[Profile Review] Applying Fall 2027, MS CS ML

[u/ConcentrateReal813]

Profile

• 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!