Graduate School Suggestions Needed; Specifics Inside

Graduate School
1

Hey everyone,

I’m an international student who plans to apply for the Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship to enroll in a Master’s program in Computer Science in a grad school in the US. I’m here to ask for suggestions as to which grad schools to consider for my studies, as I have too many options in mind and am in dire need for suggestions in this aspect. I’ll try to be as specific so please bear with me.

Academics: I’d like to get a Master’s degree in Computer Science and as of the moment, I have no specific specialization fields in mind. I currently am a second-year student of a three-year B.Sc. program in CS, which has exposed me to most subfields. I’d like to attend a school starting in Fall 2016 which would provide me a solid foundation at first and flexibility course-wise. I’d also like to take a few additional courses in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, (Project) Management or the like – if at all possible.

University preferences: As portion of my application for the Fulbright program, I’m entitled to propose up to three school choices; I’d suggest an Ivy League university (I am an optimist, I know) and two good schools with (much) higher admission chances.

Location: Flexible on this one, but I would strongly prefer California due to several reasons: the Silicon Valley, i.e. career opportunities; the lifestyle and hey – the weather! But once again, flexible.

Other preferences: I would strongly prefer small classes with approachable faculty; I’d love to do an internship, either as part of the curriculum or not; I prefer two-year programs; and I kinda pay attention to university rankings, but this will most definitely not be the ultimate decision factor.

Here’s some key facts about me: I’m currently attending a university in Europe which is not that established, but which has prepared me well in the academic sense. I have a really good GPA so far (9.80 out of 10.0), have little to moderate professional experience and a strong extracurricular/leadership background. I am fluent enough in English to undertake rigorous academic work (I scored 110/120 in the iBT TOEFL a few years ago). As it is the Fulbright program I’m considering, the tuition fees of the school are not that important at the moment, but I’ve been told that the selection panel does pay attention to finances as well.

I cannot thank you enough for your support and thoughtfulness. Any suggestion whatsoever will be greatly appreciated. I am more than willing to answer any questions I have not addressed thus far. I am going through a very tough period which will eventually shape my entire future, therefore I am extremely grateful for your time!

2

You are aware that the Ivy League members are all on the East Coast though, right? For MSCS I don’t think it is very relevant if the grad school is in the Ivy League or not, that is more of an overall undergraduate prestige in general and does not necessarily correspond to prestige in CS here although many of them do have very good programs.

Are you going to be considering a PhD after this or are you more interested in Industry or still undecided?

Do you have research experience?

Did you take the GRE yet?

3

BrownParent, thank you very much for your response and time.

I am aware that the Ivy Leagues are all on the East Coast; as I stated previously, I’m flexible in terms of location and if I do get into an Ivy League, I wouldn’t really care about the location. I only think that Ivy Leagues would pay off in the long term because of their reputation here at home, as opposed to some other universities which might offer good programs but are not as recognizable. But, I’m most definitely open-minded and would consider just about any good school that offers a decent program. I don’t want to create any impression that I’m only after the Ivy Leagues; in the very contrary, I’m after good schools with good programs. Period.

I am still undecided as to whether I would consider a PhD thereafter, although as of now I’m leaning towards a firm yes. But nonetheless, as of now, I would like to enter a program which would prepare me well to work in the industry for a while and would also give me the flexibility to opt for a PhD at some later point. Besides, the scholarship program I’m going to apply for–i.e. Fulbright–will only fund a Master’s degree.

I sadly have no research experience, primarily because the institution I currently study is definitely not established in research, but only in education. I understand that this will be a major drawback on my application to any school, particularly the Ivy Leagues (if I decide to go for any). On the other hand, I’m positive that very few (if any) of the other local applicants for the Fulbright scholarship will have research experience; therefore, this will not be a huge minus on my application which is to be reviewed by the local panel. That’s just how the university system is set up here in Kosovo, where I currently live and study.

I have not taken the GRE yet. The Fulbright program will facilitate the test for me, should I be shortlisted. I, however, checked out some sample GRE tests online and according to my self-assessment, I was pretty okay on the quantitative section and decent enough on the two others. For what it’s worth–and I know that drawing parallels between these two tests is incorrect, but still–I did take the SAT a few years ago and scored pretty high (about 91% correct; forgot the exact points) with little prior study. I also expect to perform somewhat well on the other two sections.

Thank you very much, once again, for your effort. It is greatly appreciated!