Ph.D. in CS at Columbia

Graduate School
1

<p>I’m a student at a 20+ ranked Liberal Arts college with majors in Computer Science and Mathematics. I’m applying for a Ph.D. in CS at Columbia and am curious about my chances.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.8 (Higher in CS)
GRE Scores: 610V (88%), 770Q (87%), 5.0W (81%) (Haven’t taken the CS Subject Test yet)
-Worked as a TA for all four years of undergrad and am now the head Teaching Assistant for Computer Science (got an accompanying award), managing a staff of TAs.
-Did summer research this year for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), focusing on Information Assurance. One publication is in the works but it will not be finished before graduation.
-Worked at a game development studio developing software and managing a programming team last summer.
-Letters of recommendation will be good: One from the head of the CS department, one from my CS advisor, one from the person I worked for in the AFRL, one possibly from my Math advisor or another Math professor.
-Meeting with a professor from Columbia soon to discuss research.</p>

<p>Columbia is my top choice, but here are the other schools I’m applying to for a Ph.D. (with ranks):</p>

<p>Princeton University (6)
University of California–Los Angeles (13)
University of Maryland–College Park (13)
University of Massachusetts–Amherst (20)
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (20)
University of Pennsylvania (20)
University of Southern California (20)
Drexel University (?) - Safety</p>

<p>I’m concerned about the CS Subject GRE since I’m not coming from a tech school, and I know being “well-rounded” won’t help me too much for a Ph.D. program. Still, any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!</p>

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<p>Hi, you have a similar profile to my daughter. Your grades are higher, her V and W are higher. She did not take the subject test. Her degree was in Mathematics and Computer Science. She also TA’d 2 years and has pretty good research, looks like more than you (one project lasted over 1-1/2 years), one publication in the works. I am curious what area you are interested in studying? She is 1st year in CS Theory at UW Madison. Her application was pretty specific in that.</p>

<p>I don’t think anyone can really chance you for grad school. You sound solid. Of course, many qualified people do not get in. I understand that last year was particularly difficult, and schools like UW-Madison had record levels of applicants. I wouldn’t get my heart set on one school. The funding situation has also been difficult and she knows of many accepted without funding, although some work it out later. </p>

<p>She applied to the first 3 on your list and was accepted to 2 of those. Pretty sure she applied and not accepted to Columbia. I think UMass was on the list but I don’t recall she actually applied in the end. Otherwise there is no overlap. She was mostly targeting specific professors doing work in the areas of interest with a few super reaches in the mix. She didn’t get accepted to her safety.</p>

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<p>ten characters</p>

4

<p>My guess is that scores and grades won’t matter as much as the list of CS courses you’ve taken – how rigorous they were and how you did in them – plus the nature of your research paper, and of course the LORs from CS professors.</p>