<p>Hey every1!!
Im currently a junior majoring in computer science and attending a small liberal arts college in s.carolina. I have decided to attend grad school to do an ms in computer science as well. During my search for grad schools i have become interested in a number of schools. However due to the fact that i attend a small liberal arts college i am not sure how good my chances are at these schools. here is a snap shot of my stats:</p>
<p>currently 3.8/4.0 gpa
1310 gre (740 m/570v)
landed an internship for the summer at computer firm
involved in many organizations/ president/vice president of 2</p>
<p>schools considering:
boston university
carnegie mellon
univ-wisconsin-madison
cornell</p>
<p>Does any have any thoughts as 2 how good my chances are getting in with aid? i appreciate any feedback given.thanku!!</p>
<p>that fact that u attend a small school is not going to impact your admissions. the most important factors are letters of recc, statement of purpose, academic record, internships or relevent work experience, and test scores. Extracurriculars aren't really going ot matter either unless they are relevent to your field and even more so if you have a leadership position in one of them...also consider things like independent research, publications, and student memberships to professional, non-university specific organizations. for example, I don't know if there is such thing as a computer science society of america or something like that, but if there is, you may want to put that down on your app or in your CV as part of one your professional organizations....</p>
<p>of course, you don't have to do all of this, but at the very least, have good letters of recc, an excellent statement of purpose, and decent grades, and you should be fine. also consider getting into contact with faculty from the schools you are interested in and arrange campus visits so they can put a face to the applicant.</p>
<p>Although I don`t know your field too well, you seem to be in good shape from what I can tell. Stellar GPA, fairly good GRE scores and a sensible list of potential schools. I would say the outlook is good for you, my friend.</p>
<p>what are you research experiences like? have you accomplished any publications? also, do you feel your professors will write you strong letters of recommendation?</p>
<p>CS is tough. This may seem excessive, but if you really do want CMU(which is pretty much #1, from what I know), then you might just want to redo math on GRE. I'm 95% sure that 740 math won't hurt you, but I do remember a professor at Berkeley mentioning something like a 750 cutoff for the point where they ignore GRE score. A GPA boost probably won't do much more, but it can't hurt. It's true though, that your letters of rec will matter very much more , so if at all possible, try to establish your letter writers ASAP and get close to them over the summer and early next semester. Also research would be a solid plus if you can get some done over the summer or even early next semester depending on when application deadlines are. </p>
<p>I can't say with any certainty, but CS seems to be tough given the Fall 2007 admissions post on this board. I'll let someone else make the final assesment, but you have time to fine tune many things, so I would say go for it if you really want to have all the options available to you come next spring.</p>
<p>740 quant is definitely low, especially for the schools you are considering. Looking at your profile that is the one thing that really stands out, since the rest is looking pretty good. (especially your GPA)</p>
<p>Any research experience at all? Do your recommenders have anything to say about you other than 'this person did well in my class'?</p>
<p>first of all thank 2 all u guys for ur post. </p>
<p>merper68,
as far as the gre is conscerned, i definetely plan on taking it again over the summer to raise my quantitative score( i didnt really spend much time preparing for it the first time around so im fairly confident ill do better next time)
nauru,
my college doesnt really provide much research xperience so i never had the opportunity before but thankfully this summer i got accepted into an internship program in software development and networking. it works out perfectly as i plan on concentrating on networking in grad school.
as far as LOR's i was thinking since i would be doing an internship for the summer i figured getting one from the advisor that i would be working with would be great. my professors know me pretty well so i believe LOR from them should be very good.
so since carnegie mellon might be a reach what other schools would any1 recommend??</p>
<p>Just wanted to say this information has been helpful for me too, as I'm looking into grad schools. Besides all the obvious info, I think the point AppleLinguist made about visiting is very good...I'm definitely going to take that advice.</p>
<p>Unlike others, UW-Madison CS considers MS and PhD applicants as a single pool. In other words, your profile must be competitive enough for the PhD programs at most top-10 departments to get into UW MS program. In your case, you need solid research experience to be competitive. The upside is once you get in, you will almost definitely get funded and can switch to the PhD track w/o re-application. </p>
<p>Tips: Push your numbers as high as possible - I was told they actually curved the "cutoff" points. The typical admission rate is ~8-14%.</p>
<p>If your intent is pursue a terminal degree in CS, may I suggest that school at Palo Alto?</p>
<p>CMU doesn't have your typical MS in CS. They have a whole family of masters programs, of various admission difficulty. The MSE program is probably the most well-regarded (but not the hardest to get in!). The masters programs @ CMU are mostly revenue generator so finaid is minimal. </p>
<p>Last post (I promise). Since you include BU, I will say also consider Harvard. Your stat matches them pretty well. They are among the best programs for computation theory. You will be fully funded if you can get in. But Harvard being Harvard, you never figure out how they pick people. Admission rate ~12%. :)</p>
<p>Cornell doesn't provide aid for it's M.Eng. students I was able to get in with a 740Q, 640V and 5.5 AWA w/ a 3.5 GPA. However, I did undergraduate research and was a teacher's assistant for an upper division CS course. I also have about 1.5 yrs of full-time work exp. I would imagine you'd have a decent shot at Cornell and BU. </p>
<p>I think it also matters what program you apply for at CMU. I think the MSIT program is not as competitive as some of it's other graduate programs.</p>