Masters in CS at Stanford with Math/Econ UG (Chances)

Graduate School
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<p>I'm considering a masters in CS to facilitate a career change and would love the advice of internet strangers on whether I have any shot whatsoever at the best. Thanks in advance, sage strangers. </p>

<p>Some background in bullet form:</p>

<ul>
<li>Math/Econ UG from liberal arts college (top "regional" univ according to USNews for whatever that's worth. probably not much). Graduated WAYYY back in 2005.</li>
<li>3.0 GPA :( last 2 yrs much better than first 2.</li>
<li>Lots of graduate math classes (reason below) from state univ: 3.6 GPA. classes include: Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Partial DEs, phd MicroEcon, Math Statistics</li>
<li>GRE 800Q / 630V (old version back in '05). Hoping for 170Q / 170V on new one (who isn't)</li>
<li>various Coursera, Udacity, and Codecademy courses in CS</li>
</ul>

<p>And now in thought blurbs:</p>

<p>The year was 2005...</p>

<p>What do I do with my life, I'm graduating and I have student debt??<br>
How can I possibly delay real life for a bit, keep sleeping in every day and retain the option of becoming a professor and henceforth Dr. Cranelake forever?
Grad school!
I'll take all tough math classes and keep improving my profile after my UG school didn't get the Squander-Your-First-2-Years-of-College-C'mon-It's-Funny prank I played.</p>

<p>a little after that...</p>

<p>Man, all my friends are making good money. I'd sure like to make some too. I know! I'll quit this poor man's grad school game and become an actuary. Math tests to get paid? Sign me up.</p>

<p>and then a few years later...</p>

<p>Man, the Social Network was a great movie, didn't even think Aaron Sorkin was too Sorkiny. Why don't I look into this "coding" thing.</p>

<p>I started the tutorials on Codecademy and as if I'd seen the light after not attempting a CS course since my first semester--a combination of a bad professor, 8:30 start time, and the aforementioned Squander prank led quite naturally to a boycott of the field--I took more courses on Udacity and Coursera in CS, went through an Objective-C book and am currently reading an Algorithms textbook.<br>
This stuff is great, why didn't I start studying it years ago?</p>

<p>and finally...</p>

<p>After working for 6 years on actuarial and product teams for a couple insurance companies, I'm ready to switch things up and pursue something that actually excites me (apologies to all insurance aficionados). </p>

<p>Less relevant humblebrag: I've become the resident VBA guy on my team at work.</p>

<p>I realize I have an unorthodox background for a CS masters applicant and that Stanford is almost assuredly a no-go, but I read something that said they admit 18% of their masters applicants so I thought I'd solicit your opinions.</p>

<p>I'm also, probably more realistically, considering Univ of Chicago's masters (I live in Chi and can go part time).</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this thread that I'm just realizing is far too long. Any thoughts are appreciated.</p>

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<p>While you wait to see if anyone comes along who had insight, be sure to use SEARCH to find the past threads that pose this question for Stanford, then for other Masters programs. There is useful reading/opinion.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t be overoptimistic based on the accept rate. I think many of the applicants are highly qualified, though they are getting a lot of students jumping on cs bandwagon no doubt. I don’t think the free online courses are going to carry any weight, though they might be helpful to you. It doesn’t look like you have taken any foundational CS prereq’s like data structures, architecture, operating systems, discrete math. Oh you did say you had intro to computing. The most helpful is your math/analytical background. </p>

<p>The Chicago program sounds more likely, isn’t that specifically for non-majors? Honestly I don’t know how well that program is viewed in industry. Also IIT offers a degree for non-majors. And DePaul, there is a good thread on an unlikely board of one guy’s journey through to starting the DePaul program and it is pretty interesting reading if I can dig that up…
[Masters</a> In Comp Sci With No Prior Experience - Programming – Two Plus Two Poker Forums](<a href=“http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/191/programming/masters-comp-sci-no-prior-experience-1156398/]Masters”>Masters In Comp Sci With No Prior Experience - Computer Technical Help - Software and Hardware Forum)</p>

<p>Here is one guy’s take on Stanford admissions, an interesting read. I think he is just entering Berkeley in MEng, though, he didn’t make it in.
[Geek</a> on a Bicycle (Blog): How To Get Into Stanford & Other Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://www.geekonabicycle.co.uk/blog/1029/]Geek”>Geek on a Bicycle (Blog): How To Get Into Stanford & Other Graduate Schools)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the response. I do agree that the combination of the bad GPA and no real CS coursework will be hard to overcome. </p>

<p>You’re right, the Chicago program is for majors and non-majors. But like you said, I’m not sure how well the program is viewed.</p>

<p>I was already considering taking a non-degree course at DePaul to get my feet wet (more than is possible with the MOOCs), but after reading the Geek on a Bicycle blog it could be a good idea to take an NDO Stanford class online. Disregarding the exorbitant price of course.</p>

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<p>LOL you are projecting a 170Q / 170V on GRE? Dude just get 165+ /165+ and you are good. Any higher does not really benefit you much since school then looks at experience and other factors.</p>

5

<p>Your GPA is too low. It won’t meet the cutoff and nothing else can make up for it. Sad but true.</p>

<p>Also an 800 on the old test does not translate to a 170 on the new. The new test is harder to get a perfect score. On the old test, 8% got an 800 on the quant. On the new test, less than 2% get 170s.</p>

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<p>I thought the same thing about the GPA cutoff, but I read somewhere that your application only gets automatically screened out if GPA AND GRE are below the cutoffs. If this is the case, there’s hope that the upward grade trend (3.8 final year and a half; 3.6 graduate math) would be a mitigating factor.</p>

<p>I also emailed with someone at Stanford who confirmed that doing well in their CS classes as an NDO student does make you a more competitive applicant for MSCS admissions. So I’ll most likely be enrolling in CS157 (Logic and Automated Reasoning) this quarter. </p>

<p>I knew about the revised GRE quant percentiles; my “projection” of 170s was actually not a projection at all. Just hoping that putting the desire for a perfect score on a public forum means the universe will have to oblige. (Side note: I have gotten 170 quant on the 2 practice tests I’ve taken.)</p>

<p>Thanks for everyone’s input so far.</p>

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<p>I recently got admitted to their MSCS program.</p>

<p>The high acceptance rate is mainly due to the co-op program (working at a company and taking the degree part-time), which apparently is a lot easier to get into.</p>

<p>Your 3.0 GPA will definitely hurt you, but I think your grad math classes are impressive, and if you do well on the GRE and take some SCPD classes you may have a shot. Give it a try.</p>

<p>Ideally you would do some kind of research and make connections with people in the field. Recommendations from well-known professors are something that can get you into the program regardless of your GPA.</p>