<p>Hi everyone. I was wondering what you think my chances are of getting into Stanford grad school for computer sciences? </p>
<p>I graduated from Hofstra University as an undergrad in 2009 with a Bachelors of Business Administration. Stanford states students aren't required to have undergrad degrees in C.S. as a requirement for the program.</p>
<p>Overall GPA of 3.77, graduated cum laude.</p>
<p>I applied and then served as lab assistant to the biology department for all experiments and graduate student studies, for every semester. (found biology interesting)</p>
<p>I was then accepted as research assistant to a grad student working on her
masters biology thesis. While continuing to work as a lab assistant.</p>
<p>I was a member of the deans list every semester of my collegiate career-3.4 GPA or
higher required per semester.</p>
<p>I then made the Provosts list 1 semester for finishing with a perfect 4.0 GPA</p>
<p>I was invited and joined the Golden Key International Honor Society-
(World's largest collegiate honor society. Membership and invitation restricted to top 15% of class.)</p>
<p>I was then invited and joined Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society (International honor society of accredited AACSB business programs. Invitation to only top 10% of
business class.)</p>
<p>I also joined as a member to Delta Mu Delta National Business Honor Society - (which restricts invitation to only top 20% of class.)</p>
<p>I was also a member of 2 clubs and intramural sports, not in a leader position but participated in some community service and fund raising programs.</p>
<p>I have not taken the GRE's yet so I cannot provide you with a score. Though I plan to study quite a lot for them.</p>
<p>Overall, that's what I have, appreciate any feedback. Let me know what you think.</p>
<p>I think your chances are low, because you don’t sound like a great applicant. You listed a bunch of awards that probably won’t be seen as relevant. Your intramural sports and community service are also irrelevant to the application.</p>
<p>Here are some questions whose answers might help us understand why you want to go Stanford for grad school in CS:</p>
<p>What interests you about computer science?
How skilled are you at computer science?
Which do you prefer: practical programming type work or theoretical study of turing machines?
Have you taken college courses in computer science, despite not majoring in it?
Are you applying for masters or PhD?
What excites you about Stanford’s program in particular?</p>
<p>AS Slorg said, very little of that stuff will matter to Stanford. They will care about the lab assistantship mildly, but it’s not even in computer science - it’s in biology, which unless you were doing some computational biology stuff will likely not give you any skills you need to succeed in a graduate CS program. Grad schools don’t really care about honor societies aside from Phi Beta Kappa and MAYBE the honor society in the field to whoch you’re applying (a business honor society wouldn’t matter to a comp sci program).</p>
<p>Usually when programs say you don’t have to have an undergraduate degree in computer science - they mean it, but the caveat is that they usually will have expected students to have the equivalent of a major in number of credits or at least a very closely related major. Like a philosophy major who also has 32 hours in computer science may be competitive for the program. Or a computer enginnering student - or even an electrical or mechanical engineering student - may be competitive. Perhaps a physics student with significant coursework in computer science and a research internship.</p>
<p>Your degree is in busines, have you taken any computer science classes? If you haven’t taken at least 20 hours in computer science your chances are probably close to nil. (And for Stanford, you’d probably need more.) How about math classes? How many math classes have you taken? You’d have to have a strong quantitative background. Have you done any computer science-related research? What are your comp sci research interests? A lot of it is not just about your credentials; it’s about your fit with the program, too.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, business degrees are not looked upon kindly by the rest of academia. It is considered a pre-professional, not an academic, degree. That said, you CAN strengthen your application by taking (if you haven’t already) math through calculus II and differential equations and computer science (not IT) courses than include advanced programming, databases, operating systems, etc. You may have to do a post-bac program or non-degree year, either at Hofstra or another institution. </p>
<p>You don’t mention having taken computer science classes. If you haven’t, do you really know whether this field is for you? Computer science is usually quite different from what most people think. It is not IT, although IT might be something you want to consider.</p>
<p>Given your research in biology, you might want to slant your application toward the bioinformatics subfield of CS (I don’t know if Stanford is strong in this, though); your research will be then see as a plus, as long as your CS credentials are solid. And definitely track down a research opportunity in CS as you work toward strengthening your application.</p>
<p>Even if you do all of the above and get a 4.0, your chances at the Stanford PhD CS program are slim, only because everyone’s chances are. Don’t get your heart set on one program – find others that fit your interests.</p>
<p>I would be applying for the master’s program not Phd. For CS I am drawn to human computer interaction, and database systems specifically pertaining to data mining. I like momwaitingfor new comment on bioinformatics subfield as I have relevant experience in the issue. I am self taught in some areas of CS and have learned from parents who are CS majors and in database systems, id say I am mildly skilled in some areas from this.</p>
<p>Computer sciences class wise I have taken
CSC 05 -Computer Science Overview
BCIS 014 - CPU concepts/software in business
MGT 114- Management computer systems</p>
<p>Math Wise
Accounting- 101,110
Finance - 101 Intro to finance
Finance - 110 Fundamentals of corp. finance
QM 1 _ Intro to business statistics
QM 122 - Intermediate Business Statistics</p>
<p>Unfortunately, based on those courses, you don’t have a chance at Stanford or even most other computer science programs. You need higher level math and computer science courses to prepare for those. The courses you listed are mostly for users.</p>
<p>You may have a mistaken idea about what computer science is; computer scientists, even those with “just” a master’s, research and develop new techniques instead of using existing tools. This requires not just programming skills in several languages but also a deep understanding of how computers work and can be manipulated. Most of the students you will be competing against, even those who didn’t major in CS, will have taken college level physics, several math courses beyond introductory calculus, and several computer science courses beyond the introductory courses.</p>
<p>The worst that can happen is he spends hundreds of dollars on applications, opportunity cost of applying and writing SoPs, etc., towards something that he has 0% shot of at the moment.</p>
<p>He’s applying to a Masters in CS without a single programming class and no calculus.</p>
<p>I would really take heed to the advice given here and I would really talk to professors at your uni in your field of interest. </p>
<p>You’re in a hard place. Maybe contact the school and see what are the types of classes needed to be a competitive applicant. Take thoe courses through your local community, or state college, hell, even extension programs (they are typically cheaper).</p>
<p>Example:
DS. CMU, '06, Dual BS in ME and HCI. 3.79gpa. 3 years gofer to engineering prof. Project/tasks orientated guy. No specialized computer science skills or cs classes taken. Self taught programming from the ‘help’ key, and don’t ask him to do anything too complicated in programming-others can do it faster and better. Declined to Stanford, perhaps his SOP not in line to Stanford’s. Now works in CS-robotics. </p>
<p>Accepted to Toronto CS-HCI, master’s program, on full scholarship and fellowship. Research thesis on I/O device. Has never, ever. taken a programming class or cs class other than his one in bioinformatics at Toronto. </p>
<p>His Toronto’s HCI, roommate, (CS Berkeley), did a thesis on database for bioinfo. </p>
<p>GL. Cast a wide net. Is your interests inline with principles?</p>
<p>OP was very specific about applying to Stanford so it seemed like OP was only considering that school at the moment. I guess that comes out to roughly GRE: $160, app. fee: $90, transcripts: $50(?), and stamps/misc. Total ~$300? Damn, that is a lot. Good thing the GRE is good for a couple of years.</p>
<p>I think you need to research what exactly computer science entails. As others have stated, you are woefully lacking on mathematical and computer fundamentals to be considered for an elite grad school…or almost any grad school for computer science. </p>
<p>Computer Science is hard stuff. Not something you can easily jump into.</p>
<p>I had to take Computer Science Programming in C as my base CS class for my major (statistics) and it nearly kicked my butt. Writing and designing code is tough stuff. If you don’t have a mathematics background it makes it all the more difficult. Learning loops, arrays, strings, etc.</p>
<p>FWIW, your math background isn’t up to par for even basic computer science classes. You need at least 5 to 7 undergrad math classes (calc 1,2,3, Discrete, Linear & Matrix Algebra, Differential Equations,etc) just to get up to speed for a BS in Computer Science, let alone a PhD or Masters. A computer science degree is a highly quantitative based degree.</p>
<p>The OP may be confusing IT (Information Technology) or IS (Information Systems) with computer science. IT and IS are both more oriented toward business applications and require less rigorous preparation in math and true computer science courses.</p>
<p>Also as a person with a little experience in the HCI field, I can definitely say that advanced calc, linear algebra, and superior programming skills are not required (although they wouldn’t hurt!). I’m not sure this helps OP’s case very much, however; I’m pretty sure that some CS knowledge beyond an overview would be necessary. Best thing to do, though, if you want to be sure, would be to talk to the Stanford HCI profs.</p>
<p>While I’m sure advanced calc, linear algebra and other upper level mathematics knowledge are not typically used in a professional/industry setting for Computer Science, we are talking about pursuing a MS in the subject. Those are prerequisites for obtaining a degree in a quantitative subject, like computer science. </p>
<p>I can’t see a highly competitive school like Stanford waiving those requirements, unless the OP could prove through testing/knowledge that they have those skill sets without ever having completed a class in those subjects. I’m guessing based on his post that he has not obtained those skill levels.</p>
<p>I don’t think that you really need much math or cs experience. My previous comments were an illustration of DS experience-High qualifications does not guarantee anyone an invitation. DS garnered his acceptance, not because of his grades, BS-HCI, college, but because the PI wanted something different than the typical CS student-PI was looking for a Mechanical Engineer. </p>
<p>At CMU, HCI is available only as a second major, with allocated admissions by schools. The College of Fine Arts has a greater share of slots relative to its enrollment when compared to the CS, Science, Engineering colleges. I would guess, and you would need to confirm, that Stanford undergrad HCI has more artsy-communication requirements than cs or math requirements.</p>
<p>But as a mechanical engineer, your son must have had advanced calculus and physics. The OP is a business major and must prove that he has the skills to succeed. I like that he has identified HCI or data mining as two possible subfields (I take back my earlier comments about IT because I missed this before) but he has nothing on his record that shows he knows what they entail. All the programs have to go on is the application.</p>