GRE CS Subject Exam with regards to my profile

[schrilax]

hi folks,
i wanted some advice/info on how to proceed with my application process.
This below is my profile and i am providing it so that everyone gets a clearer picture on where and how i stand with regards to my intended aim of doing my MS.

i am a CS guy and i have done my bachelors from NIT Rourkela.
first class with honours (77%)
X 90% and XII 89%
i have been working with a software MNC for 3 years now
and have had a good career there.
i have won some accolades along on the way.
my final year project was on genetic algos and was rated the best project for my dept.
i have no research papers/publications.

with regards to my LORs
i would get one from a CS prof in IIT KGP.
(i did my NITRKL second year summers there)
i would get 2 more from the 2 senior most profs from my dept.
(they are so senior that they become HOD of our dept alternately)
maybe another one from another of my dept profs who has
many publications in networking to his name(done his PhD abroad).


with regards to General GRE:-
i plan to write it in june first week. i had taken a date in oct last but couldn't write it due to work pressure. in the mocks i did i scored in the 1450-1530 range. even though this means nothing, i am hopeful of scoring the same when i retake it in june.

with regards to my interests:-
i am interested in doing my MS in Algorithms/Data Structures and Parallel Computing Techniques(the former forming part of Theoretical Comp Science, the latter being from Systems.)


i am in a dilemma on whether to write the GRE CS Subject Exam coming november. it is because of this. i have had people telling me that a subject GRE score would not help me much and that its mostly for people who are looking for a stream change i.e. looking to dive into the CS stream or those who have a mediocre academic career and want to enhance and profess their CS skills to the various univs.

i have had another set of people who said Subject GRE would boost my profile. they said that the best way to match up with an IITian's profile might be to give the subject test and score good in it. that it evens out lots of stuff except maybe the research experience an IITian might bring with him. they said its a win win situation and that if you scored bad simply don't report it, whereas if you scored good, then go ahead with reporting.

i wanted some advice on how to go about with my application process(would apply in coming nov dec) and whether i should take the GRE Subject test and how much beneficial would it be to me.

warm regards,
suchismit

[CalmLogic]

As an alternative to the GRECS, I guess you could do research on your own and write a short 2-page "poster paper," submit it to international conferences/journals, and if your paper was accepted by January/February, you could let the CS departments that you are applying to know that your paper was just accepted.

But unless you already have a reseach paper in mind, your best bet may be to take the GRECS exam, especially since it may be too late to apply for summer research internships.

As far as how beneficial it could be, it all depends on the score. All CS departments will give it due consideration. So I would recommend you take it unless you have a better way to improve your profile. Just don't have the scores automatically reported in case you get a low score.

[schrilax]

thanks for the reply sire.
info about poster papers was indeed an eye opener.
I would keep that in mind.
I have few ideas which i could proceed with.

I wanted your views about my stream of choice i.e. Algorithms/Data Structures and Parallel Computing Techniques.
Few people have commented that it does not have much value because it is general in nature being part of theoretical comp science.
Is it really so?

Also wanted your views on my profile?
Would a good CS Subject GRE score really boost my profile?

Waiting to hear from you all.
Schrilax.

[schrilax]

I also wanted to know how to go about preparing for the CS Subject GRE exam.

Could anyone help me out?
Waiting to hear you all.

Schrilax.

[schrilax]

Could anyone suggest some universities which specialize in theoretical Computer Science? Systems?
Almost all universities i came across have Algorithms as part of their syllabus.
Hence it becomes difficult to chop and choose the univs.

I have started my research on them. Wanted some pointers towards the same which would go a long way in helping me out.

Thanks in advance,
Schrilax

[CalmLogic]

I wanted your views about my stream of choice i.e. Algorithms/Data Structures and Parallel Computing Techniques.
Few people have commented that it does not have much value because it is general in nature being part of theoretical comp science.
Is it really so?

Parallel computing is certainly in demand:
All Parallel Computer Science Jobs | Indeed.com=

Some related areas of interest may be distributed computing, algorithms for data mining (information retrieval), machine learning, etc.

Once you find professors and other faculty who work at the research labs you are interested in, I would suggest looking at their websites and CVs too see how much consulting/research is going on for corporations in that area of research. For example, data mining and information retrieval is my primary research interest, and I know that is very relevant for industry:

UC Santa Cruz - Review Magazine: Fall 2007
http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~yiz/cv_zhang.pdf

Also wanted your views on my profile?

It looked impressive to me. As you suggest, you are just missing the IIT designation Anyway, I would certainly apply to GA Tech with that profile, especially if you take the GRECS. Someone in this forum mentioned that UT Austin puts extra value on work experience, so you should consider them, too, though I don't know what your chances are. UT Austin (along with Rugters and GA Tech) does seem to care about the GRECS more than most schools, so I would take the GRECS if you are considering UT Austin.

Would a good CS Subject GRE score really boost my profile?

The problem is that there are obviously two major variables to consider: the score and the selectivity of the university you are applying to. Even 70 percentile seems to provide a boost to place like GA Tech, though I don't know how much. 90 percentile would be gold for an MS applicant. Heaven on earth. Nirvana. You get the picture (There was someone who posted their profile at Edulix who got something like a 630 on the GRECS -- around 20th percentile -- who was admitted to Rugters, though I don't know if he submitted that score.)

Almost all universities i came across have Algorithms as part of their syllabus.
Hence it becomes difficult to chop and choose the univs.

You may want to search Edulix (along with this forum) including terms like "research":

If you wish to pursue research in Algorithms, you be better off at Duke than UW-Madison. Here's what I found on Duke's site -

The algorithms group, rated among the best nationally, makes leading contributions in computational geometry and topology, data analysis, data structures, approximation, online, and combinatorial algorithms, algorithms for database and data stream systems, high-performance computing, I/O-efficiency for external memory, geographic information systems (GIS), and nanotechnology systems and structural biology.

I personally wouldn't care about the rankings.
Given the shortage of high-tech workers and scientists in US, biggies like Microsoft, Google, Amazon etc. are hiring from lesser known universities too. I know of a girl who did her Masters in CS from UC Riverside and was hired by google.

http://www.urch.com/forums/graduate-...licants-6.html (Calling all CS grad school applicants)

[CalmLogic]

btw, a guy who got a 84th percentile on the GRECS got into a PhD program at UIUC:

For people, who are interested in apping for PhD, Subjective GRE is highly recommended. I scored 820 (84 percentile). Be careful while marking choices, even after you have eliminated 2 or 3 options (out of 5). I attempted 70/70 questions and got only 52 of them correct (thus getting 48/70). I learnt it the hard way that, all choices you think are not equally likey. A 95+ percentile at (54/70) in AGRE would certainly have made rejecting my application (by Stan and CMU) more difficult.

Coffee With Abhishek Verma - UIUC Phd Admit » Coffee With Sundar

(The cool thing about the MS program at UIUC is they seem to usually offer aid. I have no idea though what their average profile is like. Again, I would suggest looking at Edulix's profile page.)

I also wanted to know how to go about preparing for the CS Subject GRE exam.

Could anyone help me out?

The first step is to take the practice test in the ETS booklet. Then find your weak areas and focus on studying in those areas the most.

Basically, you want to practice like crazy. Solve as many problems in CS textbooks, online CS final exams (from course websites), online homework assignments, etc. as possible.
The GRECS exam is much harder than other subject tests (like the easy psychology subject test) since you need to solve problems, and, furthermore, there are wide range of problems that can be asked. It's the combintion of breath and depth that makes the exam kindof like a PhD qualifying exam.

To get an idea of what material to cover:

- Discrete Math by Rosen
- Introduction to Algorithms by Cormen, et. al. (Cormen's book is more like an encyclopedia than a textbook and it would be ineffective to read the whole book, so, for perspective, checkout free online textbooks like: Book , http://www.math.upenn.edu/~wilf/AlgoComp.pdf , and Sedgewick's lecture notes Index of /~rs/cs226/2002/lectures in addition to course websites)
- Introduction to the Theory of Computation by Sipser
- Computer Organization & Design by Patterson & Hennessy
- Operating Systems by Silberschatz
- a textbook on programming language theory, e.g. Concepts in Programming Languages, Programming Language Pragmatics or Essentials of Programming Languages, 2nd Edition, or course websites

Of course, there are also other textbooks that cover some of this same material, like books and lecture notes by Aho / Hopcroft / Ullman. For example, the dragon book.

The important thing about textbooks, though, is to solve problems. Just reading textbooks and study guides can give a false sense of security, just like just reading a mathbook is not going to make one do well on the Math Subject Text. (Basically, everything can give a false sense of security about this exam.)

My favorite study guide for the GRECS:
http://www.geocities.com/gre_compute.../gre-notes.pdf

For more study advice:
http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-compu...ct-gre-cs.html (Subject GRE CS)
http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-compu...t-studies.html (Advice on Independent studies)

[schrilax]

thanks a lot sire calmlogic.
first of all i bow to you for the information provided sir.

i wanted your views regarding some of the following:

taken from http://www.urch.com/forums/computer-...-expected.html (Help Selecting the right universities for MS(CS)-1430GRE,(100/120)TOEFL[min expected])

M.S. funding logic
If candidate fits profile and is exceptional: offer admission and funding
If candidate is strong but does not fit profile, but has enough money to attend for 1-semester so we can assess him during his 1st semester at no risk to us: offer admission without funding.
If candidate is strong but lacks certain things, and has no money to attend: do not offer admission at all. Too risky.
If candidate is weak: do not offer admission at all.

http://www.urch.com/forums/financial...k-loan-ms.html (Views on full bank loan for MS ...)

how true is this sire?
which category would i fall into in general?

My suggestion is to always go to the best possible university you can.
You can surely find some sort of funding at GaTech in the form of RA/TA's.
You can make up the money you lost for MS within 6 months after graduation.

http://www.urch.com/forums/admission...-decision.html (decision)

this is another argument sire.
how about this view?

There are a few kinds of financial support:
1) TA - Teaching Assistantship, you have to teach/facilitate a course
2) RA - Research Assistantship, you do research for a prof (this is usually rare)
3) Entrance scholarship (if they want to offer an incentive for you to accept their offer)
4) Graduate scholarship/Stipend (this one covers your living expenses)
5) Tuition-waiver (exemption from paying tuition)/

There are others (merit scholarships, external scholarships), but these are the main ones that are offered by universities.

Normally, a school offers you either (1) or (2), not both. If you're an exceptional candidate, they might offer you (3).
Some schools don't distinguish between (4) and (1) & (2). U.S. schools generally give out assistantships which pay enough to cover all expensese.
As for (5), this normally depends on the school. Some schools have what they call Half-TAships and Full TA-ships. A half-TA means you can TA one semester in a year, whereas a full-TA means you can TA two semesters. If you get a half-TA, normally you either get a half-tuition waiver or a full one.
Normally, when you get a TA-ship, the school will automatically give you a full tuition waiver. A half-TA will usually get you a partial tuition waiver. But this is highly department-specific, so you must check with the department you're applying to.

You are usually offered a RA/TA either:
1) upon acceptance
2) after acceptance, and after you have emailed some profs asking for free positions (if the school encourages you to do this)
3) after 1 semester of attending the school
It depends on the school, but normally a TA/RA income is enough for you to live on.

how sure can one be of getting of some kind of funding sire?
i really want to understand what kind of financial support we have to show to the universities?
case one in case we get some kind of TA/RA
case two in case we get no funding.
case three in case we get some kind of funding after the first semester

And as I said, in most U.S. schools, if you're offered a TA/RA, the tuition is usually automatically waived.

also i wanted to ask about the above? this seemed really interesting to me.
how often does this happen?

Financial aid in many schools are competitive, so you'll only get aid if you're among the best candidates in the pool.
The GREs can sometimes determine if you'll get aid or not. Depends on the school policy.

would the university tend to not even consider me for an RA/TA ship because I would have shown financial strength for an year anyway?

this is the first thing which struck my mind. please advise.

[schrilax]

It depends on the university's policy. If you're an M.S. student, they probably won't offer you an RA/TA ship in the first semester anyway. But once you're there, you can always apply for a TA-ship. They can't turn you down then.

http://www.urch.com/forums/financial...k-loan-ms.html (Views on full bank loan for MS ...)

how true is the above i.e. once i am there in the univ i can apply for a TA-ship and they cannot turn me down?

there are no guarantees about getting a TA-ship in the second semester either, so you must be prepared for that contingency.

http://www.urch.com/forums/financial...k-loan-ms.html (Views on full bank loan for MS ...)

this one is contradictory to the above one. i must admit i am pretty much confused.
could anyone provide any inputs..

[schrilax]

i did work regarding the research for univs which do work in my field of interest and came up with these two.
Computer Science Research Work being done at various Universities | AdmissionSync

Research being done in Top Engineering Programs | AdmissionSync


how accurate is the above data in general?
i know it is impossible to validate the whole stream of info in those links but i just wanted a picture in general.

can these be taken as reliable sources of information?