Applying for Grad school is an exciting moment for the next step in our career. While many posts discuss whether grad school is a right move or not. This post summarizes some resources that would be helpful for someone applying for MS in Computer Science at universities located in the United States.
From my personal experience, I recommend you to spend more time at this step. For targeting colleges, http://csrankings.org/ is a great resource. Some tips: toggle the filters for your desired area of study and narrow down to recent years for a better view. I suggest you visit some of the faculties websites and spend some time to understand the work they are doing. While relying on publication count is not an accurate metric to filter colleges, it's a good start to explore options. Currently, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence is a highly competitive field, it might be worth your effort to explore other fields in CS as well because of the benefits in funding opportunities and most programs provide ample opportunities to switch specialization track. So be wise and prepare a list of target, moderate and safe colleges. Some colleges have intake only during the fall season. Note down application deadlines and scholarship deadlines. Refer gradcafe and yocket for some historical data on application admit profiles at respective programs. Also, check if the department has application fee waiver and programs such as FreeApp (saves a lot of money and doesn't hurt to try)
Meeting department recommendations for GPA, GRE and TOEFL is good enough. It does help to have a great Quant score in GRE and good undergrad GPA in core CS courses. Also, most grad students get hired as teaching assistants so some colleges might have a higher bar for TOEFL. Few colleges are now doing away with GRE - useful sheet
Have a single-page resume if possible but try to keep it below two pages. This should be a glimpse of your application. Keep it reader-friendly and I recommend to use templates available in college websites.
Personal Statement/ Statement of purpose - TL;DR Capture why pursuing graduate studies helps you to bridge gaps and achieve your goals. Length of the document and specific points to be captures varies per school. Concentrate on things which weren't possible on your resume. SOP is a crucial part of your application, work yourself through multiple drafts as needed. Keep multiple versions handy - a half pager, one-pager and two-pager. Do get your write-ups proofread by some friends and grad students, be receptive to feedback. Resources [1] [2] [3]
Letter of Recommendations is more important when applying for PhD and Research positions. It helps to have strong reference letters from some who has worked with you closely. Contact around 5 people you've worked closely and could vouch for you - Professors and colleagues. Give your recommenders ample time and resources to complete your recommendation. I recommend sending them your resume, a brief document reminding the work you've pursued with them and your goals about graduate studies. Most colleges required 2-3 recommendations per application and usually, LOR can be sent in at a later date from the application deadline. Recommenders receive a short survey and might need to submit a short write-up about the candidate.
After you've completed all the steps in the application and submitted it, great job! You could be anxious like me and frenetically check gradcafe, r/gradadmissions, yocket every few hours or chill out and wait for the decision to come. Generally, admissions for the fall intake are sent out by April. And if you've received multiple admits unlike me you're much better off and I'd be all ears in hearing your advice :)
I've tried to digest as much as I can in this post, but please feel free to ask me anything that I had missed. I'd be glad to help. Good luck!
Here are some resources that would help during CS grad school application process.
UIC ICS faculty Panel on the admission process, improving applications - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLkXizBBFrw
How to Apply to Graduate School talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcc1ZkspmTc
Advice on contacting profs, getting letters of recommendation - Prof Vijay Chidambaram's website and tweet 🧵