meneldur

But they are also paying a stipend, with which I will pay food, rent and everything. It is all stated in the I-20.

Great, Another thing: the visa instruction website insist that we must bring proof of financial background, such as bank statements and so on. Since the university is offering me full tuition waiver and a stipend in the form of a graduate assistantship, I assume I dont have to worry about getting these documents right? In the DS-156 they also ask who is going to pay for my trip. Well, I am. Do I have to bring proof that I can afford the ticket? Thanks again

Hi everyone, I am going after an F-1 visa (my I-20 is here already) and I have a few questions concerning filling the DS forms: - In question 24 of form DS-156 "At what address will you be staying in the US"?, I havent found housing yet, what should I put here? - In question 25 of form DS-156 "Name and telephone number of person in US who you will be staying with. I am not staying with anyone, so what should I put here? - All the forms (DS-157 and 158 especially) ask about current and past employers. Well, I have always been a student so I was never employed. Should I leave these fields blank? Thanks a lot!

Computer Science Specialties: Theory Ranked in 2006* 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2. Stanford University (CA) 3. University of California–Berkeley 4. Cornell University (NY) 5. Princeton University (NJ) 6. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 7. Harvard University (MA) 8. Columbia University (NY) 9. Georgia Institute of Technology 10. University of Washington 11. University of Texas–Austin 12. University of Chicago 13. University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 14. University of California–San Diego 15. Yale University (CT) 16. Brown University (RI) 17. University of Wisconsin–Madison 18. California Institute of Technology 19. Duke University (NC) University of Pennsylvania 21. Rutgers State University–New Brunswick (NJ) 22. University of Maryland–College Park University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Computer Science Specialties: Programming Language Ranked in 2006* 1. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 2. Stanford University (CA) University of California–Berkeley 4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5. Cornell University (NY) 6. University of Washington 7. Princeton University (NJ) 8. Rice University (TX) University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 10. University of Wisconsin–Madison 11. University of Pennsylvania 12. Harvard University (MA) Yale University (CT) 14. University of Texas–Austin 15. University of Maryland–College Park 16. Indiana University–Bloomington 17. University of California–Los Angeles University of California–San Diego 19. Columbia University (NY)

Computer Science Specialties: Systems Ranked in 2006* 1. University of California–Berkeley 2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 3. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 4. Stanford University (CA) 5. University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 6. University of Washington 7. University of Wisconsin–Madison 8. University of Texas–Austin 9. University of California–San Diego 10. Princeton University (NJ) 11. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 12. Cornell University (NY) 13. Georgia Institute of Technology University of California–Los Angeles 15. Rice University (TX) 16. Purdue University–West Lafayette (IN) University of Maryland–College Park 18. University of Massachusetts–Amherst 19. California Institute of Technology 20. Columbia University (NY) University of Southern California 22. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill 23. Harvard University (MA) 24. University of Pennsylvania Computer Science Specialties: Artificial Intelligence Ranked in 2006* 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2. Stanford University (CA) 3. Carnegie Mellon University (PA) 4. University of California–Berkeley 5. University of Washington 6. University of Texas–Austin 7. University of Pennsylvania 8. University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign 9. University of Maryland–College Park 10. Cornell University (NY) 11. University of Massachusetts–Amherst 12. Georgia Institute of Technology University of Michigan–Ann Arbor 14. University of Southern California 15. Columbia University (NY) University of California–Los Angeles 17. Brown University (RI) 18. Yale University (CT) 19. University of California–San Diego 20. University of Wisconsin–Madison

Thank you for your opinions! But I am curious as to in what ways Purdue's CS department is bigger than gatech 's College of Computing. I mean, is you use the number of faculty as a criteria, gatech's College of Computing seems to be much bigger than Purdue's CS dep. What does "size" mean? Cheers!

Yes it was reversed (big mess), but I am inclined towards gatech... BTW, any info on Purdue's CS deparment, the university in general and living in W. Lafayette would also be very welcome, especially if you are studying/have studied there. Thanks a lot!

I was admitted by both. My area is systems security. Leaving aside financial aid issues (assume they are equal), what would you people reccomend? I especially would like to hear from people who have attended/are attending one or both of these schools. Thanks!

Hi! The notification came in Feb 28th as an acceptance letter via e-mail. They offered me full tuition waiver and an assistantship from one of their research departments. No fellowship, it's a RA/TA. It looks like I get to choose if I want a RA or TA later on. My profile is: BSc w/ honors, GPA (non-convertible to US system) 0.9/1 - 1st in class MSc in progress, GPA 3.84/4 TOEFL: 297 (essay 6.0) TSE: 55 GRE: 790Q, 630V, 6.0A AGRE (Computer Science): 810 (81%) Three years research experience Five publications: three in national conferences, one in national journal, one in international IEEE conference

W/ full aid (assisntantship). It's been a long road, but I made it! YEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

Still waiting to hear from CMU, gatech and Purdue. I applied only to these three. Just checked at Purdue's application status website: Application Denied. I guess I don't even have to wait for the other two....

Haven't heard anything so far... According to the gradcafe the first two already sent some initial admits and I am a little concerned about this. Do they usually send all the admits at the same time or is it scattered? What about rejections? Not hearing anything from them up to this moment means I will get a rejection? If anyone has applied to one of these schools for the PhD CS program, and could share any information, it would help a lot. Thanks!

Sorry about that, ish. But maybe it was for the best, who knows. I am still waiting for PhD CS results for CMU, gatech and Purdue. But hey, at least you got the result! Waiting is the most agonizing part.

Hey, I think it's a bit too early for us to jump to pessimist conclusions. Pranky, did you apply to the M.Sc or the PhD program in CS? Yeah, that would surely help...people, please say to which program you are applying (MS or PHD) when posting you message.

I really hate this waiting period. I was fine in Dec/Jan, since I didn't expect results to arrive that early, but now that the time has come, every time a new message arrives in my mailbox my stomach twists :P Has anyone phoned or e-mailed Purdue CS to query about the status of the application review? At the moment, any kind of news would be welcome...

Yes, my application for Purdue PhD CS also shows "Under Review". However, http://www.thegradcafe.com shows that they have already sent at least one acceptance notification to some lucky guy. BTW, their website states notifications will be sent "between Feb 15 and Apr 15". Well, today is Feb 15 :) so I guess it's time :)

I am experiencing the same situation (PhD CS - 3 top univs), but I also have to finish my Master's dissertation in two months so I really don't have the time to worry about the admissions results :). It really helps if you channel your thoughts to something else rather than the outcome of the admissions. Then, when you least expect, results will arrive. Being worried about the outcome doesnt help either. It will not affect the outcome of the admission process in any way, so it's an irrational and therefore unnecessary pain. I know all of this is MUCH easier said than done, but it helps to think about these ideas once in a while.

When should we expect acceptance/rejection notifications? They usually say "between Feb. and Apr." but I thought that perhaps someone with previous experience in this process could give us a more exact estimative. Thanks!

I can't wait to know the results too, but really, isn't it too early, guys? For those top school with December 15th deadlines, when should we expect the results to be sent? Is there any chance they might be sent in January?

Hi, I asked ETS to send my Computer Science AGRE score report to Purdue with department code 0000 (that is, no department code), since the score database is centralized there. For some bizarre reason, however, they sent it instead to dep code 5199 (meaning "all other departments not listed"). Should I be concerned about the CS department not getting my score report? I am having trouble trying to reach them. Thanks

I got 810, percentile 81% I am very disapointed, since I expected at least 90% and I am applying to top schools. I knew I could have done a lot better. I messed up many easy questions.

I think I managed to get 85%. Not sure if I achieved my goal of 90-95% though...I screwed up some easy questions on Nov 12th exam. Any chance ETS releases the score via phone before Dec 14th?

Hi, I am not a "TSE expert" and I agree with your points. Giving an "expert" opinion on the TSE was not my intention, and perhaps I expressed myself wrongly. All I wanted was to give my personal impression of the exam and show from personal experience how it is possible to achieve high scores without worring so much about timing/structure/content of the answer. This just shows that TSE raters give a greater weight to your fluency and your pronunciation than to the way you organize and time your answer. Some of my answers were truly chaotic in organization, but I did get the message through. Timing and structure certainly can help a TSE testtaker, but perhaps, when preparing for the test, the priority should be placed in pronunciation and fluency training, since, apparently, that's what counts the most. (BTW, I believe I answered two or three questions in 40 seconds and perhaps other two or three in 45 seconds. Thus, generally, I used a lot less time than I could)

Oh yes, and I also totally misinterpreted the story question....

October 15th exam. My first time. I needed only 50 but ended up with 55! I didn't get to finish my answers in two of the questions and in other two my answer ended about 20 seconds before the time. I also made some confusion with the last question (flowchart) and I absolutely did NOT use that Introduction->Argumentation->Conclusion structure in any of the questions. I answered them as I felt appropriate and as espontaneously as possible. However, my pronunciation is almost as good as an american's and I rarely make oral mistakes. Bottom-line: what really matters is your pronunciation and fluency, not the timing/content of you answer! That's why studying the contents of the test before rarely helps (I didn't).