CalmLogic

And ISU is way more selective. It is very hard to get a MSCS admit to ISU. Congrats.

This is a no-brainer, at least if you have read some of the older posts in this forum. A MSCS at USC is not necessarily impressive at all since they are not very selective in their admissions. So I would prefer any PhD program at Purdue over that. The USNews ranking you are referring to is for PhD programs only. Amazingly, USC's CS department doesn't even handle MSCS admissions anymore since they have "sold out." Regarding funding, which you did not ask about, you have a much better chance at Purdue than USC. For example, years ago, someone reportedly left USC as a MSCS student and went to the Florida Institute of Technology because he couldn't get any funding at USC. Since then, the situation seems to have only gotten worse. USC's MSCS program seems to be focused on bringing in cash rather than selectively admitting a smaller number of students. I assume you already know some of this already since USC is considered a safety school for MSCS admissions.

And, on the negative side, another problem with lower-ranked Indian universities is that they seem less likely to help with the cost of conference expenses. I think in the last year, someone posted in this forum saying he was accepted to a good conference but could not afford to go. And his co-author (his professor at an Indian university) was not willing or able to go either.

Improving your profile at a relatively minimal cost in India does sound good, especially if you could get published at a decent conference like IEEE or ACM. What do you have to lose that way, anyway? In other words, how much is the tuition in India (your home country?) in US dollars? With getting a masters in the US, the financial pressure can be very stressful, even for American citizens with low-interest loans. So it's good you are interested in Europe since they seem more likely to fund a MS. But for a PhD, I would, of course, go to the US since you can easily get funding if accepted to a decent program and the US still has better job opportunities than Europe (I assume). Of course, I am biased since I am a US citizen.

Grad school tends to take up a lot of time :)

Thianks for the update and congrats about Georgetown. Generally speaking, I would avoid UPenn's MCIT program like the plague, especially in this economic environment. It seems way overpriced for what you get. Then again, I'm biased towards programs that are less professional and more academic in nature since academic programs are generally more conducive to getting a PhD later on.

Based on my own personal experience taking the exam, it's very hard to get a higher score. So I don't think your GRECS score would improve much anyway. Therefore, taking the math subject test seems like a good idea since I assume you are taking some good CS courses during your MSc and you are correct that math can be more relevant than architecture, etc. for CS fields like AI and machine learning.

According to previous discussions on this issue, there are no consequences.

Personally, I don't think there needs to be a major difference -- other than the obvious fact you will be there a lot less time and so may not be able to get a TA or RA position. Other than time, there's nothing to stop a MS student from writing a PhD-quality thesis or getting published multiple times. Certainly, it seems rather common in this forum for a MS student to say he plans on getting a PhD later on.

If your professor allows you to work in groups, then ask a fellow classmate and cite your classmate as a reference. Otherwise, your professor may not want you asking for info on the Internet.

It is very hard to get into UT Austin. I"m sure you know that, but I doubt you fully realize how hard it is. Even if you got an undergrad CS degree from UIUC or UT Austin, the odds could still be against you. Funding does not seem to be a problem there since no one has mentioned any concerns like that. So the only problem seems to be getting admitted. Since it seems you are not from a big-name school, I would have very grave doubts about your chances at UT Austin (unless there is something very exceptional in your profile regarding CS research you have done, which does not seem to be the case). On the positive side, you have more work experience than most applicants. That will help you at places where you have a good shot already. As far as where you have a good shot of being accepted, I don't know but it's a numbers game -- apply to as many places as possible. Even UT Dallas is more selective than they may seem: http://www.www.urch.com/forums/gre-computer-science/128868-anyone-getting-reafy-april-test.html

Your profile is better than I expected. I remember a former member of TestMagic got rejected from GA Tech and some other places, so he was even wondering if SUNY Baffalo would accept him. Of course, they did accept him, as did Penn State. So he was fine and went to Penn State. Before he got his acceptances, I suggested that he exercise more or socialize more to reduce the stress :D

I guess that confirms that UT Dallas isn't really a "safety school." Do you have your profile posted somewhere, either in this forum or elsewhere? Personally, my experience with retaking the GRECS is that my score has been relatively stable, even after taking 3 graduate courses in CS. My score did not improve at all after I took a graduate course in Algorithms, a graduate course in Operating Systems, and, not importantly, a graduate course in software verification. Having said that, I am taking the GRECS again in April because it's now become a hobby and a way to prepare for eventually taking a PhD qualifying exam.

Isn't the exam offered only in November in your country?

A major problem is that there is no way to know how well you can do on the exam, and studying for even 2+ years may only raise your score by 50 points since there is no substitute for natural ability and previous years of academic rigor. Regarding CalTech, even 90+ percentile would probably not be enough for them. You would need research experience, accolades, etc. In the top 10, the best chance you have is GA Tech. So I would suggest searching Google, LinkedIn, etc. to find out who at GA Tech is from your university and what kind of profile they have.