Comment by impendia | Hacker News Reader

Comment by impendia | Hacker News Reader

I'm a mathematics professor. I'll tell you how it is in math. You can probably extrapolate to CS, although work experience might count for more there, depending on your field of study.

In math, rec letters are the most important, and whether rightly or wrongly, math professors don't give a damn about the word of anyone other than other math professors.

Figure out how you will be spending your first two years, and the coursework in particular. At good programs it will be killer hard. Are you prepared for this? Your rec letters need to come from people who thoroughly understand how difficult graduate work is, and who can credibly assert that you will succeed in it. This needs to be based on your past success, presumably in your coursework.

In particular, top programs look for not only talent but also thorough preparation. Have you gone far beyond your university's requirements, and absolutely excelled?

If you want to get a Ph.D., and don't get into top schools, you can probably go to a mid-tier place, and if you are really thriving, file transfer applications your second year. Or just finish at the mid-tier place. I went to a non-top-ten university for my Ph.D. and am doing very well now.

Good luck to you!

I'm going to add to this, your letters of recommendation are critically important. Furthermore, getting into grad school is the same thing as any other job. It's not about what you know, it is about WHO you know. People will get you into grad school IF they want you, and they only know if they want you, if they know you. Simple as that. Face time really matters, so if you want to get into grad school but don't have fantastic letters of rec for whatever reason, make an impression on some of the faculty at the school. Go to conferences and attempt to meet professors in the schools that you are interested in.

Also, as stated above, you can always move into a top their school later in the game. For example, I went to a state school for my undergrad and PhD, but I've since moved onto Cornell, Columbia and Rockefeller. The school matters at some level, but you can make stuff happen when you apply yourself. As with anything else, it's not trivial, but it's kind of a fun game:) Best of luck, Keith

Thanks for the advice. I'm currently living and working in the same city where I received my undergrad degree from so I could try to go back for a Masters and see where I'm at after that.

Best of luck with OmniSci!

Thanks for the advice! Based on what you said, I think I'm going to have a tough time getting accepted into a graduate program. My first three years at college were spent bouncing between majors, so I don't have strong relationships with any of my CS professors. The only time I would say I excelled was my senior year where I completed 8 cs classes with good marks, but that doesn't seem nearly as impressive as completing undergraduate research/an internship.

Do you think open source work/self studying in the field I choose will have a large impact on my potential acceptance?

I regret not focusing in on CS and math earlier.

You might have a tough time getting into a top graduate program. But there are plenty of reasonably good graduate programs which are not quite as selective.

Self study probably won't help you get into good programs initially, but if you get accepted to a second-tier program, it will certainly help you get the ground running and get the most out of it, whether you try to transfer out or not.

Good luck!

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