<p>Hello. I am a second year computer science student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I am wondering what stats are needed in order to have a decent chance at the top computer science schools (such as Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, etc.)</p>
<p>Here is what I believe my stats will be in my senior year:
GPA: 3.6 to 3.7
Research Experience: REU in Summer 2006 at UC Santa Cruz, working in the field of storage systems. My research went very well.
I plan on doing two more REUs in the next two summers.
Research interests: computer science systems research (operating systems, file systems, compilers, networks, virtualization, etc.)</p>
<p>What can I do to improve my chances? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I'm not a Compsci expert, but I'm guessing you can improve your chances by getting 800 on the Quant GRE, doing as much research as possible and getting great LOR's. Also, I get the feeling that in many science programs, if your research interests dont really mesh with those of the department your applying to, they may reject you. So look for places with faculty who have the saem research interests as you, or at worst just claim that your research interests are (what are the odds!?) the same as Dr. Compsi at Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Stanford ect.</p>
<p>I just applied to CS schools last fall, and so far I've been accepted to: MIT, CMU, Stanford, Harvard, U of Washington, UCSB, and Princeton. Berkeley rejected me and I haven't heard from UCLA.</p>
<p>To give you an idea of what I think got me into grad school:
Extensive research experience at my college and at UMASS Amherst and Princeton. Two posters at conferences (nothing too fancy). Great letters from profs (including in the math dept). And a good to the point statement of objective. I believe those are the most important things. Test scores are somewhat important but they are not going to make or break a deal. My GPA was 3.86/4.00. I also think what helped me that I graduated a semester early and got a research job. That must have convinced schools that I really want to do research.</p>
<p>So, I think if you keep up good grades and do as much independent work as you can, you have fair chances. don't forget tho that some of these schools admit 50 people a year... out of the whole world....</p>
<p>yeah those three + CMU are the top schools. when i applied to harvard i was considering it a safety school. it is definitely not as highly ranked as the others, but it hasa good program and good location. i would say that it would be easier to get in there than the top 5 schools.</p>
<p>princeton is a bit harder for me to judge, because i had an internship there and now i have a job there, so my application probably wasn't as heavily scrutinized as others'. but princeton has a top department and since it is on the small side, i'd think competition is pretty big</p>