Anybody familiar with UNC CS?

[prophet]

Originally Posted by misspiggy

@prophet
I got a 740 Q, and one school told me that's why I got rejected. I also did poorly on the CS GRE so I didn't even submit my score
However, I don't think my situation is better than yours in the way that you are an international student and your school is not well known in the US. Everyone school in the US knows that my school sucks in CS (it's ranked 90-100th in CS PhD in the nation). On the other hand, US schools aren't familiar with your school so they can't just assume your school is not good.

@misspiggy:
Yeah, your Quan score maybe is not that good enough. I have the admission statistics of the CS department of UNC. And in 2005, the average Q score of addmitted student was 781. In 2004, it was 789. So I would encourage you to retake the GRE. I am very confident of your math ability. I think maybe you were a little bit careless during the test. So if you could do some more practice and be cautious during the test, I am sure you will get a 800 score!

I think your undergraduate school is not that bad as you imagine, especially a top100 cs phd program. If you do well in the department, I think you have good chance to get into a top school, especially if you can get good recommendation letters from some well known profs. in your department. In this respect, the RL, you have great advantage over international students like me.

By the way, do you have some good research experience during undergraduate?

Talk to you later

[misspiggy]

Thanks, Prophet. I did a undergraduate honors thesis, which no more than 3 CS majors elect to do it each year at my school. I'm also doing my masters thesis. Those things didn't help me

I can't get a good recommendation from a well known professor in my department though... Cause there isn't any well known professor at my school

BTW, did you take the CS GRE, prophet?

[prophet]

Originally Posted by misspiggy

Thanks, Prophet. I did a undergraduate honors thesis, which no more than 3 CS majors elect to do it each year at my school. I'm also doing my masters thesis. Those things didn't help me

I can't get a good recommendation from a well known professor in my department though... Cause there isn't any well known professor at my school

BTW, did you take the CS GRE, prophet?

I think you must have some wonderful research experience misspiggy. Only 3 a year, WoW! I think, sometimes, the way you presented your research work to the admission committee really matters a lot! I mean you should make your sop perfect. Actually I spent several months to write my sop. I think you would get a better job than me if you take some time to do that.

And, I think you should try to have your research published. I am sure your research, either undergraduate or your master's thesis, will be publishable. If you can get even one paper published, you will have a much better chance. And I think this is the admisson commitee value the most.

I did not take the CS GRE sub test, but I took the Math sub test. Because at the beginning, I intended to pursue a math degree. Then I changed my mind to continue study CS. However, I did poorly on that test, only 74%. I think if you can get a strong CS subject score, it will strengthen your application, especially when your undergraduate school is not well known. If your math is especially good, you could also try to take a math subject test, all the universities like to take on students with a solid math background.

And there are also many test preparation material for the CS subject test on the internet. Did you study those before you took that test? Sometimes, it can be very helpful.