Choosing Universities (PhD)

[nirosilva]

Hey guys,

I sat for the toefl(PBT) last Saturday. Was damn easy compared to the GRE. I can't figure out why they expect us to take the toefl when we have to take the much difficult GRE general as well. I think the score on the GRE verbal is more than evidence to the english ability of the prospective student. Isn't it?

Well, that's just my view of it. May be there's something that I don't see.

Anyway, I named Stanford, OSU, Indiana Bloomington and Northeastern as my four score recipients. Now I have to build up my list on the other (probably 6 more) universities that I will apply towards the end of this year, and I need advice.

So can anyone please mention the largest CS departments in terms of the PhD admits? I ask this bcoz I feel it's kind of futile to apply to small CS departments (like yale, knowing that they only take about 10 per year). It would be great if someone can mention some place (a link may be) where I can find this information.

Thanks in advance to whoever that replies.

[MDK]

You can get an approximate number of the university's intake from Edulix or the GradCafe, just count the admits mentioned there:
computer • thegradcafe.com
Edulix InfoBank | Reports

[CalmLogic]

Some old, very questionable data that may serve as a starting point:

http://www.urch.com/forums/graduate-...tatistics.html (Gforce's CS Guide Part I: Admission Statistics)
http://www.urch.com/forums/computer-...tml#post499681 (Please evaluate my chances of getting in these colleges-)

Be sure to avoid Iowa State when making a list of safer schools:

"We will only be able to enroll about 20 students from over 700 applicants" (2008)

"...we can only offer admission to approximately 12 Ph.D. students this year (2006)."

iowa state computer science • thegradcafe.com

Since it seems many CS departments intentionally do not post admissions statistics, possibly as a way to attract more applicants, the smart applicant will contact the departments for this information since (1) there is nothing to lose by asking and (2) the departments certainly have such statistics.

[nirosilva]

MDK and CalmLogic,

Thanks guys, for being helpful as ever.

[CalmLogic]

BTW, since you mentioned Stanford in your first post, you may already know that Stanford's admit rate for CS PhD students is only 10 percent -- according to Stanford's own publication -- and their admit rate for MS students is not disclosed.

[nirosilva]

Yes CalmLogic, I know that.

But it's one of the places I'd really love to go (and I'm sure everyone would, and not that I don't know how hard it is to get into stanford). I'm just concerned about the rest of the schools I might apply (moderate schools which I might have a chance of getting in) and it's the size of departments of such schools that I wanted to know about. I checked out the links you gave me and am going through them slowly. BTW, if you can comment on the other three universities I have named, that would be great. (Though I have decided to apply to them already, some assuarance from your part would be really nice)

[CalmLogic]

Though I have decided to apply to them already, some assuarance from your part would be really nice

Unfortunately, I am not in a position to give reassurance. I see my role mostly as bringing gloom and doom Seriously, I am only familiar with MS admissions and even that provides an endless array of surprises. I do know that Stanford admits more people than would be expected for the MS (a cash cow), and it seems that they offer the MS to some of the rejected PhD applicants. This is just to say that one may need to pay for an indirect route to a top school.

I do think it is worthwhile to consider applying to GA Tech for the PhD, at least if you are willing to take the GRECS. BTW, USNews may be overhyping GA Tech to some extent:

I have always wondered why GA tech is ranked so high by US News and report for CS, especially when their research output is clearly not comparable. This is not just my personal feelings, but shared by a few CS professors at UC Berkeley. I can quote Professor Smith (no, it's not a made-up name. His last name is actually that common. He's a PhD from Stanford), who gave a lecture in CS 162 (Operating System) on graduate admissions (guess he was bored about the actual course material) and he openly criticized US News ranking for GA tech and USC for being so high. Of course, this is a very "academic" perspective and might apply more to PhD than the professional oriented, terminal MS degree, but if you have Cornell or Austin, GA Tech just can't compare.

http://www.urch.com/forums/computer-...tml#post583158 (UTAustin Vs Cornell Vs GeorgiaTech)

(Some evidence in favor of GA Tech: NU Computer Science - Faculty )

[MDK]

I don't know how hard it is to get into stanford

Well, as hard as playing in the NBA

[nirosilva]

Thanks Calm and Thanks for the comparison MDK,

Anyway guys, why I'm having a terrible time with this university list is, as you may already know, because my GF is also applying with me. If you are familiar with my situation (Please evaluvate my university list for fall 2009), you should see that selecting universities for two people is not the coolest job in the world. We both have tried our best to select a set of universities so that if we were to be selected, we wouldn't have to live apart for five years.

As you may remember, I came up with a university list that had schools one near the other. (eg. duke, ncsu and rutgers, njit and northwestern, Uchicago etc). But this didn't turn out to be a political selection. Since her research area is computer graphics and mine is AI and robotics, choosing schools that have both these research areas is quite a tedious task (and would you believe, I coudn't find an AI/Robotics research group in princeton, so it's out of the list as well). And if by sheer luck some school had both these research areas, I would definitely have found another obstacle, such as, little financial assistance for intl. students.

There's another issue that recently crossed my mind. What are the chances of schools accepting two students coming from the same foreign university, and from the same town with probably the same set of professors writing their recommendations? This would be an issue, right? Adds all the more trouble to my university selection process, I guess.

Anyway, we both have finalized that we'll apply for Stanford, OSU, Indiana Bloomington and Northeastern, as they meet most of our requirements, in terms of research areas and funding. So any help or suggestions for six more universities would be a great help.

Thanks again guys.

[CalmLogic]

Now I remember

What about the University of Utah, like MDK and I mentioned earlier? Did you or your gf have a problem with it? BTW, here's a promo video (for the state, not the university):

YouTube - TV Ads by Utah Tourism Board
YouTube - Utah - Life Elevated

What are the chances of schools accepting two students coming from the same foreign university, and from the same town with probably the same set of professors writing their recommendations? This would be an issue, right?

I could only speculate, but if your university has a relatively low reputation, I would think it could be an issue. OTOH, if your university has a good reputation, then the reverse could be true.