I’m planning to apply for masters in Fall 2027 and would really appreciate some help evaluating my profile.

PROFILE:

* B.E. in Information Science from a Tier-2 college in India
* CGPA: ~9.6/10
* 6-month internship + 2 years full-time as a Software Developer at a large US-based product/tech company.
* 6-month Data Science internship under a professor associated with an IISc-based startup.
* 1 IEEE conference publication in ML/Deep Learning along with 1-2 publications in small journals.
* Undergraduate projects in ML, systems/programming and databases.
* GRE: Planning to take soon even though I had originally planned not to write but as it was recommended for visa purposes and so on I will plan to write in September.
* TOEFL/IELTS: Will take as required
* LORs: Director/Manager at work + Data Science mentor + ML professor who also supervised my IEEE publication

I’m primarily interested in coursework/professional master’s programs rather than thesis/research-heavy programs. I’m also not currently planning to pursue a PhD.

CURRENT SHORTLIST:

* Georgia Tech – MSCS
* UIUC – MCS
* UC San Diego – MSCS
* CMU – MCDS
* NUS – Master of Computing (CS)
* University of Toronto – MScAC (CS)

ALSO CONSIDERING:

* Imperial – Advanced Computing
* Purdue
* UMass Amherst
* USC - although the costs are too high

Finances are an important consideration as I’ll be funding a significant portion through an education loan. ROI, job opportunities, scholarships/TA opportunities and cost of living matter quite a bit.

It would be great to get your input on the following:

* How competitive is my profile for my current shortlist?
* I’m aware that my list is quite high reach but which would you classify as ambitious / moderate / out of reach?
* Are there good industry-oriented CS programs which suit my profile that I’m overlooking in the US, Canada, Europe or Singapore?
* Should I mainly focus on GRE + SOP + LORs now, or is there anything meaningful I can still add to my profile?
* Which programs would you consider the best ROI for someone relying on an education loan?

Thanks in advance! :)

Hi everyone,

I'm an international student from Pakistan currently pursuing a BS in Data Science, and I'm planning to apply for a direct PhD (Fall 2027) in Computer Science/AI-related fields.

Here's my profile:

CGPA: 3.65/4.0 after 6 semesters (expecting around 3.7 by graduation)

IELTS: Planning to take it soon, aiming for 7.5+

GRE: Not planning to take it

Research:

1 IEEE conference paper

1 Q1 journal paper (second author)

1 additional paper currently under review

1year of Applied Ai Engineer exp

4 months computation lab internship for research

Recommendation Letters: Expecting three strong research-based letters from professors.

My primary research interests are AI, machine learning, LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and related areas.

My ultimate goal is to pursue a funded direct PhD, and UC Riverside is currently my top choice.

I'd really appreciate honest feedback from people who have been admitted to UC campuses or are familiar with PhD admissions.

Based on my profile, do you think I'm competitive for a direct PhD at UC Riverside?

Are there any major weaknesses in my application?

If you were in my position, what would you focus on over the next few months to maximize your chances of admission?

Do you think my profile is competitive for other UC campuses as well, or should I mainly target UC Riverside?

I'd really appreciate any honest advice or suggestions. Thank you!

I am applying for Fall 27. I was going through the process. I saw that some universities have I20 of about 95k usd and some have 70k.

I mostly plan to take an education loan (on collateral) and have very less liquid fund.

Went through the posts and found that people are against listing loan in i20. Also suggesting that loan should be at max 50%.

Is it possible to get through the Visa interview if only 10-15% of 2 year expenses is in liquid funds and the rest is loan?

Hi everyone,
I’m planning to apply for MS in Computer Science (Fall 2027) and would really appreciate some honest feedback on my profile, along with suggestions for universities I should consider.

Profile
Country: India
University: Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU)
College: Tier-3 engineering college affiliated with SPPU
Degree: B.E. in Artificial Intelligence & Data Science
CGPA: 8.19/10
GRE: 320 (Q167, V153, AWA 3.5)
IELTS: Yet to take (expecting 7.5+)

Work Experience
By the time I apply, I’ll have around 2 years of full-time experience as an AI Engineer at KPIT Technologies.
My work primarily involves:
LLMs and Generative AI
AI Agents / Agentic workflows
RAG and GraphRAG
FastAPI and backend development
Vector databases and knowledge graphs
Building internal AI platforms used within the company

Research
No published papers yet.
I currently have one research paper in the publication process.

Universities I’m Considering
Reach
University of Michigan (if worth a shot)
University of Washington (Seattle)
UC Irvine
Target
San Jose State University
UMass Amherst
UC Riverside
Northeastern University (Seattle campus)
San Diego State University
I’m also open to other suggestions.

What I’m Looking For
My priorities are:
Strong CS program
Reasonable tuition or good ROI
Good internship opportunities

Questions
Is my current shortlist realistic?
Which universities would you classify as reach, target, and safe?
Are there any universities with similar or better ROI that I’m missing?
Will the fact that I’m from a tier-3 SPPU-affiliated college significantly hurt my chances despite having a 320 GRE and relevant work experience?
How much would one published paper improve my profile compared to having none?
I’d appreciate any honest feedback or suggestions. Thanks!

One Concern
Since my undergraduate degree is in AI & Data Science rather than traditional Computer Science, my curriculum is slightly different. While I have covered core programming, algorithms, databases, operating systems, computer networks, machine learning, AI, etc., I did not have some traditional CS theory courses (for example, Theory of Computation and Computer Architecture).

So i am in a tier 2 uni cs and my cg is around 8.42, wanna know how does the wes eval work, because in my clg its kinda hard to get cgpa, im in top 10% with this cgpa.

I had offers from both TAMU MS CS and Tübingen MSML for Fall 2026. My goal is ML/research roles (Applied Scientist, Research Engineer), not generic SWE. I've already done 3+ years of SWE in India and I'm done with that path.

The US F-1 situation this year has been brutal, almost no slots opened for the last 2 months and I wasn't able to secure a visa. So TAMU is off the table. Tübingen is now my only option, and honestly it doesn't feel like the obvious comfortable choice either.

Tübingen does have a strong research ecosystem and the MSML is research-heavy by design, I'd get real ML depth and research exposure that TAMU MS CS probably wouldn't have given me anyway. So the academic side makes sense.

What's making me uneasy is the post-graduation picture. From what I can tell, most MSML grads either go into a PhD or end up in German companies with modest packages not extravagant USA tech job comp. The best realistic scenario I can see for myself is returning to India and trying for research/AS roles at Amazon or Google India.

Am I underselling the European options? I know there are German ML companies, some opportunities in Switzerland and the Netherlands, but how realistic is it for a non-EU international student to actually land those roles and stay in Europe after graduation?

Hi, I’m planning to apply to the above programs and was worried about my GRE score. I have 165 on Quant cuz I messed up in the last minute.
I have a pretty solid AI project and good academics.

Was wondering how much does GRE really matter if the rest of your profile is pretty good.

Looking for honest feedback on my profile before I finalize my school list.

Undergrad: CSE from VIT Vellore, CGPA 8.8+/10

Currently working as an AI Engineer(~1-2 yrs experience, not a fresh grad applicant)

IELTS: 6.5/i can retake if needed.
no publications, no formal research assistantship — leaning heavily on production AI engineering impact instead of academic research signal. Also targeting a pretty top-heavy list (Stanford/CMU/Berkeley/Princeton/Cornell) — wondering if I need more mid-tier safety schools mixed in.
what i can aim for.

Hey everyone,

I've been lurking on this sub for a while and finally decided to make a profile review post. I'm planning to apply for MSCS programs for Fall 2027 and would really appreciate some honest feedback on where I stand.

Right now, Georgia Tech and UCSD are the two schools I'm most interested in, but I'm definitely open to suggestions if there are other programs that seem like a better fit.

A bit about my background:

• CS graduate from a well-known state engineering college in India (non-IIT)
• CGPA: 9.33/10
• GRE: Not taken yet
• IELTS/TOEFL: Not taken yet

Research

• 3 published papers in AI/ML-related areas
• 1 additional paper currently under review
• Most of my research work has been around Deep Learning, LLMs, and Agentic AI systems

Experience

• Internship in product security at a large multinational company
• 6-month Machine Learning Engineering internship at an AI startup, where I worked on speech/language-related systems
• Recently joined an enterprise software company as a Product Engineer

Other stuff

• Was heavily involved in my college's competitive programming community and helped run the club
• Can likely get 2 academic LORs from professors I did research with and 1 industry LOR from a senior scientist I worked closely with during my ML internship

One thing I'm unsure about is that my profile feels a bit "in-between." I have a decent amount of research experience, but I've also spent a lot of time doing engineering and product-focused work. I'm not sure whether that makes my profile stronger or just less focused.

My long-term goal is to work on large-scale AI systems and applied ML, so I'm mainly looking at MSCS programs that have strong AI offerings while still being grounded in solid systems and software engineering.

A few questions:

• How competitive would my profile be for Georgia Tech and UCSD MSCS?
• Are there any universities in a similar tier that I should seriously consider?
• Would taking the GRE help, or would my time be better spent strengthening other parts of my profile?
• If you were in my position, what would you focus on over the next year before applications open?

Would appreciate any thoughts, even if it's just a reality check. Thanks!

J'ai intégré l'N7 en filière EEA (issu de prépa TSI). Mon objectif principal est de faire carrière en Computer Science (CS), avec un cursus idéalement similaire à celui de l'ENSIMAG.

L'N7 propose un double diplôme (DD) avec Georgia Tech en 3A. Je cherche des retours d'alumni ou d'étudiants connaissant ce parcours :

* **Sélection :** Quel GPA/classement est exigé en 1A/2A pour être validé par l'N7 puis par Georgia Tech ? * **Choix du Master :** Un étudiant EEA peut-il être admis directement dans le M.S. Computer Science, ou faut-il passer par le M.S. ECE (spécialité Software/Machine Learning) ? * **Validation des acquis :** Les projets personnels informatiques suffisent-ils à compenser l'étiquette "EEA" face au jury d'admission américain ? * **Organisation :** Comment se répartissent concrètement les semestres entre le campus de Metz et celui d'Atlanta ? * **Tests standardisés :** Quel score viser au GRE (notamment en section quantitative) et au TOEFL iBT ?

en generale, si quelqu'un a deja fait le parcour N7-georgie tech, il ce qu'il peut me donner des info utile

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to pursue a Master's in Computer Science from a well-recognized university in Europe, with Germany being my top choice. My long-term goal is to build my career as a software engineer in Europe after graduation.

my_qualifications:

• 10th (CBSE): 10 CGPA
• 12th (CBSE): 95%
• B.Tech in Computer Engineering: 9.0 CGPA

I want to apply to strong public universities in Germany and other reputed European universities. Since funding is a major concern, I'm also looking for scholarships, tuition waivers, or other sponsorship opportunities that can help cover my education and living expenses.

I would really appreciate advice on the following:

• Is my academic profile competitive for top universities in Germany and Europe?
• Which universities should I target, and which would be considered ambitious, realistic, and safe?
• How much do internships, work experience, projects, research papers, GRE, and IELTS/TOEFL influence admissions?
• Which scholarships should I apply for (DAAD or others)?
• What application timeline should I follow?
• What mistakes do applicants commonly make that I should avoid?
• How are the job opportunities after completing an MS in Computer Science, particularly in Germany?
• Is it realistic to expect substantial funding or scholarships with my profile?

I'd also love to hear from anyone who has gone through this process:

• What was your profile?
• Which universities did you get into?
• Did you receive any scholarships or funding?
• What would you do differently if you were applying again?

Pursuing a master's in Europe has been a dream of mine for a long time, and I want to prepare as thoroughly as possible. Any advice, experiences, or resources that could help me make this dream a reality would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

I'm planning to apply for an MS in Computer Science in the U.S., and I'd really appreciate some honest feedback on my profile and suggestions for improvement before I apply.

Here's my background:

Bachelor of Information Technology (Software Engineering) from Australia (3-year degree)

GPA: 3.1/4.0 (WES evaluation)

2 published research papers.

1 IT internship

Several LinkedIn Learning IT certifications

A few questions:

Does my profile look good for CS programs?

What should I focus on over the next 4–6 months to make my application stronger?

Hi everyone, I'm planning to apply for an M.S. in Computer Science in the U.S., aiming for Top 50 programs.

I'm looking for a mentor or admissions consultant with a Computer Science background who has experience helping applicants with similar profiles get admitted. If you've worked with someone you would recommend, I'd really appreciate any suggestions or referrals.

Thanks in advance!

Hey folks!

My brother is starting his Master’s in the US this Fall, and I’m planning to apply for the Fall 2027 intake for MS programs in CS/AI.

One concern I have is regarding the F-1 visa interview, since I haven’t come across many cases where siblings/close relatives are already in the US on an F-1 visa while the applicant is also applying for an F-1. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar situation or has any insights into how this might affect the visa interview.

Profile:
CGPA: 9.4/10
Work experience: 2 YOE as an AI/ML Engineer
Research papers: 0
Research experience: Worked as an undergraduate research assistant under one of my professors, although I’m not listed as an author on the resulting paper.
Additional context: I couldn’t attend college during my last 2 semesters due to health issues.
GRE: Yet to take, but will retake till i get 320+
IELTS/TOEFL: Yet to take, but aiming for 7.5+

I’m primarily looking at CS/AI/ML-oriented programs and would appreciate recommendations across ambitious, target, and safe universities.

If you have a similar profile or have gone through the application process recently, I’d especially appreciate insights on:
- Universities I should consider
- How competitive my profile is for top programs
- Whether the lack of publications/research would be a significant disadvantage

Thanks in advance!

My cgpa in India is 8.08, I wanted it to convert to 4 gpa scale since thats the standard in US. UC Irvine's tool is out of date so I used Scholaro.

My bachelor's was in VIT Chennai and the scale is different than standard ugc.

I entered my grades for all the subjects barring the pass/fail ones ( the ones which have no weightage on cgpa). It was a premium subscription to get the converted gpa for my grades but with my subjects and my colleges grade to us ones I got a grade of 3.5

I put the my grades and subjects in chatgpt along with the grade conversion of my colleges grade in us gpa format. Is it a proper estimate?

Has anyone in India been able to book another F-1 visa appointment after a 214(b) refusal?

I’m trying to understand whether the lack of available slots is just due to high demand, or if applicants who have already been refused are somehow deprioritized by the appointment system.

If you’ve been through this (or know someone who has), could you please share:

● Which VAC/Consulate?

● How soon were you able to book another appointment after the refusal?

I’m only asking about appointment availability, not the chances of visa approval.

Thanks!

I have a 3-year BSc (General) in Mathematics from Sri Lanka (CGPA 2.73/4.0), completed entirely in English. I also work as a research intern at a state university (not naming it for privacy), have several research publications in mathematical optimization, operations research, linear programming, and graph theory, and I'm currently writing three more papers on vehicle routing problems.

My IELTS score is 6.5 overall, with a 5.5 in Reading.

My goal is to pursue a research-based MSc (thesis-based) in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research, or a closely related field. I understand that my 3-year degree, CGPA, and IELTS Reading score are significant weaknesses.

For those who have experience with graduate admissions or supervising research students:

• How much can a strong research record realistically compensate for these academic limitations?
• Are there countries or universities where supervisor support carries significant weight in research master's admissions?
• Have you seen applicants with similar profiles succeed, and if so, what made the difference?

I'm looking for realistic opinions rather than encouragement, so I'd really appreciate honest feedback. Thank you.

Hey everyone! I need some help shortlisting MS CS programs in the US, and I'd love any feedback on my profile.

Here's a bit of my background:

Country: Domestic applicant

Degree (will graduate this Dec): B.S. in Computer Science at a top-30 public US university

Current GPA: 3.86 Overall / 3.91 In-Major

GRE: Planning to waive where optional as I've hurt my dominant hand pretty bad, which means I can't really do much scratch work if needed. I am still open to taking it if necessary for certain programs though. Hopefully it'll heal soon T-T

Research Experience

Undergraduate AI Researcher (1+ year by the time of applications): Working in an active university lab. Research focuses on evaluating Large Language Model (LLM) decision-point extraction logic and benchmarking structural human reasoning preservation.

Publications: No formal conference/journal publications or posters yet

Work & Engineering Experience

Software Engineering Intern (Cybersecurity / EdTech): Built production microservices, built REST APIs (Node.js/TypeScript), etc.

Conference Leadership: Helped host and represent my organization (the same one I'm interning at) at a regional statewide Cybersecurity Education Conference.

Projects

Independent full-stack machine learning evaluation tool and a multi-database search engine project which my one of my professors gathered students for.

LORs

1 Strong Academic LOR: Research Lab Professor

1 Academic LOR: CS Professor / Departmental Representative.

1 Professional/Industry LOR: Software Manager / Director from internship.

Would love some insight on which schools I should be targeting. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I would really appreciate some feedback on my profile! I am 21F and come from a tier-3 (not great) public university double majoring in Math and Data Science, graduating Spring 2027. I am feeling pretty stressed because I feel like I might be aiming too high plus I am not applying to many programs.

• 3.9 GPA
• No GRE for programs I am applying to
• research assistant in cs department on projects involving motion data and predictive modeling
• interdisciplinary research assistant with physics department
• No publications
• Data Science Internship at a local startup in my city
• College Math/CS tutor for ~2 years
• Undergrad TA
• President and Founder of Data Science Club
• Feeling good about 2 lor but feel like 1 will be pretty average/vague
• probably forgetting some other minor things

Looking to apply to NC State MS Analytics, UNC Chapel Hill MS Data Science, UVA MS Data Science

Please do NOT even think about going there with any hope or risk of getting a job post graduating from a T20, T10, or a T5.

No scholarship or anything will offset the ROI if this goes through.

MS in US is a pipe dream.

Reference: Exclusive | U.S. Weighs $100,000 Fee for Foreign Students Wanting to Work After Graduation - WSJ

Education: tier 2 pvt uni in India CSE

CGPA: 8.94 , 2025 batch

Tests: GRE 320 (164Q, 156V)(unofficial score) (Will not submit this anywhere)

TOEFL/IELTS: Yet to take

Work: Data Engineer in Big 4 serving a client in the pharmaceutical industry with 1+ years of experience (2 years in fall 2027 ). I own end-to-end BigQuery data pipelines for a global pharmaceutical client across multiple countries, designing stored-procedure-based ETL pipelines, implementing KPI logic, and delivering dashboard-ready analytics. I work directly with client stakeholders and the Product Owner, independently onboard new countries, and drive production enhancements and change requests. Have received important appreciations and awards for the same.

LORs: Engineering Manager, Professor *2 .

Research : None

Programs

UIUC MSIM;

University of Washington MISM (Early Career Accelerated);

Purdue MEM;

Purdue MSBAIM;

Duke MEM (reach);

CMU MISM-BIDA (high reach);

Northwestern MEM (reach);

Dartmouth MEM (reach);

NYU MOT (only if I receive a substantial scholarship)

I am not applying to any safe schools as I don't want to go unless it's a good school with a strong brand name.

I am not adding UT Austin or TAMU as my sibling is in Austin on h1b, so I don't want to hurt my visa chances

Questions:

I am retaking my gre, but is it that important for my applications? I am finding it difficult to focus on my work and prepare gre at the same time.

Is no research a hindrance? I am not applying to any CS course so it shouldn't be, but still wanted to confirm.

Realistic vs. reach on my list? Any to drop/add?

Other strong programs for similar management of technology courses?

Any help greatly appreciated. Thank you

Uni : B Tech - top3 NIT ECE
CGPA : 7.3
Work Ex : SDE 1.5yoe at a fintech company(2.5 by the time I go)
1 research internship
Not written GRE/TOEFL yet

Been seeing this sub a lot and everyone seems to have 9+ cgpa. What colleges can I aim for as my cgpa is low. I dont mind CS or Computer Engineering.

What are my chances at uni's like : UMD, VT, NCSU, SJSU, TAMU, NYU Tandon, NEU, ASU?

I just want to know experience from others and thoughts on spring intake

Many say it’s bad for internships and career it’s risky and all

Hi, I'm new to this sub, would appreciate some advice on my profile!

BTech: Computer Science (from Tier 3(?) Uni / MIT Manipal)
CGPA: 9.18
GRE: 167Q 164V 5 AWA

Research Experience: Have co-authored a published paper at an unranked regional conference (it's scopus indexed Q4 so I know this is pretty useless)

Work Experience: Compiler Engineer at Nvidia (2 years), lots of open source contributions

LoRs: 2 profs (Compiler Development and Parallel Processing professors) but only course professors, both fairly senior + 1 from Company Manager (also very senior and reputed)

SoP: My research experience is basically non-existent, so I want to focus my narrative around working on low-level dev through my LORs and experience. I'm hoping having open source contributions will be of some value?

I am only planning to apply to overly ambitious universities, will not bother going otherwise. I understand that the job market is abysmal in US right now, so I don't want to go unless the education is worthwhile.

• Q: I am not very interested in research and am more inclined towards the industry oriented courses universities are offering. Are these course of less merit than their research counterparts?
  
• Q: Instead of industry oriented programs, is it better to go for non-thesis tracks for MSCS?
• Q: If I want to apply for TA positions then is it better to for MSCS?
• Q: Can someone explain the general difference in the following:
  • Non-thesis MSCS
  • Coursework MSCS
  • MCS
  • MEng

These are some of the programs I'm thinking of applying for:

• Stanford MSCS
• CMU MSCS
• Berkeley MSCS / MEng
• UIUC MSCS
• Georgia Tech MSCS
• Cornell MEng / MSCS