Hi...first i would like to thank you for regularly posting on blogs and helping people like us who want to get into US.
I am currently in my final year of computer science and engineering. My scores are not way too good, my aggregate till now is 63%. I want to do a MS from a good university. By good , I mean top 50 universities. So, what else should i do to compensate for
my relatively lesser grades?. Actually, I am interested in Phd and research but, it is too time consuming and money is the major factor here to think about. So, at first I am going to complete my MS.
Also, considering the future, which is the most feasible field to choose for MS. I am particularly interested in Data mining, computer architecture and design, operating systems and machine learning. Other interests include artificial intelligence and nanotechnology. So which should i choose, or should i go for a generic degree in ECE?. I dream of working at google/Nvidia.
I have been a constant reader of IEEE papers and some works of professors from Berkeley and MIT. I also am thinking of some research ideas , but I need to get into one of the top 50 universities so as to make the best out of my career. So do let me
know your thoughts about this.
thanks
Harsh
Thanks for visiting my blog Harsh. I'm glad that I could help you in any way. You do sound pretty well-informed about most things. I think you should be able to make it into a top 50 university. 63% is a respectable score for at least the University of Pune.
For a job at Google, data mining & operating systems probably are good areas of specialization. Google is working on Google Android actively, and pushing it into both the netbook and cellphone markets. So that is definitely a growth area for their company. I personally feel voice recognition (or natural language processing) is also a good area to be in. Microsoft made some announcements yesterday about how they imagine the computing world will be like 10 years from now. They talked about how we will all have personal assistants. If you've heard of a service called GOOG-411, it allows users to conduct searches providing voice input. Image Processing is probably a good expertise for them to deal with all those images for Google Maps.
NVIDIA
For a job at NVIDIA, computer architecture, VLSI design, operating systems, compilers are good areas of research. A big growth area for NVIDIA is CUDA. It is an API/Architecture for parallel computing, which exposes a C extension allowing users to execute parallel tasks on the GPU. On some apps users have reported a speed-up by a factor of 100. Even Intel is trying to get users to program for multi-core, which is a big area for research.
To improve your odds
- Like I have said in the past paper presentation contests, extra projects are a good way to get an edge over others. Academic scores are important but you can compensate at least a little by displaying some practical usage of your skills.
- For a computer science major, if you could come up with a simple idea for something like a useful website, a CUDA based application speeding up something simple like JPEG encoding or video encoding, contributing to some open source project like Linux are good ways to get an edge over your competition.
- If you are reading at least some IEEE journals you already have a head start.
Other pointers
- These are just my opinions.
- You'll have to focus on a couple of aims for now or at least focus on one aim for your applications. When you are at the university you can try out a few different fields and then choose what interests you. For applications I think it is best to express interest in one area.
- Just a pointer, if you do plan to go for a PhD you'll have to do an MS thesis. Keep in mind that if you transfer from one university to another for your PhD, all your MS credits may not get counted.
- Nanotechnology is a little bit of a hard-sell for CS majors because it is at the boundary of Electrical Engineering and Physics for most parts. It may not be the best use of your CS skills.
Posts
8 comments:
Hey man thanks that advice was very helpful. Anyway, Now i have a clear aim of what i should be doing. As for the open source idea you mentioned my BE project itself is open source based on eclipse platform and CSA(common services architecture) and it affiliated to Sungard Technology Services,India. I work at the company under the senior project manager here , so it is a sort of internship. Maybe this could also help
I have participated in couple of paper presentation contests and i am working on publishing a couple of papers this year which will give a huge boost for my applications for universities. All this thanks to your blogs which i read constantly.
For linux projects I have an idea of crypting NFS based calls which are currently in plain text , but I am not getting enough time to implement it due to other work load.
If you remember , while in fergusson you had a friend named Mandar Acharya. He added you on orkut a few weeks ago. He's my cousin brother.
Anyway, thanks buddy for the help. Keep up the good work. Will keep posting.
Cheers!! ..
Awesome! You've done a lot already. You did all the heavy lifting. Talk is cheap they say, action is...
Thanks for posting the comment. You made my day. :) At least one person benefited from my advice. I remember Mandar.
hey bro.. I have finalised my field of interest for MS. I would like to do in Parallel processing / computer architecture. I am also interested in some parts related to electrical engineering like VLSI design and chip design .
The CUDA stuff you mentioned is awesome. I downloaded all the required material like SDK, programming guide, etc. and I have started learning how to program CUDA. I did some sample examples like FFT, matrix multiplication etc. ( I run the programs at my friends place, I cant afford to buy Nvidia 8 series GPU worth 40,000rs bucks :) ) If I am successful I will be able to implement the JPEG encoding algorithm using CUDA to optimize the encoding. I found some material related to this on the internet.
My 7th semester score is 70%(which makes aggregate 65%). So to sum it up I have 2 open source projects in my bag(1 on linux), 2 paper presentation competion (tried to mention ideas to improve linux and yesterday i gave one on issues in parallel processing and solutions),Read IEEE papers constantly, BE project affiliated to a MNC.
Now the only thing remains is publishing a paper. I have the ideas in my head but i need guidance and some co-opearitng team members, which i dont have . This is what is creating problems for me. I want to publish it in ACM library , but i dont know if my ideas are worth it.
So at the end what is your verdict?. Will I be able to get into top universities like UW, Illinois, georgia-tech etc?. Consider a GRE score in the range 1300-1400 and TOEFL 105.
Thanks again mate, you rock
cheers!!!
Hard to say really. But you should definitely apply. I hope they see that you have worked hard on this. Good luck!
hhmmm.... I would take that as a No. It wouldn't be wise to rely on Luck and other variables for admissions. Today,the topper from my class got rejected from Georgia-tech. He had 71% throughout and is topper for all 4 years. GRE score 1250. So I guess I should take my GRE score till 1500+.
I don't want to settle for universities below top 20.
Thanks mate ..lets see what happens.
Cheers!!
Universities are really fickle I think. Couple of years ago I had heard that Gatech admitted a lot of people. This year things might have changed.
No I didn't mean it quite that way. Finally you should apply to some dream schools, some reasonable apps, some safe bets. Wisconsin should be a reasonable app for you. UIUC is a dream school.
okay will do the same. I have to think on multiple factors here. Finance is the major concern. ECE program for UW-Madison is pretty costly. Unless I get some aid I don't think it is possible.
I checked out their website and they have good paying on-campus jobs. For eg. theres an opening for database manager which pays around 1000$ per month. This is good money. But then, how do they evaluate individuals for the position. Are my current undergraduate database skills enough for the post or should i develop professional level skills like experienced people?.
Also, do let me know some other means of financial aid so that i can have a positive mindset.
Rest all fine. I think Americans, in general, are fickle. 6 months ago they were cheering and supporting Obama and now most of them have begun to snide.
Post a Comment