gdrock

hey kzaman, i m a PhD student at UCSD. i guess ur choice should b based on the following factors: 1. faculty in ur reearch area: look up at their profiles and recent publications (how many in top most confs in ur area, any best papers etc). i guess at UCSD jhala, lerner, ferrante etc r doing some real good work in ur area. 2. form of aid: u must give preference to fellowship unless u r dead sure about the prof whom u wanna work with (if u hv an RA with him). it is not uncommon for ur research interests to change on entering grad school. 3. dont go by rankings. UCSD faculty strength has about doubled in last 5 yrs...it is a very progressive school going up on the curve. in contrast UIUC is an established powerhouse. i know ppl here who gave up schools like UIUC, UMich, UT Austin etc. there mite b ppl who dumped UCSD to go there as well. what i mean is that other factors r much more imp that USNews 2002 rankings. in the end it's ur choice...both r great schools and u r in a win-win situation :tup:. hope this helps.

when ppl say BITS, they refer to BITS, Pilani. infact now there are multiple campusus of BITS plilani as well (in dubai and goa). but the original BITS Plilani is located in Pilani Rajasthan, India. It is very prestigious and considered to be in the I tier along with the IITs. BIT Messra is a separate institute altogether and is good as well, but i guess cannot be compared to BITS Pilani. It does not fall in the I tier.

check ur pm inbox!!

ur list looks fine. on choosing for 3, 7 & 8 u shud primarily look into ur interests and choose the school better aligned. purely on reputation i wud suggest umich for 3. good luck.

sakib, u should not relate ranking of a university to it's selectivity. in my personal opinion amongst the top 30 CS schools the safest bets (for MS) should be USC and Stony Brook. mind u both r very good CS schools. they mite b safer than UCSB, RPI or UFL. U mite consider Univ of Utah to b safe as well. if u go a little back then u mite consider UIC, SUNY-Buffalo and ASU as safe bets. Rest of the univs in the top 50 in my opinion r more selective than these. hope this info helps!!

I second that. I faced a similar situation and now I am heading to the better University. I feel that we sometimes give over importance to such a situation. Such things are so normal for the ppl out there. When I mailed the grad secy to decline the offer, I honestly explained her the situation, how I cud better relate to the research in the other University (I dint even mention the name!). She was more than understanding and wished me good luck for my future. The question of ethics does not come up since when you accepted the previous offer you dint have this choice. Now that you have it, you shud be pragmatic about it. Ppl in US being thoroughly professional understand this. The bottomline is be confident, honest and professional!!

thanx thunderbolt!!

gforce, i did not take CS AGRE.

thanx thunderbolt!! u mean to say u received a snail mail frm the graduate office or an email notification in 2nd week of april? even i hope it's a formality :)

Thanx ChoBaka...i hope i eventually go there...lots of formalities still left!! gforce i am an international applicant...my credentials in brief are: GRE : 2240 (old format) acads: 75% (we had an absolute %age system) research exp (i guess this helped) : 3 yrs of work ex with an MNC in embedded systems (my research interest). 1 international conference paper and 2 patents pending. Frankly speaking i dint have an idea that UCSD was this good before applying. I saw the USNews ranking of CS deptts and I believe it was something like 20. But feedback from you ppl makes me feel real good :)!! Where are you all heading to this fall?? Thanx

thanx gforce and nistha!! ur reply makes me feel better. someone told me that at UCSD CS deptt is fast while the graduate studies deptt is pretty slow. i hope it eventually works out in my favor:). btw anyone else heading for UCSD this fall?

thanx for ur replies and wishes. i specifically want to know one thing. i have received what the department calls a recommendation for admission to the office of graduate studies. in form of financial aid they have offered me fellowship for the first year (first 9 months to be precise). however i havent yet heard anything from the office of graduate studies. i wud like to know what is the probability of being rejected by the office of graduate studies after being recommended by the department!! i have not received confirmation from they as yet and am a bit worried about it!! does anyone know about this. if u have an idea then pls do let me know. thanx in advance.

no one going to UCSD?? i had seen some posts here where a few ppl were talking about ucsd. pls respond!!

hello frnds, just 2 days back i have received an email from the CS department at UCSD notifying that i have been admitted to their phd program. has anyone else on this forum received call from UCSD for CS (MS or PhD)? i need some urgent help and advice!! thanx in advance

Hi All, I am new to this forum. I am in a big fix and 15th of april is just round the corner. I have admit with full aid for phd in CS from: 1. University of Utah 2. Suny Stony Brook 3. University of Pittsburgh My primary interest is in the field of systems and architecture. I have explored the research work in all these 3 univs in great detail but the more I do it the more I tend to get confused. Do help me out guys....your valuable opinion is required!!!