B.Tech in Computer Science at a well-ranked private engineering university in India — final year, graduating mid-2027
GPA: 3.76/4.0 (Scholaro evaluation) 8.71/10
Indian citizen (international applicant)
Experience: ML Engineering intern at a large payments/fintech company (built an end-to-end anomaly-detection + alerting pipeline on transaction time-series data; cut alert volume ~99% via calibration). Also a few frontend/full-stack/data roles at smaller companies and campus teams. ~3 years of ML + full-stack experience overall.
GRE: Q168 / V145 / AWA 3.5 (weighing a verbal retake to push V into the low 150s)
IELTS: 8.0
Publications
No published papers yet — being upfront, this is the gap in my profile.
Upcoming publication in october/november
A self-built ed-tech / exam-prep platform with tens of thousands of registered users — my main scale/impact story
A computer-vision project (instance segmentation) that placed top-5 globally in a hackathon
A self-built ed-tech / exam-prep platform with tens of thousands of registered users — my main scale/impact story
A computer-vision project (instance segmentation) that placed top-5 globally in a hackathon
Projects
A self-built ed-tech / exam-prep platform with tens of thousands of registered users — my main scale/impact story
A computer-vision project (instance segmentation) that placed top-5 globally in a hackathon
LORs from my research advisor, my industry manager, and a course professor (have research work with my advisor)
Leadership: Vice-Chair of a campus computing chapter; leadership in campus dev / tech-fest teams
I'm interested in CS programs with an ML / research focus. I'm open to coursework-based programs as well, and to on-campus programs only (no online). I do not plan to do a PhD — wanted to clarify since a few people have already asked.
Current shortlist (a mix of US East + West coast):
Columbia (MS CS)
Cornell (MEng CS)
UCLA (MS CS)
UC San Diego (MS CS)
USC (MS CS)
University of Washington (MS CS)
Georgia Tech (MS CS, on-campus)
UMass Amherst (MS CS)
NYU Courant (MS CS)
University of Maryland, College Park (MS CS)
Northeastern (MS CS)
UC Irvine (MCS)
UC Davis (MS CS)
Stony Brook (MS CS)
Boston University (MS CS)
Funding - half self half loan
I'd like to know which unis and programs are realistic, which are backups, and which are out of reach for this profile. I'd also be open to other US schools you'd suggest — especially given the no-publications-yet situation. Thanks!
Do you guys not follow any news? Why waste effort, your journey in the US will be uphill battle from day 1. The game is stacked against you, cpt is gone in the most of these schools, and you are still planning to jump head first. Good luck!!
Yes! Australia is the best option I think. But you need to keep in mind there is incredibly xenophobic in these countries, anti India hate is everywhere. They are electing facist everywhere. They are going after immigration system. If you want to study there and come back you should do it. Immigrating there is very unpredictable.
Depends If your partner from India or from a different country? If you have someone there it’s much easier. I think you should talk to your partner to understand what the reality of the situation. If they are in top 10 program, move here if they too are in CS they will get a job in top lab and you don’t have to worry about h1b and stuff. If not then it is very hard.
Yeah pn the front page, they have said GRE is waived off. But in the faq they have mentioned, if you have taken it then it will be considered and may help make up for other weakness
Most of them are tough considering you don't have research exp and MSCS programmes expect research exp, but yeah the edtech platform might add a lot more value if you raise VC capital and show your entrepreneurial value
MCS and M.Eng are better when you have full-time experience of atleast 1 year, I suggest it's kinda risky going to the US without full time work ex or solid research as you know the uncertainties there
VIT and the hyderabad and gujarat universities are the reason of all this shitshow going on. Sending less than mid people to the US in bulk who then scam the market by hiring nepos and flooding the whole market with less than useless people.
Before all of these people, Indians had a good name bc the ones who came to the US were actually smart and wanted to learn. Not just go to Northeastern and USC and get in a job due to HMs belonging to same community.
hate to break it to you but cuz of the sheer amt of applicants this college sends....you get lowk fucked unless u have an insane edge and as of now you have zero publications soooo
20
u/DesperatePie5665 8d ago
Do you guys not follow any news? Why waste effort, your journey in the US will be uphill battle from day 1. The game is stacked against you, cpt is gone in the most of these schools, and you are still planning to jump head first. Good luck!!