News from Berkeley !

[ritwik]

This only means better things are in store for u

By the way, are these MS rejects or PhD?

[aivoges]

Originally Posted by markiv81

Hey ranji,

I know its hard but ... forget it man!!!! Think it like this, that you have rejected them .. and someday they will think that their decision was a big mistake ...

Haha, you have a huge sense of humour, markiv . I guess that the admission officers at UCB must be blaming themselves for rejecting a great deal of prospective students in their lives.

[kamer]

yeah....dont worry about Berkeley....I've heard (again from people who know ) that that school does not really treat its graduate students well....all sorts of things like having "offices" in corridors etc etc

My feeling is that once you are into one of the well-known programs, it all depends on your personal effort and also the relationship between you and your advisor

[futuregradstudent]

I didn't receive any email yet....still waiting......crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! Anyone else still waiting? Anyone heard from them with good news? (EECS)

[abgoldberg]

I'm also still waiting to hear from Berkeley (along with all the other schools I applied to except UMich). I didn't get any e-mails or anything yet, so I too am keeping my fingers crossed!

[ranji]

Hey you guys... thanks for all the reassurance. It's strange u know... this forum, I hardly know anything about most of u except for thy TM id's or handles or whatever... but all of u have become an integral part of my life... atleast for now! Like if I was at college, I'll have this group of friends to go back to and crib when I get these rejects... but now that I'm out of college... life is totally different. Over the last one month or so... I've interacted with memebers in this forum more than with my friends (expect for a couple of my best friends ie!). It's nice to have a group of supportive people around who really share similar ambitions and anxieties... makes it easier to realte to each other I guess.

About Berkeley, I think my GPA would have been the weak point. My overall GPA is not very good... but in the last couple of years (which includes most of my CS courses) my gpa is 3.65! Most successful applicants at Berkeley will have very high GPA's I'm told. One of my seniors with a 3.95 and very strong recos/research experience didn't make it to Berkeley! Well about my profile (GRE:710/760/5.5, CS 830/87%, TOEFL 277, Applying for MS in CS, Primarily interested in Computer Architecture... more specifically High performance/Parallel Architectures and thier system software as well). I think at Berkely I ended up with what I call a 'grad sec reject' ! One of my school friends who did his undergrad in CS at a top school in the US told me that a fair number of applications are rejected by the grad sec... usually filtered with GRE scores and GPA (for top schools) !! LOL....


markiv81 - I totally agree with you about the uncertainty associated with graduate school admissions. Last year my best friend with a GPA of 3.8 (A's in all CS n Math courses, strong recos and statement of purpose, teaching experience, 800/800/5.5 GRE, 293 TOEFL, 860/96 percentile in the Subject Test) got only one admit (UIUC) from among 10 schools he applied to for a PhD. He was rejected by schools like SUNY SB!! He was primarily interested in Algorithms n Theory. UIUC was one of his least preferred univs because they aren't very strong in Theory... it was ironic. After seeing his experience, I don't think I'll really feel let down myself. I know it's a gamble... n I'm prepared for it.

gforce - don't give in so easily man. i'm sure u won't be rejected so easily... keep u're fingers crossed !

[gforce]

Originally Posted by futuregradstudent

I didn't receive any email yet....still waiting......crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! Anyone else still waiting? Anyone heard from them with good news? (EECS)

I'm waiting for some news (good or bad) from them. But I am not too optimistic about my chances at UCB. Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed. Hoping for the best!

Hey ranji,

Your profile is stupendous! I don't think they would have rejected you on the basis of the GPA alone. If that were the case, I would have received the rejection email by now. I think your Achilles' heel was the Quant score which is slightly on the lower side (sorry for the brusque reply). But methinks your CS AGRE score would have offset this minor flaw.
Anyway, good luck for your other schools.

Cheers!

[ranji]

Originally Posted by gforce

Hey ranji,

... I think your Achilles' heel was the Quant score which is slightly on the lower side (sorry for the brusque reply). But methinks your CS AGRE score would have offset this minor flaw.

Cheers!

It's possible! I was considering retaking the GRE General test because of my Quant score. I just messed up with it on the test day. But all my friends advised me against it saying it won't affect my chances too much. It's hard to tell though. I just hope it doesn't work against me everywhere.

[THEBESTUCANGET]

Hi Ranji,
Dont worry about Berkeley!( It is one the "Toughest" schools to get into )
You have a great Profile and will receive an Admit soon.
Cheer Up!

[Ronnie2005]

I am rejected by Berkeley as well..... It was first very frustrating to look at the rejection letter, but I feel better now. It seems to be that getting into Berkeley involves a lot of chance (and background of course!) As an international student, I was told that I wouldn't be in that easily.