arronnie

I apologise if this thread sounds a bit silly, but I have never been involved in a holistic admission procedure in my life. I am from India, where admission basically means you have to rank ahead of students in a standardised, all India level test.

I am currently doing my bachelors in information technology and have this obsession of doing my MS in computer science from a top university after I'm done with my graduation. I have always been a good, although not a model student, throughout my life. Calculated GPA would usually hover around 3.70 and class rank in the top 10% for sure. Extracurricular involves quizzes and clubs and the like, nothing major or highly noteworthy.

I would like to know what top colleges (here, I mean MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, etc. - all for Computer Science) will look for in an applicant. Is it the GRE score? Is it the academic performance? Is it the extracurriculars as well? Would a lack of extracurriculars hurt a potential applicant?

Momwaitingfornew

First, you must check with graduate schools to determine whether a bachelor's degree from India is sufficient for admissions. Some countries have educational systems that do not equal a four year degree in the US, so a master's degree is also required, even for admittance into a master's degree program in the US.

Next, graduate school admissions is not holistic, although it's not driven by standardized scores, either. Except in the case of medical school (where volunteer and extracurriculars matter) and business school (where work experience is critical), most concentrate on the student's past research, grades, and letters of recommendation from professors. They also look at the applicant's statement of purpose (sometimes called a "personal statement") that acts as a narrative to show how the student prepared for graduate school and how his/her interests developed; they look for "fit," evidence that the student's research interests will mesh with the department's work. Extracurriculars, unless they directly relate to the field, are irrelevant. They have no bearing on admissions the way they do for undergraduate education.

GRE scores act as qualifiers -- that is, they won't get you admitted, but they can be low enough that the department believes you might be a bad academic risk. Usually, as long as you fall within the range for that school, the program will seriously discuss your application. High scores guarantee you nothing. Low scores might keep your application from being read, especially at top programs that receive many applications.

I suggest that you read the thread Graduate Admissions 101 for some great advice about how to navigate the US system.

arronnie

Thanks for that Very helpful post.

molliebatmit

Many people have found this PDF to be a useful resource for applying to PhD programs in CS. It's a talk the author gave to undergraduate CS majors at Carnegie Mellon.

wis75

Just read that pdf- excellent read even for other fields. Also good to send to parents to show them what grad school apps are all about.