Admission Application For The Master Program In: Fill & Download for Free

In my year they admitted around 15 students, and I imagine they got at least 300 applications. So it is moderately competitive.One thing that all my colleagues had in common was that they had prior research experience with robotics.In the USA, I think only CMU and Penn have a Masters program in Robotics. I heard talk of UMich planning to start one. But lots of other universities have Masters programs in CS, EE or ME in which you can get the same level of exposure to robotics research and coursework. Some names that come to mind are MIT, Stanford, Georgia Tech, UC Berkeley, WPI, USC.I'm sure universities in Europe also have great graduate programs in robotics but I'm not the best person to talk about that.

I know somebody who claims to have left Berkeley thinking that he had a PhD, only to find out 10 years later that the degree had never been granted. I don't think I believe every word of the tale, but surely it qualifies as a horror story regardless.Our hero, whom I'll call Larry (not his real name), attended UC Berkeley as an undergraduate. When he applied to PhD programs, he didn't bother to have his transcript sent to Berkeley, figuring that they already had it. Owing to the incomplete application, he didn't get in, but when he inquired further was offered admission to the Master's program with the opportunity to apply for the PhD program again the next year.The next year Larry had low grades in the Master's program, so his PhD application was rejected again. It wasn't until his second year in the Master's program -- and his third time applying -- that Larry was admitted to the PhD program.Larry started the PhD program that fall. That was the first year that the program required new students to pass the Preliminary Examination. Unfortunately, Larry didn't realize that this requirement applied to him. He thought that since he had been a student before that year, he was exempt from that exam.Larry wasn't the only one who made this mistake. His advisor and department thought that he had fulfilled the graduation requirements. After leaving Berkeley, he worked in a postdoctoral position for a few years before moving to industry.But after Larry had been away from Berkeley for a decade, a potential employer called the university registrar to verify his degree and was told that, in fact, Larry was still a student at Berkeley.Why did it take 10 years for this mistake to become known? Larry told me that his earlier employers had called his department--rather than the university registrar--to verify his degree. And his department happily told them that he indeed had the PhD.Why don't I believe it? Well, aside from it seeming overly far-fetched, I couldn't find a dissertation for Larry in the database where those documents typically reside. But maybe the university just discarded Larry's dissertation because he hadn't properly advanced to candidacy, and that's why there's no record of it. I don't know.

* CS and IT world has changed a lot. New degrees have emerged. I am going to add data from 2017/18 admission season by October 2018. Till then promote and share this answer.*Let's set your thinking first.The Grad School Statistics We Never Hadhttp://occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2017/05/16/university-rankings-are-fake-news/Academic Rankings Considered Harmful!Where you went to college doesn't matter. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/06/where-you-went-to-college-doesnt-matter-this-is-why?utm_content=bufferbb6ab&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=bufferMany students start their college research with rankings. That’s all well and good. You’ve got to start somewhere. But overall there is NO ranking system, NO acceptance criteria, no matter how perfect, is going to be able to tell you what university is best for your future. Graduate program prestige is a touchy subject for many people. I recommend that students look holistically, by looking at many rankings and university prestige, cost-benefit analysis, curriculum, post graduation job status, research fit, reputation of advisers etc. Of course you’d like to attend the program with the most prestige. But what if that prestigious university you’re in love with is price gouging? What if you’ll have to set back your life plans to be able to afford tuition, never mind the cost of living?Holistic view of the ranks:Look at different sources before settling in one ranking method.Research interests, fit with the adviser and adviser's reputation in the field (I cannot stress enough how important this is to any PhD applicants. #1 priority over anything. PeriodARWU: Academic Ranking of World Universities in Computer Science - 2015 (Helpful to PhD applicants: based on citations, research, impact factor. Much better than USNEWS for science, tech, CS ranking)NSF grant: Universities Report Highest-Ever R&D Spending of $65 Billion in FY 2011 (Helpful to PhD applicants, refer Table 3; Gives you an idea about research expenditures of the school - you want to end up in a college with continuous supply of fund)National Research Council: NRC Rankings Overview: Computer Sciences (Helpful to PhDs, sort by 'Research high'. This shows the quality of research.) Page on phd.org is derived from the NRC ranking.Microsoft Research rank: Page on bit.ly (Click the link or Copy paste the link, Click the field of your research on left, In the middle pane click 'see more ' in top organizations in [your field], Choose '5 years', and then sort by 'North America' or your continents).CSrankings.org, a ranking based on top-tier publication output of CS faculty. Unlike US News and World Report's approach, which is exclusively based on surveys, this ranking is entirely metrics-based. It measures the number of publications by faculty that have appeared at the most selective conferences in each area of computer science. However , this does not capture all top conferences for a particular field , so the ranking is based only on top 3–5 conferences. So, there are flaws in rankings particularly in algorithms, systems, HCI etc. But all rankings have them. Good as a preliminary filter to find faculty working on each field at each school.And finally, USNews Computer Science . Unfortunately many applicants and early career assistant professors use it as a primary filter. Comparing schools based only on USNews rank is a common mistake by PhD applicants. Academics don't look at this ranking highly. This is the baseless , subjective, and perception based, yet most common ranking system out there. Be careful.QS University rankings: Page on topuniversities.com [The research methodology is mostly subjective based. I recommend using this only for Masters and Business programs, not for PhD). In all honesty, QS and THE rankings overvalue European universities. But no one actually cares about it.(CAUTION- academic rankings are bad) Academic Rankings Considered Harmful!Do I want a Masters or a PhD ?For those who want to go on to graduate study, the first decision is whether to pursue a master’s degree or a PhD. The master’s degree usually consists of additional coursework and will give you a stronger foundation of the same sort you had as an undergraduate. Getting a PhD. is a MUCH LONGER/MUCH HARDER commitment (often five or more years), the core of which is an independent research project leading to a doctoral dissertation, and job in academic institutions or research fields.Is it easier to get admitted as a Masters compared to a PhD?It depends how you define "easier". There is no 'yes' or 'no' answer to this. Generally speaking, all applicants should be aware that the selection process is comprehensive and rigorous for PhD admission compared to Masters since there are generally fewer slots for PhDs, and Masters slots are typically not funded (vs most PhD students being fully funded).Money and degree?Sadly in today economy the ability for a student to pay full tuition has become a factor in some admissions decisions. MBA is notoriously known for “rich gets it all”. But this has definitely been the case in CS and IT in University of California, Georgia Tech, which has seen a rise in admitted applicants. In today marketplace, more and more schools are paying great attention to full paid Masters applicants that explained why so many campuses are packed by international students. This puts deserved and talented students behind the wealthy ones.Masters programs may be easier to get into if for no other reason than because you can pay tuition. Eg, University of Southern California, Georgia Tech Masters, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard (extension schools, professional school, and few Master degrees), Dartmouth, Cornell, Stanford, CMU etc. If the question is whether or not one's ability to pay can overcome deficiencies in one's transcript, the answer is "usually" no. The college will not allow an unqualified applicant to get in, but if there are two candidates, and one is high need (smart) and the other is not (slightly less smart), all other things being equal, the full pay student may be the one getting that fat envelope. This is one of the reasons why you see more Master students than PhD students in any schools. PhD programs are more difficult to gain acceptance to because you also receive a salary, health insurance and somebody in the nebulous world of academia pays your tuition (training grants, PI's grants, fellowships etc). The bar for any PhD school is much tougher than bar for any Masters. Example, it may be equally harder or if not more, to get into a top 30–35 PhD school than Masters at a top 5–10 school. Admission is overly critical and competitive at PhD level, and being able to pay tuition has no influence in PhD admission process. Industries and Academics also look very highly of PhD candidates compared to Masters. In some sense, Masters is an advanced bachelors.To confirm my statement look at the data below.***acceptance rate does not translate to how good a school is in research. Acceptance rate is a factor how many students applied to how many slots are available. But that does show overall strength of the program. YOU be the decision maker***------------------------------------------------------------------------------------MIT EECS, MAThe admission rate of applicants to EECS at MIT is approximately 6%. They only have one application process and it is for the Master’s/PhD combined. There is no separate Master’s degree application.Acceptance Rate: 6.4% , 2778 applications and admitted 180 applicants for 2014-2015Source: Emailed [email protected], CAMS: 667 applications, 123 accepted, 92 enrolled (18.4% acceptance rate)PhD acceptance: This past year we had 692 applicants to our Ph.D. program. We accepted 71, with about 50 of them taking us up on our offer. Now 10% might not seem like terrible odds as compared with, say, getting into Stanford as an undergraduate (7% admission rate). But those 692 applicants were already a somewhat self-selected group.Acceptance Rate: 18.4% (MS), 10.26% (PhD)Source: http://cs.stanford.edu/newsletter/past-newsletters/2011(Look for admissions statistics section)Princeton, NJAcceptance: 11 % They do not have statistics for computer science alone.Source: Look at graduate admissions for school of engineering and applied science: A Princeton Profile . Also emailed at [email protected] Tech (CS/HCI/OMS), GASource: Graduate Admissions - Table 4.3Page on gatech.eduAs you can see from first link, the admission rate is around 19% - 30%.PhD in GTECH is way harder than Masters to get admission. Impossible to compare quality of applicants at these two levels.Regular Masters CS with thesis option: As you can see that GTech Masters program is not as competitive to get into (Refer to IInd link). There are 3x to 5x more Masters students than PhDs at GTech. That is a quite significant difference and should tell something about quality of PhD students vs Masters students to get into. Email source says PhD admission rate is 10%.Masters in Interactive Computing/HCI: Total applicants: 350 applicants, Admit: 100 admits, and Enrolled: 50 . Only 50% enrolled. About half of students in Interactive Computing track; the rest are divided among the Psychology, Industrial Design, and Digital Media tracks. The acceptance rate is somewhat lower in the Interactive Computing track, but not significantly. Usually unfunded admission in Masters.Acceptance rate: 28.57%Source: Emailed [email protected] Masters: They also have an online Masters in CS program with Udacity. Acceptance Rate for OMS CS: 50% - 60%[Their on-site/in-person program is ranked top 10 by USNews, NOT the online program]Source: Emailed [email protected], ILEach year the Department of Computer Science at Illinois receives around 1500 applications for the MS and PhD programs and admits around 130 recruits between the two programs.Acceptance Rate (MS + PhD combined) : 8.66%Source: Application Evaluation ProcessWisconsin-Madison, WIAcceptance Rate: 20% (MS + PhD combined)Enrollment rate: only 36%Source: http://grad.wisc.edu/education/academicprograms/profiles/229.pdfUT-Austin, TXMS/PhD: ~ 20%. Nearly the same as Wisconsin Madison (MS + PhD combined)Source: [email protected] replied back they are as close to the numbers ~15-20%.Purdue, INFor Fall 2014 we had about 1112 applications for about 82 slots. For Fall 2013 we had about 980 applications for about 54 slots.Acceptance Rate: 7.3% (MS + PhD combined)Source: https://www.cs.purdue.edu/graduate/admission/process.htmlPurdue also has a CIT (computer information technology) degree with very high acceptance rate and a late deadline. But you may be required to pay a lot as a Masters.Harvard, MAAdmits about 8%-9% of applications across their graduate programs. They do not offer admission into the masters degree in Computer Science- at this time they only admit into their PhD program.For the class of graduate students entering in Fall 2014, SEAS received more than 2000 applications across all Ph.D. and master's programs and accepted just under 10 %Source: Emailed [email protected] Mellon University, PACarnegie Mellon overall is hovering around 15-20% (MS + PhD combined). Surprised (too many CS specializations)?? However, the School of Computer Science PhD only is about 6.8% (2012 Statistics: 5071 applicants, 345 admitted, 138 enrolled)The thing you have to note is that every computing specializations within Carnegie Mellon School of Conputing has different requirements and thus different acceptance rates.The admission intake is pretty high at Masters level - a bit higher than peer schools. Is Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science easier to get into thancomparative programs at top tier schools?Tip:CMU Heinz is relatively very easier to get into for Information Systems degree (but does not enjoy as much reputation as CS)Few (not all) masters programs at CMU are easier to get into for no other reason than because you can pay tuition as long as you meet minimum criteria for admission.CMU has a INI school focused at information technology, networking, security and technology management. Very good job placement but you may be paying atleast USD 80k-120k for your masters without any scholarship.Penn State CS / IST, PAabout 800-1000 applications for fall semester; about 50-75 applications for spring semester. We accept about 30-50 students for fall and about 6 for spring; most of these are PHD students.Acceptance Rate: 6.25% (fall, MS + PhD combined) ; 12% springSource: Graduate Admissions and emailed [email protected] Science and Technology department: Penn State has a highly reputed interdisciplinary department- CS, Sociology, and Psychology mixed together.M.S. Program | College of Information Sciences and TechnologyUniversity of Pennsylvania CIS/CIT, PAPhD in CIS/CIT : 448 applicants to the doctoral program, 50 candidates admittedAcceptance Rate: 11.16%Masters program in CS : 752 applicants, 135 candidates admittedAcceptance Rate: 17.95%[No Aid for Masters "cash cow' masters program]Masters program in IT: 331 applicants, 58 candidates admittedAcceptance Rate: 17.52%Source for all above: Graduate Program Admissions Statistics[No Aid for Masters "cash cow' masters program]Brown University, RIPhD: 300 applications to our PhD programAcceptance Rate: 16%Masters: About 375 applicationsAcceptance Rate: 22%Source: Emailed [email protected][Masters in CS is relatively easier to get into even though it is an Ivy - a "cash cow" masters program]Cornell University, NYPhD: About 11% for the fall 2015 for both CS and iSchool eachSource: Emailed [email protected] University, NYPhD: 710 PhD applicants and 53 admits for fall 2015 Acceptance Rate: 7.46%MS: MS is relatively easier to get into, higher acceptance rate and does not have financial aid. 'cash cow' masters program.Source: Emailed admission committee at [email protected] Ann Arbor(CS/iSchool), MICS/CE: 618 PhD applications for 64 slots. Masters is higher acceptance rate.Acceptance Rate: 10.35%Source: Computer Science and EngineeringInformation Science: 8.27%Acceptance:145 PhD applications for 12 slots - 5 years averageSource: Rackham Graduate SchoolDuke University, NCPhD and MS about 17 % (As you can see the GRE and GPA criteria for Masters admission is lower than peer schools)Source: Computer Science - Duke UniversityDuke Graduate School (more statistics)Yale University, CTAdmission rate of PhD: ~20% (according to an email response) but the link below says 12%Masters: MS program is course work only and unfunded.Source: Department of Computer Science - Yale University in New Haven, CT - Graduate Program Information at Petersons.comAlso emailed cs office at Yale.University of Washington (CS/iSchool/HCDE), WACS: Over 1400 applications and admitted 150 students. Only 56 PhD students in 2014-2015 cohort. Over the past 10 years or so, the acceptance rate has been about 10%.Graduate School StatisticsEnroll rate: 33%. Typically about 1/3 of the students they admit end up comingSource: grad-admissions@cs.washington.edu---------------------------------------------------------------------------------HCDE (recently established program): For fall 2015, there were total of 86 PhD applications that admitted 7 students.PhD Acceptance rate:8.13%Master’s program received 484 applications and admitted 93 students. Acceptance rate: 19.21%Note: Heavily design and UX oriented, and prototyping based----------------------------------------------------------------------------------iSchool:Admit rate for the PhD program is normally around 15-20%Masters (MSIM) programs are less selective and does not enjoy much reputation. Their masters is a cash cow. However, their PhD is competitive.Acceptance Rate: 23% for MastersSource: Page on uw.eduUniversity of Maryland, College Park (CS/iSchool), MDAcceptance Rate: Overall about 20% of applicants are admitted, and about 1/3rd of them enrollSource: Emailed [email protected] for Prospective StudentsiSchool PhD: ~20%iSchool Masters: See below.iSchool MIM: over 600 applications and admitted just over 100 applicants: 16.66%iSchool HCIM: accepted 60 out of 111 applications, 54.4% [Easy Safety. Do not rush because of the Maryland name. Make sure you check available courses, TA/RA opportunities and industry reaction to this degree]Source: Page on umd.edu and emailed [email protected] Berkeley, CAFor EECS overall, not broken down by degree: "3100 applicants for about 100 slots". Their yield is probably high. They also say the MS CS program "admits very few students."Overall PhD and MS combined: <5%Source: Facts and figuresThey also have an interdisciplinary iSchool. Lower acceptance rate compared to their CS department due to the interdisciplinary nature and high demand of the program. Admits only 5–8 PhDs per year out of several hundred applications. Ph.D. Application InstructionsUniversity of Southern California, CAAcceptance Rate: No [email protected] responded that they do not have that statistic available.[Probably one of the easiest schools among top tiers, to get into for Masters with full pay.]University of California Davis, CAAdmission to the Graduate Group in Computer Science is highly competitive. On average, we receive over 1,000 applications for admission and generally admit the top 10%.Acceptance Rate:: ~10%Source: Prospective Graduate Students - Computer ScienceUniversity of California, Los Angeles, CAAcceptance Rate: 22%Source: Page on ucla.edu(The new data suggests acceptance is lower than this)University of California, San Diego,CAAcceptance Rate for MS: For fall 2015, 900 MS applicants, acceptance rate of 7.5%,Acceptance Rate for PhD: 375 PhD applicants with an admission percentage of 19%(Notice the higher PhD acceptance compared to Masters. This is because UCSD is a top tier research school and usually focus more on PhDs)University of California, Santa Barbara, CAAcceptance Rate: ~ 10% for PhDs. More for Masters. We receive around 400+ PhD applications per year and admit between 30-50 students. Our goal is to have roughly 20-25 students join the program each Fall.Source: Frequently Asked Questions for UCSB Graduate AdmissionsCaltech, CAAcceptance Rate: Still searchingJohns Hopkins, MDAcceptance Rate: Still searching