Computer Science PhD Programs

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello. I would like to know what are the best PhD programs for computer science, and what are the necessary qualifications to get there. I'm a recent high school graduate who is going to a university (Cal Poly SLO) in the fall as a computer science major, and even though I have quite a while before I start taking graduate-level classes, I would like to know what I'll need to do in order to be accepted to a top graduate school for computer science. I have held an interest in computer science for a long time, and I would like to obtain the best education possible.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>According to the NRC, the top 10 are </p>

<ol>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Carnegie Mellon</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Texas (Austin)</li>
<li>Illinois</li>
<li>Washington</li>
<li>Wisconsin</li>
</ol>

<p><a href="http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/pdf/nrc_rankings_1995.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.grad.berkeley.edu/publications/pdf/nrc_rankings_1995.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

3

<p>Here are the top 25 CS programs from US News:
1. Carnegie Mellon University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California – Berkeley
5. University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
6. Cornell University
7. University of Texas – Austin, University of Washington
9. Princeton University
10. California Institute of Technology, University of Wisconsin – Madison
12. Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Maryland – College Park
14. Brown University, University of California – Los Angeles, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
17. Rice University, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, University of Pennsylvania
20. Columbia University, Duke University, Harvard University, Purdue University – West Lafayette, University of California – San Diego
25. University of Massachusetts – Amherst, Yale University</p>

<p>Top PhD programs are looking for high GPAs, good research experience, and letters of recommendation. The other factors (personal statement and GRE scores) are less important.</p>

4

<p>I would recommend you actually know what you're getting yourself into and have a bit more experience with CS research before you think about Graduate School. But anyway: <a href="http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/%7Eharchol/gradschooltalk.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/gradschooltalk.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>I recommend Cambridge University, UK. It has an excellent research program. Microsoft Research is based in Cambridge. Furthermore, Cambridge and MIT have an exchange program.</p>