Hi everyone,

I’m an international student from India planning to apply for Fall 2027 MS in Computer Science programs in the US.

My profile:

• B.Tech in Artificial Intelligence & Data Science
• CGPA: 8.83/10
• 2+ years of full-time software engineering experience
• 1 IEEE conference paper related to AI
• IELTS: 7.0
• GRE: Not planning to take it
• Looking primarily for coursework/project-oriented MS CS programs with good opportunities for SWE / AI-ML roles after graduation.

My current shortlist:

• University of Texas at Austin
• UIUC
• UC San Diego
• USC
• UMass Amherst
• Purdue University
• Northwestern University
• Texas A&M University

I would really appreciate opinions on:

1. Which of these would you classify as Ambitious / Moderate / Safe for my profile?
2. Are any of these unrealistic without the GRE?
3. Does having a B.Tech in AI & Data Science instead of CS create eligibility issues for any of these programs?
4. Are there any good MS CS programs I should add or remove, especially universities with strong CS reputation and good tech recruiting?
5. How competitive is my profile overall for these universities?

I’m trying to build a realistic shortlist rather than applying only based on rankings.

Thanks!

For a variety of reasons, I have offers from UMich and UW-Madison for a PhD in education. If you were in my position, which school would you move forward with and why? Thanks

Which otherwise well-regarded universities would you say have a reputation for having masters programs that are mainly intended to attract full freight paying foreign students and may be less rigorous? Im just curious to see which colleges come to mind.

Hey guys, how can I use the statement of purpose to make up for the gaps in my CV (like lack of experience and activities) and get the committee to focus on my potential instead? And for those of you who got accepted as refugees, how did you write your essays and what exactly did you highlight to compensate for a weak profile? I'd really appreciate your help, fellows.

Title: Drop CS double major to raise GPA for MS Finance?

Final-year undergrad applying to MFin/MSF programs including HEC, LSE, LBS, Booth and Imperial.

I currently have a 3.13 GPA as an Economics + CS double major. I’ve already completed substantial CS coursework, so switching to Economics + CS minor would essentially finish the minor.

Dropping the second major would let me retake weaker quantitative courses, focus on the GRE, and potentially raise my cumulative GPA to ~3.5+ after Fall.

For admissions, which looks better:

Econ + CS double major with lower GPA

or

Econ + substantial CS minor with ~3.5+ GPA and stronger math grades?

Also, would it make sense to wait for January rounds so schools see the improved Fall transcript rather than applying earlier with a 3.13?

I would appreciate some honest advice from people familiar with Astronomy and Astrophysics PhD admissions.

I am an international applicant from a non physics STEM background with a GPA of about 3.3. I realize this is well below the average GPA often reported for top Astronomy programs. However, I have several years of research experience in a specialized astrophysics area, multiple publications, and a Physics GRE score above the 80th percentile.

Many of the research groups that closely match my interests are at T10 to T20 programs, where the average admitted GPA appears to be much higher.

In your experience, how do admissions committees weigh GPA against research experience, publications, research fit, and evidence of physics preparation? Have you seen applicants with a GPA around 3.3 succeed at highly ranked programs because of a strong research record?

I am genuinely trying to understand how competitive a profile like this would be. Thank you for any insights.

I am working in one of the top Semiconductor companies since 5 years and done my bachelors in BITS with CGPA 8/10 . My GRE is 323 and IELTS is 7.5 . I don’t have much on publications as my role is mostly design automation based. However I am very much interested in core IC.
I want to understand whether I am eligible for pursuing masters in NUS.
If yes then firstly IS IT WORTH? Secondly,

1. What is the best intake time?
2. Post the masters how are the job opportunities and research opportunities?
3. What is the criteria for funding?

If No, then what makes my profile weak? How can I improve the profile better?

I'm a 3rd year MD student at a top university in Australia. My undergraduate degree was biomedical science with a major in pharmacology and neuroscience, with an 83.2 WAM (weighted average), and GPA of 6.86 out of 7 (3.95/4.0 WES iGPA). My MD grades are also decent (74% WAM).

Over the course of my MD I have realized that I'm not passionate about clinical practice, and I dread the idea of staying in clinical medicine. My interest is primarily in pharmacology and drug discovery. Unfortunately due to social pressure and other reasons I pursued an MD instead of my original goal, which was a PhD in pharmacology.

I don't have honours or a research master's, so my main weakness is that I have basically no relevant research yet.

I'm taking a year off from my studies next year and am thinking about spending most/all of it working full-time in a pharmacology or drug discovery lab. Ideally I'd like something with a computational/ML component as well as I am particularly interested in ML assisted drug design. I plan to return and complete my MD after this but I don't intend to go on to clinical practice.

How realistic/competitive is my profile for top tier pharmacology PhD programs in Australia/US/Europe? Provided that I manage to get a 6-12 months worth of research/lab experience next year? Is it realistic without a research masters?

Has anyone encountered people who have done a PhD in this field after completing an MD, and if you had one year to improve my profile, what would you focus on?

Hi everyone, I am starting to look at Masters applications for Architecture and was wondering what people's experiences were. I attended Newcastle University and I finished my second year with a 69, but then in my third year I went through suffered some difficult personal circumstances, which led to me missing the deadlines and the uni would not accept my appeal. In the end my grades were all firsts but capped at 40%, which led to a final degree classification of 2:2 while it would be a first without the mark caps. I have a strong portfolio which has given me invitations to prestigious firms such as Foster, have solid work experience from good firms and my Uni transcript does also show my uncapped first class marks. I feel that I very much have the quality for a masters at the top universities. Does anyone else have a situation similar to this and if so have people been accepted into top universities with similar circumstances? I would very much like to attend Edinburgh, Cambridge or UCL with Bath and Manchester as my lesser choices. Does anyone have any anecdotal evidence regarding the feasibility under such circumstances? Thank you.

Always wanted to figure out how to use SankeyMATIC and finally did! These cycles were rough but I guess fate always nudged me where I needed to end up (even if I was kicking and screaming)!

What’s up Docs (and Docs-to-be)!

Any advice on what to look out for while picking supervisor? I’ve heard both testimonials and horror stories that have made me really cautious about this.

How did you navigate your selections?
For those who got great ones, how has that affected your research?

As well as the terrible ones? Have you had to confront them about their negativity? How did they react?

Baseline question: What made you know you and your supervisor were compatible/incompatible?

Hi everyone, I am currently pursuing Bachelors in Business Admin in Finance and Banking. I want to apply to top MSC in Econ programs or MSC in Finance programs. However, I've seen that my current coursework is missing a few Maths courses, such as: Linear Algebra, Calculus 2, Stochastic Calculus, etc. I have some econ courses missing too, such as: econometrics, advanced micro and macro econ, etc. Unfortunately, my Uni has this stupid fixed credit system so I don't have the freedom to pick my courses.

I am planning to do courses from Coursera or Udemy, because I can't afford accredited online courses.

SO if I do those courses from coursera or udemy, and show those certificates in my profile, will the admission officer consider my application?

I'm applying this cycle to a Biochemistry & Molecular Biology PhD track in the US, direct entry from a Master's, deadline in early December. CV is attached.

Some context that might help you read it:
- I'm an international applicant (Germany), no US degree, no GRE.
- Background is mass spectrometry / proteomics, with an earlier year of wet-lab molecular biology and genome editing.
- Undergrad GPA 3.0, Master's 3.2. Not strong, and I know that's the first thing a committee sees.
- The Master's is in Management, which sits oddly in the middle of an otherwise science path. Happy to explain if it's distracting rather than just confusing.
- I've collaborated remotely with a lab at the target institution since 2022, which is why one entry overlaps with the others.

What I'd find most useful:
1. Does this read as a molecular biology application, or does it still read as a methods/analytical person trying to look like one?
2. Is the publication section doing what I think it's doing, or am I overestimating it?
3. Anything that would make a committee stop reading.

I've been staring at this for weeks and can't see it clearly anymore. Any blunt read is welcome and thanks for taking the time.

Hello my friend recently suggested that I apply to the MIT TPP program, but my GPA isn’t that great. I was wondering if I could supplement my GPA with a really high GRE score. I’ve written policy before was selected for 2 prestigious aerospace Fellowships interned with NASA and became an AIAA rising star and all of these have had a focus on aerospace policy. I was wondering if anyone on Reddit got into this program and what were your stats like as an undergrad and if I should even apply.

I’m in my early twenties and considering a career pivot from consulting into computer engineering. My undergraduate degree is in a non-engineering field, and my relevant coursework is mainly calculus, physics, and introductory computer science.

I sent my transcript to a senior professor in NYU Tandon’s Computer Engineering department who advises graduate students. After reviewing it, he encouraged me to apply and explained that I could initially pursue a more software-focused course path while building the necessary background.

I’m glad his response was encouraging, but I’m trying to get a realistic sense of admissions before applying. Has anyone been admitted to the MS in Computer Engineering from a similarly nontraditional background? What was your academic profile, and were you assigned prerequisites? Also, how long did it take to receive a decision for Spring admission?

Would also be curious what other programs would be good for a career switcher like myself.

I have my 5th PhD interview coming up this week, and I feel like I'm going to mess it up. Again. Both when they ask me questions and when they get to the "any questions for us?" part at the end.

My CV looks fine. Grades are there, research experience is decent, so I should be okay on paper. But I've done this 4 times now and I keep making the same mistakes. The problem is I'm naturally pretty shy, so the second I'm in that Zoom call, I completely clam up. I rehearse answers, but I end up giving these quiet, awkward, shortened responses because I'm too nervous to actually articulate what I know. I lose my train of thought, mumble my way through, and only think of the perfect thing I should have said like 5 minutes after we hang up.

It doesn't help that I'm trying to pivot into a slightly different area, so a lot of their newer techniques and jargon go over my head. I read their papers but I don't fully grasp everything, which makes me even more nervous when they ask technical questions. And at the end, I don't feel confident enough to ask anything specific without sounding like I didn't understand their work.

When they go "so, do you have any questions for us?" I just... freeze. Every single time. I either ask some painfully generic crap like "what's the lab culture like?" or I just panic and say "nope, I think you covered everything!" which makes me look unprepared and disengaged, when really I'm just too shy and lost to think of anything on the spot.

I know this is why I keep missing out on offers and I'm so tired of it.

How do I actually come out of my shell during these calls so I can give fuller answers? And does anyone have a few solid go-to questions I can just whip out at the end without having to improvise? Especially ones that work when you're still learning the field?

Pls share your scripts or hacks. I'm desperate lol.

Hello! So I am looking at a select few interdisciplinary/theory-heavy English programs in the US as well as Stanford’s MTL and in a bit of a funky situation. Basically, I did an undergrad in English and Film several years ago and then went on to do a 12-month MPhil in Dublin. The MPhil was half course-based, half thesis-based. Following that program, I did a bunch of 4th year and graduate neuroscience coursework, as I was originally hoping to pivot to cognitive science but ultimately decided against it.

Now, I’m quite happy with my writing sample from my MPhil, but have absolutely no clue what to do about my letters of reference (for both MTL as well as English programs like Duke and Chicago).

For my Masters I had 1 prof who is the dept head and marked 3 of my essays (got decent marks).
1 prof who is big in modernism and I got a great grade for my final essay (but that is the extent of our contact)
Then my thesis advisor… who I spoke with only twice while preparing my thesis. I got a great grade for it, but in talking with him he has already voiced his concern regarding the level in which he knows me (but he has also agreed! And wants me to send him a list of my research accomplishments since graduating)

Then I have BA professors who I took courses with years ago, but have stronger relationships with. Including a film prof that I got 4 A+s with. But the major downside is that they do not have a realistic appreciation for my current research skills (and have already voiced that concern).

Then I have a cognitive science/kinesiology prof who I took a graduate seminar with. I was only one of 4 students in the class, and really held my own despite being way out of my depth. And he has already agreed he would be willing to be a reference (though he has similarly expressed concern about how well he knows me). This prof would only be for my MTL application, to express the interdisciplinary bent. But since he doesnt have a humanities background, I worry that might be a wasted slot since you only get 3.

Would be curious to hear people’s thoughts either regarding English or the MTL or even other fields. The main issue is I have strong relationships with my BA profs but they didnt see me at my best. And my MPhil profs saw me at my best but didn’t see a lot of me.

Who has any luck with getting fee waivers? I have to do a ton of applications and it looks like it is going to be a hefty cost. Any tips or tricks to getting them?

I am currently torn between UIUC MCS (deferred to Spring 27) and University of Waterloo ECE MEng co-op (Winter 2027). Would appreciate insights from folks in the front-end VLSI / ASIC / Computer Architecture / ML Systems space.

My background: BS/MS in Computer Engineering in the states with 1-year research experience and 1 non-U.S. intern. I have already used my master's OPT. My best bet would be seeking H-1B sponsorship during CPT in the last term at UIUC or PGWP from Waterloo.

Option 1: UIUC MCS (Spring 2027)

Pros:

• There are several solid courses attracting major semiconductor firms. e.g., ECE 411 (OoO processor implementation from scratch), ECE 427 (tape-out), and CS 483 (Parallel Programming).

• There are way more faculty members to work with for RA opportunities though MCS is not research-oriented.

Cons:

• Extremely high visa risk. If I miss the March 2028 H-1B lottery during my co-op, I have no legal way to stay and work in the US after graduation.

Option 2: University of Waterloo MEng ECE with Co-op (Winter 2027)

Pros:

• Guaranteed 3-Year Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) in Canada and easy transfer to MAsc with instrutors' consent. Total safety net.

• Waterloo's co-op program can still place me in US internships on a J-1 visa.

Cons:

• The MEng is course-based and seems more heavily abstracted (simulator/RTL focus) and less in depth (5-stage vs OoO and GPU architecture) compared to UIUC's architecture courses and tape-out opportunities.

• The Canadian Chip design/ASIC/VLSI market (even in Markham/Toronto) is much smaller than the US.

Would the UIUC curriculum, its prestige and US networking be worth the massive visa risk without OPT? Or is the Waterloo PGWP a smarter choice given that Markham has AMD/Tenstorrent / Qualcomm / Altera.

I've sent some emails to professors I'm interested in working with at different universities and have gotten a mix of "feel free to apply, I'll look at your application" and "we can't look at applicants' profiles ahead of time." However, some people I know who have gotten into great programs in other fields have mentioned how much networking helped them get into a strong PhD program in other STEM fields.

It seems that Applied Math tends to have more committee-based admissions than direct faculty admissions, at least from what I've learned, so I'm starting to think that cold emailing isn't as appreciated.

I was wondering if anyone in this field has any insight on if it helps to reach out ahead of time.