Does PhD pedigree matter?

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 Choosing a School for PhD

This post is inspired in large part by discussion over at Cosmic Variance about the importance of choice of particular graduate school and pedigree effect. Two extreme points of view are: a) pedigree matters a great deal, having a top school name on your resume will enhance your chances of getting a job and b) pedigree effect is non-existent, and if you are smart and do good science, it doesn’t matter where your degree is from. Additional discussion centered on issue of difficulty of “upward” mobility – which means that most people tend to get positions down the ranking ladder from their PhD institutions, not up.
It’s of course difficult to do proper “controlled” measure of pedigree effect – maybe students selected by top program would do just as well in lower ranked programs, who knows.
So let’s ask a different question – how many of the academic jobs in top research universities go to PhDs from the top programs? Ideally one would want to focus on recent hires only, looking at entire faculty makeup means integrating over the past50 or 60 years, with a big hiring spike in sputnik/cold war years. One way to address this issue is to look only at associate and assistant professors, which typically represent recent hires. Another, possibly better, way is to limit by the years of PhD (say count only PhDs obtained past 1995), but it involves more work. I spent about 4 hours compiling the data, and not sure I want to spend much more on this, even though it is a lot of fun and I am a sucker for playing with numbers.
So here’s the statistics, and I will criticize methods later – AIP graduate program listings, which I believe are compiled in 2005-2006 list 636 professors in the top 50 institutions (I used NRC’95 rankings) in associate or assistant rank. Typically their PhD years span about 12-15 year period from about 1990 till ~2003-2004. 162 of them have foreign PhDs (more on that later) and 472 held PhDs from US. More than half of those hires have PhDs from just 8 institutions: Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Berkeley, Chicago, Stanford, Caltech and Cornell. The effect is larger than I expected, but perhaps not completely unexpected.
Below are the institutions that have 3 or more PhD graduates among 636 assistant/associate rank professors in the top 50 physics programs:

Harvard University Princeton University MIT Univ. of California-Berkeley University of Chicago Stanford University CALTECH Cornell University University of Michigan Columbia University University of Minnesota Univ of California-San Diego Univ of CA-Santa Barbara Univ of Il Urbana-Champaign University of Washington Yale University SUNY-Stony Brook University of Texas at Austin Univ of Wisconsin-Madison Johns Hopkins University University of Pennsylvania University of Rochester Univ of California-Los Angeles Univ of Maryland College Park Northwestern University Rice University University of Colorado Boston University Indiana University Rutgers -New Brunswick Brandeis University Duke University Purdue University

42 39 34 32 29 28 26 22 14 13 11 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 7 7 7 6 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3

Foreign degrees are more scattered all over the world, but here’s some strong contributors:

MoscowCambridgeOxford Munich Toronto Vienna Warsaw

15128 8 8 3 3

Top 10 universities contribute 59% of US PhD hires, those ranked 11-20 provide another 18%, the next ten ranked 21-30 provide 10%, and ALL of the remaining US universities contribute remaining 12% or so.

More charts like:

Percentage of PhDs that goes on to become faculty at top 50 universities.

Comparison ranking in terms of total PhD hires and ranking of USNews and NRC.

and the complete article is available at Incoherently Scattered Ponderings

Technorati Tags: Harvard University, Princeton University, MIT, Univ. of California-Berkeley, University of Chicago, Stanford University, CALTECH, Cornell University, University of Michigan, Columbia University, University of Minnesota, University of California-San Diego, University of CA-Santa Barbara, University of Ilinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Washington, Yale University, SUNY-Stony Brook, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Maryland College Park, Northwestern University, Rice University, University of Colorado, Boston University, Indiana University, Rutgers -New Brunswick, Brandeis University, Duke University, Purdue University, Oxford University, Cambridge University

LiveJournal Tags: Harvard University, Princeton University, MIT, Univ. of California-Berkeley, University of Chicago, Stanford University, CALTECH, Cornell University, University of Michigan, Columbia University, University of Minnesota, University of California-San Diego, University of CA-Santa Barbara, University of Ilinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Washington, Yale University, SUNY-Stony Brook, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Maryland College Park, Northwestern University, Rice University, University of Colorado, Boston University, Indiana University, Rutgers -New Brunswick, Brandeis University, Duke University, Purdue University, Oxford University, Cambridge University

The Times Higher World University Rankings 2007

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Rank 2007	Rank 2006	Institute	Country
1 2= 2= 2= 5 6 7= 7= 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20= 20= 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33= 33= 33= 36 37 38= 38= 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51= 51= 53= 53= 55= 55= 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65= 65= 67 68 69 70 71= 71= 73 74= 74= 76 77= 77= 79 80= 80= 82 83 84 85= 85= 85= 88 89 90= 90= 92 93= 93= 95 96 97= 97= 99 100 101 102= 102= 102= 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112= 112= 114= 114= 114= 117= 117= 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126= 126= 128 129 130= 130= 132= 132= 134 135 136 137= 137= 139 140= 140= 142= 142= 144 145 146 147 148 149= 149= 151= 151= 151= 154 155= 155= 157 158 159= 159= 161= 161= 163= 163= 165 166= 166= 168= 168= 170 171= 171= 173= 173= 175= 175= 177= 177= 177= 180= 180= 182 183 184 185= 185= 187 188= 188= 190 191 192= 192= 194 195= 195= 197= 197= 199 200= 200=	12 3 4=  9 10 7 11 25 4= 12 21 13 26 23 16 19= 33= 6 35= 15 8 33= 46= 29= 18 22 37 42 40 35= 54= 50= 45 19= 14 64= 50= 29= 28 31 24 38 41 27 =70 66 69 43 46= 63 32 58= 78 84 79= 73 44 17 58= 96 105= 86 111= 90= 98 82= 102= 61= 85 61= 111= 77 56 124= 109= 88 127 111= 121 141= 53 81 90= 60 116= 87 176 95 99= 118 102= 54= 181= 48= 170= 133= 145 141= 116= 139 102= 108 168= 39 122 211= 155 132 130= 172= 128= 204= 126 75 79= 141= 64= 101 219= 105= 150= 76 141= 180 105= 215= 119 133= 194 67 198= 93= 224= 226= 128= 195 232= 282= 198= 109= 187= 170= 219= 153 149 228= 97 154 99= 133= 123 147= 165= 165= 152 72 140 163 130= 120 48= 92 179 201= 266= 138 156= 82= 291 238 222= 207= 232= 124= 284= 448= 219= 215= 190= 158= 172= 197 161= 239= 115 252= 333= 177 258= 255= 172= 74 190= 137 192= 147= 181= 196 257 146	Harvard University of Cambridge University of Oxford Yale University Imperial College London Princeton University CALTECH University of Chicago University College London MIT Columbia University McGill University Duke University University of Penn Johns Hopkins Univ Australian National Univ University of Tokyo University of Hong Kong Stanford University Carnegie Mellon University Cornell University University of California, Berkeley University of Edinburgh King’s College London Kyoto University Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris University of Melbourne Ecole Polytechnique Northwestern University University of Manchester University of Sydney Brown University University of British Columbia University of Queensland National University of Singapore Peking University University of Bristol Chinese University of Hong Kong University of Michigan Tsinghua University University of California, LA ETH Zurich Monash University University of New South Wales University of Toronto Osaka University Boston University University of Amsterdam New York University University of Auckland Seoul National University University of Texas at Austin Hong Kong University of Sc & Tech Trinity College Dublin University of Washington University of Wisconsin-Madison University of Warwick University of California, San Diego London School of Economics Heidelberg University Katholieke Universiteit Leuven University of Adelaide Delft University of Technology University of Western Australia University of Birmingham Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität  M Technische Universität München University of Sheffield Nanyang Technological University University of Nottingham Dartmouth College Uppsala University University of Illinois Emory University University of York University of St Andrews University of Pittsburgh Purdue University University of Maryland University of Leeds University of Southampton Vanderbilt University University of Glasgow Leiden University Case Western Reserve Univ Fudan University University of Vienna Queen’s University Utrecht University Pen State University Tokyo Institute of Tech Rice University University of Copenhagen University of Montreal University of Rochester University of California, Davis University of Alberta Georgia Institute of Technology Cardiff University University of Helsinki University of Liverpool Georgetown University National Taiwan University Tohoku University University of Geneva Lund University University of Colorado McMaster University Durham University University of Virginia Maastricht University Nagoya University University of Waterloo University of Aarhus University of Basel University of Otago University of California, SB Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale De L University of Southern California Ohio State University University of Sussex Texas A&M University Université Catholique de Louvain University of Ghent Nanjing University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Univ of Western Ontario Hebrew Univ of Jerusalem Newcastle University Technical Univ of Denmark Eindhoven University of Tech Korea Adv Inst of Sc & Tech Université Pierre et Marie Curie University of Arizona University of Florida Kyushu University University of Aberdeen Indiana University Bloomington Simon Fraser University University of California, Irvine University of Zurich University of Minnesota Universität Tübingen Universität Freiburg University of Bath Freie Universität Berlin University of Lancaster Wageningen University City University of Hong Kong Queen Mary, Univ of London Hokkaido University University of North Carolina Tel Aviv University Université Libre de Bruxelles Univ of Sc &Tech of China University of Notre Dame Ecole Normale Supérieure Cranfield University Michigan State University Tufts University Keio University Washington University in St Louis Erasmus University Rotterdam Shanghai Jiao Tong University Universität Stuttgart University of Calgary Vienna University of Tech Universität Göttingen Macquarie University Helsinki University of Tech University of Dundee Universität Karlsruhe University of Bologna University of Groningen University of MA ,Amherst University of São Paulo University of Campinas University College Dublin Rutgers,  New Jersey University of Reading Waseda University Rheinisch-Westfälische Tech Università Degli Studi Di Roma Université Louis Pasteur University of Leicester University of Twente University of Antwerp University of Canterbury University of Oslo University of Surrey Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute KTH, Royal Institute of Technology Univ Nat Autónoma de México University of Barcelona Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen Queensland Univ of Technology Chalmers University of Technology Kobe University University of Wollongong University of Cape Town Rmit University	US UK UK US UK US US US UK US US Canada US US US Australia Japan Hong Kong US US US US UK UK Japan France Australia France US UK Austraila US Canada Austraila Singapore China UK Hong Kong US China US Switzerland Australia Australia Canada Japan US Netherlands US New Zealand South Korea US Hong Kong Ireland US US UK US UK Germany Belgium Australia Netherlands Australia UK Germany Germany UK Singapore UK US Sweden US US UK UK US US US UK UK US UK Netherlands US China Austria Canada Netherlands US Japan US Denmark Canada US US Canada US UK Finland UK US Taiwan Japan Switzerland Sweden US Canada UK US Netherlands Japan Canada Denmark Switzerland New Zealand US Switzerland US US UK US Belgium Belgium China Germany Canada Israel UK Denmark Netherlands South Korea France US US Japan UK US Canada US Switzerland US Germany Germany UK Germany UK Netherlands Hong Kong UK Japan US Israel Belgium China US France UK US US Japan US Netherlands China Germany Canada Austria Germany Australia Finland UK Germany Italy Netherlands US Brazil Brazil Ireland US UK Japan Germany Italy France UK Netherlands Belgium New Zealand Norway UK US Sweden Mexico Spain Netherlands Australia Sweden Japan Australia South Africa Australia

For a Commentry on this Ranking also See:

THES-QS World University Rankings 2007

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Schools offering International Affairs Program

Institution	School
American University	School of International Service
Carleton University	Norman Paterson School of InternationalAffairs
Columbia University	School of International and PublicAffairs
Duke University	Terry Sanford Institute of PublicPolicy
George Washington University	Elliott School of InternationalAffairs
Georgetown University	Edmund A. Walsh School ofForeign Service
Georgia Institute of Technology	Sam Nunn School of InternationalAffairs
Harvard University	John F. Kennedy School of Government
Johns Hopkins University	Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced I nternational Studies
Princeton University	Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs
Syracuse University	The Maxwell School
Tufts University	The Fletcher School of Law andDiplomacy
University of California, San Diego	Graduate School of InternationalRelations and Pacific Studies
University of Denver	Graduate School of InternationalStudies (GSIS)
University of Maryland	School of Public Policy
University of Michigan	Gerald R. Ford School ofPublic Policy
University of Minnesota	Hubert H. Humphrey Instituteof Public Affairs
University of Pittsburgh	Graduate School of Public AndInternational Affairs
University of Southern California	Annenberg School for Communications
University of Washington	Henry M. Jackson School ofInternational Studies
Yale University	The Whitney and BettyMacMillan Center
Department of State	National Foreign Affairs TrainingCenter
DePaul University	International Studies Program
Florida International University	Department of InternationalRelations
Fordham University	International Political Economy and Development Program
George Mason University	International Commerce andPolicy Program
Howard University	Ralph J. Bunche InternationalAffairs Center
Monterey Institute	Graduate School of InternationalPolicy Studies
North Carolina State University	Department of Political Scienceand Public Administration
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey	The Division of Global Affairs
Pepperdine University	School of Public Policy
Seton Hall University	John C. Whitehead School ofDiplomacy and International Relations
Texas A&M University	Bush School of Government &Public Service
Thunderbird	Thunderbird, The AmericanGraduate School of International Management
University of Chicago	Committee on International Relations
University of Miami	Master of Arts in InternationalAdministration Program
University of Oregon	International Studies Program
University of Toronto	Munk Centre for International Studies

Source APSIA

del.icio.us Tags: International Affairs, Education, Admissions, Higher Studies, special education

Engineering Schools Acceptance Rate and GRE Score

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Year 2006 Data.

Presented in ascending order of the ‘ acceptance rate’

California Institute of Technology
Overall acceptance rate: 9.8%
Average GRE verbal: 600
Average GRE quantitative: 790
Average GRE analytical: 760

Harvard University
Overall acceptance rate: 12.8%
Average GRE verbal: 540
Average GRE quantitative: 740
Average GRE analytical: 743

Dartmouth College (Thayer)
Overall acceptance rate: 14.5%
Average GRE verbal: 601
Average GRE quantitative: 778
Average GRE analytical: 695

Vanderbilt University
Overall acceptance rate: 15%
Average GRE verbal: 548
Average GRE quantitative: 757
Average GRE analytical: 726

Rice University (Brown)
Overall acceptance rate: 15.3%
Average GRE verbal: 532
Average GRE quantitative: 760
Average GRE analytical: 742

Yale University
Overall acceptance rate: 17.5
Average GRE verbal: 574
Average GRE quantitative: 778
Average GRE analytical: 774

Princeton University
Overall acceptance rate: 17.7%
Average GRE verbal: 586
Average GRE quantitative: 784
Average GRE analytical: 711

University of California–Berkeley
Overall acceptance rate: 18.4%
Average GRE verbal: 553
Average GRE quantitative: 771
Average GRE analytical: 729

University of Rochester
Overall acceptance rate: 19.6%
Average GRE verbal: 535
Average GRE quantitative: 767
Average GRE analytical: 715

Johns Hopkins University (Whiting)
Overall acceptance rate: 20.4%
Average GRE verbal: 547
Average GRE quantitative: 759
Average GRE analytical: 749 University of Virginia
Overall acceptance rate: 20.8%
Average GRE verbal: 538
Average GRE quantitative: 753
Average GRE analytical: 731

University of California–San Diego
Overall acceptance rate: 22%
Average GRE verbal: 521
Average GRE quantitative: 765
Average GRE analytical: 685

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Overall acceptance rate: 22.2%
Average GRE verbal: 574
Average GRE quantitative: 779
Average GRE analytical: 751 Carnegie Mellon University
Overall acceptance rate: 22.3%
Average GRE verbal: 567
Average GRE quantitative: 775
Average GRE analytical: N/AIowa State University
Overall acceptance rate: 22.4%
Average GRE verbal: 506
Average GRE quantitative: 766
Average GRE analytical: 711University of Wisconsin–Madison
Overall acceptance rate: 22.8%
Average GRE verbal: 559
Average GRE quantitative: 776
Average GRE analytical: 800Lehigh University (Rossin)
Overall acceptance rate: 23.1%
Average GRE verbal: 472
Average GRE quantitative: 765
Average GRE analytical: 752

North Carolina State University
Overall acceptance rate: 23.2%
Average GRE verbal: 531
Average GRE quantitative: 756
Average GRE analytical: 670

Cornell University
Overall acceptance rate: 24.3%
Average GRE verbal: 576
Average GRE quantitative: 785
Average GRE analytical: N/A

University of Maryland–College Park
Overall acceptance rate: 24.5%
Average GRE verbal: 536
Average GRE quantitative: 758
Average GRE analytical: N/A

University of California–Santa Barbara
Overall acceptance rate: 24.9%
Average GRE verbal: 554
Average GRE quantitative: 776
Average GRE analytical: N/A

Washington University in St. Louis (Sever)
Overall acceptance rate: 25.5%
Average GRE verbal: 510
Average GRE quantitative: 760
Average GRE analytical: 580

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey–New Brunswick
Overall acceptance rate: 25.6%
Average GRE verbal: 492
Average GRE quantitative: 730
Average GRE analytical: 677

University of Delaware
Overall acceptance rate: 25.6%
Average GRE verbal: 519
Average GRE quantitative: 745
Average GRE analytical: 720

University of California–Irvine
Overall acceptance rate: 25.7%
Average GRE verbal: 50
Average GRE quantitative: 75
Average GRE analytical: 68

Boston University
Overall acceptance rate: 26.6%
Average GRE verbal: 530
Average GRE quantitative: 763
Average GRE analytical: 674

University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
Overall acceptance rate: 27.3%
Average GRE verbal: 538
Average GRE quantitative: 772
Average GRE analytical: 741

Northwestern University (McCormick)
Overall acceptance rate: 27.6%
Average GRE verbal: 567
Average GRE quantitative: 770
Average GRE analytical: 609

Ohio State University
Overall acceptance rate: 27.8%
Average GRE verbal: 518
Average GRE quantitative: 758
Average GRE analytical: 684

Virginia Tech
Overall acceptance rate: 27.8%
Average GRE verbal: 551
Average GRE quantitative: 768
Average GRE analytical: 680

Case Western Reserve University
Overall acceptance rate: 28%
Average GRE verbal: 506
Average GRE quantitative: 766
Average GRE analytical: 678

Duke University
Overall acceptance rate: 28.9%
Average GRE verbal: 552
Average GRE quantitative: 764
Average GRE analytical: 702

Columbia University (Fu Foundation)
Overall acceptance rate: 29.4%
Average GRE verbal: 533
Average GRE quantitative: 773
Average GRE analytical: 729

University of Texas–Austin
Overall acceptance rate: 29.7%
Average GRE verbal: 547
Average GRE quantitative: 763
Average GRE analytical: 707

Purdue University–West Lafayette
Overall acceptance rate: 30.4%
Average GRE verbal: 524
Average GRE quantitative: 757
Average GRE analytical: 666

Stanford University
Overall acceptance rate: 31.2%
Average GRE verbal: 573
Average GRE quantitative: 781
Average GRE analytical: 737

University of Pennsylvania
Overall acceptance rate: 32.3%
Average GRE verbal: 541
Average GRE quantitative: 760
Average GRE analytical: 689

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Overall acceptance rate: 33.3%
Average GRE verbal: 531
Average GRE quantitative: 755
Average GRE analytical: 699

University of Washington
Overall acceptance rate: 34.3%
Average GRE verbal: 539
Average GRE quantitative: 736
Average GRE analytical: 654

University of California–Davis
Overall acceptance rate: 34.3%
Average GRE verbal: 504
Average GRE quantitative: 749
Average GRE analytical: 691

University of Pittsburgh
Overall acceptance rate: 34.5%
Average GRE verbal: 488
Average GRE quantitative: 776
Average GRE analytical: N/A

Pennsylvania State University–University Park
Overall acceptance rate: 34.8%
Average GRE verbal: 512
Average GRE quantitative: 755
Average GRE analytical: 692

Georgia Institute of Technology
Overall acceptance rate: 34.9%
Average GRE verbal: 538
Average GRE quantitative: 763
Average GRE analytical: 692

University of California–Los Angeles
Overall acceptance rate: 35.8%
Average GRE verbal: 503
Average GRE quantitative: 764
Average GRE analytical: 725

University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
Overall acceptance rate: 36.3%
Average GRE verbal: 528
Average GRE quantitative: 771
Average GRE analytical: N/A

Texas A&M University–College Station
Overall acceptance rate: 37.9%
Average GRE verbal: 497
Average GRE quantitative: 751
Average GRE analytical: 674

University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Overall acceptance rate: 40%
Average GRE verbal: 533
Average GRE quantitative: 772
Average GRE analytical: 738

University of Florida
Overall acceptance rate: 43.3%
Average GRE verbal: 519
Average GRE quantitative: 757
Average GRE analytical: 688

Arizona State University (Fulton)
Overall acceptance rate: 44.1%
Average GRE verbal: 519
Average GRE quantitative: 759
Average GRE analytical: N/A

University of Southern California
Overall acceptance rate: 48.8%
Average GRE verbal: 490
Average GRE quantitative: 754
Average GRE analytical: 681

University of Colorado–Boulder
Overall acceptance rate: 61.1%
Average GRE verbal: 552
Average GRE quantitative: 761
Average GRE analytical: 742

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GRE Subject Test

GRE Diagnostics

GRE Resources

Some Good GRE Preparation Sites

Is GRE Required? Is it worthwhile to go to a University not insisting on it?

Mechanical Engineering Admission Requirements

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Mechanical Engineering

If the full article is not dispalyed hit the header

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
No Spring Admission
Deadline
The ME Department accepts applications for September only and the deadline for applying is December 15 of the previous year.
What documents are necessary for applying to ME?
The applications consist of four parts: The biographical section, 3 letters of recommendation, transcripts of all college level grades and a “Statement of Objectives”. All applicants are required to submit GRE scores (general test only) and international students are required to submit a TOEFL score of 577 or better for the paper-based exam, 233 or better for computer-based exam or 91 or better for the internet-based exam. All applicants are required to submit a $70.00 application fee.
Where should I send my application?
ME Graduate Office
MIT, Room 1-112
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
Stanford University

Deadlines

No Spring Admission
Autumn or Fall
With Aid (fellowships): December 5 . No Aid: January 16
ME Supplementary Form is required
Two original, official transcripts from all colleges or universities attended full time for one year or more are required. Send them to:
Mechanical Engineering
Graduate Admissions Office
Stanford University
440 Escondido Mall
Building 530, Room 125
Stanford, California 94305-3030
University of California – Berkeley

Deadline
No Spring Admission
Next Admission Cycle: Fall Semester 2007 ONLY
Both Departmental and University applications must be electronically submitted by the following application deadlines:
Applications available on line on or about September 2006 at the Graduate Division website
Departmental Questionnaire information is located at http://www.me.berkeley.edu/Grad/Areas/ME_Questionnaire_L.htm
Deadline for application submission is Midnight, Pacific Standard Time, December 15, 2006. Submit your application early. We do not accept late applications for any reason.
Supporting data, such as transcripts, letters of recommendation, GRE and TOEFL scores should arrive no later than January 9, 2007.
Applications for Fall 2007, including the statement of purpose and recommendation letters, must be submitted on-line. Do not download or print the supplemental application form pdfs. The Mechanical Engineering Department has its own online process for the recommendation letters. All admissions data should be submitted online except original transcripts. We require one (1) official transcript from each college or university you have attended.
Test results for the General GREs must be directed to 4833 (the Berkeley institution code) and to 1500 (the Department of Mechanical Engineering code).
Applicants from countries in which English is not the official language must take the TOEFL and score at least 570 on the paper and pencil test, 230 on the computer-based test, and 68 on the Next Generation TOEFL (iBT). The institution code for Berkeley is 4833. There is no Department code for the TOEFL.
Mail to:
University of California at Berkeley
Department of Mechanical Engineering
6189 Etcheverry Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-1742
California Institute of Technology

Deadline

No Spring Admission

Mechanical Engineering January 1

Application Checklist: Have you

Completed the application form (be sure to press the ‘submit’ button to complete the process)
Included application fee information
Uploaded a Statement of Purpose
Requested test scores be sent directly from the Educational Testing Service to the California Institute of Technology (Institutional Code 4034) . A subject code is not required.
Submitted one copy of your transcripts from each college of university attended or uploaded a copy of your transcripts electronically
Requested at least three letters of recommendation
If applicable, submitted additional documents such as abstracts, resume, list of publications, etc.

Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies
Mail Code 230-87
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA 91125

University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

Application Deadlines
Term of Admission Deadline
Fall Term (September) May 1 (January 5 for financial aid consideration)
Winter Term (January) October 1

Admission Requirements
There are no specific minimums, but we are generally looking for students who are strong in at least three
of the four areas below:
• Average GPA in the 3.2-3.5 range on a scale of 4.0
• GRE scores in the 80-90th percentile (The GRE is a standard requirement for all applicants)
• Letters of recommendation
• Statement of purpose
International students must also take the TOEFL, IELTS or the MELAB. (Applicants who have earned a degree from an institution where the language of instruction is English exclusively are exempt.)

University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign

Deadlines

For Fall admission: March 1

For Spring admission: October 1
For Summer admission: March 1
These deadlines do not apply to transcripts and letters of recommendation. We do encourage applicants, though, to have test score results to us by the above deadlines. Files will be held until all documentation is complete.
Files from international applicants which are still incomplete by December 1 (for Spring admission) and July 1 (for Fall admission) will be denied.
Files from applicants who are U.S. citizens or U.S. Permanent Residents which are still incomplete by January 1 (for Spring admission) and August 1 (for Fall admission) will be denied.
Required
An unofficial minimum grade point average of 3.25 (A = 4.0) for the last 60 hours of undergraduate study is required and a 3.5 (A = 4.0) for any previous graduate work completed.
Scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) general test are required of all applicants.
All applicants whose native language is not English must submit a TOEFL score of at least 613 (paper-based), 257 (computer-based), or 104 (iBT).
Applicants may be exempt from the TOEFL if certain criteria are met. Based upon the previous preparation of the student, prerequisite courses may be specified by the advisor, but the credit may not be applied toward a degree
Cornell University

Application Deadlines

Mechanical Engineering — Fall, Jan. 1 (for M.S./Ph.D.); April 1 (for M.Eng.); spring, Nov. 1*
*Only in unusual cases are M.S./Ph.D. students admitted in the spring

Tuition: Usually endowed

M.S./Ph.D. and Ph.D.
three recommendations
GRE general test

Georgia Institute of Technology

Application Deadline
Main Campus with Financial Aid
Fall: February 1
Spring: October 1
Summer: February 1
Main Campus without Financial Aid
Fall: June 1
Spring: November 1
Summer: March 1

DEGREE TYPE OFFERED
M.S.
Ph.D.

DEGREE PROGRAMS OFFERED
Masters
Bioengineering – ME
Mechanical Engineering
Paper Science & Engineering – ME
Doctoral
Bioengineering – ME
Mechanical Engineering
Paper Science & Engineering – ME

ADMITTANCE TERMS
Fall
Spring
Summer

TOEFL REQUIREMENTS
Institute Code: 5248
Department Code: 68
Minimum score required:
Paper-based: 580
Computer-based: 240
Internet-based: 94

GRE REQUIREMENTS
Institute Code: R5248
Department Code: 1502
General Test: Required

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
A grade point average of at least 3.0 is desirable

CONCENTRATION / RESEARCH AREAS
Acoustics and Dynamics
Automation and Mechatronics
Bioengineering
Computer-Aided Engineering and Design
Fluid Mechanics
Heat Transfer, Combustion and Energy Systems
Manufacturing
Mechanics of Materials
MEMS
Tribology

CONTACT INFORMATION
Office of Student Services
School of Mechanical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0405
Phone: 404.894.3204
Fax: 404.894.4545

Purdue University–West Lafayette

School of Mechanical Engineering Supplemental Information Form

Deadline for International Applicants
Fall Entry: May 15 (if outside the U.S.); June 15 (if in the U.S.)

Spring Entry: September 15 (if outside the U.S.); November 1 (if in the U.S.)

Princeton University

Application deadlines

for admission to the 2007-2008 academic year are 31 December 2006 for North American applicants and 1 December 2006 for all other applicants.

No Spring Admission.

We encourage you to apply online as there are a very limited number of Hardcopy applications available. PDF applications can be printed at

University of Minnesota–Twin Cities

The Department offers admission to the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering programs for the Fall and Spring semesters.

Deadlines

For Fall semester admission is December 15 of the previous year.

Only applications received by December 15 will be considered for financial support.
For Spring semester admission is October 15 of the previous year. Applications received after October 15 will not be considered for Spring semester admission.

It is required that you also provide the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Mechanical Engineering with a photocopy of your application materials to expedite the admissions process.

Carnegie Mellon University

Deadlines

For the Fall semester, all applications must be received by January 15th.

Applications for the Spring semester must be received by October 15th.

Guide for Minimum Standards for Accepting Graduate Applicants
(Keep in mind admissions is very competitive)
GPA Suggested minimum 3.00/4.00 (please convert your measurement to the 4.0 scale)

GRE and TOEFL Scores
Suggested minimum on Verbal GRE: 400

Suggested minimum Quantitative: 600/800
Analytical Writing: 4.0/6.0.

Suggested minimum on TOEFL: 600 out of 677 or 250 out of 300
(The above standards are based on averages of admitted applicants utilizing the new test.)
If you are taking the new iBT TOEFL, the following recommendations (for minimums) are being used for skill scores.
Reading = 18; Listening = 18; Speaking = 16; Writing = 16
Total score range = 74-100

The GRE school code for Carnegie Mellon is 2074 and the Department of Mechanical Engineering department code is 1502. The TOEFL code is 68.

Graduate Admissions
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
5000 Forbes Avenue, Scaife Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Northwestern University

Deadlines

No Spring Admissions

December 31: Deadline for receipt of on-line applications by the graduate school
February 1: All application materials must be received from international applicants
April 15: general deadline for students to accept offers of admission.

Supporting documents for the online application should be sent directly to the ME Department in the address given below.

If any documentation must be sent separately from your application, please clearly mark your name and date of birth on all materials.
Ms. Pat Dyess
Department of Mechanical Engineering
2145 Sheridan Road
Northwestern University
Evanston. IL 60208, USA

Penn State University–University Park

Deadline

For fall semester admission is January 15.

University of Texas – Austin
DEADLINES:
For the FALL semester, ALL application materials must be received by JANUARY 15.
For the SPRING semester, ALL application materials must be received by OCTOBER 1.
For the SUMMER semester, ALL application materials must be received by JANUARY 15.
* Deadlines are for priority consideration. The Mechanical Engineering Program functions on a rolling admissions basis. If all your materials are complete, your application will be reviewed despite missing the deadline.
STEP 1: APPLY TO THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
The University of Texas at Austin’s Graduate & International Admissions Center uses the online Texas Common Application. This website not only has the application, but it also has a great deal of useful information for applying to school at Texas universities. Gather the following materials:
Application to the University ( Texas Common Application)
Application Fee ($50 for US students; $75 for International students)
GRE & TOEFL scores (Sent by E.T.S.; Photocopies are NOT accepted)
Official Transcripts of Previous Academic Work (Photocopies are NOT accepted)
Send all materials to:
Graduate and International Admissions
The University of Texas at Austin
P.O. Box 7608
Austin, Texas 78713-7608
Step 2: APPLY TO THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
After you have submitted the above information, download the ME Department’s Supplemental Application (MS Word) or Supplemental Application (PDF). If you use the PDF format please print out, legibly fill in with pen, and send it by postal mail only – not as an email attachment. If you use the Word format please type your responses in, save it, and send it as an attachment to gradofc@me.utexas.edu. Gather the following materials:
Cover Letter – Please state which items are being enclosed with this cover letter, which items have been sent to Graduate & International Admissions (GIAC), and when we can expect any remaining items.
Application to the Department
Statement of Purpose- In reviewing applications, evidence of creativity, initiative, motivation and other characteristics indicative of the applicant’s potential as a scholar and contributor to society are considered. Please communicate any additional comments on your activities, accomplishments, goals and research interests that give evidence of these characteristics and that might be helpful in evaluating your application to the Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering. The personal statement may be at most two typewritten pages.
Three Letters of Recommendation- At least two of these letters must be from academia. Our professors prefer that the recommender not only write a letter, but also fill out the recommendation form which is available on page 23 of the Graduate Brochure or can be downloaded from GIAC.
Send all materials to:
The University of Texas at Austin
Mechanical Engineering Department
ATTN: Admissions Coordinator
1 University Station, C2200
Austin, Texas 78712-0292

Virginia Tech

Mechanical Engineering Department normally expects applicants to have a minimum grade point average of 3.2 (4.0 scale) or better for either the B.S. degree program or the last 60 hours of course work. Students applying to Mechanical Engineering must take the GRE and students whose native language is not English, must also take the TOEFL unless they have completed 30 hours at an English speaking university. The minimum acceptable score for applicants is 620 (260 computer based). Students will likely not be competitive with scores below a 450 and a 700 on the verbal and quantitative portions of the GRE, respectively. Test scores more than 2 years old should be re-taken. Scores of students recommended for acceptance are often higher. Research experience and the three letters of recommendation are a significant part of the evaluation of the application.
The department does process applications on a rolling basis.

To be given FULL consideration for admission and assistantships/ fellowships, applications must be received by

Deadline

January 15th for the fall term and Oct. 1st for the spring term.

ALL application materials should be received by the deadlines for admission. Applications are on-line via the web site: http://www.grads.vt.edu/admissions/ applying/index.html#online; paper-based applications are no longer available. Due to technical difficulties, the Graduate School has been unable to get the on-line application updated. Please be aware there are discrepancies beyond our control. See the check list below for the materials the ME Department requires.
The application fee is $45.
A COMPLETE application should be mailed in ONE large envelope to:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Graduate Coordinator
100T-1 Randolph Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061-0238
A complete application for the ME Department includes:
A printed copy of the on-line application
3 letters of recommendation (In signed/sealed envelopes if the references do not use the on-line recommendation form.)
Official or copy of transcripts from undergraduate and graduate universities
Official or a copy of test scores (GRE’s & TOEFL for international students)
Statement of Research and Professional Objectives form
Applicants are encouraged to contact faculty members whose research areas most interests them by sending a resume and a cover letter (email is acceptable and preferred by most faculty).
You will be able to view the status of your application at: https://banweb.banner.vt.edu/pls/bprod/bwskalog.P_DispLoginNon.

University of Maryland

The minimum requirements of the Department of Mechanical Engineering for acceptance into the Graduate program are:
Bachelor’s degree from regionally accredited college or university (or equivalent from a foreign institution)
At least a 3.0 G.P.A. (on a 4.0 scale)
At least 3 letters of recommendation strongly supporting the applicant’s admission into the Graduate Program
An essay or statement of goals and experiences
A total score greater than 1200 combined on the Verbal and Quantitative sections of the General GRE and greater than 4.5 on the Analytical Writing section
For international applicants: at least a 577 (paper-based) or 233 (computer-based) score on the TOEFL exam
In 2004, the Department of Mechanical Engineering received over 515 applications. Of these, 19% were accepted. For the applicants accepted the average undergraduate and graduate GPA were, respectively, 3.54 and 3.74, and the average total GRE General Test score was 545 Verbal, 750 Quantitative, 4.57 Analytic.. For international applicants the average TOEFL score was 620 (equivalent to a score of 260 on the computer-based TOEFL).

Deadline

Application Deadlines for the Fall Semester
International Applicants February 1. All U.S. citizens must submit applications by May 15.
Application Deadlines for the Spring Semester
International students June 1. All U.S. citizens must submit applications by October 15.
All application materials should be submitted to:
Enrollment Services Operations
Application for Graduate Admission
0130 Mitchell Building
University of Maryland, College Park
College Park, MD 20742
University of Pennsylvania

What is the minimum GRE and TOFEL score required for admission?
The minimum GRE score is a combined score of 2000 out of a possible 2400 (800+800+(133.33 * 6.0)=2400). Foreign students whose native language is not English are required to submit an official TOEFL examination score of 250 or 600 (depending on which test was taken) better unless they have spent at least three years at an academic institution in an English speaking country.
The GRE reporting code is 2926 (school code) along with 1502 (department code). The TOFEL reporting code is 2888.
Candidates may apply for admission to the School of Engineering by completing the application form which consists of: biographical information; a personal statement; two official letters of recommendation; two official transcripts and statement of class rank and grade point average from each university or college attended. Each application must include a non-refundable $70 application fee.
To insure full consideration, the application for admission, the application fee, official transcripts, letters of recommendation, and other required documents must be received by the appropriate office at least two months prior to the anticipated first semester of enrollment.

Deadline

While we prefer receiving applications for admission to the M.S.E. program by January 2 for the fall semester, we will process applications (assuming that there are openings) as late as June 1.
Visit the School of Engineering & Applied Science Penn “Express App” Web site where you can fill out an application for admission directly.
If you have any questions please contact :
Maryeileen Banford
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics
University of Pennsylvania
229 Towne Building
220 S. 33rd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6315
E-mail: banford@.seas.upenn.edu
Telephone: (215) 898-2826.

Rice University

Deadline
Your application must be received by February 1 if you are applying for financial aid. It is best to apply early since on average we admit 25 students, and, of those, approximately ten receive fellowships. Graduate fellowships (the only form of financial aid the department offers) are awarded by the department and not Rice. Upon acceptance you may receive admission only or a fellowship (admission with an award of tuition plus a stipend).

Columbia University

Deadline
MS only Fall February 15 and Spring October 1
MS leading to PhD and PhD only Fall December 15 and Spring Oct 1
University of Notre Dame

Deadline
Fall February 1.Spring November 1
The TOEFL is required for international students. If you’re taking the TOEFL CBT the minimum score is 250. If it is available in your country and you are taking the TOEFL IBT, then the minimum score is a total of 80 points, with a minimum of 23 on the Speaking section. Individual departments may require higher scores, and these IBT minimums are subject to change.
University of Southern California
Washington University in St. Louis
Arizona State University
Lehigh University

Deadline

The deadline for fall semester applications is July 15. The spring semester deadline is December 1. The deadline for financial aid for the 2005/2006 academic year is January 15.
Preliminary application is required.
North Carolina State University

Deadline
Spring July 15
Summer December 15
Fall March 1
Michigan Technological University

Deadline

Application Deadline for Fall (August) 2007: 15 June 2007
(US transfer or Canadian: 1 August 2007)
University of Colorado – Boulder

Deadline

Fall admission
Application deadline January 15
International application deadline December 1
Financial assistance application deadline January 15
Spring admission
Application deadline October 15
International application deadline September 1
Financial assistance application deadline October 15

Illinois Institute of Technology

Deadline
Armour College of Engineering, College of Science and Letters
Domestic Applicants Spring2007 / Summer2007 / Fall2007
MS Jan. 6 / May 15 / Aug. 7
Ph.D. Oct. 15, 2006 / April 15 / May 1
Financial Consideration for full-time Master’s/PhD Sept. 1, 2006 / N/A / Feb. 15
International Applicants Spring 2007 / Summer 2007/ Fall 2007
General Application Deadline Oct. 15, 2006 / March 15 / May 1
Financial Consideration (Master’s/ Ph.D.) Sept. 1, 2006 / N/A / Feb. 15

University of Missouri – Rolla

Checklist

Requirements

Deadline

Applications for admission should be submitted by the following dates:
Domestic International Financial
Fall July 15 June 15 March 1
Winter December 15 November 15 October 1
Summer May 1 April 1 X
Documents to be sent to…
Admissions Office
University of Missouri-Rolla
102 Parker Hall
1870 Miner Circle
Rolla, MO 65409-1060
USA
Graduate Application for Admission
OFFICIAL transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate schools attended
OFFICIAL GRE scores (V+Q > 1100 & AW > 3.5 required for admission)
OFFICIAL TOEFL score (> 570 required for admission)
Three letters of recommendation
$50.00 fee in US currency (CANNOT be waived or deferred)
Financial statement and statement of purpose
2. Documents to be sent to …
Associate Chair for Graduate Affairs
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics
University of Missouri-Rolla
1870 Miner Circle
Rolla, MO 65409-0050
USA
Application for Financial Support (pdf)
Copies of transcripts
Copies of GRE scores
Copies of TOEFL scores
Copies of journal and refereed conference papers (must be in English)
Three letters of recommendation

Brigham Young University

Deadline

Admission and Entry
Semesters of entry and application deadlines:
Fall, spring, summer, January 15 (U.S. and international); winter, September 15 (U.S. and international).
Entrance examinations: All applicants must submit scores for the GRE general examination. International applicants must also submit TOEFL scores.
Prerequisite: BS degree in mechanical engineering or an allied discipline with approval; 3.0 GPA or above in last 60 hours for regular admission.
University at Buffalo – State University of New York

FAQ

Please send all the material supporting your application (e.g. Letter of Reference etc.) to the following address only:
Graduate Program
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
State University of New York at Buffalo
318 Jarvis Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-4400
Telephone: (716)645-2593 x2238
Fax: (716)645-3875
Email: maegrad@eng.buffalo.edu

Deadlines
Domestic Applicants
Fall
For students NOT requesting financial aid application deadline is August 1st
For students requesting financial aid application deadline is January 15th
Spring
For students NOT requesting financial aid application deadline is December 15th
For students requesting financial aid application deadline is September15th
International Applicants
Fall
For students NOT requesting financial aid application deadline is March 15th
For students requesting financial aid application deadline is January 15th
Spring
For students NOT requesting financial aid application deadline is December 15th
For students requesting financial aid application deadline is September 15th

Drexel University

Deadlines
International Students Fall only June 13

University at Buffalo – State University of New York

Explore

Please send all the material supporting your application (e.g. Letter of Reference etc.) to the following address only:
Graduate Program
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
State University of New York at Buffalo
318 Jarvis Hall
Buffalo, NY 14260-4400
Telephone: (716)645-2593 x2238
Fax: (716)645-3875

Email: maegrad@eng.buffalo.edu

Deadlines
Domestic Applicants
Fall
For students NOT requesting financial aid application deadline is August 1st
For students requesting financial aid application deadline is January 15th
Spring
For students NOT requesting financial aid application deadline is December 15th
For students requesting financial aid application deadline is September15th
International Applicants
Fall
For students NOT requesting financial aid application deadline is March 15th
For students requesting financial aid application deadline is January 15th
Spring
For students NOT requesting financial aid application deadline is December 15th
For students requesting financial aid application deadline is September 15th
University of Pittsburgh

Deadlines
March 1 – Fall
July 1 – Spring
February 1 – Summer
Clemson University

Deadline

Applications must be completed by July 15 (April 15 for international students) for August enrollment and November 15 (September 15 for international students) for January enrollment.

International applicants will be considered for Ph.D. program only.
Applicants for August enrollment whose files are completed prior to January 15 will be given preferential consideration for financial aid

in the form of research and teaching assistantships or University fellowships. Assistantship support may also be available for students considering January enrollment.

University of Houston

Application Checklist
1 official copy of transcript
2.GRE scores
3 Letters of recommendation
Financial Aid and Statement of Purpose form
$75 Application fee (cannot be waived)
TOEFL scores
Financial backing letter
1 passport sized photo
Send ALL application materials to :
Director of Graduate Admissions
Mechanical Engineering, N215D
University of Houston
Houston, Texas 77204-4006
Phone: (713) 743-4505
Fax: (713) 743-4503
Email: megrad@uh.edu
University of Utah
Deadlines
Fall December 1
Spring August 1
Summer December 1
The institution code for the University of Utah is R4853. The department code for Mechanical Engineering is 1502
Admissions Office
250 Student Services Building
201 S 1460 E, RM 250S
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-9057
USA
Phone: (801) 581-7283
Fax: (801) 585-7864
Web: http://www.sa.utah.edu/admiss/
email: graduate@sa.utah.edu Student Services Office
Department of Mechanical Engineering
50 S Central Campus Drive, MEB 2110
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
USA
Phone: (801) 585-9293
Fax: (801) 585-9826
Web: http://www.mech.utah.edu/
email: harlow@mech.utah.edu

Oregon State University
Please send to the Office of Admissions the following application materials.

You should submit all of these materials to the Admissions Office in one package; they will forward the department copies to us.

Deadline

For consideration for graduate teaching and research assistantships, please submit your full application by January 15th.
Completed application form—original plus 2 copies.

Non-refundable $50 application fee—check or money order in U.S. dollars, payable to OSU. Applications without this fee will not be processed.
Official transcripts of previous undergraduate and graduate academic work—3 photocopies of each transcript. International applicants must provide a certified English translation of their academic transcripts.
Statement of objectives and particular fields of interest—2 copies.
Three letters of professional reference, on official letterhead and addressed to Mechanical Engineering. If you have a master’s degree, a letter from your major professor should be included.
International applicants also need to provide the following:
• Two photocopies of your TOEFL score, taken within the past 2 years. (TOEFL scores over 2 years old can be used only for conditional admission consideration.)
• Completed financial certificate and bank statements.
In addition, all applicants whose undergraduate degree is from a university outside the United States must submit GRE general test scores.
These scores should be sent directly by ETS to:
Graduate Coordinator, Mechanical Engineering, Rogers Hall 204,
Corvallis OR 97331
For all other applicants, submission of GRE general test scores is optional; however, applicants desiring full consideration for financial support (scholarships, fellowships, etc.)

are strongly encouraged to submit these test scores (for this purpose, a photocopy can be submitted in your admissions packet).
The minimum entrance requirements are as follows:
Baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university.
A combined GPA of 3.00 on the last 90 hours of graded undergraduate work plus all work completed thereafter.
International students: minimum TOEFL score of 550.
International students: financial clearance from the OSU Office of International Education.

San Diego State University

Application Procedure

Fall Deadline
Domestic Applicants: May 1
International Applicants: May 1
Spring Deadline
Domestic Applicants: November 1
International Applicants: October 1

University of North Dakota

ALso Check

Deadline

Fall March 1.

University of Idaho

Deadlines
Priority Application deadlines:
Fall Semester (August to December) – February 1
Spring Semester (Jan to May) -September 1
Summer Term (Begins mid may) – February 1
Please submit all admission documents to the Graduate Admissions Office.
University of Idaho
Graduate Admissions Office
PO Box 444266
709 Deakin Rm 137
Moscow, ID 83844-4266

Santa Clara University

Applicants who apply for a degree or a certificate program and who have earned their degree(s) from outside the United States are required to have their foreign transcript(s)

evaluated by a member agency of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) that provides foreign academic credential evaluation services.

It makes sure that your non-U.S. academic credentials are properly recognized.

Deadline

Fall /Winter / Spring
MS Monday August 13 / November 6 / March 2
PhD Monday August 13 / November 6 / March 2

University of Nevada-Las Vegas
International Students

Deadline

All application materials must be in to the Graduate College by May 1 (Fall Semester) or October 1 (Spring Semester)

unless the department to which you are applying has an earlier deadline, or you are also applying for a Graduate Assistantship.
Department Deadline Fall June 15 and Spring November 15
TempleUniversity

Application Deadlines
All master’s degrees, U.S. applicants . Fall semester -July 1.Spring semester -November 15
All master’s degrees, international applicants .Fall semester -April 15 .Spring semester -October 15
Ph.D. in Engineering, applicants .Fall semester -February 15
All financial aid applicants -February 15
Admission Requirements
An overall undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.0 on a scale of 4.0 is required. An overall 2.8 GPA is acceptable provided the student’s last two years of courses have produced a GPA of at least 3.2. The departmental admissions committee will decide each case on an individual basis. The general Graduate Record Examination (GRE) may be waived upon written request from applicants with two or more years of engineering employment. Students who wish to be considered for financial aid are required to take the GRE. The TOEFL examination is required of international applicants.
Binghamton University

Deadline

Applicants for the next fall semester who wish to obtain TA/GA/RA/fellowships positions are strongly encouraged to submit their application by late December.
Applicants for the next spring semester should submit their application by early October. Some programs do not offer admission for the spring; others have spring admission

but without departmental funding.
Deadline
MS, MS/PhD, or PhD
Fall 15th January
Spring 15th October
Mailing your Supplemental Materials:
To ensure speedy handling, please write the words “Electronic Submission” on the outside of the envelope and mail it to:
The Graduate School
Binghamton University
PO Box 6000*
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
*For courier service, use 4400 Vestal Parkway East, Couper Administration Building, Room AD 134.
San Jose State University

Deadline

Fall May 1
Spring November 1

University of South Carolina

Deadline
For international applications:
Fall May 1
Spring Oct. 1
For applications from within U.S.A.:
Fall July 1
Spring Nov. 15
Minimum GRE scores are 450 verbal, 700 quantitative and 500 analytical (or 3.5 analytical writing).

International applicants must also submit TOEFL or the IELTS Intl. Academic Course Type 2 exam scores.

The minimum score for TOEFL is 600 paper-based or 250 computer-based and the minimum score for IELTS is 7.0.

OTHER UNIVERSITIES OFFERING MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM

(Details will be posted Shortly)

Johns Hopkins University

University of California–San Diego

University of Wisconsin–Madison

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Texas A&M University–College Station

Ohio State University

University of California–Santa Barbara

University of California–Los Angeles

Duke University

University of Florida

University of Washington

Case Western Reserve University

University of California–Davis

Stevens Institute of Technology

Tulane University

University of Alabama–Huntsville

University of Miami

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

University of North Carolina–Charlotte

Wayne State University

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Colorado State University

Oklahoma State University

Southern Methodist University

University of Kansas

University of Oklahoma

University of Rochester

University of Tennessee

George Washington University

Kansas State University

Louisiana State University–Baton Rouge

Northeastern University

Tufts University

University of Kentucky

SUNY–Stony Brook

University of Cincinnati

University of Connecticut

University of Illinois–Chicago

University of Iowa

University of Massachusetts–Amherst

Washington State University

Boston University

Syracuse University

University of Arizona

University of Delaware

Vanderbilt University

Rutgers State University–New Brunswick

University of California–Irvine

Yale University

Iowa State University

University of Virginia

Michigan State University
Auburn University

 

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Computer Science Admission Requirements of Top USA Schools

This Data was collected in September 2005.

USN Rank 1
Carnegie Mellon University – HCII

Degrees

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

“the average GRE score (which includes analytical, verbal and quantitative) of those admitted students last year was 2008”

The GRE subject test is optional for those applicants to the PhD programs in Computer Science, Computational and Statistical Learning, Computation Organizations and Society, Robotics, and Neural Basis of Cognition. Recommendations for programs are as follows:

Applicants to HCI with an emphasis in human science must take a subject test from the area that best matches their background. (For example, HCI applicants with a psychology background should take the psychology subject test.) HCI applicants with a design emphasis are not required to submit a subject test.
The Language and Information Technologies program recommends that applicants submit a subject test.
The Software Engineering program highly recommends, but does not require, a subject test.
The Computation, Organizations and Society program allows students in the management area to substitute the GMAT scores for the GRE scores.

Deadline

There is no spring admission.

The doctoral deadline is December 15 for entry in the following fall semester. The recommendations are due by January 3. The application and recommendation deadline for the Masters programs in the Robotics Institute and the Language and Technologies Institute is January 3.

Finance Opportunities

There are no additional financial aid forms.

PhD students will receive financial support (tuition, fees, monthly stipend) from a variety of sources, including CMU research assistantships, outside fellowships, and government grants.

Professor Contact or Research at CMU

You should feel free to contact professors with very specific questions about their research. However, we do request that you not ask to be accepted by a particular faculty member as a student, since under our admissions system individual faculty members do not make admissions decisions

USN Rank 1
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Degrees

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

We expect an applicant to have earned a Bachelor’s degree by the time he/she registers in EECS, and possess a very strong background in math, physics, computer science, or engineering. Admission is extremely competitive.

Application Deadline

The EECS department accepts applications for September only, and the deadline for applying is December 15.

Financial Opportunities

Most EECS graduate students are supported by RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIPS or TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS. An application for an assistantship is included in the application package.

Professor Contact or Research at MIT

USN Rank 1
Stanford University – CS

Degrees

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

“While there is no minimum requirement for GRE scores, a strong application
would include percentiles in the high 90s for the Ph.D. program and scores
in the 90th percentile for the MS program”

Application Deadline

No Spring Admission.

Fall deadline December 1

Finance Opportunities

The Computer Science Department DOES NOT offer financial support for MS students so you should not plan on attending Stanford if such support is essential to you
All incoming Ph.D. students are supported by teaching and/or research assistantships, but are strongly encouraged to apply for outside fellowships as well

Professor Contact or ResearchatStanford

USN Rank 1
University of California –Berkeley

Degrees

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

”Most successful applicants last year had GPAs above 3.7 and GRE quantitative scores above 90%. Most successful Computer Science applicants took the GRE Computer Science Subject test and scored above 90%. For Fall 2005 we had 2500 applications for 100 slots.”

Application Deadline

No spring intake.

Fall – December 15. Supporting data, such as transcripts, recommendation letters, and GRE and TOEFL scores, should arrive no later than January 9.

Finance Opportunities

We provide financial support for virtually all of our graduate students for the duration of their studies. During the most recent academic year, approximately one-quarter were supported by fellowships, slightly more than half were supported by research assistantships, and roughly one-quarter were supported by teaching assistantships.

Professor Contact or Research at Berkeley

USN Rank 5
University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign – CS

Degrees

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

“The median grade point average (GPA) is 3.6/4.0 and the average general GRE
score is 1400/1600 (verbal and quantitative sections) and 5.5/6.0
(analytical writing section) for those recommended for admission.”

Applicants to the Ph.D. program are strongly encouraged to submit a score for the GRE (Subject/Advanced) Computer Science Test.

All applicants whose native language is not English are required to take the TSE, regardless of US citizenship or permanent residency, for financial aid consideration. A passing score of 50/60 is required to be awarded a Teaching Assistantship (TA)

Application Deadline

Summer Session or Fall Semester: December 1
Spring Semester: September 1

Finance Opportunities

Professor Contact or Research@Uiuc

USN Rank 6
Cornell University

Degrees

M.Eng. and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements for Ph.D.

The department requires that all applicants to the doctoral program take the GRE general test and the GRE subject test. It is preferred that applicants take the GRE subject test in the area of Computer Science, but we will also consider scores in Mathematics or Engineering. If your scores are more than three years old, you should retake the GREs

Application Deadline

Ph.D. Fall -January 1.Spring –October 1

M.Eng. Fall – February 1.Spring – October 1
International students are encouraged to apply early

Finance Opportunities

Most M.Eng. students are self-funded or have obtained their own corporate support. Cornell does not offer any tuition waivers. Applicants who submit a complete application by the above deadlines will be considered for fellowships. Applicants should consider submitting extra letters of recommendation to improve fellowship chances. The Department also awards a few part time (paid) teaching assistantships in which students perform various duties that aid faculty in the teaching of Cornell CS courses. Students are not guaranteed TA positions, nor are they required to work as a TA. If you wish to be considered for a TA position, please indicate so in your application, as well as any pertinent experience you have.

All Ph.D. students in Computer Science are fully supported as long as they remain in good academic standing. Support from Cornell includes tuition and stipend. Support is available in the form of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships.

Professor Contact or Research at Cornell

USN Rank 7
University of Texas, Austin – CS

Degrees

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

For the Ph.D. program, the average scores of recent successful applicants have been: GRE: 650 verbal, 790 quantitative, 5.0 analytical. TOEFL: 655 paper/283 computer version. CS Subject Test (AGRE): 820.

For the Masters program, the average scores of recent successful applicants to this program have been: GRE: 615 verbal, 780 quantitative. 5.0 analytical. TOEFL: 644 paper/273 computer version. CS Subject Test (AGRE): 780. The average undergraduate GPA has been 3.76 (on a 4.0 scale).

Admission to the graduate program is very competitive. For example, for fall 2004, 460 students applied to the Ph.D. program and 75 were accepted; 197 students applied to the Masters program and 48 were accepted.

Application Deadline

Applications are accepted for the Fall and Spring semesters only

Fall January 2 and Spring September 1

Finance Opportunities

Successful applicants to the Ph.D. program for fall semesters will be considered for doctoral fellowships. The doctoral fellowship provides four years of support, contingent on satisfactory progress. This support consists of a fellowship the first year, followed by a commitment to provide either a teaching assistantship or a research assistantship the second, third and fourth years. Most students find a research supervisor during the second or third year and may be supported as research assistants. However, teaching assistantships are always available for doctoral fellowship students.

Research assistantships normally are appointed on a semester basis. Research assistantships are under the purview of the individual professors and are generally made after the student has been enrolled for at least 1-2 semesters.

Teaching Assistantships Appointments to teaching assistantships are normally for 2 semesters: September-May. Offers of teaching assistantships are generally made at the time of admission by the admissions committee. New International TAs must satisfy an oral English Assessment conducted by the University. The Test of Spoken English cannot substitute for this assessment.

Professor Contact or Research at Utexas

USN Rank 7
University of Washington – CS

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements
“The average GPA for the incoming students in Autumn 2003 was 3.68. The
average GRE scores for incoming students in Autumn 2002 were: Verbal
(including foreign students): 641 (85%), Quantitative: 776 (88%). The
average Subject Test score in Computer Science for Autumn 2003 incoming
students was 797 (76%).”

We offer admission to between 10% and 15% of those who apply to our full-time graduate program.

All International students must submit TOEFL and TSE scores.

Application Deadline

No Spring Admission
Deadline to apply for admission each

Autumn Quarter is December 15 for U.S. applicants.

For international applications it is November 1.

All applications materials must be received by this date.

Finance Opportunities

All students who are admitted to our program are awarded an assistantship (teaching or research). Under the assistantship, in exchange for 20 hours of work per week, the student receives:

Tuition waiver (except for $140.00 per quarter in fees, which the student pays)
Monthly stipend of approximately $1800.00
Health Insurance (100% of premium for student, 50% of premium for dependents)
Currently, this funding is guaranteed for 3 years. Funding after the initial 3 years is available, and is contingent on satisfactory academic progress and availability of funds.

Professor Contact or Research at Washington

USN Rank 9
Princeton University – CS

Degrees offered

M.Eng. and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

We strongly recommend that the GRE subject test be taken if possible. The test should be taken in the field of your undergraduate major. If no subject GRE is given in your field, you will not be expected to submit a score.

Application Deadline
Admission to Princeton is for the fall semester only
December 1, 2005 for applicants living outside North America; and December 31, 2005 for applicants within North America. All materials should reach the University by the deadline dates.

Finance Opportunities

We do not provide any financial aid for students enrolling in the Master of Engineering program.Financial support for Ph.D. candidates consists of University and corporate fellowships, Assistantships in Research (ARs) and in Teaching (AIs).

Professor Contact or Research at Princeton

USN Rank 10
California Institute of Technology
Degrees offered

Students are admitted only with the Ph.D. as the degree objective

GRE and other admission requirements

GRE scores are required, with a subject test of the student’s choice strongly recommended

Application Deadline
Applications are accepted once a year. The deadline is January 1^st.

Finance Opportunities

In general, students offered admission to graduate study at Caltech are simultaneously offered a package of financial support that pays all tuition charges and provides them with a stipend. Financial support for graduate students comes in the form of fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantship, or some combination of fellowship and assistantship support

Professor Contact or Research@Caltech

USN Rank 10
University of Wisconsin, Madison – CS

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

“most of the students we admit are in the 85th percentile or higher on each
of the sections of the GRE General Test (Analytical Writing, Quantitative,
and Verbal), and have a GPA of 3.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale).”

We require the Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Writing tests. We do not require a Subject test

Application Deadline
Applications for graduate study in the Department, whether for an M.S. or Ph.D. degree, are evaluated only once per year, for admission starting in the Fall semester each year.

December 31 is Fall application deadline.

Finance Opportunities

Approximately 200 students are enrolled in our graduate program. Approximately 90% of these students are financially supported within the Department as either Fellows, Research Assistants, or Teaching Assistants

Professor Contact or Research at Wisc

USN Rank 12
Georgia Institute of Technology – CC

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements
“Accepted applicant scores have averaged 80% on the quantitative and
analytical sections for the M.S. program. The desirable minimum GPA is
3.0/4.0. ”

The CS GRE test is required for all applications to graduate programs in the College of Computing unless the specific program rules list exceptions

Application Deadline

Admittance Terms – Fall only.
Application Deadlines
MSCS: March 1
Ph.D.: December 15

Finance Opportunities

The College is unable to offer financial aid to all graduate students. A small number of Master’s students do have the chance to act as Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) and Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs).
Professor Contact or Research@Gatech

USN Rank 12
University of Maryland – College Park – CS

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements
“The minimum acceptable score for the General GRE is 1850 for international
students and 1950 for U.S. students.”

Undergraduate grade point averages are generally 3.5/4.0 or above.

Both GPA and GRE scores of students admitted in recent years have been much higher than the minimum required.

Application Deadline

Deadline for applications and all supporting material due at Graduate School and Computer Science Department December 15. Spring admissions only for University of Maryland students.

Finance Opportunities

Both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are offered, and almost all full-time students receive financial aid in the form of assistantships, fellowships, and grants

Professor Contact or Research at Umd

USN Rank 14
Brown University

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

“The GPA is not the only criterion. Grades in computer science and related disciplines (e.g., math) count more than grades in other areas. Also, we take into account the fact that at some very competitive schools it is very difficult to achieve a high GPA.
While we do not require General and Subject GRE test scores, however the tests provide an additional objective form of evaluation that is often helpful in determining an applicant’s abilities.

Recommendation letters must give a detailed, factual, and candid evaluation of the applicant’s capabilities. Rankings and comparisons with other students are very useful. Ask your recommender to follow these guidelines.

Research experience, although not required, can boost your chances of admission considerably. If you have worked on a research project, please tell us about it and ask at least one of your recommenders to comment on it. If your work is part of a joint project, the recommender should indicate your specific contribution to the project. Include abstracts or reprints of any papers you have published in journals or presented at conferences.

Application Deadline

To maximize flexibility, we have a rolling deadline. This means we accept students until we have filled the available slots. We will begin reviewing applications in the middle of January and stop on July 15. Because the number of spaces is small

Finance Opportunities

We do not offer funding to ScM students. You will need to apply to external sources of support
We admit all PhD students (including international students) with financial support.

Professor Contact or Research at Brown

USN Rank 14
University of California-Los Angeles

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D

GRE and other admission requirements
”We expect at least a 3.3 GPA (on a 4.00 scale) in the junior and senior years, and at least 3.5 in any graduate study. These averages are considered the minimum requirements; the actual standard for admission is set by the current pool of applicants, and is generally much higher—GRE scores on the General (Aptitude) test are required for admission to both the M.S. and Ph.D. programs.”

Application Deadline

Fall only. Deadline – December 15^th

Finance Opportunities

Support based on merit is available in the form of fellowships, traineeships, teaching assistantships, and graduate student researcher positions. These awards are open to all students–U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and international students–who have demonstrated high academic achievement.

Professor Contact or Research at ucla

USN Rank 14
University of Michigan- Ann Arbor – CSE

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements
A GPA of at least 3.5/4.0 for the undergraduate degree.
A Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General total score of at least 2000 (out of a possible 2400); new test scoring of at least 1300 and 4.5 (analytical).

Application Deadline

We admit students for the Fall Term only.

Applications received and complete with all supporting documents from international students by December 15 and domestic students by January 5 will be considered for departmental financial assistance.

Applications received and complete with all supporting documents from both international and domestic students by March 1 will be considered for admission only.

Finance Opportunities

We have a very strong applicant pool and normally students who receive funding have very high GPAs and strong GRE scores. We prefer applicants with at least a 3.7 GPA and GREs over 2000. However, we do not make a decision based purely on numbers but do evaluate each student on individual merit. Careful attention is paid to student background, experiences, statement of purpose and letters or recommendation in reaching funding decisions.

Professor Contact or Research at umich
USN Rank 17
Rice University – CS

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements
“Typical GRE scores for admitted applicants are in the 90-99th percentile on
the quantitative and analytical portions of the GRE for those applying to
the Ph.D. program and in the 80-89th percentile for the MCS program. CGPA
scores range from 3.5-4.0 based on a 4.0 scale… The minimum score required
on the general GRE is 70 percent in the analytical and quantitative
sections. However, this is a minimum requirement, and applicants who are
offered admission generally have much higher scores.”
Although the Test of Spoken English (TSE) is not required of non-native English speakers, it is strongly recommended. Special consideration is given to applicants providing this score

Application Deadline

Program Deadlines
Ph.D. Program Early Application December 1.Regular Application December 15.
MCS Program
Regular Application February 3. Spring Application October 15

Spring admissions into this program are not guaranteed.

Finance Opportunities

All doctoral students at Rice are fully supported by graduate fellowships or research assistantships. Students who gain external support receive an additional internal supplement.

Professor Contact or Research at rice

USN Rank 17
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – CS

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

“High scores on all three parts of the General Aptitude Test of the Graduate
Record Examination are also recommended: a minimum of 80th percentile on the
verbal section, 90th percentile on the quantitative section, and 90th
percentile on the analytical section or a minimum of 5 on the analytical
writing section… The median credentials for the 35 first-year students who
began our program in fall 2003: are Quantitative GRE: 90th percentile,
Verbal GRE: 83rd percentile, (86th with non-native speakers excluded),
Analytical GRE: 90th percentile, GPA (undergraduate): 3.6/4.0”

Application Deadline

Applications for fall admission, complete with a personal statement, all transcripts, and recommendations, should be received by the Graduate School no later than January 1. To ensure meeting that deadline, applicants are encouraged to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) no later than December 1. Early submission of applications is encouraged. International applicants should consider completing their applications earlier to allow time for processing financial and visa documents.

Finance Opportunities

Most of our students are supported by assistantships and fellowships. Applicants for assistantships are automatically considered for all available fellowships.

Full-time summer employment on a research project is normally available to students who would like to receive support

Professor Contact or Research at unc

USN Rank 17
University of Pennsylvania – CIS

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

“Fall 2004 MSE admissions statistics … Candidates admitted to the MSE
program: Average GRE: V 560 / Q 770 / A 720 / AW 5.0”

Application Deadline

There is no Spring Admission

Deadline for Ph.D. students – December 15.

For domestic students applying to the MSE & MCIT programs – June 1
For candidates overseas applying to the MSE & MCIT programs – May 1

For all domestic and foreign students applying to the CGGT program – July 1

Finance Opportunities

Departmental financial aid is available only for doctoral students; generally, funded doctoral students receive payment of tuition and fees, a stipend for living expenses, and payment of University of Pennsylvania Student Health Insurance.
There is no departmental funding available for MSE, MCIT, or CGGT students. There are no RA positions available in the department; only research fellow positions for doctoral students. Teaching assistant duties are generally met by doctoral students participating in a Teaching Practicum.

Professor Contact or Research at upenn

USN Rank 20
Columbia University – CS

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements
” GPA of at least 3.3 is required. Most successful applicants have a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Most students admitted have earned scores in excess of 650 for the Analytical and Quantitative parts.”

For Ph.D.-As a reference, however, the average GRE scores for the entering class of Fall 2003 were Verbal: 598, Quantitative: 774, and Analytical: 748, while the average TOEFL score was 277.

GRE Computer Science Subject Test is not required but taking it may strengthen your application. We advise that you take the test where it is available.

Application Deadline
Masters- October 1 for Spring admission & March 15 for Fall admission.

Ph.D. October 15 for spring admissions and January 15 for fall admissions.

Finance Opportunities

The department offers both Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA) and Teaching Assistantships (TA). All applicants who indicate in the online application that they would like to apply for financial aid will automatically be considered for all these types of funding. It is not necessary to do anything else in order to apply for this funding.

Professor Contact or Research at Columbia

USN Rank 20
Duke University

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

Application Deadline
Fall entry (all applications) Postmark of December 31
Spring entry (M.S. only) November 1

Finance Opportunities

Professor Contact or Research at Duke

USN Rank 20
Harvard University

Degrees offered

Masters and PH.D.

GRE and other admission requirements
Average Undergraduate GPA 3.7
Average GRE Verbal Score 583
Average GRE Quantitative Score 783
Average GRE Analytical Score 785

Application Deadline
Full time students begin graduate study in the fall term.

Our application deadlines for full time students entering in September 2006 are:

Preferred: December 15
Final: January 2

Finance Opportunities

All students admitted to the Ph.D. program in the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences receive full financial support. This includes tuition, fees, and a cost-of living stipend ($2,150 per month before taxes in 2005-06). Support is independent of need provided a student remains in good academic standing and is making satisfactory progress towards his/her Ph.D. degree.

There is no financial support available to students in our master’s programs. Applicants to our master’s programs should complete the Statement of Financial Resources for Graduate Study as part of their application.

Professor Contact or Research at Harvard

USN Rank 20
Purdue University – West Lafayette

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

”Most of the successful applicants had GPAs above 3.7 on a 4.0 scale. We also take research exposure and the quality of the institution into consideration.

GRE scores are not required but recommended. For Fall 2005 we had over 620 applications for 37 slots.

Application Deadline

The application deadline for fall admission is 15 December

Finance Opportunities

We try to provide financial support for almost all of our graduate students for the duration of their studies. Of the incoming class for 2005, approximately 29% are supported by fellowships, 13% are supported by research assistantships, 48% are supported by teaching assistantships

If admitted, you will automatically be considered for financial support in the form of fellowships, teaching assistantships, and research assistantships

Professor Contact or Research at purdue

USN Rank 20
University of California-San Diego

Degrees

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission Requirements

The evaluation process for applications is extremely complex, taking into account all the materials submitted with the application. Grade point average (GPA), GRE scores, GRE subject test (optional, but recommended), TOEFL (for international students), letters of recommendation, and statement of purpose all play a role. First, the UCSD Graduate Admissions Office evaluates each application to determine whether or not their minimum standards for admission have been met. Then the CSE Department does a more thorough evaluation in a committee consisting of several faculty. Sometimes the committee must draw on the experience of the faculty at-large to make an informed decision.

Our department receives around 1,300 applications annually, and offers admission to fewer than 10%.

The university requires that domestic graduate applicants have a minimum undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. (International applicants do NOT have a minimum-GPA requirement.)

CSE Admissions Committee examines every component of the application and supplemental materials when considering an applicant for admission. (Standardized test scores and grade point averages (GPA) are an integral part of the evaluation process, but admissions decisions are NOT made based on these components alone.)

Deadline

The 2006 deadline is January 5 for admission the following fall.

The preferred application deadline for fall 2006 admission to the Ph.D. program is December 1, 2005. The deadline for receiving supporting documents is January 20.

Financial Opportunities
Generally all of our PhD students are offered support for at least the first year, and can expect to have support through their degree if they continue to make adequate progress. Financial Support comes in the form of fellowships, teaching assistantships (TA), or research assistantships (RA). Assistantships are 20-hour/week positions that pay a stipend, tuition and fees, and health insurance. Typically a PhD student will have a fellowship the first year and then be offered a research assistantship in subsequent years by their advisor.

Masters students may also be offered a teaching assistantship upon admission to the program. Research assistantships may also be forthcoming once faculty members become more familiar with a student’s work, but the individual student is responsible for pursuing these positions.

Many of our Masters students choose to work in local industry (or already do). San Diego is one of the fastest growing high technology areas in the country, and has been named the “Wireless Capital of the World,” and the “#1 place to do business in America,” by Forbes magazine.

Professor Contact or Research at UCSD

USN Rank 25

University of Massachusetts, Amherst – CS
“Average test scores of students who have been accepted are: Verbal: 84th
percentile, Quantitative: 93rd percentile, Analytical: 93rd percentile,
Analytical Writing Measure score: 4.93” |
USN Rank 25

Yale University – CS
“Most students we admit are above the 90th percentile in quantitative,
analytical and verbal scores.”

Special Admissions Requirements

GRE General and Subject Test required; strong preparation in mathematics, engineering, or science; competence in programming.

Ph.D. Admissions Data – Fall 2004 Entering Class
Number of applicants187
Number of students enrolled15

USN Rank 27
University of Southern California

When the PhD admissions committee reads your application, they are primarily interested in your research potential.

Your potential for research will be assessed using a combination of 1. your past research accomplishments (if any), 2. grades (including the reputation of your school and department), 3. the contents of your recommendation letters, 4. your statement of purpose and 5. your GRE scores. In addition, if there is something special in your application that makes you stand out, it will also be considered. Note that there is no fixed formula which combines these factors into a score.

The typical successful applicant to our program (if there is such a person!) has done some research already (as an undergraduate, or a MS student). Often this research has appeared in print as a paper in the proceedings of a conference or a journal. Successful applicants also typically have GRE analytical and quantitative scores around the 95th percentile, and are in the top 10% of their graduating class with GPAs well above 3.5/4.0

The application deadline for admission to Ph.D. program is January 15, 2005

Masters Application Deadline:
Application deadline for admission in Spring 2005 is Oct 01, 2004.
Application deadline for admission in Fall 2005 is June 15, 2005.

USN Rank 27

University of Virginia – CS
“nominal minimum GPA for a successful applicant is about 3.2 (out of 4.0).
Nominal scores for successful applicants … 750 for the quantitative part
and 550 for the verbal”
USN Rank 29

Johns Hopkins University
First we look at the school. For better or for worse, it makes a large difference whether you are from a top school or a second-tier school. Your grades are also important, primarily your grades in CS courses during the last two years of undergraduate study.

The PhD deadline for

Fall is January 15th

Spring is October 15th
The MSE deadline Fall – June 1^st for US citizens and March 1^st for international applicants

USN Rank 29
New York University – CS

“Successful applicants to the MS program in Computer Science will generally
have the following minimum qualifications: Strong GRE Quantitative and
Analytical scores. (Typical acceptable scores are near 700 for each
section.) Or 4.0 or better on the new Analytical Writing section. …”

MSCS Spring December1st; Summer April15th; Fall June1st

MSIS Spring November1st; Summer March 1st; Fall March 1st
PhD Fall January 4th

USN Rank 29

Rutgers University – CS
“mean GPA … 3.62. A high score on all the GRE examinations required …
mean GRE scores for a recent entering class of students were: Verbal 580,
Quantitative 782”
USN Rank 29
Suny -Stony Brook

To be considered for admission, you must be a high achiever in the undergraduate program and have high grade-point average (GPA).

We do not have a priori lower limit for GRE scores — it is decided on a year by year basis. However, it is typically very high, as our admission process is very competitive

Subject GREs are not required, but are strongly encouraged for Ph.D. applicants.
USN Rank 29

University of California – Irvine

Fill out an online application accepted from October 1 to January 15. ICS only accepts applications for the Fall quarter.

USN Rank 29

University of Utah

Neither of the graduate programs (M.S. or Ph.D) is an entry-level degree

A minimum GPA of 3.0 in undergraduate work is required. Most students accepted into the graduate program have GPAs well above that level.

Applicants who demonstrate greater depth of knowledge through GRE Subject exam will be given favorable consideration. The School of Computing prefers the GRE Computer Science Subject exam, but will consider GRE Subject exams in other technical specialties.

We are looking for applicants with strong academic backgrounds who have demonstrated a potential to perform creative and innovative research in the research areas represented by the School of Computing

USN Rank 35

Ohio State University – CSE
“GPA 3.0+, Verbal+ Quantitative+ Analytical>=1900 (old format) or Verbal: 500,
Quantitative: 700 and Analytical: 4 (new format).”

USN Rank 35
Penn State University- University Park

Students with a minimum 3.0 junior/senior grade-point average and appropriate course backgrounds will be considered for admission

Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) Department

How to apply

Preliminary application required for International Students

OR Check

Applicants for fall admission who wish to be considered for financial aid should have completed applications on file before February 1. Applicants who want to be considered for a fellowship must file all materials before January 1. Assistantship applications are provided by the department; you can download the postscript version, or the PDF file, or the PDF fill in and print form, or request a copy by sending email to vicki@cse.psu.edu.

All applicants should hold a baccalaureate degree in computer science, computer engineering, or a closely aligned field. Applicants must submit scores from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) Aptitude Test (verbal, quantitative, and analytical). A subject test in the GRE is not required, but the subject test in computer science is recommended. For score reporting our institution code is 2660, and our department code is 0402.
FOR SPRING 2007 : AUGUST 31. LAST DATE FOR INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS TO SUBMIT COMPLETE APPLICATION MATERIALS FOR ADMISSION (WITHOUT ASSISTANTSHIP)

USN Rank 35

University of Arizona – CS
“Ordinarily, an applicant for the Master’s program is expected to have a
minimum undergraduate grade point average of 3.2 out of 4.0 and scores above
the 50th percentile (verbal), and the 85th percentile (quantitative), and
the 75th percentile (analytical) on the GRE General Test.”
USN Rank 35

University of Chicago – CS
“What are the typical GRE scores for incoming students? Our students’ scores
in the Quantitative and Analytical sections of the GRE are in the top-25%
percentile”

USN Rank 35
University of Colorado – Boulder

Applicants should have a grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a scale of 4.0). However, acceptance is not solely based on GPA. We look at the entire application to evaluate the candidate. For the Masters degree, the General GRE is only required if your GPA is lower than a 3.0. If you come from a lesser known university, it is recommended that you submit General GRE scores. The General GRE is required for all PhD applicants, but there is no set limit for a minimum score. We encourage you to do your best. If you would like to be considered for financial aid, then it is required that you take the General GRE.

For international students applying to both the ME/MS and PhD programs, the deadline for Fall admission is December 1 and for Spring admission is September 1.

Domestic: Applications for the MS or ME programs should be received by February 28 for Fall admission and by October 15 for Spring admission
USN Rank 35
University of Minnesota -Twin Cities

The Computer Science Graduate Program admits students for the Fall term only of each year. The Application Deadlines are as follows:
December 15: PhD in Computer Science (to be considered for Fellowships, Teaching Assistantships, Research Assistantships)
January 15: PhD and MS in Computer Science (to be considered for additional Teaching Assistantships, Research Assistantships)
April 1: Admission without financial assistantships (All MCS students are ineligible for departmental support.)

If your GPA is below 2.8, your chance of getting accepted is very small. If your GPA is below 3.25 but above 2.8, you have a small chance of admission but you must have a very strong record from your supporting material such as letters of recommendation, significant career achievements, unusual circumstances and GRE scores. If your poor GPA was years ago, we would expect to see more recent successful Computer Science course work. Therefore, we will review your transcript to judge if you have demonstrated the ability to achieve at least the minimum GPA for the degree for which you are applying (3.25 out of 4 for the MS degree and 3.45 out of 4 for the Ph.D. and 3.0 out of 4.0 for the MCS degree). In addition to reviewing your transcript, we consider academic institutions you have attended

USN Rank 35
Washington University – St. Louis
USN Rank 42
Indiana University – Bloomington

USN Rank 42
Northwestern University – CS
“Statistics: Incoming 2002-2003 Graduates: GRE Q 731, GRE A 773, GRE V 567,
GRE W 5.1, Undergrad GPA 3.58 ”
USN Rank 42
University of California – Davis
University of California, Davis – CS
“GRE for Fall 2003 admits … Averages: Verbal 596, Quantitative 753,
Analytical 724, Written Analytical 5.0”
USN Rank 42
University of Rochester – CS
“(V+Q+A) GRE score over 2100”
USN Rank 42
Virginia Tech

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

Factors affecting the admissions process: Our primary admissions criterion is our expectation regarding the applicant’s ability to have a productive career as a research-track graduate student. We base this assessment on the academic record (amount of Computer Science background, where previous degrees were obtained, class rank and grade point average, and scores on standard exams such as the GRE and TOEFL), proficiency in English speaking and writing, letters of recommendation, and prior research or work experience. We do not declare any official ‘minimum’ GRE scores; performance on the GRE is just one factor taken into account.

For Spring Semester 2004 applicants to Blacksburg Campus, we processed 76 applications, admitted 16, and 9 new students came. For Fall 2004, we processed 588 applications, admitted 147

Deadline

Fall Semester: January 15

Spring Semester: October 15

Due to the high volume of applications received, it is strongly recommended that you apply well in advance. This is particularly true for international applicants and any applicant who desires financial assistance.

Finance Opportunities

When making decisions on offers of Graduate Teaching Assistantships, we do not take financial need or ability of students to support themselves into account. However, international students who are not given a Graduate Teaching Assistantship will not normally be offered admission unless they have completed a financial certification form indicating sufficient resources available to complete their degree requirements.

MS Coursework-only students will normally be given assistantships if funding is available after all qualified Thesis and PhD students have been funded.

Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA): We typically award about 50 of these each semester. Usually one-quarter to one-third are offered to new students. In 2002/03, stipends were approximately $1500/month for nine months. Students on assistantships are exempt from tuition.

Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA): Many faculty have active research programs that include funds for research assistants. Our current active grants total approximately $5 million, and we typically fund 20-30 GRAs. Note that GRAs are almost never awarded to students who have not been in the Department for at least one semester. GRAs receive the same stipends and tuition exemption as the teaching assistants.

Computer Science Scholars: a limited number of exceptional applicants are admitted as CS Scholars, which guarantees them multiple years of support.

Cunningham Fellowships: We currently award three Cunningham Fellowships, which provide (in addition to a GTA position and tuition) support at the GRA level during the summer months for research work. These are only available to US citizens and permanent residents.
Minority Scholarships: Virginia Tech provides a number of scholarships for minority students who are US citizens. Contact the CS Department at gradprog@cs.vt.edu for further information about applying to these programs.

Other departments and local companies: Our graduate students are in demand to fill positions in other departments doing software development and system administration. There are also a number of software development companies in the Corporate Research Center (CRC) who have a history of hiring our students.

Professor Contact or Research at Vtech

Also Check

USN Rank 47
Dartmouth College

Degrees offered

GRE and other admission requirements

Deadline
Finance Opportunities
Professor Contact

USN Rank 47
University of Florida – CISE

Degrees offered

GRE and other admission requirements

“minimum: GRE: 1100 (math and verbal, with math>600, verbal>400). The
averages are: 560 verbal, 760 quantitative, 680 analytical, and 1320 total
(verbal + quant)”
Deadline
Finance Opportunities

Professor Contact

USN Rank 49
Michigan State University – CSE

Degrees offered

GRE and other admission requirements
“GPA at least 3.2 … Applicants should have a total (verbal, quantitative,
analytical) score of at least 2000. For the ‘new’ GRE, the total of Verbal
and Quantitative scores should be at least 1360, and the Analytical Writing
score should be at least 4.5. The scores mentioned above are generally
considered as minimum requirements, and they do not guarantee admission if
met.”
Deadline
Finance Opportunities

Professor Contact
USN Rank 49
North Carolina State University – CS

Degrees offered

GRE and other admission requirements
“Guideline scores are: Verbal Reasoning 65%, Quantitative Reasoning 85%,
Analytical Writing 70%. In recent years, admission has become more
competitive. For international students, the average percentile for the
Verbal Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, and Analytical Writing parts have
exceeded 70% for most students gaining admission. GPA of 3.2 or better”
|
Deadline
Finance Opportunities
Professor Contact
USN Rank 49
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – CS

“The average GRE scores of admitted applicants for Fall 2003 were Verbal
562, Quantitative 756, and Analytical 724. However, applicants should not
place too much importance on these numbers”
USN Rank 49
Texas A&M – College Station
USN Rank 49
University of California – Santa Barbara
USN Rank 49
University of Pittsburg
USN Rank 55
Arizona State University – CSE
“The minimum scores we accept for the GRE is 1750: 400 Verbal, 700
Quantitative, and 650 Analytical.”
|
USN Rank 55
Suny – Buffalo

USN Rank 55
Syracuse University
USN Rank 55
University of California – Santa Cruz

USN Rank 55

University of Illinois, Chicago – CS
“a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, and a
total score of 1200 or above on the GRE General Exam is acceptable (500+ on
verbal, 700+ on quantitative, and 4.5+/6.0 on analytical).”
USN Rank 60
Boston University
USN Rank 60
Iowa State University – CS
“3.30 out of a possible 4.00. And ranking in top quartile of the graduating
class. Successful candidates place in the 90th percentile in quantitative and
analytical sections when percentiles are reported by ETS.”
USN Rank 60
Oregon Health and Sciences University – OGI CSE
“Desirable GPA is 3.5/4.0. Recently admitted master’s students have
averaged 82nd percentile on the quantitative section and 70th percentile on
the analytical. Students not taking the TOEFL averaged 79th percentile on
the Verbal section”
USN Rank 60
University of Delaware – CIS
“Minimum scores of 550, 600 and 3.5 on the verbal, quantitative, and
analytical writing sections, respectively, of the Graduate Record
Examination Aptitude Test.”

USN Rank 60
University of Iowa

“A minimum 3.00 undergraduate grade point average…
strong GRE scores typically average >= 1800 (V+Q+130*W, where V=verbal,
Q=quantitative, and W=analytic writing); ”

USN Rank 60

University of Oregon – CS
“Acceptable GRE score on the general test. Minimum scores which are
considered to be favorable are a verbal score of 500 or better and
quantitative score of 650 or better and an analytical score of at least
4.5. ”

USN Rank 60
Vanderbilt University

USN Rank 67
Case Western Reserve University – EECS
“The combined GRE score for the analytical, verbal and quantitative exams
should be over 1700. Students not fitting within the guidelines but
demonstrating they would be excellent students may also be admitted.”
|
USN Rank 67
Northeastern University

USN Rank 67
Oregon State University – EECS
“minimum … GPA 3.00 … GRE … The minimum requirement is a combined
score of 1200 on the Verbal and Quantitative sections … EECS does not have
the capacity to accommodate all applicants who meet the minimum admission
requirements”
USN Rank 67
University of Tennessee, Knoxville – CS

Degrees offered

Masters and Ph.D.

GRE and other admission requirements

GPA:International applicants with a degree from a US school need a minimum GPA of 2.7. Students with degrees outside the US must have a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0

We can request an exception to this rule, but for us to do so, an applicant will need strong compensating evidence of ability–such as high GRE scores.

GREs: We require the general GRE test for regular admission and almost never waive this requirement. However, we do not require up-to-date GREs and occasionally use GREs that were taken 10 to 20 years ago. In the MS program, we currently average about 2000 on the verbal + quantitative + analytical total for those we admit. In the Ph.D. program, we tend to expect a GRE verbal score of 600 or greater, a quantitative score of 700 or greater (750 or greater for international applicants), and an analytical score of 5.0 or greater.

We do admit people directly into the PhD program from bachelors’ degrees; such students must also complete the MS coursework, and must in their applications show strong evidence of ability to complete a PhD.

Deadline

We have rolling admissions, with no fixed quotas on the number of students admitted. We do admit students for Spring Semester in January: (perhaps 25-30% of our students enter at this time and a number of GTA positions are usually available then).

International / Domestic Students – MS Program or Ph.D.
Fall Admission & Assistantship Feb 1

Spring Admission & Assistantship June 15

Finance Opportunities
Research Assistantships
These are usually awarded by faculty who have grant money to students who have taken courses from them. The Computer Science Department does not choose/hire GRAs, but rather the individual faculty decide on who they want, and consequently funds do not often go to incoming graduate students.

Teaching Assistantships
We like to receive applications by March 1st for Fall Semester, but we are receptive to applications from good US students after that time (international students, due to visa and other requirements, do not have the luxury of late applications for GTA positions). We strive for flexibility, and while the bulk of the GTA offers are made in March, we usually continue to make offers while positions are still available throughout the spring and summer. Positions are competitive; we only support students pursuing CS degrees. We currently expect GTAs to be able to teach labs that use the C programming language and the UNIX operating system; a lack of C and UNIX skills may adversely affect an applicant’s chances of obtaining a GTA position.
System and Network Administrator
We have a sizable support staff of people managing our labs and handling the UNIX system administration and other matters. We usually have four to six graduate assistants doing sysadmin work. Students who have good UNIX sysadmin/network admin skills can inquire about the availability of such GA positions. Interviews are usually necessary for these positions. The Division of Information Infrastructure (DII), formerly called the University of Tennessee Computing Center, has a variety of systems and network groups, many of which have some GA positions. Obtaining a position with DII requires interviews and cannot be done remotely. Students interested in CS System and Network Administration and DII positions can contact Dr. David Straight: straight@cs.utk.edu

Professor Contact or Research at UTK

Some other Good Universities

Auburn University – CSSE
“In general, only students who have at least a 3.0/4.0 undergraduate grade
point average will be considered for graduate admission. All applicants must
submit a satisfactory score for the general test of the Graduate Record
Examination (GRE) before being considered.”

|

Brigham Young University – CS

“realistic minimums are: GPA of at least 3.3 (last 60 hours). Above the 50th
percentile on all three sections of the GRE. At least a score of 4.0 on the
new Writing section of the GRE. Actual averages of students admitted to the
MS program for the Fall 2004 Semester: GRE percentiles: 69% (V), 82% (Q),
4.57 (Writing Score) GPA: 3.69 ”

College of William and Mary – CS
“Historically, the average scores for incoming (fall) students over several
years has been … Verbal 518-541, Quantitative 684-749, Analytical 643-695,
Average GPA: 3.29-3.4”
|
Florida State University – CS
“All students admitted to the program significantly exceed these criteria in
at least some areas. The minimum GRE score required for admission to the
Department of Computer Science is 1100 (Verbal and Quantitative combined)
with a minimum of 650 on the Quantitative. ”
Illinois Institute of Technology – CS
“overall GPA of 3.0/4.0. For the old, pre-October 2002 GRE exam, the minimum
required combined general GRE scores (verbal + analytical + quantitative
scores) is 1200. For the new exam, the requirements are 900 (verbal +
quantitative scores) and 2.5 (analytical writing) … satisfying the minimum
requirements for admission does not automatically imply admission”
Kansas State University
“For M.S. and Ph.D. applicants; minimum GRE scores of 400/700 Verbal,
650/700 Quantitative, and 4.0/4.5 Analytical Writing”

Lehigh University – CSE
“We prefer students with at least a 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, in their major and
overall. The average score for successful applicants has been over 2000 in
the old GREs (with three parts). We will prefer high scores (over 4.0) on
the new written component.”
Michigan Technological University – CS
“Minimum scores of 75% quantitative, 75% analytical and 50% verbal are
required”

New Jersey Institute of Technology – CS
“3.0 GPA. If an applicant has less than 350 in the Verbal test, the
application will be rejected. If an applicant has less than 650 in the
quantitative test, the application will be rejected. If an applicant has
less than 4.0 in the analytical writing test, the application will be
rejected. Other than that, the higher the overall score is the better. ”
New Mexico State University – CS
“For success in graduate-level Computer Science, a Verbal score in the high
400’s is OK but not good, and 500’s are better (native English speakers
should score MUCH higher); the Quantitative and Analytical scores ought to
be at least mid-high 600’s, with 700’s being better. ”

Ohio University – CS
“most successful applicants score in the top 25th percentile on the
quantitative and analytical writing portions. ”
Temple University – CIS
“An undergraduate GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 system or 3.0 during the last two
years. The GRE examination is required. A minimum score of 1000 (verbal plus
quantitative) and a minimum 25th percentile verbal score is expected”

University of Alabama, Birmingham – CIS
“1100 or better on the quantitative plus verbal (Q+V) Graduate Record
Examination … grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 (4.0 scale),
overall or for the last 60 hours (preferably higher in computer science
courses)”

University of Alabama, Huntsville – CS
“A combined score of at least 1500 is required on the GRE basic test.”
University of Arkansas – CSCE
“On the other hand, we usually don’t admit into our graduate studies program
if any of the scores are below the 60th percentile. If the Verbal test score
is below the 60th percentile, but the other test scores are above that mark,
then we might admit …”

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs – SWE
“An overall undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 (on a scale of 4.0;
awarded within the past five years) or minimum 1800 GRE (verbal +
quantitative + analytic)” |

University of Connecticut – CSE
“minimum scores for admission into the Master’s program is 500 for the
verbal, 750 (or 85th percentile) for the quantitative and 4 for the written”

University of Houston – CS
“Applicants with an overall grade point average of at least 3.0 (out of 4.0)
are encouraged to apply. Average scores of successful applicants to this
program for Fall 2004: GRE: 534 verbal, 755 quantitative.” |
University of Idaho – CS
“an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher. 1200 cumulative for verbal and
quantitative and 4.5 for analytical”

University of Kansas – EECS

“Successful applicants to our graduate programs
have strong undergraduate grades (above 3.0 / 4.0 USA, 70% India, or 80%
China) and GRE scores above 1900 (500 verbal, 700 quantitative, 700
analytical).”
University of Memphis – CS
“It is recommended that applicants have a verbal score of at least 400 and a
quantitative score of at least 400 on the GRE. Applicants with lower test
scores may be considered in exceptional cases. minimum GPA of 2.5” |

University of Missouri, Columbia – CS
“A GPA of at least 3.0 (A= 4.0) for the last half of the undergraduate
curriculum. The minimum acceptable scores are the 25th percentile on the
verbal (GRE-V) part, the 80th percentile on the quantitative (GRE-Q) part,
and 4 on the analytical writing part.”
University of Missouri, Rolla – CS
“A minimum GRE verbal score of 370. A minimum combined GRE quantitative and
analytic score of 1200 or GRE Quantitative >=600 and AW score >=3.5. An
undergraduate GPA of 3.0/4.0 or better over the last 2 years.”
University of New Mexico – CS
“The department has established criteria for the GRE scores of 570
(verbal-native English speakers), 670 (quantitative) and 620 (analytical).
These are not hard and fast cutoffs …”
University of North Texas – CS
“GPA 3.00 in prior work, Verbal – 400, Quantitative – 700, Analytical 600,
Analytical Writing 4.0”
University of Notre Dame – CSE
“It is our experience that students with a GRE total exceeding 2000, in the
upper 10% of their class … will do the best”
University of South Carolina – CSE
“at least a 3.00 GPA. The average GRE scores of the accepted applicants for
Fall 2002 were: Verbal 539, Quantitative 720 and Analytical 668”
University of South Florida – CSE
“A minimum total score of 1200 in the verbal and quantitative portions of
the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) (must make at least 500 verbal,) and a
minimum grade point average of 3.3 out of 4.0 for all course work completed
during the last two years”
University of Texas, Arlington – CSE
“An overall GPA of 3.0. A GPA of 3.2 or higher on CS/CSE related course work
in the last two years. A sum of verbal and quantitative GRE scores of at
least 1150 for MS. GRE quantitative 700 and GRE verbal 400.”
University of Texas, Dallas – CS
“Minimum requirements are: GPA of at least 3.0 (last 60 hours). GPA in
quantitative courses of at least 3.3. GRE scores of at least 1200 (verbal +
quantitative) or 1800 (verbal + quantitative + analytical) is advisable”
University of Toledo – EECS
“GRE Verbal score of 500, Quantitative score of 700 and Analytical writing
score of 4.5. For students from the old GRE system, the cut-off score is
1800”
University of Wyoming – CS
“A minimum combined score (verbal and quantitative) of 900 for master’s
applicants and 1000 for doctoral applicants is required. To be considered
for admission to graduate study in the department, applicants must achieve a
high score on the quantitative portion of the general examination, in
addition to meeting the combined score requirements.”
Wayne State University – CS
“at least – verbal 450, quantitative 750, analytical writing 4.5 (Old exam
format requirement is analytical score of 650)”
CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES
Simon Fraser University – CS
“For M.Sc. and Ph.D. applicants, the minimum GRE requirement is Verbal 560,
Quantitative 740, and Analytical 700. ”
University of Saskatchewan – CS
“What is the Department’s minimum GRE requirement? The minimum overall score
that is required is 2000,”
University of New Brunswick – CS
“normally require a minimum score of 600 for Quantitative Section and a
minimum score of 3.5 for the Analytical Writing. … necessary but not
sufficient.”

University of Alberta – CS

“Applicants who have previous degrees from outside Canada must take the GRE
(general). Our successful applicants obtain a minimum score of 700 each on
the quantitative and analytical components (or a comparable score on the
analytical writing section).

Successful Essays – Statement of Purpose (SOPs)

NOTE:

My advice

[1] Have a look at some of these Essays (SOP’s)

[2] When it’s time to write your essay, do it yourself. Do not look at other essays nor copy them.

[3] Having made a draft take a look at as many SOPs as you can. Borrow points  which you think are good. However use your own language.

[4] Your SOP need not be too long. SOPs should be direct and to-the-point.

[5] A SOP MUST BE ORIGINAL.

Statement of Purpose – 1

I am applying to Stanford for admission to the Ph.D. program in Computer Science. I am interested in Theoretical Computer Science, particularly in the Design and Analysis of Approximation Algorithms, Combinatory and Complexity Theory.

My interest in Mathematics goes back to the time I was at school. This interest has only grown through my years in school and high school, as I have learnt more and more about the subject. Having represented India at the International Mathematical Olympiads on two occasions, I have been exposed to elements of Discrete Mathematics, particularly Combinatory and Graph Theory, outside the regular school curriculum at an early stage. The intensive training programs we were put through for the Olympiads have given me a lot of confidence in dealing with abstract mathematical problems.

My exposure to Computer Science began after I entered the ****. The excellent facilities, courses and faculty have given me a firm background of the fundamentals in Computer Science. Having been exposed to the various facets of Computer Science in the course of my undergraduate studies, I have found Theoretical Computer Science most intellectually satisfying and stimulating. Courses like `Discrete Structures’, `Data Structures and Algorithms’, Theory of Computation’ and Algorithms and Complexity’ have been my firm favorites. I find the problems in Theoretical Computer Science particularly appealing because of the flavor of abstract mathematics that I love so much. At the same time, the problems in this field have a concrete basis, originating from practical problems in Computer Science. This adds to their appeal.

Recently, a lot of exciting developments have taken place in the field of approximation algorithms. The Markov chain approach and the primal/dual approach have emerged as powerful techniques for the development of approximation algorithms. More recently, semi-definite programming has been used to obtain approximation algorithms for Optimization problems. An interesting connection with results in Interactive Proof Systems has yielded lower bounds on the approximability of various problems. I believe that these methods have a lot of potential. Members of the faculty at Stanford have done a lot of the pioneering work in these areas. Prof.YYY has been involved in the work on Interactive Proof Systems and semi-definite programming. I have read about these results in the course of my seminar (Junior Thesis), my summer training at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Bombay, and my B.Tech. Project (Senior Thesis). I find them very fascinating and intend to work with problems of a similar flavor.

I am convinced that I should pursue a career in research and teaching. For me, problem solving is an exhilarating experience, unequaled by anything else. It would be immensely gratifying for me to be able to contribute something to the understanding of a subject that has given me so much pleasure and joy. It would also be wonderful to have the opportunity to share with others that feeling of pleasure and joy, through teaching. My few experiences with teaching, as a tutor for an undergraduate course and as a lecturer in student workshops, have evoked favorable responses and have been thoroughly enjoyable. I believe that I have the capacity to make the commitment and accept the challenges that a career in research involves. I am confident that I have the requisite aptitude, exposure and motivation to make a meaningful contribution to my chosen field.

My summer training at TIFR has given me the experience of working in an organization oriented towards research. In the course of the two months I spent there, my interaction with the Theoretical Computer Science group has taught me a lot of things and also whets my appetite for more knowledge. I realize how important it is, as a researcher, to interact with other people working in the same field, and at the same time, am able to work individually.

A good research career can only be built above the firm foundation of a good education. With my long-term goal in mind, my immediate objective is to work towards a Ph.D. in Computer Science. Having done my undergraduate studies at undoubtedly one of the best undergraduate institutions in India, I would consider it my privilege to be able to pursue my doctoral studies at Stanford and avail of the excellent infrastructure facilities and research opportunities it has to offer. I am sure that the stimulating academic environment and interaction with the distinguished faculty at Stanford will prove immensely fruitful and facilitate my development as an individual Researcher in my field. I feel that Stanford has a lot to offer me, and at the same time, I am confident that I would be able to make a positive contribution to on going research work at Stanford University.

Having decided that I will engage in the pursuit of a career in research, I am fully aware of the implications. I am aware of the kind of dedication, resilience and resolve that it calls for. I feel that I am adequately prepared, both in having the technical qualifications, and in having the right mind-set for doctoral level Research work. I look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Stanford University.

Statement of Purpose 2

My objective for graduate studies in Computer Science is to prepare myself for the long-term goal of pursuing a career of teaching and research. I have nurtured a strong passion to become a scientist and pursue research. In the pursuit of Knowledge, I have always adopted a rigorous approach in order to attain an in-depth understanding of the subject at hand. This has amply reflected in my consistently brilliant career, always topping the class and having received numerous national level awards. With a GPA of 9.72, I am ranked first at the *** among nearly 350 students.

I have been involved in research in parallel and distributed computing systems. I studied various problems in distributed systems and distributed databases including deadlock detection and resolution, termination detection, distributed snapshots and consistency. I have been attracted towards the field of correctness of parallel programs. I published a Technical Report reporting errors in two published deadlock detection algorithms and highlight their underlying deficiencies with respect to the distributed nature of computation. I am also involved in the development of an optimizer generator, which would automate the process of writing optimizers based on the specifications of the optimizations. I am currently engaged in writing a paper on an efficient algorithm for performing global data-flow analysis. The new algorithm that I have developed utilizes the notion of backward information flow to perform propagation using work-lists in an efficient manner. I have been in correspondence with Prof. yyyy about my algorithm and other aspects of the problem.

I have chosen to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University because by working under the guidance of the distinguished researchers I am confident of making an original contribution in the field of Computer Science. My interest in research has burgeoned during my undergraduate studies at ***. I have excelled in our well-rounded and exacting undergraduate program and have developed a solid background to take up research in Computer Science.

I have decided to go in for graduate studies which calls for a personal commitment to the fulfilling craft of independent research and that involves willingly making personal sacrifices of time, leisure and immediate reward. In turn I shall get intellectual satisfaction and the gratification of becoming a contributor to knowledge through research and the greater personal rewards of learning and discovery. I believe that I possess the motivation, intellectual ability and preparation to set out on this exhilarating and arduous path and to make significant original contributions to your on-going research work.

I look forward to joining Stanford University as a graduate student at your esteemed department.

Statement of Purpose 3

GOALS

I am applying to Princeton University for admission to the Ph.D. program in (Computer Science}. My research interests lie in the field of Theoretical Computer Science. More specifically, I am interested in the Design and Analysis of Algebraic, Combinatorial and Number Theoretic Algorithms as well as their applications. Other areas that interest me are Theory of Computation, Complexity Theory and Geometric Algorithms.

My long-term goal is to be actively involved with research and teaching in an area that I love. I look forward to such an involvement as a faculty member at a reputed university. A Ph.D. in one of the aforementioned areas would be the crucial first step towards this goal.

PERSONAL-BACKGROUND

Both my parents have done their Ph.D.’s in Mathematics and my father is an active researcher in Applied Mathematics. This had inculcated in me a love for Mathematics right from my school days. On the other hand, I entered school in the same year in which the “personal computer revolution” began in India; therefore I have, in some sense, “grown up with computers”. My interest in Theoretical Computer Science is the combined result of these two influences.

MATHS-BACKGROUND

While in high school, I was involved with the Mathematical Olympiad program and this culminated in my being awarded a silver medal at the 34^th International Mathematical Olympiad. As a result of this involvement, I was exposed to basic Combinatory, Graph Theory and Number Theory at an early age. Moreover, the intensive training-cum-selection program I underwent has honed my skills and bolstered my confidence in problem solving. It has also whetted my appetite for problem solving and made me a regular reader of the Problem sections of periodicals like American Mathematical Monthly and Mathematics Magazine.

I was chosen, by the National Board of Higher Mathematics, as one of 18 undergraduates all over India to participate in their nurture program, in parallel with my formal undergraduate training. The resulting three-year-long interaction with the School of Mathematics of the prestigious Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), has given me a substantial background in advanced mathematics (including Group, Ring and Field Theory, Linear Algebra, Real and Complex Analysis, Measure Theory and Topology). As part of this year’s program, I am studying Commutative Algebra, Algebraic Number Theory and Functional Analysis.

I hope to put my mathematical background to good use in my research work.

CS-BACKGROUND

I am currently a senior undergraduate student of the **** majoring in Computer Science and Engineering. I had chosen this department for its academically stimulating atmosphere, excellent faculty and broad spectrum of courses, many of which have a strong mathematical flavor.

Now, having acquired a firm foundation in the various areas of Computer Science, I am sure that my forte is Theoretical Computer Science. I find that my motivation, as well as my aptitude, is the strongest in this field: I have secured the highest possible grade (AA) in all the five theory courses that I have taken at **** namely, Discrete Structures, Data Structures and Algorithms, Design and Analysis of Algorithms, Theory of Computation} and Operations Research.

I have further enhanced my Theory background by opting for theoretical topics in my

{Seminar} (junior thesis) and my {B.Tech.\Project} (senior thesis). The former involved studies in Commutative Algebra and Computational Algebra, while the latter has involved Combinatorial Algorithms, Graph Theory and Randomized Algorithms and will soon involve Approximation Algorithms and applications of graph partitioning to VLSI design.

RESEARCH-PLANS

I find Algorithms and Complexity theory the most appealing areas of Computer Science because of their many beautiful results together with their numerous applications to real-life problems in Databases, Operating Systems, Graphics, Compilers and so on. I am fascinated with the enormous potential for research in these areas which has been revealed to me in my {Seminar} and {B.Tech\project} and that is what I envisage myself doing a decade from now.

Since problem solving is the most enjoyable and rewarding experience I have ever known, and since it is an integral part of a career in research and teaching in Theoretical Computer Science, I am convinced that such a career is the right choice for me. I am eager to contribute something to a subject that has given me so much joy. I am also enthusiastic about being involved in its teaching, as teaching a subject enhances one’s own understanding of it.

WHY-THIS-UNIV

Princeton University has one of the world’s very best Theoretical Computer Science groups. An opportunity to interact with this group would be a golden one for any budding theoretician.

From a careful study of the department’s brochures and the advice of the faculty at ****, I have realized that Princeton can provide me with a perfect environment for directing my mental resources towards independent research. I am confident of meeting the high standards of Princeton; my active involvement and enthusiasm in my undergraduate studies, which is amply reflected in my being ranked {first in the institute}, should serve as proof of my possessing the necessary qualities.

CONCLUDING

Keeping in mind my long-term goals, my immediate objective is to work towards a Ph.D. in Computer Science. I am aware of the kind of dedication, perseverance and resolve I need to have for a fruitful career in research and teaching. I believe my background has not only qualified me technically but also given me the right mind-set for such a career.

I look forward to joining as a graduate student in your department and having a long and mutually profitable association with Princeton University.

Statement of Purpose 4

Statement of long-term goals

After carefully considering my aptitude, interests, the nature of my training and my ultimate professional ambition, I have decided to pursue a {Doctoral degree} in Computer Science, in my fields of interest {Computer Graphics} and {Computational Geometry}, ultimately leading to a career in teaching and research. As a Statement of purpose of my graduate study, I describe here my academic background, research interests and career goals.

Academic achievements

I have excelled in academics at every stage of my education. In the twelve years of my schooling, I have always been ranked first or second in my class. I stood $111^th out of 100,000 candidates in the highly competitive examination for admission to the undergraduate program at the ****. In the Regional Mathematics Olympiad 1990, I was ranked 6^th in my home state of Maharashtra.

Brief description of field of study

The excellent undergraduate program at the *** not only provided me with a strong foundation of Computer Science fundamentals, but also exposed me to various fields of Computer Science. I have always been interested in problems involving visualization. At ***, this led to an inclination towards Computer Graphics and Computational Geometry. I substantiated my knowledge in these areas by choosing graduate level electives in Advanced Computer Graphics and Geometric Algorithms. I am currently working on my yearlong B.Tech Project (senior thesis) titled { Triangulations in 3 Dimensions}, under the guidance of Dr. yyy. In this thesis we are looking at decompositions of polyhedral into surplices with an emphasis on obtaining well shaped tetrahedral.

Seminar

I am also interested in Multimedia technology. In my third year, I presented a home paper titled {Multimedia Databases} under the guidance of Dr. yyy. In this paper, our study was focused on issues involved in the storage and real time retrieval of multimedia objects in a multi-user environment.

Teaching and work experience

My years at **** have given me substantial teaching experience. I have delivered lectures at Workshops on Unix conducted by the department and have been a teaching assistant for an introductory course in programming. This has built in me a lot of

Confidence that is required to excel as a teacher.

Experience in field of study

Though my experiences in **** have provided me with a strong foundation in my fields of interest, a good graduate program is necessary not only to increase my knowledge in these fields but also to mould me into a good researcher. I am fully aware of the hard work and perseverance required for a successful career in research and I believe that I have the aptitude and drive to meet the challenge.

University paragraph

The Graduate program at SUNY, Stony Brook is fully suited to my goals. Graphics and Computational Geometry are strong areas of research at Stony Brook. I have found the faculty and the research work to be quite impressive. I feel that to be associated with this group would stand me in good stead throughout my research career. I have also been impressed by the computing facilities available at Stony Brook for research and education. My B.Tech Project advisor has also strongly encouraged me to apply to your program. I am confident that given the opportunity, I will be able to make significant

Contributions to the on going research at Stony Brook.

I corresponded with Prof.yyy whose encouraging reply reinforced my decision to apply to Stony Brook.

I look forward to joining SUNY, Stony Brook as a graduate student at your esteemed department.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 5

It is after a good deal of self-evaluation that I have decided to pursue graduate studies in Computer Science leading to a doctorate. This decision followed naturally after carefully considering my academic background, the areas of my interest, and my ultimate professional ambition, which is to pursue a research career, either as a teaching faculty member, or in an R & D department of the industry.

My undergraduate education at *** has provided me with a strong and comprehensive background in Computer Science. The curriculum included all the basic courses such as Data Structures and Algorithms, Discrete Structures, Computer Organization and Design, Systems Programming, Theory of Computation, etc.

I had always been fascinated by the field of Artificial Intelligence, which is why I chose the topic of “Human and Artificial Intelligence” for my junior thesis. The literature survey that this entailed exposed me to the fundamental concepts, as also the research work in progress, in the various domains of Artificial Intelligence I concentrated on issues involved in Natural Language Processing and Knowledge Representation.

My B. Tech. project (senior thesis) is “Word Recognition, Spell Checking and Correction using ART-based neural networks”. We are investigating the use of neural networks, configured under the Adaptive Resonance Theory paradigm, for the task of detecting spelling mistakes in English text and generating good suggestions for incorrectly spelled words. This guided independent work has given me a good understanding of the theoretical, experimental and computational skills required in Computer Science.

I have been a teaching assistant for the introductory course “Computer Programming and Utilization” conducted by Prof. yyy of the Computer Science department. I have also helped in organizing, and given a lecture on the “VI” editor, during the UNIX workshop conducted by the Computer Science and Engineering Association of our Department.

There are two reasons why I believe that graduate study in a reputed department, such as yours, is important for a person aspiring for a research career. Firstly, working for a thesis under the guidance of an expert whose work can serve as a model is the most effective method of transforming a student into a largely independent researcher making significant original contributions. Secondly, the emphasis of graduate study on intensive and independent study of a specialized area is an ideal way of making a student capable of reaching the frontiers of knowledge in a subfield quickly and keeping abreast of the latest developments.

I feel that with its comprehensive facilities and competent faculty doing quality research work in the field of Artificial Intelligence will be the ideal place for me to pursue graduate studies. The working atmosphere of a vigorously active department will be helpful in motivating me towards excellence.

In short, I believe that a good graduate program is an essential step for realizing my professional ambition of becoming a competent researcher. I also believe that I possess the motivation, intellectual ability and preparation to do justice to a demanding graduate program. My excellent undergraduate record and my high GRE scores are testimony to that.

I, therefore, look forward to joining your department as a graduate student.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 6

Long Term Goals

My undergraduate training in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the **** has exposed me to a stimulating academic environment where learning and research go hand–in–hand. Through the many opportunities I have had here, I have found that I have a deep interest in research work and a strong aptitude for the type of problem solving and problem discovery that it involves. I have, therefore, decided to pursue active research in Computer Science as a career.

Areas of Interest

Of the many fields in the Computer Science spectrum, I am especially interested in Computer Systems. Within this field, I am interested in computer networks, distributed systems, operating systems and distributed operating systems. My junior seminar work, my practical training and my courses have given me plenty of exposure to these areas and I feel that I have sufficient motivation and aptitude to work in this field.

I am also interested in Programming Language design and Programming Systems. I have worked in these areas in my summer project at TIFR and in my ongoing B. Tech. project. I would like to continue to learn about these areas in my graduate program.

Immediate Goals

I plan to work towards a Ph. D. program with a focus on Distributed and Parallel operating Systems. I would also like to follow up my interests in Computer Networks, Distributed Systems, Operating Systems and Programming Languages through my course work. I feel that this should be my next step on my road to a research career in Computer Science.

Why Duke?

I have selected Duke as the place for me to continue with my education because I found that the Graduate Program in Computer Science suited my needs perfectly. I have found the Duke Computer Science Department faculty and the research being carried out in Computer Systems, especially in Distributed Operating Systems, to be very impressive. I feel that to be associated with this group for the many years of my Ph. D. would stand me in good stead for my research career. I have also been impressed by the computing facilities available at Duke for research and education. These are much superior to those available to a graduate student in India. Taking all these factors into account, I feel that Duke is the perfect place for my graduate studies and I am confident that I will make a positive contribution to the ongoing research work at Duke.

Am I Prepared?

My undergraduate preparation at the Computer Science and Engineering Department of the **** has given me a very substantial knowledge of the basic areas of Computer Science. Through my junior seminar work, I have acquired a good knowledge of distributed operating systems and the problems they entail. It also exposed me to the broad fields of computer networks, distributed systems and operating systems. I have also been exposed to practical computer networks and network programming in the course of my practical training at the State Bank of India, Head Office. My course projects have given me plenty of experience in programming using various programming languages, software packages and operating systems. I have selected {Introduction to Computer Networks} as an elective course in the seventh semester so as to broaden my knowledge in this area. Therefore, I feel confident that I have acquired both a broad base in Computer Science and a strong foundation in Computer Systems.

Summing Up

I am aware of the hard work and perseverance necessary for research work and I know that it is not always as exciting as the published results seem to indicate. Nevertheless, I am sure that my aptitude and drive will see me through the challenge. I hope to have a long and mutually profitable association with Duke.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 7

I, am a senior student of the Bachelor of Technology program in Computer Science and Engineering at the ****. I am applying for graduate studies in Computer Science leading to a Ph.D. I see this as a first step towards achieving my career objective of research in an academic environment.

Academic Background

I have excelled in academics right from my school days. In school, I consistently used to secure one of the top positions in the class. In my twelth standard examinations, I was placed in the merit position at an All India level. I have always been attracted towards subjects that draw upon one’s analytical abilities. Thus, Mathematics and Physics were my favorite subjects. I was placed among the top 1% of the candidates who appeared for the National Search Examination in Physics all over India. Later, I secured the 97th position among the 80,000 candidates who appeared throughout India for the Joint Entrance Examination. This examination is conducted by the *** the premier engineering institutions of India, for selecting the best of Indian talent.

Computer Science Background

The undergraduate program at *** aims to strike a balance between the theoretical as well as the practical aspects of Computer Science. This has given me a sound understanding of the fundamentals at both the theoretical as well as practical levels.

I have performed reasonably well in my undergraduate courses at ***, but since *** admits only the best students throughout the country, I believe, in view of the competitive atmosphere, that the grades secured should not be considered in an absolute sense.

During the course of the B.Tech. program I have developed a keen interest in the fields of Computer Graphics, Algorithms and Operating Systems. At present I am working under the guidance of Dr.yyy on my home paper titled {Physically Based Modeling}. As a junior, I had presented a seminar on {Associative–Commutative Matching and Unification}. I have included a brief summary of both these separately

Purpose of Doctoral Study and Career Goals

During the course of my education at ***, I have realized and felt convinced that my true liking and aptitude lies in research and teaching. Research and teaching go hand in hand. Teaching gives one a sense of constructive participation in the education Process. Research enables a person to stay in touch with the latest advances, while making one’s own contributions to the field. I have also had a good deal of teaching experience as an undergraduate teaching assistant during my junior year for the freshman course

{Computer Programming and Utilization}. I have included a brief description of this and relevant certificates to substantiate my claim.

I believe that graduate education is not merely a continuation of college studies. I think that graduate education is process, in which the student learns how to do independent research.

My decision to apply to UNIV is based on a careful examination of the department bulletin and the research interests of the faculty members. I have contacted PROF, who has encouraged me to apply. I would really love working under his guidance for my PhD’s believe that graduate education at your University will enhance my knowledge, give me wide exposure and develop my abilities to do independent research. I consider myself an enthusiastic and hardworking person, and I am sure that my stay your university will be a very fruitful one.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 8

My goals

I am applying to the PhD program in Computer Science at Brown University. After considering my aptitude and the type of work that I enjoy most, I am convinced that I want to take up a career in research in Computer Science. A PhD is just one step towards realizing this goal.

My preparation for the same

My formal introduction to Computer Science began at ***. Under its excellent faculty, I got exposed to the entire spectrum of Computer Science. In an environment that is intensely competitive, and where research goes hand-in-hand with learning, I also got a lot of drill in both theoretical research work and implementation, thus laying a sound foundation for graduate study.

My academic and co-curricular record has been consistently good. Throughout school as well as now, I have been at or near the top of my class. I have listed some of my achievements, on the attached resume. What I would like to stress most however is the fact that I have been consistent in all academic or co-curricular (and even Extracurricular) tasks that I have undertaken.

My primary interests

I have always loved problems that involve plenty of visualization. At ***, this resulted in an inclination towards Computer Graphics and Computational Geometry, and also Algorithms. These are the subjects that I want to pursue in my graduate study.

I chose the elective Computer Graphics and a graduate level course Algorithms and Complexity this semester, in line with these interests. My B.Tech. Project (home paper), under Dr. yyy, is on Visible Surface Determination (hidden surface removal), a very popular topic in Computational Geometry.

Why Brown University?

It would be a cliché to say that all fields in Computer Science are highly interlinked. I have experienced this myself, since frequently, while working on a problem in one field, I have (through abstraction/ reduction/analogy) landed up looking at another problem, that one would normally put under a different field altogether.

Hence, two criteria that I considered while selecting a university for my Ph.D. were the university must be very strong in Computational Geometry and/or Computer Graphics my primary interests, and it must be fairly good, if not exceptional, in other fields of Computer Science too (especially, algorithms and combinatory).

Brown University more than satisfies these criteria. My B.Tech. Project guide, Dr. yyy also strongly recommended it. An added attraction is its participation in the Science and Technology Center for Computer Graphics and Scientific Visualization.

There is one more and the most compelling reason. In my B.Tech. Project, my guide and I are concentrating on developing better methods for the moving/ multiple viewpoint case of hidden surface removal. The preliminary ideas that have emerged out of this effort use a result on Dynamic planar point location by Prof. yyy. The line sweep technique is the other major component in these ideas, and it was from Prof. Yyy book on Computational Geometry, that I first learnt it. The fact that both are from Brown University convinced me that Brown University is the natural choice in realizing my graduate goals. Subsequently I corresponded with Prof. yyy, and his encouraging reply reinforced my decision to apply to Brown.

It would be a pleasure to continue my current research focus at Brown under their supervision. At the same time, I am sure that many other problems, which the Brown CS department is currently focusing on, would be equally interesting to work on.

What I plan to do at Brown

I plan to carry on advanced study of Computer Graphics and Computational Geometry, as well as related fields (e.g. algorithms); not only through coursework but also by {participating in one of the several ongoing projects}. This will also give me the opportunity to contribute my bit to the understanding of the fields, which interest me so much.

I am keen that the output of my PhD (and in fact any PhD) be well worth the time and effort spent on it. For the reasons mentioned above, I am sure that Brown University Will provides me the right environment for this.

Financial Aid

I would be fully dependent on aid to finance my graduate studies. If I were granted an assistantship, then given my long-term goals, a research assistantship would be an ideal experience for me. I also have some experience as a teaching assistant. Not only have I enjoyed it, but the students have also appreciated it. This makes me confident that I will be a good teacher also.

In conclusion…

I am aware that Brown University expects very high standards from its students. On my part, I can assure you of hard work. I believe that my enthusiasm will enable me to meet those expectations. My consistency in all previous academic and co-curricular activities is what gives me confidence when I say this.

Eagerly looking forward to a long and mutually profitable association with the Computer Science Department of Brown University.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 9

My early fascination for computers (since high school), combined with a strong liking for analytical subjects inspired me to seek admission to one of the best and most competitive Computer Science undergraduate programs in India — the B.Tech program in ***. I was successful in this endeavor, being ranked 113th among around 100,000 students in the entrance exams to the ***. In ***, a very strong curriculum, introduced me to a wide range of subjects in Computer Science, with a strong emphasis on theoretical fundamentals. I have always believed that a subject is understood better when one actually sees an abstract theory being realized by a practical system. The various demanding laboratory courses and projects in the B.Tech program at *** have provided me with a better understanding of Computer Science. This belief has led to my growing interest in computer systems, and I have consistently performed well in my laboratory courses. I have also, as part of a campus wide systems support group, been involved in compiling and installing various software and systems.

Given these practical interests, my theoretical background, my aptitude and academic potential for graduate study (indicated by my GRE General score of (V 700, Q 790, A 780) and Computer Science Subject score in the 98th percentile), I feel that pursuing a PhDDegree in Computer Science is a step in the right direction towards my long-term career goals.

Thirty years from now, I want to be able to look back at the accomplishments of my life and feel a sense of satisfaction. Satisfaction, because my work made a significant impact in my field. And if I can achieve this goal I will consider my career a success. Over the past four years, I have become absolutely convinced that the path towards this goal will involve leveraging my current skills and abilities to make significant contributions to improve the understanding of systems and concepts in the field of Computer Science. Six or seven years from now, I see myself as part of a leading research group, contributing my bit to the field of Computer Science. A PhD in Computer Science is therefore a natural first step towards this goal.

I plan to work towards a PhD in the field of {Distributed Systems and Networking}. I have become interested in this area during the course of my undergraduate studies at *** through a series of research and project experiences.

In my junior year, I presented a home paper on “Wormhole Routing in Interconnection Networks.” Currently, I am in the midst of my yearlong B.Tech thesis, titled “Distribution Strategies for the Satisfiability Problem,” guided by Prof. yyy (PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). For this thesis, I am writing a distributed solution for the satisfiability problem, on a network of workstations. My work will involve studying various distributed computing techniques and writing a distributed version of existing sequential solutions to satisfiability. Moreover, this Semester I have undertaken as an Operating Systems course project, a study of implementation issues in “Group Communication in the {Amoeba} Distributed Operating System” and will be crediting a Postgraduate elective — “Foundations of Parallel Computation” in my final (next) semester.

In my opinion, the effective communication of ideas is an important part of any research career. During my undergraduate years in ***, I have been fortunate to have some experience in teaching basic Computer Science. In my junior year, I was a teaching assistant for an institute level introductory course in programming, “CS 101: Computer Programming and Utilization,” for freshmen. The work involved conducting tutorials, grading assignments, and providing assistance during practical sessions.

In my junior and senior years, I have been the Technical Coordinator, and subsequently General Secretary of the Computer Science and Engineering Association, ****. In this capacity, I have been actively involved in planning, organizing and lecturing at; various workshops on UNIX aimed at both technical and lay audiences. These experiences have been extremely rewarding, and I am sure they will help me in any teaching duties as a graduate student, and later on in my career.

I am confident that my strong motivation, my undergraduate experiences and my analytical aptitude will help me to measure up to the rigors of graduate study. I am looking forward to make my contributions to the research going on at Dartmouth.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 10

In this era of information technology I feel a sense of pride in being so closely associated with the field of computer science. The desire to forge ahead in this field by doing cutting edge research has motivated me to pursue graduate studies.

Academic Background

I hail from a small industrial town where education is given a very high priority. My father is an educator himself. This background inculcated in me a deep inclination for academics from the very beginning. The subjects that attracted me most were Mathematics and Physics. In order to pursue a career in science and engineering, I appeared for the Joint Entrance Examination for admission to ****. Securing an {All India Rank of $162$} amongst $100,000$ candidates ($99.8$ percentile), I joined ****, one of the best institutes for engineering education in India. The growing involvement of computers in various fields of science and technology encouraged me to choose computer science as my branch of study in undergraduate studies.

Undergraduate Studies

After coming to ****, I was introduced to the true expanse of computer science. The core courses gave me an in–depth knowledge in each field. The lab courses and projects gave me the programming skills (for details of the projects please refer resume). Most of these projects were done in groups of two to four students. This gave me the opportunity to learn to work in a group — both as a leader or otherwise.

Areas of Interest

My main objective during my undergraduate studies was to get an overview of various fields in computer science and identify a field of interest in which I could pursue my research career. Because of their vast applications, computer systems, in general, have attracted me. In particular, I am interested in databases, distributed systems and parallel processing. My junior thesis was on (database mining}, which I completed under the guidance of Dr. yyy am currently doing work in {parallelizing compilers} as part of my Senior thesis under Dr. S. Biswas. I have also registered for a course on “models of parallel computation”, intended to deal with fundamentals of parallel algorithms and parallel architectures, in the forthcoming semester.

Career Objectives

Within a decade or so, I visualize myself as a full-fledged research professional in an organization or a faculty member at one of the leading Universities. I see PhD as a first step in achieving this career objective. I am willing to do MS as an intermediate step.

Strengths

There are a few things whose value I realized during my undergraduate studies and now I strongly believe in them. These are {hard work} — Necessity to produce results,

(discipline} — Necessity to finish task before deadlines and {persistence} — Necessity to sail through unproductive periods. My attempt throughout has been to inculcate these qualities in myself in which, I believe, I have been fairly successful.

Weaknesses

A major weakness of mine has been my speed. I always try to attack a problem in depth, which invariably requires some amount of time. As a result, I have not been able to perform very well in “three hour” exams. This weakness has been reflected in my grades. However, given sufficient time I have always been able to show good results, reflected by the good grades (AA or AB) in lab courses involving projects.

Reasons for selecting Ohio State University

My advisors recommended me of your university on the basis of faculty interests and the research work currently in progress. After going through the brochure, I realized that there also exists a vast gamut of opportunities, especially excellent computing facilities, in your department. In addition, from the communication I had with Dr yyy, I have to come to conclusion that the graduate program at your department would suit my interests extremely well.

Conclusion

I am fully aware that a research career requires a constant, well—directed and whole–hearted effort. I am confident that I would meet all the above demands. Hence I appeal to the Graduate Admissions Committee to consider me for admission, and financial aid.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 11

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 11

I am a final year student of the four year Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) program in Computer Science & Engineering at the ****, one of the nation’s premier institutes. My long-term career objective is to pursue a research career, either as a faculty in a university or a researcher in Industry and Graduate Study at your department would be the first step towards this Goal.

Since childhood I have had a strong inclination towards science. My excellent performance in academics inspired me to take up science as a career. I therefore, took the Joint Entrance Examination for admission to the **** and qualified in the top 0.12% of about 150,000 who took the test.

The excellent course structure coupled with high academic standard further stimulated my interest in scientific pursuit. My approach towards courses was to grasp the basic concepts so as to develop a ‘feel’ for the subject. My grades reflect my attitude towards courses. As a part of curriculum I actively participated in many innovative projects. As a result I have developed a keen interest and have a sufficient aptitude for research and therefore I believe that I shall be capable of meeting the best standards in research.

Interest

Over the past two years in the Computer Science department, I have developed a keen interest in Programming Languages and Distributed & Parallel Systems. I have taken many courses related to this field and have done consistently well in them. Courses such as Programming Languages, Language Processors (Compilers), Operating Systems have given me considerable exposure to this field. I am taking a Graduate level Course on Parallel Algorithms next semester.

Currently I am involved in my B.Tech. Project on “Program Restructuring for GENSAT” under the guidance of Dr. yyy. Details of the project are given in my resume. Presently I am implementing an algorithm by Zahira Ammargulleat. I have proposed a few changes in her algorithm and have proved that the new algorithm would do better than the one proposed by her, in all the cases.

A good deal of teaching experience, as seen in my resume, makes me confident of my ability to communicate as a teacher.

University

Computer Science at UIUC is one of the best programs to pursue research in the field of

Systems. From the information brochure, web pages and as advised by my guide, Dr. Dhamdhere, I have gathered that a considerable amount of research is being done in Systems in UIUC. A number of renowned faculty members of UIUC are working on the research frontiers of computer science. It would be my privilege to work with such renowned researchers, and contribute something useful to Computer Science.

Conclusion

I look forward to join UIUC as a Graduate student at your esteemed department.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 12

My aspiration to work at the frontiers of scientific research leads me to apply to your university. I believe that a comprehensive knowledge and a good grasp of fundamentals are essential for such a career. I feel that Graduate studies in Computer Science in a good University like yours will help me realize this objective. Therefore I am seeking admission to the Ph.D. Program at Harvard with a specialization in Computer Science. I have compelling reasons to believe that I will be extremely successful both as a Graduate student and later as a researcher.

As a first step towards obtaining a Ph.D., I am seeking admission to the Master’s program at Harvard University with a specialization in Computer Science. I would prefer doing a direct Ph.D., if it is possible.

My superlative performance in school fetched me a number of awards at the national level. I was awarded the prestigious National Talent Search Scholarship in class ten and was in the top twenty-five in the National Standard Examination in Physics in my twelfth. I had developed a keen interest in science and decided to choose it as my career. I therefore, took the Joint Entrance Examination for admission to the five ****, which are considered the best academic centers for science and Engineering in India and qualified in the top 0.3% of those who took the test.

I have always adopted a rigorous approach in order to attain an in-depth understanding of the subject at hand. This has given me a broad conceptual basis, which, I believe, is essential for my research career. My grades in the basic courses reflect my quest for fundamentals. My overall grades in my undergraduate studies have been good, but not excellent. This again reflects my approach to courses more as an introduction to concepts that need further independent study by the student, rather than as a run-up to a semester-end examination.

Over the past two years in Computer Science I have developed a special interest in Programming Languages and Distributed Parallel Systems. I have been involved in research in these areas and have consistently obtained good grades in the related courses. In Spring’ 95, I will be taking two Graduate level courses in these fields namely `Distributed Databases’ and `Advanced Compilers’. I have written an article on “Distributed File Systems’’ with Prof. yyy, which appeared in the September 1994 issue of {bf CSI (Computer Society of India) Communications}. In this article the basic concepts underlying the design and implementation aspects were discussed and contemporary systems like Locus, Andrew and Unix United were surveyed in detail.

I am currently working on Register Allocation Algorithms for my B.Tech thesis under the guidance of Prof. yyy. In my project we have introduced a technique of live range confinement, which adapts the live range of a data item to the availability of register. Instead of splitting a live range like in a Chow-Hennessy allocator we are implementing the confinement technique. Half way through the project we have already sent part of our work for the ACM SIGPLAN’95 Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation sponsored by the Special Interest Group on Programming Languages, Association for Computing Machinery.

I had also presented a course paper on language Linda, which consists of operators that embody tuple space, model for Parallel programming %and involves Distributed Data Structures.

I have a reason also to be confident of my abilities as a teacher. As part of a nation wide teaching program, I have taught school children subjects like Physics, Mathematics and English for four semesters (three hours per week). This was an interesting experience, which I feel would stand in good stead in the future.

I take immense pleasure in learning new concepts. This inquisitive nature of mine along-with a desire to realize my full potential drives me to pursue research. I am aware that research calls for complete dedication and commitment. I consider myself to be mature, perceptive, persistent and open to criticism % qualities, which I believe are essential for group research.

By working under the guidance of distinguished professors like Prof yyy, whose interests match closely with mine, I am confident of making an original contribution to the field of Computer Science.

I have studied in one of the best institutes of our country and feel the need to expose myself to research in United States, which is currently a world leader in Computer science. I have chosen to pursue Graduate studies at Harvard University because the facilities at Harvard seem to foster a healthy research environment as I could gather from the brochure of your department. I believe that I possess the motivation, the intellectual ability, and the preparation to set out on this exhilarating and arduous path, to do justice to a demanding Graduate program and to make significant contributions to the ongoing work at your University. I have chosen to pursue graduate studies at University of Maryland because by working under the guidance of distinguished professors like Prof, whose interests match closely with mine, I am %confident of making an original contribution to the field of Computer %Science. I believe that I possess the motivation, the intellectual %ability, and the preparation to set out on this exhilarating and %arduous path, to do justice to a demanding Graduate program and to make %significant contributions to the ongoing work at your University.

I look forward to joining Harvard University as a Graduate student at your esteemed department.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 13

My decision to apply for a Ph.D. program at University of Utah is driven by my aspirations to pursue a research career in the field of Computer Science. This field interests me because of its formal and rigorous mathematical nature and it’s wide-ranging

applications. I believe that a strong and thorough background as well as complete awareness of recent developments is essential for an intellectually stimulating and satisfying research career. Towards realizing this objective at an esteemed department such as yours, I am applying to your university. An objective analysis of my background, interests, strengths and weaknesses lead me to believe that I will be successful both as a Ph.D. candidate and later as a researcher in an academic milieu.

Academics have always been my stronghold. My inquisitive nature and a strong desire to ingrain the fundamental principles as well as techniques of any subject of study have enabled me to achieve an excellent academic record. More importantly, it has inculcated in me the methodology of scientific inquiry as reflected in my rigorous and analytic approach to problem solving. This is further evident from my performance at higher-secondary school level and at ****. The excellent course structure at **** has given me a sound and broad conceptual basis, which, I believe, is essential for a research career. Through many projects I have undertaken in a stimulating academic environment at **** where learning and research go hand-in-hand, I have found that I have a deep interest in research work, a strong motivation and an aptitude for the type of problem solving it involves.

Over the past two years at ****, I have cultivated a keen interest in the field of Asynchronous Circuits, Formal Design Methods in VLSI. I have furthered my knowledge in this field by reading various related articles and am actively involved in research in this area. I have also opted for a graduate level course IC Design Technology in Spring 96. I am currently working on Asynchronous Communication between Synchronous Finite State Machines for my B.Tech. Thesis under the guidance of Prof. yyy. I am working towards implementing communication primitives such as rendezvous, probe etc. at gate level in VLSI circuits. I am investigating different interconnect design methodologies which can be implemented as delay-insensitive asynchronous circuits. In the first stage of this work, we have proposed a new protocol to implement asynchronous rendezvous communication and a method to implement this protocol using asynchronous circuits. I firmly believe that this project is a sufficient demonstration of my ability to conduct original and independent research.

I have strong reasons to believe that I possess the temperament for teaching, a good power of speech and a thorough and extensive knowledge of my field: traits required for a successful teaching career. I have worked as a teaching assistant in a Nation-wide teaching program for two years. I have also been lecturer and tutor for three UNIX workshops conducted by CSEA, **** which were attended by more than 250 people every time. This experience developed and honed my skills of organizing and communicating my thoughts in front of a responsive and critical audience.

I have always attempted to gain insight into the problem at hand and tackle it from different angles. I am well aware that a career in research calls for personal commitment and personal sacrifice of time, leisure and immediate reward. However, my desire to realize my full potential and to make an original contribution to the field of Computer Science drive me to pursue a research career, which, I believe, will give me intellectual satisfaction, gratification of becoming a contributor to knowledge and personal rewards of learning and discovery. I not only possess the intellectual ability, sound preparation and the strong motivation for research but also consider myself mature, friendly to work with and open to criticism: qualities essential for group research.

I believe that a symbiotic relationship between the student and his department is of utmost importance for a successful graduate program. Considering the pioneering work going on at your department in the field of my interest, your department is an ideal choice for an exciting research career. At the same time, I am confident of contributing originally to the ongoing work at your department. By working under the guidance of distinguished faculty at your department, I am sure; I will be able to exploit my potential to the fullest.

Keeping this in mind, I look forward to joining University of Utah.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 14

I am applying to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for admission to the Ph.D. program in Computer Science. I am especially interested in Theoretical Computer Science including the design and analysis of algorithms like Approximation algorithms, Randomized algorithms, Parallel Algorithms and Complexity Theory and Combinatory.

I have a strong background in Mathematics. I was placed in the merit list in Mathematics in school and high school and secured the 1^st position amongst 100,000 candidates in the all India Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for the ****. My first exposure to computers came via programming in high school and I found it so stimulating that I decided to pursue a career in Computer Science.

At the ****, the excellent facility, faculty and the wide spectrum of courses have given me an excellent command on the fundamentals of Computer Science. I have always been fascinated by abstract Mathematics and I have found.

Theoretical Computer Science just the right blends of abstract Mathematics and concrete Computer Science. My interest in this field has kept on growing with courses like Discrete Structures, Data Structures and Algorithms and Theory of Computation which have been my favorites.

My B. Tech. Seminar (Junior Thesis) included a literature survey on Topological Graph Theory \/ and my B. Tech. Project (Senior Thesis) is on Combinatory and Algorithms/in which I am attempting to obtain better solutions to various problems like constructing minimal fault tolerant circuits and approximation algorithms to construct maximal planar sub graph. This has given me experience in mastering abstract Mathematical concepts as well as in designing good algorithms for simply expressed practical problems. My skills and interest in this field have been further improved upon by courses such as Design and Analysis of Algorithms and Geometric Algorithms in which I have been exposed to randomized algorithms for problems in computational geometry. To further improve my command in this field, I have taken Foundations of Parallel Computation and Information Theory and Coding for the coming semester. I am also attending a lecture series on the $P$ vs. $NC$ problem.

I strongly feel that Algorithms and Complexity theory are the core subjects in Computer Science and problems in all fields can be handled using these techniques. This area also has a large potential for research and this is what I envisage myself doing a few years from now, preferably in an academic environment.

I am convinced that I should pursue a career in research and teaching. For me, problem solving is an experience unmatched by anything else. It would give me immense pleasure to be able to contribute something to this subject. My limited teaching experience as tutor in an introductory undergraduate programming course has been very positive and I would love to be able to teach my favorite subjects and thus get a better understanding of these fields myself.

I have heard a lot from **** alumni and faculty about the excellent faculty in Theoretical Computer Science, the research done in this field and the performance of the students who have graduated from MIT. I am sure that the stimulating academic environment and interaction with the distinguished faculty will prove immensely fruitful and facilitate my development as an individual researcher in my field. I feel that MIT has a lot to offer me, and at the same time, I am confident that I would be able to make a positive contribution to on going research work at MIT.

With these long-term goals in mind, my immediate objective is to work towards a Ph.D. in Computer Science. Having decided that I will engage in a career in research, I am aware of the kind of dedication, resilience and resolve I will have to show over the years. I feel that I am adequately prepared for that, both in having the technical qualifications and the right mind-set for doctoral level research.

I look forward to joining as a graduate student in your department.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 15

My goals

I am applying to the University of California, Santa Barbara for admission to the Ph.D. program in Computer Science. My goal is to pursue a career in research, either in industry or in academia. Ten years from now, I envisage myself as a full-fledged research professional in an organization, or a faculty member at one of the leading universities. A Ph.D. is an important first step in achieving this objective.

My background

Though I was exposed to some aspects of Computer Science in my last two years of school, a comprehensive foundation in all the fields of Computer Science began after I entered ****. The Computer Science department at **** is indisputably among the best in the country. Its excellent courses, faculty and learning environment have given me a firm grounding in all the fields of Computer Science.

My academic and co-curricular record has been consistently good. Throughout school as well as now, I have been at or near the top of my class. My class at **** consists of 36 students, chosen from an All India exam involving 100,000 students. I myself was 9th in that exam. I have listed some of my achievements on the attached resume. I am of the opinion that research requires a firm grounding in theory backed up by an in-depth knowledge of systems and implementation. The important courses of Discrete Structures, Data Structures & Algorithms, and Theory of Computation have given me a good knowledge of theory. In addition, I am doing the course Design\Analysis of Algorithms this semester and Parallel Algorithms next semester, in order to further firm up my foundations. My performance in lab courses attests to my knowledge of systems and programming.

My strengths are my consistency, capacity for hard work, and my ability to work in a team. I have been involved in many course projects, which involved a group of students, and I have been the team leader in quite a few of these. I believe that research involves new ideas, as well as consistent effort to back them up, both of which I am capable of.

My primary interests

I prefer research problems to be an ideal mix of theory and practice. The field of {Databases} interests me because of the scope for breaking new ground, as well as the vast applications possible. I believe that {Distributed Databases}, in particular, is an area with a lot of potential. My grounding in this field is solid, which is reflected in my obtaining the best possible grade in both the courses involving Databases, namely, Business Information Systems and Database Management Systems, and in their respective labs too. Currently, I am working on my Senior Thesis under Dr. yyy, in which we are looking at the problem of Garbage Collection in Persistent Object Stores We plan to submit it for publication after running some performance tests, which we are designing. I have included details in my resume.

Why California-Santa Barbara?

Since all fields in Computer Science are highly interlinked, I want to pursue graduate studies at a University that is strong in all fields of Computer Science. I am aware that the department of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara is one of the best in the world, being particularly strong in Databases (my primary interest). Dr. yyy also recommends it highly. These facts have led me to apply to California-Santa Barbara.

There is one more and the most compelling reason. In the course of my Senior Thesis, I have come across related work by Dr. yyy. His work has interested me immensely, and I would like to participate in some of the projects he is undertaking. Subsequently I corresponded with Dr. yyy, and his encouraging reply and description of the work at the department reinforced my decision to apply.

Financial Aid

I would be fully dependent on aid to finance my graduate studies. If I were granted an assistantship, then given my long-term goals, a research assistantship would be an ideal experience for me. I have already mentioned my interest in research. I also have some experience in teaching. I have been a lecturer & demonstrator in student workshops held in various colleges in the region. I was also involved in a nationwide program, which involved teaching school children. The good response to my efforts, coupled with my prowess in dramatics, elocution & debating gives me the confidence to handle any teaching assignment.

My plans if admitted

I plan to carry on advanced study of Databases, as well as related fields e.g. Algorithms, not only through coursework but also by participating in one of the several ongoing projects. This will also give me the opportunity to contribute my bit to the understanding of the fields, which interest me so much. I am aware that the University of California, Santa Barbara expects very high standards from its students. My track record gives me the confidence that I will be able to meet those expectations. I believe that my association with the Computer Science department will be a mutually profitable one.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 16

Academic & Career Objectives

My long-term career goals include the pursuit of research in the field of Theoretical Computer Science and teaching in an academic environment. I have found that a career in research is both intellectually stimulating and satisfying and hence I have decided to take this up as my career objective.

Degree Objectives

I want to work towards a Ph.D. in Computer Science in the field of Theoretical Computer Science. My interests include both the design and analysis of Algorithms as well as Computational Complexity Theory.

Reason for Graduate Work

I have always been fascinated by mathematics. As a part of my undergraduate curriculum, I have been exposed to a range of advanced mathematical techniques and I have been especially drawn towards both the analysis of Algorithms and Complexity Theory. These fields have both a strong mathematical flavor as well as the potential for research which is what attracts me towards them.

The fact that these subjects form a unifying feature of all fields in Computer Science and their quest towards achieving the limits of what can and can’t be done, form part of the reasons for my fascination in them.

An undergraduate degree is merely an exposure to the various fields in any branch of higher education. I feel that my undergraduate curriculum has given me a sufficient enough exposure to all the various possibilities for research that are possible and I have chosen the one for which I have both an aptitude as well as a liking that I both have an aptitude for as well as a liking.

In order to pursue an active career in research, it is necessary to both study and understand the finer nuances of any subject. I believe that Graduate Studies will not only provide me with advanced knowledge about the field but also prepare me to be a good

researcher. It is precisely this reason, which prompts me to take up Graduate Studies as the next step towards my career objectives.

As an initial step towards achieving my goal, as part of my undergraduate studies, I have chosen my electives so as to enhance my understanding of these subjects. These include such subjects as Design & Analysis of Algorithms, Combinatory and Abstract Algebra I. I have also audited (taken as non-credit) a Graduate level course Algorithms & Complexity. I have attended an Advanced Mathematics Training Program in summer ‘93 so as to enhance my mathematical abilities.

Why have I chosen Stanford

I have chosen Stanford as the place at which I would like to pursue a doctoral degree because I find that the graduate program is fully suited to my needs and that it possesses a strong faculty in the field of Theoretical Computer Science.

I have also consulted the professors in my university who are working in the field of Algorithms and Complexity Theory and they have strongly recommended the research work in these fields at Stanford.

Hence, I have applied to Stanford so as to fulfill both my academic as well as my career objectives.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 17

My goals:

After considering my aptitude and the type of work that I like to do, I am convinced that I want to take up a research career in Computer Science. Since a good research career can only be built on the firm foundation of good education, my immediate objective is to pursue a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

My background and my primary interests:

I have always had an excellent academic record. I was awarded scholarships at the National level in the 10th and 12^th standards. Later, I secured the 151st rank among 100,000 candidates (99.8 percentile) in the All India Joint Entrance Examination for admission to the ****. Due to my keen interest in Mathematics and fascination for computers, I chose Computer Science and Engineering as my major field. The excellent facilities, courses and faculty at *** have given me a lot of drill in both theoretical as well as implementation aspects of computer science. I believe that this combined with the mathematics courses that I have taken forms a sound foundation for graduate study.

During the course of the B.Tech. Program, I have developed a keen interest in Systems. My experience in Systems includes, besides the courses listed in the sheet titled Computer Science Background, a number of projects such as a project on Linux NFS, an implementation of extendible hashing for a toy DBMS and an implementation of a Compiler for a subset of Pascal. As far as research experience goes, I am working on my B.Tech. Project (Senior Thesis) titled `Surface Design for 3-D Graphics’, under the guidance of Prof. yyy and Prof. yyy. I have included a brief summary of all these projects separately. I shall also be doing a course in Parallel Computing under Prof. yy All these courses and projects give me a firm foundation in Systems and I intend to build upon this foundation in my graduate studies.

Other activities:

I have been actively involved in various co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. I have regularly participated in Elocution and Dramatics competitions and have won prizes. I am also a member of the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society.

Teaching experience:

I have some experience as a teaching and laboratory assistant for an institute level course for the first year undergraduates. Not only did I enjoy it, but the students also appreciated it. This gives me confidence that I will be a good teacher as well.

Why UCSD?

I believe that in order to be a successful researcher, one must not only be a master of one’s field, but also have a feel of other related fields. Hence, I want to pursue graduate studies at a university, which has an excellent program in Systems and is also good in other fields of computer science. UCSD satisfies these criteria perfectly. I am sure that working in such an excellent setup will give me valuable research experience and enable me to produce an excellent output in my Ph.D.

In conclusion:

I am aware that UCSD expects very high standards from its students. On my part, I can assure you of sincerity and hard work. I am confident that my enthusiasm will enable me to meet your expectations.

Eagerly looking forward to joining the University of California

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 18

My schooling and three and a half years of undergraduate studies in EE at the **** have made the choice of further study, for me, an obvious one. This should be attributed in part to the values that have been inculcated in me during my formative years in an educated middle class family background.

Beginning with a passing interest in EE, these years of in depth study have convinced me that my future lies in microelectronics. The challenges and possibilities for research in device, analog and digital circuit, and VLSI circuit design fascinate me. This I believe has come about through a sequentially structured introduction to this field through the courses:

Modern Physics,

Electronic Devices,

Analog Circuits,

Digital Circuits,

Integrated Circuit Design and Technology.

In addition, I have worked on a number of related projects. I have worked on MOS capacitor characterization under Prof. yyy using a quasi-static approach. My B.Tech seminar (home paper) dealt with Monte Carlo simulations of small Si MOSFETs. My guide was Prof. yyy of the EE Dept. of ****. I have undergone eight weeks of practical training in a Dept. of Electronics lab where I studied the theoretical and practical aspects of active and passive coupling of edge emitting semiconductor lasers to optical fibers. An LD-SM optical fiber module was made and experiments were carried out. In my senior year I presented a seminar on Noise in Semiconductor Devices under the Microelectronics Seminar Series at ****. My senior year B.Tech project (senior thesis) involves design of ultra low noise analog circuits. The final goal of the project is to design, with intent to fabricate, an ultra low noise integrated circuit operational amplifier. My B.Tech project work is progressing under the guidance of Prof. yyy of the EE Dept. of ***. I can quite confidently say that my abilities in circuit visualization, analysis, and design are unparalleled in my department. In the process of pursuing my interests in EE, my academic performance has been outstanding. I have been consistently ranked 2nd in EE out of 64 students, and 8th in *** out of 325 students. I was included in the director’s academic honor list for the academic years

1991-1992

1992-1993

My academic pursuits have not however, prevented from participating with interest in various extracurricular activities. I have taken part in various literary activities. I am a regular participant in elocution competitions and debating society meetings and have been the editor of the hostel magazine. These activities have led to the development of a multifaceted personality and have equipped me with strong interpersonal skills. This helps me to lead, as well as follow the leader when working as a team.

From where I stand now, I see myself engaged, in the long term, in a career devoted to active research in microelectronics. It is with this objective in mind that I want to pursue an M.S. at Stanford University. My ultimate degree objective would however be a Ph.D. In choosing Stanford University as the University of my Choice, I’ve looked carefully at the faculty and the available infrastructure.

The essence of university education lies in the success of the symbiotic relationship between the student, and his department. With your repute in the field of my choice, you do have a lot to offer me, and at the same time, I am confident of contributing meaningfully to the research endeavors at your University. It is with this in mind that I am looking forward to a long and rewarding relationship with you.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 19

Introduction:

As we near the end of the twentieth century we can see the ever-growing need for computer technology. Over the centuries man has always wanted to compute, and process information as quickly as possible. He has also wanted to communicate with his fellow human beings who are widely distributed over this vast world. No one thirty years ago would ever dream of computers being used as they are in the information superhighway, rather than for scientific computing. The sudden boom in the use of computers today, is evident by the visible 70% increase in the number of hosts on the Internet yearly. Man has needed computers not only to control the forces of nature, but also those of distance, and time.

Ever since I was a child I have been interested in mathematics, and have always stood first in my class in it. When my teenage years came along, I decided that I would pursue a career in mathematics and science. It was with this hope that I studied very diligently for the entrance exam. My hard work paid off, and I joined **** for a Bachelor’s degree in computer science and Engg. During my stay at ****, I was introduced to computers in my very first month. It was an extremely exciting experience because it was the first time I had used a computer, since the use of computers in our country, is only restricted for those who are financially well off.

My Work:

At ****, I was introduced to various new concepts in computer science. The very first courses of Discrete Structures, and Data structures, aroused my interest immediately. I started also getting interested in Databases, Computer Architecture, and Compilers. I did my Bachelor’s seminar project “Building Applications using the Object Oriented Paradigm” under the guidance of Prof. yyy. It mainly consisted of studying the Object-Oriented Paradigm, and Object-Oriented Databases. I studied how to build Object-Oriented Applications above relational databases, which came in use during my short job with Burroughs Welcome, pharmaceuticals, in building engineering inventory system for them. I also studied how objects are stored, and indexed in Object-Oriented Databases.

My Bachelor of Tech. project consists of parallelizing sequential code and running independent sections of code in parallel. For doing this I have been studying data dependence issues. During the course of my work I got particularly interested in Exact Array Dependence. I have read a lot of papers related to the field. Prof. yyy is my guide on this project.

My Purpose

My vocation has always been to work towards new frontiers of technology, and always work with the purpose of getting the best result. Over the last few years during my stay at ****, I have become motivated towards pursuing a career in research. Research has interested me, because one is always working on something new, that no one else has worked on, and one can always pursue one’s own interest to the fullest. Research provides one with new challenges daily, which one won’t come across in other jobs. I strongly believe in both the theoretical aspects of research as well as their applications. I consider the latter to be as important and relevant as the former. I am extremely interested in pursuing a MS/PHD at your university. I am primarily interested in Databases, Parallel systems and graphics.

In fact, ten years from now, I envisage myself as a full-fledged research professional in an organization or a faculty member at one of the leading universities. In order to fulfill this aim of mine, I seek to enroll for a MS/PHD in computer science at your University. Through the department brochure I realize that a vast gamut of opportunities exist in your department. Hence I am keen in joining your program, and furthering your research.

My Good and Bad Points:

I strongly believe in maintaining ethical integrity in all my endeavors. The maintenance of strong Christian values is of utmost importance in my work. I am also a very friendly person to work with. My bad qualities include having a bad memory and being absent minded. I would like to end by saying that that I am fully aware that a career in research and academics requires a high level of intelligence, unwavering dedication and a lot of sacrifice. I am confident that I would meet all the above demands, and hence I appeal to the Graduate Admissions Committee to consider me for admission, and financial aid.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 20

I am a final year student of the B. Tech. Program in Computer Science and Engineering at the ****.

My undergraduate preparation here has given me a very substantial knowledge of the basic areas of Computer Science. I have always strived to develop a clear understanding of the basic concepts and acquire an insight into the Science of Computing. Any amount of learning in Computer Science would be incomplete without hands on experience of Programming. In this regard I have completed various projects, both as part of my courses and out my own interest also.

Of the many fields in the Computer Science spectrum, I have developed a keen interest in Declarative Programming Languages, Computer Graphics, Computational Geometry and Design and Analysis of Algorithms.

I have excelled in academics at every step in my education. In my 12 years of schooling I always ranked first/second in the class. In the entrance examination for the ****, I stood 17th among 80,000 students. I have consistently done well throughout my undergraduate studies also. My GPA is 8.38/10.00 after the end of seventh semester.

The urge to obtain an in-depth understanding and specialized knowledge in my areas of interest, has made me opt for Graduate studies. I would like to follow up my graduate studies by taking up a research-oriented post in either academia or research laboratories so that I can contribute my own bit to the ever-increasing knowledge in these areas.

I believe that working towards a Ph.D best does the initiation of the process of original contribution. I view the master’s degree as an intermediate step in achieving this goal. Hence, I would like to take up an M.S. culminating in a Ph.D. as my immediate goal.

From the information about current faculty research, which I obtained from the application brochure, I find that pioneering research work is being done in declarative languages and related architectures at the Arizona State University. Being part of such an excellent research team will be a big step in achieving my long-term goals. The highly competitive and intellectually stimulating atmosphere at the Arizona State University will bring out the best in me. This prompts me to apply for graduate studies at your university.

Keeping in view my background and career plans, I would prefer a research assistantship but I would also like to have teaching experience. I have studied in English medium through out and have had teaching experience here in **** also, which makes me confident that I would be a successful teaching assistant.

In conclusion, I would say that I am very keen and enthusiastic about joining your university. I am aware of the hard work and perseverance necessary for research work but

I am sure that I will be able to justify to the fullest the confidence reposed in me.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 21

I am a senior year student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the ****, one of the most renowned institutes for undergraduate studies in India. My decision to pursue graduate studies has been motivated by my eventual objective of meaningful research in the field of {bf Computer Networks} and {bf Communications}. I firmly believe that I possess the requisite background and aptitude for pursuing active research in this field at your University.

A strong desire to ingrain the fundamental principles of any subject of study has enabled me to adopt a rigorous and analytical approach to problem solving. More importantly, it has inculcated in me the methodology of scientific inquiry. Throughout schooling I maintained the first position in my class. In consonance with my interests, I worked towards obtaining admission to the *** and secured a rank of 92 among 85,000 candidates who appeared in the entrance examination. Computer Science and Engineering was a natural choice for my undergraduate studies in light of my fascination for computers.

My interest in research has burgeoned during the course of my undergraduate studies at ****. My major field of interest is computer networks and telecommunications. At present I am working on my senior year B. Tech. Project on Fast Packet Switching in ATM Networks under the guidance of Dr. yyy. It involves the design of a non-blocking Disjoint Path Packet Switch and the analysis of its performance in terms of the throughput; delay; packet loss rate, hardware complexity and the ease of grow ability. The proposed switch combines the delay throughput performance of $N^{2}$ disjoint path switches and the multicasting performance of Shared Medium switches in a single architecture. The attempt is to reduce the hardware cost of implementing the switch without compromising on any of the performance characteristics of an ideal packet switch. To consolidate my knowledge in this field I had also taken an elective course titled Introduction to Computer Networks last semester in which I got the highest grade in the class.

Apart from delving deep into the field of Computer Networks, I have tried to broaden my perspectives in other fields of Computer Science as well. In my junior year I presented a Seminar on Anti-aliasing in Computer Graphics under the guidance of Dr. yyy. The seminar involved an exhaustive study of the various anti-aliasing techniques used to overcome the jagged effects arising due to the discrete sampling in a raster graphics system. I also implemented an anti-aliasing software package as part of a project in an elective course on Computer Graphics.

I also have the ability to work in a group project effectively. I had done my industrial training in the Regional Computer Center at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited and during the course of the summer project I developed a data compression package. The practical experience I gained after working in such a big organization has given me immense confidence in tackling time-bound practical problems.

My undergraduate studies in the invigorating environment of **** has given me substantial knowledge of the basic areas of Computer Science. I believe that I also possess the ability and temperament to function effectively as a Teaching Assistant. I was an assistant for a course on Computer Programming for freshmen and I have helped in organizing two workshops on UNIX and C conducted by our department.

Having been part of an exacting undergraduate program a ****, I have internalized the desire to explore frontline knowledge in my research area. I believe that the Graduate Program at your University will provide me the opportunity to satisfy the same and enable further honing of my technical and analytical skills acquired thus far. I am fully aware of the commitment and perseverance required for research and believes that my aptitude and motivation will see me through the challenge. I am also confident that given an opportunity, I can contribute to the ongoing work in your graduate program in a productive manner. I therefore look forward to joining your University for pursuing higher studies leading to a Master’s/Doctoral degree.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 22

My objective in graduate studies is to prepare myself for my long-term goal of a career in research and teaching in Computer Science. The first step in that direction is pursuit of Ph.D. in Computer Science.

Ever since I was in high school, I wanted to be a scientist. Hence I joined ****, where I chose Computer Science as my undergraduate major. The undergraduate program in Computer Science and Engg. in **** is unarguably one of the best in India and the core courses in the undergrad curriculum have helped me get a sound grasp of the fundamentals of almost all aspects of Computer Science, which is reflected by my position in the top five in a class of 33. At ****, I also discovered the intellectual satisfaction of solving difficult problems on my own. In the summer vacation after the first year, I worked for some time with a research scholar in the department of Computer Science and Engg. This work led to a research paper, “Heuristics for Distributed Knowledge-Based Systems”, which was published in 1994. Because of this and my success in the undergraduate courses, I feel that a career in research is suited both to my aptitude and temperament.

My idea of research in graduate studies is a proper balance of theory and practice. i.e. to get theoretical results and to see, as far as possible, the immediate impact of the same through their implementation. I am aware of the tough and arduous nature of this task and willing to take on this challenge. I believe that I have the requisite intellectual ability, motivation and the willingness to sacrifice leisure for work in order to fulfill my objective of scientific research and the attainment of intellectual satisfaction there from. Thus I believe that I will be able to make a meaningful contribution to the research work at Rice University.

The exacting nature of the undergraduate labs in **** has already given me a comprehensive knowledge of systems and systems programming. But I feel that a strong background in theory is essential for a successful career in research in an academic environment. So in order to augment the knowledge of theory, which I got from the core courses, I am trying to learn as much of theory as possible in my undergraduate program. I took two courses on {Algorithms} and one on {Formal Specification and Verification of Programs} for my department electives in the seventh semester and I will be taking a course in {Combinatory} next semester. My credit seminar topic viz. {bf Randomized Algorithms} under the guidance of Prof. Yyy so in theory. Looking at the beautiful results in algorithms, I am sure that I would be exhilarated to get some new exciting results on my own. But implementing the results and proving their practicality would give me greater satisfaction. My one-year B. Tech. Project, under the guidance of Prof yyy, involves the design and implementation of an {bf Optimizer Generator System}. In this, I have to come up with my own idea for implementing inter-procedural may-aliasing.

Currently, my research interests are in Parallelizing and Optimizing compilers and I have worked in both. I am also interested in Algorithms. I am eager to explore some of these in greater depth and make my own contribution, howsoever small, to those fields.

During my preparation for my B. Tech. Project, I read numerous research papers from Rice University. Thus my choice of Rice University for graduate studies is based on a careful examination of the information regarding the faculty members and the research currently going on in your school.

I look forward to joining your department as a graduate student. I am confident that graduate studies in Rice University will prove to be a rewarding task and I shall be able to fulfill my career objectives.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 23

I am a final year student of the B. Tech. program in Computer Science and Engineering at the ****.My undergraduate study has given me a sound base in the whole gamut of fields in Computer Science and Engineering. Always strived to develop a clear understanding of the basic concepts and acquire an insight into the Science of Computing.

I have developed a keen interest in Database Management Systems, Real Time Systems, Operating Systems, Object Oriented Systems and related fields. I have excelled in academics at every step in my education. In my 12 years of schooling I always ranked first/ second in the class. I was also ranked FIRST in the Math’s Olympiad at the State level. I was selected in top 1% of the examinees in the Physics talent search examination. In the entrance examination for ****, I stood 47th amongst 80,000 candidates.

I have done well throughout my undergraduate studies and have obtained top grades in the courses related to my areas of interest. This has resulted in my high GPA of 8.92/10.00 by the end of sixth semester.

The urge to obtain an in-depth understanding and specialized knowledge in my areas of interest, has made me opt for Graduate studies. I would like to follow up my graduate studies by taking up a research oriented post in either academia or research laboratories so that I can contribute my own bit to the ever-increasing knowledge in these areas.

I believe that working towards a Ph.D best does the initiation of the process of original contribution. I view the master’s degree as an intermediate step in achieving this goal. Hence, I would like to take up an M.S. culminating in a Ph.D. as my immediate goal.

From my literature survey, I find that the research work in Computer Graphics at Cornell University is state of the art. The additional information I got from my correspondence with Prof. Greenberg and from my brother Rajendra Kolhe who is doing his Ph.D. at your university, have confirmed my belief that Cornell is the college where I want to pursue my Ph.D. The computer graphics program at Cornell is considered to be one of the best programs in the world in this field. Being part of such an excellent research team will be a big step in achieving my long-term goals. The highly competitive and intellectually stimulating atmosphere at Cornell University will bring out the best in me. This prompts me to apply for the program in Computer Graphics at Cornell University.

Keeping in view my background and career plans, I would prefer a research assistantship. This would give me a better opportunity to pursue my interest to the fullest. However, I would also like to have teaching experience for one semester. As I have studied in an English medium throughout and also have the experience of being a course assistant and a lecturer in two workshops, I am confident that I will be a successful teaching assistant.

In conclusion, I would say that I am very keen and enthusiastic about joining your university. I am sure that I will be able to justify to the fullest the confidence reposed in me.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 24

I have always cherished a career in research and training in Computer Science. I feel that graduate studies at a good university like yours in pursuit of a PhD would be a step in that direction. I am confident that I will be extremely successful both as a graduate student and later as a researcher and teacher.

Ever since I was in school, I was interested in Mathematics. My success at the Regional Math’s Olympiad and The National Talent Search examinations boosted this interest. I was also introduced to programming in school and was fascinated by computers. With these interests Computer Science was the ideal choice as my undergraduate major.

The Computer Science and Engineering department at **** has a good faculty and a wonderful course structure. It is undoubtedly one of the best in the country. The undergraduate curriculum here exposed me to all the basic areas in Computer Science and I have consistently performed well in all the core courses. I have always adopted a rigorous approach to learning and have tried to grasp the fundamentals of all the subjects. This is amply reflected in my GPA of 9.09 on 10(3.80 on 4) in a highly competitive class and in my position in the top 5% of my batch in the institute.

Over the past one and a half years I have developed an interest in the field of Programming Languages and Systems, especially compilers. I have performed well in the basic systems courses like Language Processors, Programming Languages, Database management systems and Operating systems (please refer the resume). I have also chosen as one of my electives for Spring 96 the course titled Foundations of parallel computation.

I am currently working on my B. Tech thesis – which is in the field of compilers – under the guidance of Prof. yyy. I am involved in the development of GENSAT – a generator for static analysis and transformation programs. We have already incorporated into GENSAT a framework to implement intraprocedural data flow analysis using bit vectors for the representation of data flow properties. I am extending this framework by providing for the usage of sets instead of bit vectors. This will make GENSAT a generic tool for solving monotone dataflow problems. I am also studying various techniques for interprocedural data flow analysis. My aim here is to abstract a framework in which these techniques can be implemented. In this process I will be modifying existing algorithms and possibly finding a new one.

My interests are well supported by my strong theoretical background. In my junior year I presented a home paper on the “Theoretical Consequences of the Ellipsoid Method”. I have audited (taken as non-credit) a Post Graduate course on algorithms titled “Current Topics in Theory and Algorithms” and I have currently taken another elective on the Design and analysis of algorithms. I have also done a course on Geometric Algorithms, which gave me a good exposure to Randomization in algorithms. I am confident that these and the other courses I have done will stand in good stead in any future research I undertake.

I have always loved solving problems. The pleasure obtained from being absorbed in problems over extended periods of time and finally arriving at solutions is immeasurable. Many times I have arrived at solutions that were very different from those of others. This unique bent of mind coupled with a desire to be at the forefront of a budding field drive me to pursue research. I believe myself to be mature, committed.

I have good reason to believe that I will be successful as a teacher. I have received enthusiastic response from my students when I was a course assistant in an undergraduate course titled “Computer Programming and Utilization”. I have also been a lecturer and tutor in two UNIX workshops conducted by our department at the institute level. Further, I believe that teaching a subject gives us greater insight into it.

I have chosen to pursue Graduate studies at New York University because the facilities there seem to foster a healthy research environment as I could gather from the brochure of your department.

I believe that I possess the motivation, the intellectual ability, and the preparation to set out on this exhilarating and arduous path, to do justice to a demanding Graduate program and to make significant contributions to the ongoing work at the Kansas State University.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 26

I am a student of Computer Science and Engineering at ****. I wish to pursue a career in research in Computer Science. I would like to embark upon this venture through the Doctoral Program offered by the Department of Computer Science at Rice University.

My deep interest in Computer Science stems from a natural aptitude for logic and mathematics, the “queen of sciences”. I consider Computer Science not just as a field to pursue a research career in, but as a hobby. Throughout my undergraduate study, I have endeavored to gain a broad perspective of Computer Science. My fields of interest range over a wide spectrum of areas; however Programming Languages, Real-Time Systems and Parallel Processing especially fascinate me.

My training at **** has not only equipped me with a strong technical base but has also instilled in me a deep interest in research. During the course of my B.Tech. Curriculum, I have presented a seminar titled {bf “Selected Topics in Advanced Architectures”} under the guidance of Prof. yyy. During the summer of 1994, I had the rare opportunity of working at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (B.A.R.C.), a forerunner of Parallel Processing in India. The training at B.A.R.C. has demonstrated to me how emerging technology when combined with ingenuity can be employed to solve apparently diverse problems in Physics and Medicine. I am currently working on my B.Tech. Project titled {State chart Simulation Using Binary Decision Diagrams} under the guidance of Dr. yyy. Despite the intense competition at ****, I have been consistent in my performance; with a Cumulative Points Index of (bf 8.83} I stand $9$ in a class of 33 students.

Study in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at **** has demanded long hours of continuous work, self-motivated efforts and a considerable amount of group activity. It has given me several opportunities to participate in various departmental activities, albeit in a small way. Learning by myself and sharing my knowledge with others has always been of prime importance to me. I have limited Teaching experience from tutoring an elementary course on FORTRAN-77 for students of first year B.Tech. Program. I enjoyed the experience and would like to teach in future too.

I look upon graduate study as an avenue to refine my skills and give a direction to my research career. It would be my first chance to make fundamental contribution to the field in which I undertake research. The excellent research facilities at Rice University and the distinguished faculty are a great source of inspiration to me. The emphasis on multidisciplinary seminars and research projects would definitely encourage me to explore other related areas within the realms of Computer Science.

I hope I fit in with your expectations of a promising graduate student. Admission to the Department of Computer Science at Rice University could well be that golden foundation upon which the entire edifice of my scientific career rests.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 27

After carefully considering my aptitude, interests, the nature of my training and my ultimate professional ambition, I have decided to pursue Ph. D. in electrical engineering specializing in the fields of my interest namely- Communications, Signal Processing and Information Theory and Coding, ultimately leading to a career in teaching and research. As a statement of purpose of my graduate study, I describe here my academic background, my research interests and my career goals.

The undergraduate programme at **** is a well-rounded programme. It not only helped me build a solid foundation of Electrical Engineering fundamentals, but also helped me develop an overall perspective of the vast field of Electrical Engineering. In the final year I developed a keen interest in the areas of Communications and Signal Processing. I substantiated my knowledge of these areas by choosing electives on Digital Communications, Communication System Theory (Random Processes in Communications), Digital Signal Processing and Information Theory and Coding.

In the Master of Technology Programme, I specialized in Communications. Taking advantage of a fully flexible course structure, I have chosen electives on Statistical Signal Analysis, Applied Linear Algebra in Electrical Engineering, Theory of Error Correcting Codes, Image Processing and Adaptive Signal Processing. Apart from these, I have taken courses on two special topics in Electrical Engineering namely- Computational Vision and Artificial Neural Networks.

I have striven to perform well in the courses and have tried to gain as much as I could from them. But I feel that the real qualification of a good graduate student is his ability to perform independent research work under the guidance of an advisor. My B.Tech. (Final year) project under Prof. Yyy gave me such an opportunity. In my B. Tech. Project I studied convergence issues in Non-Symmetrical and Higher order Neural Networks. First part of the project has been submitted to IEEE Trans. Neural Networks as a brief paper. It has been accepted after review.

In my M.Tech Programme, I did a mini project on determination of rotation parameters of a lamina from its binary images using moment- invariants of the images. I did an intensive seminar (a survey of literature) on Simulated Annealing Algorithm for Optimization.

My M.Tech. Thesis deals with Information across Boolean Functions. It involves establishing relationship between complexity measures of Boolean Functions and an attempt to study the nature of optimal circuit through restrictions of a Boolean function.

The project work and the course work have further interested me in Communication and Signal Processing and have motivated me to learn more of these areas. Also, the ideas involved in finding fundamental limits on capabilities of information extraction and transmission and the attempts at achieving the limits – which form the core of information theory – have interested me very much. I realize that techniques and the tools used there overlap. Therefore I have taken liberty to quote these broad areas as Research interests. Specifically the areas of my interest are Source Coding/ Data Compression, Information Theory and Coding, Statistical Signal Processing, Digital Communication, Multi-user Communication, optimal filtering and detection and estimation.

I am also interested in the application of Neural Networks to these areas.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSB is a well-known center of excellence. The department faculty consists of leading researchers engaged in frontline research. The research interests of the faculty are extremely compatible with those of mine, a fact underlined by the fact that some of the faculty members are pioneering people in their fields. In particular, I would like to work with the faculty involved with the Center for Information Processing and Research. I shall be glad to be a part of the group and witness and contribute my bit to the leading research being carried out at UCSB.

An opportunity to work in the stimulating environment at UCSB will certainly make the graduate study a rewarding exercise and a satisfying experience. In terms of research facilities also, a university like UCSB has more to offer to a graduate student. I, therefore, look forward to joining UCSB as a graduate student.

As professional goal, I would like to take up a career in research and teaching. From the residential system of ****, I have been able to have a glimpse of the academic life and the sacrifices it involves. I feel that it is this kind of life that I am best suited for. I feel that I have enough motivation to see me through the challenges of the arduous but exhilarating career in research.

I thank Prof. Yyy and Prof. yyy for their advice and valuable information.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 28

Long Term Goals

My undergraduate studies in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the **** has exposed me to a stimulating academic environment where learning and research go hand-in-hand. Through the many opportunities I have had here, I have found that I have a deep interest in research work and a strong aptitude for the type of problem solving and problem discovery that it involves. I have, therefore decided to pursue active research in Computer Science as a career.

Areas of Interest

Of the many fields in the Computer Science spectrum, I am interested in computer systems. In particular, I am interested in Databases.

Immediate Goals

I plan to work towards a Ph. D. with a focus on Databases. I would also like to follow up my interests in Computer Systems through my course work. I feel that this should be my next step on my road to a research career in Computer Science. I would be most willing to work directly for a Ph.D. if it is possible. However, I would be willing to do M.S. as a first step towards obtaining my Ph.D.

Academic Background

Throughout 12 years of schooling, I had always been among the top ranking students in the class. I was ranked 47th out of 80,000 students (99.94%ile) in the national level entrance examinations to the ****. I was ranked 2nd in the state level entrance examinations for the state engineering colleges. Currently with G.P.A. of 9.00 on scale of 10.00, I am among the top 5% of the students of my batch in the Institute. This high level of consistency in my academic record makes me feel confident enough to hold my own against the very best.

Preparation for Graduate Study

My undergraduate preparation at the Computer Science and Engineering Department of the **** has given me a very substantial knowledge of the basic areas of Computer Science. Any amount of learning in Computer Science would be incomplete without hands on experience of Programming. In this regard I completed various mini projects both out my own interest and also as a part of some of my courses

My senior year dissertation under Dr. yyy (Ph.D. Wisconsin Madison) is titled B+ -Tree Concurrency Control Algorithms in Real-time environment. Operations on B+ -Tree are crucial while maximizing concurrency in a Database System. In real-time environment in which each such operation has associated deadline it is more crucial. There are specialized algorithms for the purpose. As a part of the project, I will be doing performance evaluation of these algorithms. To consolidate my knowledge in my field of interest, I had credited the course Advances in Database Technology in the fall semester. The course involved the study of various classic papers in Databases. I presented a seminar on Main Memory Databases as a part of the course. I am also crediting a course on Distributed Databases in the spring semester. I am also an active member of SIGDB (Special Interest Group in Databases) of the institute, which keeps me fully informed about the latest development in Databases. I have presented some latest papers during its meetings.

Teaching Experience

I was a teaching assistant for the freshets course CS101: Computer Programming and Utilization during Fall 93. I was also an organizer during UNIX workshops and C language workshop conducted by students of our department. This has made me confident that I will prove to be a very good teacher.

Reasons for selecting University of Wisconsin

Your university is considered to be one of the best universities in databases Research. Your faculty has distinguished researchers in the field of databases. I am also familiar with some of the research papers published by them. My guide Dr. yyy, an alumnus of your university has encouraged me to apply here. As a result, I am very enthusiastic about joining your university for graduate Studies.

Summing Up

I am aware of the hard work and perseverance necessary for research work and I know that it is not always as exciting as the published results seem to indicate. Nevertheless, I am sure that my aptitude and drive will see me through the challenge. Looking forward to joining University of Wisconsin at Madison.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 29

I was first introduced to computers through the elementary programming courses in my school days. In my high school I took Computer Science as an additional subject. This fascination for computers lead me to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the ****, one of India’s foremost educational institutes. The course structure, a good balance of theory and programming laboratories, and excellent faculty introduced me to the stimulating field of research. I got a complete exposure to the core fields of Computer Science and Mathematics. I started to enjoy the problem solving techniques and appreciate the pleasure of success after endless hours of frustrating work. All this has lead me to decide on a career of research and academics.

Ten years from now I envisage myself doing active academic research in a good university. I believe that teaching a subject is the best way of learning the subject. Hence my immediate goal is to enter the Ph. D. program at {Indiana University}. My main fields of interest are Distributed Systems, Real Time Systems and Concurrent Programming Languages}. Presently I am doing my B. Tech project under Dr. yyy on implementation of the Communicating Reactive Processes (CRP) model. In the first stage of the project I have studied the various distributed algorithms for Communicating Sequential Processes implementation and other related fairness issues. An impossibility result regarding the problem has been proved and an algorithm has been proposed. I am planning to shape this into a journal paper.

As part of the Operating Systems course I did a study of the Group Communication protocols in the Amoeba Distributed Operating System. Next semester I am crediting a post-graduate elective—Foundations of Parallel Computation. I am a student member of the IEEE computer society. I am also interested in Computer Architecture and had presented a home paper on the 6811 Motorola microcontroller.

My decision to apply to Indiana University is based on a careful examination of the department brochure, World Wide Web information and talking to my guide Dr. yyy. Indiana has a strong faculty in Programming Language Design. Entering the Ph. D. program here will be ideal for me.

My academic record reflects that I have always been a consistent performer. In school I was always in the top five of the class and in the Secondary Certificate Examination I stood second in my school. I secured 126th rank in the All India Joint Entrance Examination for ****. At the end of my first year I was ranked 10th in the institute. After seven semesters I have a CGPA of 8.83/10.00 and I am in the top ten of my class.

I have been a tutor for a first year introductory course in Computers. This involved guidance of the students in the programming assignments and correction of papers. I enjoyed the experience and would love to teach. I also have been an organizer in UNIX workshops held in our department. I am a hardworking, steady and quiet person. My final aim is to be blissfully involved in Distributed Systems and Programming Languages. I hope I can join {bf Indiana University} and achieve my dream.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 30

My objective for graduate studies in Computer Science is to prepare myself for the long-term goal of pursuing a career of teaching and research. I have nurtured a strong passion to become a scientist and pursue research. In the pursuit of Knowledge, I have always adopted a rigorous approach in order to attain an in-depth understanding of the subject at hand. This has amply reflected in my consistently brilliant career, always topping the class and having received numerous national level awards. With a GPA of 9.72, I am ranked first at the **** among nearly 350 students.

I have been involved in research in parallel and distributed computing systems. I studied various problems in distributed systems and distributed databases including deadlock detection and resolution, termination detection, distributed snapshots and consistency. I have been attracted towards the field of correctness of parallel programs. I published a Technical Report reporting errors in two published deadlock detection algorithms and highlight their underlying deficiencies with respect to the distributed nature of computation. I am also involved in the Development of an optimizer generator, which would automate the process of writing optimizers based on the specifications of the optimizations. I am currently engaged in writing a paper on an efficient algorithm for performing global data-flow analysis. The new algorithm that I have developed utilizes the notion of backward information flow to perform propagation using work-lists in an efficient manner. I have been in correspondence with Professor yyy about my algorithm and other aspects of the problem.

I have chosen to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University because by working under the guidance of the distinguished researchers I am confident of making an original contribution in the field of Computer Science. My interest in research has burgeoned during my undergraduate studies at ****. I have excelled in our well-rounded and exacting undergraduate program and have developed a solid background to take up research in Computer Science.

I have decided to go in for graduate studies which calls for a personal commitment to the fulfilling craft of independent research and that involves willingly making personal sacrifices of time, leisure and immediate reward. In turn I shall get intellectual satisfaction and the gratification of becoming a contributor to knowledge through research and the greater personal rewards of learning and discovery. I believe that I possess the motivation, intellectual ability and preparation to set out on this exhilarating and arduous path and to make significant original contributions to your on-going research work.

I look forward to joining Stanford University as a graduate student at your esteemed department.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 31

I am in the final year of the four year Bachelor of Technology program of the Computer Science and Engineering program of the ****. My career objectives lie in the pursuance of research and academics in theoretical computer science – especially in mathematical logic, automated theorem proving, program correctness and semantics of programming languages}. I believe that graduate studies leading to a PhD through research work of quality in these fields are a necessary step towards my goal.

The undergraduate courses of the CSE department of **** have given me a comprehensive exposure to all the core fields of computer science and mathematics. Man’s attempts at mathematically modeling objects of study and then using these models to reason, predict, draw new meanings and interpretations have always fascinated me. Hence, in course of my Studies I’ve come to realize that I wish to pursue research and academics in the above-mentioned areas of theoretical computer science. These areas, I believe are rapidly developing and offer great scope to one who is confident of producing fruitful work and coming up with creative ideas.

I have performed reasonably well in my undergraduate courses at ****, but since **** admits only the best students throughout the country, I believe, in view of the competitive atmosphere, that the grades secured should not be considered in an absolute sense.

My interest in theoretical computer science has inspired me to carry out research and implementation in this subject, as can be seen from my attached resume. Simultaneously, I have kept myself abreast with the recent trends in research through literature surveys during projects, related to courses and otherwise. I have availed of every opportunity to learn more about my areas of interest. I have taken have enrolled for a number of relevant courses offered by the computer science, mathematics and humanities departments. My senior thesis (home paper) PROGRAM VERIFICATION USING ALGEBRAIC METHODS has given me a chance to explore these areas in greater depth (details in resume).All these activities have gone a long way towards making my background very strong in my areas of interest.

I have also had a good deal of teaching experience as can be seen from attached certificates. This experience convinced that I have the communication skills and the ability to explain things precisely to become a teacher.

My years at **** have been enlightening ones but I need to constructively build up on what I’ve learned so far. Duke, I think is the ideal learned so far. Duke, I think, is an ideal choice towards this end. My decision was based on a careful examination of the department brochures and information from faculty members and alumni. I have also communicated with Dr.yyy, Director of graduate studies of the Computer Science department.

Duke has a stress on research-oriented study, flexibility and closer Professor-student relationships. I think that having such a sound academic environment at a reputed University such as Duke, with the work of a small group of teachers serving as a model, I will be able to attain my true potential. Specifically I am keen to participate in the ongoing research activity at Duke in the following fields:

Finding efficient proof procedures for first order logic theorem proving.

Reasoning in educational logics Program correctness and program transformation I look forward to making my contributions to the advancement of computer science – starting at Duke.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE 32

My undergraduate studies in the department of computer Science and Engg at **** have exposed me to a stimulating academic environment where learning and research go together. Through the many opportunities I have had here. I have grown to love research work and have found that I have a strong aptitude for the kind of work that it involves. I have therefore decided to pursue active research as a career. It is with this objective in mind that I wish to enroll for the doctoral program in your university.

I plan to study at the graduate level in the area of distributed computing, specifically the theory of asynchronous systems. I believe that theory and application in Computer Science go hand-in-hand. The study of theoretical aspects of distributed systems is essential for the successful development of applications for heterogeneous and fault-tolerant systems. The possibilities of research in this field fascinate me.

Recent research in the theory of asynchronous computation has yielded theorems describing the computability of tasks in asynchronous systems that can tolerate multiple failures. Attempts are also being made to completely characterize the power of various synchronization primitives in an asynchronous system. As part of my B.Tech project (senior thesis) under Dr. yyy I am currently working on extending these results to stronger synchronization primitives and exploring the possibility of utilizing some of these ideas to completely describe the power of concurrent objects. To further my understanding of these problems I have also enrolled myself for the graduate level course, { Foundations of Parallel Computation} under Dr. yyy.

I have excelled in academics at every step in my education. Throughout twelve years of schooling I have always been ranked among the top of my class. I was introduced to Computer Science in junior college. I was awarded the Merit Certificate for my performance in the All India Senior School Certificate Examination – 100\% in Computer Science, 99\% in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. I was also placed seventh in the state wide Physics Talent Test of the Physics Society, Madras. In the highly competitive entrance examination to the *** I was ranked 134th among over 100,000 students. The broad curriculum at **** provided me with a strong foundation in all branches of Computer Science. Of these I have pursued those, which have particularly appealed to me. During the summer of 1994, I worked on a `learning’ program for the gam {Othello} using Neural Nets that I had initially developed as part of my course work. For my seminar (junior thesis) I studied {smart recompilation and incremental parsing techniques} under Dr. yyy. Efficient implementation of these techniques can substantially reduce compilation time in large software systems.

I have also gained considerable teaching experience in ****. I have been a course assistant for the Institute level freshman course, Computer Programming and Utilization for two consecutive years. I have also delivered lectures and given demonstrations on UNIX at various workshops conducted by the Computer Science and Engg. Association. All of these have been well received and have made me confident of developing into a very good teacher. I have also taken the Test for Spoken English in November 1995 . I have worked for two months at ARCUS, Bangalore, and a company that develops VLSI tools and also for Rational, USA at their third party development centre in Bangalore.

My undergraduate program has given me sufficient exposure to various avenues for research and I have chosen Distributed Computing for which I have both an aptitude and a liking. A good graduate program is now essential for gaining a deeper insight and to make significant original contributions to this field. I am confident that I possess the motivation, intellectual ability and preparation to succeed in a demanding graduate program.

My interest in the theory of distributed computing makes UCLA a natural choice for graduate study. Professor yyy is one of the leading researchers in this field and I have studied his work as part of my ongoing thesis and he has encouraged me to apply to your program. Working under an expert whose work can serve as a model will set me on the path to contributing significantly to the ongoing research at UCLA. The research interests of the other faculty members cover a large number of topics in Computer Science and this will enable me to keep in touch with the latest developments in these fields. The excellent facilities offered by your department will provide an environment conducive to successful graduate work. The faculty at **** has also strongly recommended UCLA for pursuing graduate studies.

I look forward to joining UCLA as a graduate student at your esteemed department.

World University Rankings

Harvard

1 Harvard University
2 University of Cambridge
3 University of Oxford
4Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4Yale University
6 Stanford University
7 California Institute of Technology
8 University of California, Berkeley
9 Imperial College London
10 Princeton University
11 University of Chicago
12 Columbia University
13 Duke University
14 Peking University
15 Cornell University
16 Australian National University
17 London School of Economics and Political…
18 Ecole Normale Supérieure
19National University of Singapore
19University of Tokyo
21 McGill University
22 University of Melbourne
23 Johns Hopkins University
24 ETH Zurich
25 University College London (UCL)
26 University of Pennsylvania
27 University of Toronto
28 Tsing Hua University
29Kyoto University
29University of Michigan
31 University of California, Los Angeles
32 University of Texas at Austin
33 University of Edinburgh
33 University of Hong Kong
35University of Sydney
35Carnegie Mellon University
37 École Polytechnique
38 Monash University
39 University of Geneva
40 University of Manchester
41 University of New South Wales
42 Northwestern University
43 New York University
44 University of California, San Diego
45 University of Queensland
46 King’s College London
46 University of Auckland
48University of Rochester
48Washington University in St. Louis
50Chinese University of Hong Kong
50University of British Colombia
52 Sciences Po Paris
53 Vanderbilt University
54Brown University
54University of Copenhagen
56 Emory University
57 Indian Institute of Technology
58Hong Kong University of Science & Techno…
58Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
60 Case Western Reserve University
61Nanyang Technological University
61Dartmouth College
63 Seoul National University
64University of Bristol
64Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne…
66 Boston University
67 Eindhoven University of Technology
68 Indian Institute of Management
69 University of Amsterdam
70School of Oriental and African Studies
70Osaka University
72 Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon
73 University of Warwick
74 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
75 University of Basel
76 Catholic University of Louvain
77 University of Illinois
78 University of Dublin, Trinity College
79University of Otago
79University of Wisconsin
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86 Delft University of Technology
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88 University of Pittsburgh
89 University of Lausanne
90University of Birmingham
90 Leiden University
92 Erasmus University Rotterdam
93Lomonosov Moscow State University
93Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie
95 Utrecht University
96 Catholic University of Leuven
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98 Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
99Queen Mary, University of London
99Pennsylvania State University
101 University of Southern California
102Georgetown University
102University of Sheffield
102Rice University
105Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
105University of Adelaide
105University of Sussex
108 National Taiwan University
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109University of Zurich
111Wake Forest University
111University of Maryland
111University of Western Australia
111Uppsala University
115 University of Twente
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116University of Helsinki
118 Tokyo Institute of Technology
119 Hebrew University of Jerusalem
120 Keio University
120Université libre de Bruxelles
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138 Vienna University of Technology
139 University of Liverpool
140 Cranfield University
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141University of Ghent
141Cardiff University
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145 Georgia Institute of Technology
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149 Freie Universität Berlin
150Texas A&M University
150Korea University
152 University of Notre Dame
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154 City University of Hong Kong
155 McMaster University
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156Curtin University of Technology
158Waseda University
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158Technion – Israel Institute of Technolog…
161Chulalongkorn University
161Université Louis Pasteur – Strasbourg I
163 Michigan State University
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165State University of New York at Stony Br…
168Tohoku University
168George Washington University
170Universität Tübingen
170University of California, Davis
172University of Maastricht
172Yeshiva University
172Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochsc…
172Royal Institute of Technology
176 Queen’s University
177 University of Oslo
178 University of Bern
179 Shanghai Jiao Tong University
180 Nanjing University
181Kobe University
181University of Montreal
183Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
183Jawaharlal Nehru University
185 Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
186 University of Innsbruck
187 University of Minnesota
187 Universität Frankfurt am Main
187 Brandeis University
190 University of Barcelona
190University of Reading
192University of Malaya
192Queensland University of Technology
194 Technical University of Denmark
195 University of Aberdeen
196 University of Wollongong
197 Università degli Studi di Roma – La Sapi…
198University of California, Irvine
198Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Te…
200 Universite Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)

You may also be interested to check

Rankings

Subject Biological Test Required.

GRE subject test is required by the following universities for their graduate biology programs:

1. Stanford University. YES for Doctorate.

School of Humanities and Sciences.

2. Harvard University. YES

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

3. University of California–Berkeley

Graduate Division, College of Letters and Sciences. YES for Doctorate

Dept. of Integrative Biology

4. Johns Hopkins University. YES for Doctorate.

Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

5. Princeton University. YES for Doctorate.

6. Duke University. YES for Doctorate.

7. Columbia University. YES

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

8. Cornell University. YES

9. University of California–San Diego. YES

Graduate Studies and Research

10. Washington University in St. Louis. YES for Doctorate

11. University of California–Los Angeles. YES

12. University of Pennsylvania. YES Doctorate

13. Baylor College of Medicine. YES for Doctorate

14. University of California–Davis. YES Doctorate

Graduate Group in Cell and Developmental Biology

15. Vanderbilt University (TN). Recommended for Doctorate.

16. University of California–Irvine. YES

17. University of Virginia. YES

College of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

18. Case Western Reserve University. YES

19. Dartmouth College. YES

20. Carnegie Mellon University. YES for Doctorate.

21. Rutgers State University–New Brunswick. YES

22. University of Massachusetts–Amherst. YES

23. University of Pittsburgh. YES

24. University of Rochester. YES

25. New York University YES for Doctorate.

Graduate School of Arts and Science

26. University of Illinois–Chicago. YES

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

27. Arizona State University. YES

28. Boston University. YES

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

29. University of Connecticut. YES

30. University of Kansas. YES

31. University of Miami. YES

College of Arts and Sciences

32. Washington State University. YES

33. University of California–Santa Cruz. YES

34. Colorado State University. YES

35. Syracuse University. YES

36. University of Notre Dame. YES

37. Boston College. YES

38. Wake Forest University. YES

39. College of William and Mary. YES

40. Rutgers State University–Newark. YES for Doctorate

41. Temple University. YES

42. University of Delaware YES

English Program Ranking

Ranking of English Programs (5 = highest)

1. Harvard University (MA) 4.8
Stanford University (CA) 4.8
University of California – Berkeley 4.8
Yale University (CT) 4.8
5. University of Chicago 4.7
6. Cornell University (NY) 4.6
Princeton University (NJ) 4.6
8. Columbia University (NY) 4.5
Johns Hopkins University (MD) 4.5
10. University of Pennsylvania 4.4
11. University of California – Los Angeles 4.3
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor 4.3
University of Virginia 4.3
14. Brown University (RI) 4.2
15. Duke University (NC) 4.1
University of California – Irvine 4.1
17. University of Wisconsin – Madison 4.0
18. Northwestern University (IL) 3.9
Rutgers State University – New Brunswick (NJ) 3.9
University of Illinois – Urbana/Champaign 3.9
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill 3.9
University of Texas – Austin 3.9
23. Indiana University – Bloomington 3.8
University of Washington 3.8
25. New York University 3.7
26. CUNY Graduate School and University Center 3.6
27. Pennsylvania State University – University Park 3.5
University of Iowa 3.5
Vanderbilt University (TN) 3.5
30. Emory University (GA) 3.4
University of California – Davis 3.4
University of California – Santa Barbara 3.4
University of Pittsburgh 3.4
34. Claremont Graduate School (CA) 3.3
Ohio State University – Columbus 3.3
Rice University (TX) 3.3
University of Maryland – College Park 3.3
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities 3.3
39. Brandeis University (MA) 3.2
University at Buffalo (NY) 3.2
University of California – San Diego 3.2
University of California – Santa Cruz 3.2
University of Massachusetts – Amherst 3.2
University of Southern California 3.2
Washington University in St. Louis 3.2
46. Tufts University (MA) 3.1
University of Arizona 3.1
University of California – Riverside 3.1
University of Florida 3.1
University of Illinois – Chicago 3.1
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee 3.1
52. University of Colorado – Boulder 3.0
University of Notre Dame (IN) 3.0
54. Boston University 2.9
Michigan State University 2.9
Tulane University (LA) 2.9
University of Oregon 2.9
University of Rochester (NY) 2.9
59. Texas A&M University – College Station 2.8
University of Kansas 2.8
University of Utah 2.8
62. Binghamton University (NY) 2.7
Boston College 2.7
Miami University – OXford (OH) 2.7
Purdue University – West Lafayette (IN) 2.7
SUNY – Stony Brook 2.7
University of Connecticut 2.7
University of Delaware 2.7
University of Georgia 2.7
University of Kentucky 2.7
71. Fordham University (NY) 2.6
Louisiana State University – Baton Rouge 2.6
Syracuse University (NY) 2.6
Temple University (PA) 2.6
University of Missouri – Columbia 2.6
University of Nebraska – Lincoln 2.6
University of Oklahoma 2.6
University of Tennessee – Knoxville 2.6
79. Arizona State University 2.5
George Washington University (DC) 2.5
University of New Mexico 2.5