Please evaluvate my university list for fall 2009

[nirosilva]

Hey guys,

As of my earlier post (Need advice for fall 2009 admission) about PhD admissions, I have come up with the following list of universities to target for fall 2009 admission. I'm taking the toefl in May so it's high time that I start making plans on the universities I'm going to apply, I guess. (besides, I have to list four in the toefl)

As I've mentioned before, I have two critical areas to consider in admission. Funding and the two-body problem (Since my GF is also applying with me). Hence I've come up with the following list so that there are at least two universities in close proximity of each other.

So here goes... (Ordered by state)

New Jersey:
Princeton
Rutgers
NJIT

Connecticut:
Yale
UConn

Massachusetts:
Worcester Polytechnic
Northeastern:

North Carolina:
Duke
NCSU


My current GPA is 3.7 (third year of undergrad study) and will have two publications (currently working on one, but it's a literature review, so won't have much of a weight as a research paper) by the time I apply. I hope I can score in the GRE in the range of 1500 in general test and 90% in the subject(...from the practice tests I've been doing for a long time now). I will also be able to get strong recommendations from my profs.


My GF's profile is more or less the same (in fact her's is better, current GPA 3.8)

So what are my chances here? Can someone suggest any changes, any safe schools? It's better if they are in the same states so that the two-body problem is resolved.

Please feel free to throw any comments at this list. If someone feels I'm presumptuous, that's fine too.

Thanx in advance.

[CalmLogic]

I'm surprised California isn't listed. As you may know, your girlfriend could have a chance at a top school since departments seem to be always wanting more women in CS, and California, of course, has a number of amazing schools like Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, USC, UCSD, Irvine, etc.

[nirosilva]

CalmLogic,

Thanx for your quick reply.

It's not that I didn't think about universities in California. But it's really far away from the other states. The reason why I'm looking for universities in one portion of the country (in my list, it's mostly New England) is because of this two-body issue.

Besides, me and my GF have decided that we'll stick only to some universities in the middle tier and some safe schools (which is why you see only Princeton and Yale from the top universities). I totally agree with your comment on CS departments preferring more women than men to balance the student population and yes, I think my GF will have a higher chance of getting admission than me.

However, what I wanted through this thread is more suggestions as to whether I have gone about selecting the universities in the right manner. So please, if you have any suggestions on this matter please be kind enough to shed some light on this issue. If you had this background, how would you go about selecting the universities? And please let me know any safe schools I should consider in these states.

BTW, I'm hoping to keep the number of universities in the list below 10. Applying is costly too, isn't it?

Anyway, Thanks again for your thoughts, and please do help me out to figure these things out.

Cheers.

[nirosilva]

And one other thing. Given that I will achieve the things I had mentioned earlier, what are my chances of getting admission to top university? (You had mentioned Stanford, Berkeley etc). I was thinking of not aiming that high since if you missed, even the money I spend for applying would be a waste, isn't it?

[CalmLogic]

Stanford isn't as difficult as it seems for MS admissions. So your girlfriend may have a shot. (Updated to add: She would have to pay for an MS at Stanford to really increase her chances of PhD admission.)

As far as the cost of applying to schools, the cost would not bother me as much as having to ask my recommenders to send another copy/version of their LOR. Otherwise, I would probably apply to 20 schools even if I had to get a loan to pay the application fees

[nirosilva]

CalmLogic,

Thanks again. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that.

Any other suggestions on the university list??? Ones I should omit and any other I should add???

[CalmLogic]

Of course, there is the UNC at Chapel Hill, which you seem to have strategically left out. However, maybe your gf could be accepted there.

[nirosilva]

Thanks CalmLogic, Helpful as ever.

I'll think about adding two universities from California. But what should I then drop from my current list? And what's your suggestion (Better if the universities are in close proximity and we both have a good chance of getting admission). And of course, I'll think about UNC chapel hill.

[nirosilva]

OK, so I've decided to add two universities from California as well. (Wonder if I should drop the two from MA (Worcester and Northeastern)).

Berkeley seems far off the limits. So I'll go with Stanford (Not that it is any easier). Antway, can someone suggest a university in the 20-70 rank that offers good fin. aid and that is in close proximity to Stanford? Or else, any other two universities from the top 10 and 20-70 range?

Please... I need some light..

Cheers

[CalmLogic]

I would strongly suggest GA Tech. I think that is your best bet for a top school that will take both of you, at least if you both take the GRECS. I realize there aren't any other good schools nearby, but GA Tech has a larger department than most schools on your list. (For all I know, GA Tech has a larger CS department than Yale and UConn combined.) Anyway, the TestMagic poster endlessdream was able to get into their PhD program this year after getting a 70 percentile on the GRECS:

http://www.urch.com/forums/admission...ch-cs-phd.html (Got into GATech [CS/PhD])
http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-compu...st-agre-7.html (post AGRE)

Just to clarify again about Stanford, your GF will have higher chances because of her minority gender, but I don't know how much higher.
One would have to look at the profiles at Edulix to get a better idea. So applying for the PhD at Stanford may be a waste of money unless she is willing to go to the MS program as well, which costs at least 50k in tuition and living expenses. Having said that, if she wants to work in academia, that may be a much better move than applying for a PhD at NCSU. (If she wants to work in academia, it may be better for her risk her financial future on paying for an MS at Stanford than accept NCSU for direct admission to the PhD.)

UPDATE: UConn seems to be a bad choice since no one seems to be applying there:
connecticut computer • thegradcafe.com
uconn • thegradcafe.com

So if you are looking for a school to remove from your list, remove UConn