<ul>
<li>International student.</li>
<li>2 years in community college, then transfer to university that is not in top 100.</li>
<li>I'm graduating in Spring 2014 as BS in Computer Science.</li>
<li>My current GPA is perfect (4.0) so far.</li>
<li>Unfortunately, I do not have any research experience yet, due the fact that I transferred from the community college and rushed through university to save some money.</li>
<li>On the other hand, I'm relatively old (32 years) and have 10 year of prior experience in various fields related to computers (IT support, system builder, system administrator, etc)</li>
<li>I also plan to take research class during the spring, but I doubt that it will make any difference for the universities, since I'm applying for grad school right now.</li>
<li>I'll probably get good recommendations from my professors, since my gpa is good.</li>
</ul>
<p>Today, I took GRE and got a very low score (Q156 V152-153).
I could have done better if I was not stressed out about the exam for several days. I couldn't get enough sleep too...</p>
<p>I am applying to UT Austin, Rice, UTD, TAMU and my current university.
I'm also considering some University of Houston and California Universities (like UCI, UCSD, Caltech), but I'm highly doubtful regarding California universities, because of my GRE.</p>
<p>My question is what are my chances? Particularly for my primary choice UT Austin and California universities.</p>
<p>I would appreciate any thoughts regarding my situation.</p>
<p>What type of program are you applying for - master’s or PhD?
Your GRE scores are OK, but probably not great for top schools. However, that’s not necessarily what will hurt your chances the most. If you want to go for a research degree with NO research experience, you will not get in. I can almost guarantee that. With no evidence of what type of skills and commitment you have to research, or that you know what you’re getting into, they would be understandably reluctant to admit you when there are many applicants with years of experience.</p>
<p>If you are simply looking for master’s in CS, then your lack of research experience is less of a problem, and the GRE is of greater concern.</p>
<p>I know that a lack of research is a concern, but I simply didn’t have opportunity to do anything.
Still, I have some non-school based research (setting up environment, testing multiple conditions, drawing conclusions), but we never materialized anything on the paper, since it was basically real-world testing. I plan writing about my experience in SOP, but I’m not sure if it help me in any way.</p>
<p>If some of your past work experience was research-related and you can articulate that in a statement of purpose, then you stand better chances at mid-tier programs, but not at the top-ranked ones. (IF it was actual research - like in an R&D department or actual research projects - then it doesn’t matter that it wasn’t school-related; it’s still research. If you do have this, then you stand a better chance even at the top programs if it’s at least 2-3 years of it.)</p>
<p>However, nano is right in that PhD programs do not typically admit students with zero formal research experience of some type. The reason being is…how do you even know you want to do a PhD if you don’t have any research experience? You don’t have any experience in what you will be doing for the next 5 years and the rest of your career. They want students who know what they are getting into, and they want students who are going to be useful around the lab because they are comfortable and familiar with that environment.</p>
<p>Not having the opportunity is not a valid reason - think about it like a job. Your goal now will be to go get some research experience, if you really want to do a PhD. Were I you, I would apply to a few targeted PhD programs (like the ones you really, really want to get into) but also some MS programs and see if you can do a funded MS. That will allow you to get some research experience.</p>
<p>If you can afford it, I would retake the GRE.</p>
<p>As I stated above, I will get some research experience in Spring (the course I’m taking have official title with word “research” inside), but I’m not sure if it will make any difference right now, at the time of my application…</p>
<p>Regarding my experience: it wasn’t 2 years in R&D department.
It was some sort of side job, an experiment, I would say, when we tested different designs for the specific website using traffic driven by advertisements. Basically it was the trial and error approach to figure out people’s preferences. Since, we needed a specific results, we gathered a lot of statistics, but again, it was an experiment of few amateurs, relatively speaking.</p>
<p>About retaking GRE - most decent universities close their admission at December 15, and I cannot take another exam for 21 days, so I won’t be able to provide scores on time.</p>
<p>I think you need to talk to your professors about what is realistic for you, you need a plan. Despite stellar gpa there are too many holes in the application. No research for a PhD is a nonstarter for top programs and maybe any program-- it is more important than your grades. One semester class wouldn’t be enough. Your LOR will be lacking because no one can discuss your research, or even if you have the skill set for research, it will all be DWIC and they already know you did well in class from the gpa. So even if you came from a strong program with a known professor it doesn’t help you at top programs, but that might help at lesser programs. So you should talk to the professors in your area of interest and see who they know. Then you have the smaller problem of a weaker GRE so they can’t just disregard it like they could with just average of accepted students </p>
<p>And your list has tippy top programs. And you are international so it is harder to get an admit at some. You didn’t say if your SOP will have a research interest aligned with these uni’s research groups. That’s an important factor. Will you be able to make a research proposal in your SOP?</p>
<p>Look at UW-Madison where MS and PhD students are admitted as a single pool. But since it is a single pool, they may expect research for the MS, it is very possible. But they will look at your work experience. They also fund the majority of students. But the admit rate is something like 5% and GRE is 85%+ in all sections. I think they had 1,200 applicants last year and they are a top program. Maybe there are more uni’s similar in admissions and funding.</p>
<p>If you try to get into a Masters program, don’t look at uni’s like UT-Austin where the Masters is terminal. Don’t look at CA schools where you won’t likely get funded. </p>