my first project leader, who is now an associate professor in university and is relatively well-known in his area of research, from one of my ex-superior at work and from my current superior. The latter two are both Phd holders and are head of departments.</p>

<p>Thanks for any feedback!</p>

2

<p>I usually don't respond to people asking for an assessment of their chances, but I think that you have a pretty good shot. (Bear in mind, I've never applied to a stand-alone Master's program, so I'm probably not the most qualified to make this assessment.)</p>

<p>1.) You have a lot of work experience in research
2.) You have published several papers in top-notch conferences
3.) Your letters of recommendation will come from strong sources that demonstrate your potential for research
4.) Your GRE scores are quite good for people applying to Computer Science Master's programs, especially because you're not from the US (your verbal score isn't too low).</p>

<p>Think about your competition ... students who are seniors in college applying to master's programs. How many of them have your extensive research work and publication experience? I doubt many do (the ones who do are applying to Ph.D. programs, not Master's programs). Just write a strong statement of purpose and highlight your accomplishments and tell why you want to pursue a Master's, and you should have a good shot at all of your choices.</p>

<p>Perhaps apply to one or two more schools that are lower-ranked, just as 'safety schools', to round out your list at 6 schools total.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

3

<p>To above poster:
I think upenn is suffice as safeties because their MSE program acceptance rate is pretty big.</p>

4

<p>Since we are on this topic, can someone post the rankings for the computer science programs?</p>

5

<p>You'll find that ranking in the thread titled, "US News and World Report Offline edition?"</p>