CS Masters at top 5

Graduate School
8

[quote=“PPofEngrDr, post:6, topic:2098117”]

  1. Do you mean CS department? Why Math/Stat department? His research involves with ECE (Electrical and Comp Eng) professors.
  2. I should have mentioned, he is pursuing Stat minor.
  3. tbh, I am not that much familiar and not sure with timeline he can achieve that. I thought publication is generally for PhD programs.

GRE Math test: Is that required by top 5 schools? I thought only GRE general. UIUC doesn’t even need GRE (I believe that one is in his pocket, but he wants to venture out another school). Something I have to figure out.

@PPofEngrDr:

Your S is so fortunate to have a parent like you!

  1. Based on my own experience, most top-tier graduate schools in EE/CS program prefer applicants with strong math backgrounds not to mention in the fields of AI/ML as "many of the newest algorithms, such as neural networks, random forests, and k-nearest neighbors, use STATISTICS not only to build a model but also to evaluate its accuracy." I believe your S knows the important roles of Math/Stat play in the field of AI/ML. If I were him, I'd have three LoRs: one from CS, one from ECE and one from Math/Stat.
  2. Good, he's CS w/ Stat minor as stat is the cornerstone of AI/ML. Not sure if he's required to take upper div/1st year G. courses in Inference Theory, Stochastic Process, Prob & Measure Theory, etc. As for Math requirements, he's OK if he's taken upper div. linear algebra and matrix theory, numberical analysis, numberical linear algebra, and maybe real analysis and abstract algebra.
  3. Some of the best minds I met at Berkeley/Stanford in 2000s had already done so either thru joint paper published and/or as a member of winning team in well-known international competitions.

GRE Math subj test is a way to prove if the applicant is well-equipped with advanced math. It’s generally not required but highly recommended. Some schools may have such requirements so please check his target schools for details.

Given the fact that your S has done pretty well at UIUC, plus the uncertainty of international application (especially from China), I think he has a good chance of landing top 10 CS programs and even Big 4 (Stanford, MIT, CMU, UCB).

Best of luck to him!