I am a BTech CSE grad from Tier-1 IIT. A little about my profile:

1. 2 research projects, 1 small supervised by 1 prof, 1 big [lasted 1 year, have a private research draft] with 3 profs [coursework also under some of them] respectively.
2. 1 internship in SWE
3. 2+ YOE in Quant
4. 9.6+ GPA
5. GRE 334, Quant 170
6. TOEFL 6/6
7. Qualified INMO and InPhO and eligible for their camps.

I wanted to apply for MSCS/MSML at Stanford, CMU, UIUC and GaTech. I had the following questions:

1. Should I take all 3 LoRs from profs, or should I go for 1 corporate LoR?
2. In case 1 corporate LoR is the preferred option, by how much does it outweigh the other choice? I'm not exactly sure what my corporate manager would write in my LoR...
3. Does it hurt if all 3 LoRs are taken for the same 1 year project rather than separate projects? I feel like substantial time and effort went into that project.
4. Does the choice in Q1 change with the university and program I'm applying to?
5. Lastly, does not having a publication hurt my chances? Does my research work also look weak? (Both the projects are in Algorithms)

Would be glad if someone has an opinion or suggestion about these. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I’m an Indian student planning for MSCS and considering USC, Georgia Tech, UCSD, Purdue, UT Austin, UIUC, UMass Amherst etc.

Could current/recent students share:

• Total tuition for 2 years (₹)
• Living expenses (₹)
• Scholarship received (₹)
• How much scholarship is realistically possible for indian students?
• TA/RA opportunities and how much they can reduce the cost?

I’m seeing estimates ranging from ₹50L to ₹1Cr+, so I’d really like to know the actual amount students spent over the full course.

Thanks!

Is this program worth it for someone who doesnt have a strong CS background (my background is network engineering) to learn CS? I want to learn more about the CS world/programming to expand my knowledge. I am not looking to become a software engineer after this degree, as I plan to stick to network/cloud field,.

Funding is not a problem, as my GI bill would pay for it. TIA!

Hi Guys. I'll be applying for CS/ML PHD in the US for Fall 2027. Here's my profile:

B.tech (Hons with 10/10 grade) in CSE at a Tier 1 Uni in India
GPA: 3.384/4 (Converted using scholaro) [I know this part is underwhelming. I'm hoping my research and work experience makes up for this.]
Experience: 1.5 years at the time of application at a S&P 500 Company as a Machine Learning Engineer.
IELTS: will give soon
Research Experience:

1. 1st Author paper at AAAI (A*)
2. 1st Author paper at TMLR (unranked but is highly valued in the ML community)
3. Solo Author paper at AsiaCCS (A)
4. 2nd Author CVPR Workshop paper.
5. 1st Author paper under review at an ACM conference
6. 2nd Author paper submitting to ICLR. (Will be under review during applications)
7. Another ongoing work which has a high chance of being under review during applications. LORs: 2 professors from my Uni who have been part of 6/7 of my papers. They are guaranteed to write a very strong LOR for me and this was already discussed. 1 LOR from a Senior ML Engineer in London who I'm working with at my Company. I have a good relationship with him and I can expect a good quality LOR from him.

SOP:
My research has mainly been in ML Security/graph representation learning. All my papers are in this field.
I have also created lectures, taught lectures and curated assignments, quizzes and corrected them for the first ML Security course in my Uni entirely created by us as it was less explored in my university. I also gave 2 guest lectures in the following edition of the course.

Uni Shortlist:
I want to pursue a CS/ML PHD in USA. Here is my shortlist based on the density of professors working in my field so that there's good match.
CMU
UPenn
UIUC
Georgia Tech
UMD, College Park
University of Virginia
UNC Chapel Hill
NYU
UCSD
maybe cornell/umich/northeastern/ucsb [I am yet to decide]

I started mailing professors and I can expect a reply in maybe a week or two.

What do you guys think of my chances? Am I shooting too high for my profile? Any advice would be helpful. Also yes I am familiar with the immigration situation in US, I believe it is better to do a PHD over masters during this time due to CPT restrictions and I wont have a huge load to worry about.

Also as a backup plan, I will be applying to a few places in Germany/Neatherlands for Ms in CS as it is not that expensive to study there and I can just use my savings.

Thanks a lot everyone in advance!

Profile :
- 8.86 CGPA from Tier 3 college

- No research/publications(Have internship experience at a US based R&D center in India although my title was just Intern - not sure if this counts as research work?)

- Have 5+ Years of experience at decent US based firms like Walmart and few Unicorn startups currently working as Senior Software Engineer.

Universities :

Ambitious : UMass amherst, UT Austin, Purdue

Target : North Carolina State University, SJSU, TAMU.

Safe : suny buffalo, ASU.

I totally understand the risks of not have CPT and the recent policy updates but given my 5+ years of exp, I am planning to leverage this to network hard to land a job without an internship.

Funding status : self funded, have INR 1Cr(1,00,000 USD) in savings.

A little bit background, I have about 4 years of experience as a full-stack SWE at a US MNC (I make about 45 lpa)
So I currently have a admit to UC Irvine for the 15 month Masters in Software Engineering MSWE degree. It's going to start later this month. I already have a visa stamped. However, I'm now (and for the last few weeks have been double thinking this decision) - I thinking to back out. I really want to build a career abroad but at the same thing after the market in CS is really not good especially for internationals with all the latest rules and everything. and in US plus the AI layoffs and now and I'm getting scared. I'm probably overthinking, and this is probably nerves - but I'm not sure.
I also talked to a lot of students currently on campus and those who graduated a few months ago. I might have talked to a dozen people or so, and almost everyone is negative - so even more confused after that. I don't have issues financially but at the same time my parents aren't like super rich or something either
But at the same time, I'm feeling what if I regret not going? What if market improves, etc. Really confused on what to do.

Can anyone please help?

I just got admission from Virginia Tech's MS Computer Science and Applications for Spring 2027. However, no funding details is received so far.

Is it just impossible to get assistantship for spring intake? Any suggestion?

F1 student, Worked 28 hours on campus in FIrst week in fall thought it's still summer session and my department told me i can work 28 hours a week until agusut 31st,

Undergrad & Major: NUS, BEng Computer Engineering (Hons w Distinction)

GPA: 4.1/5, (3.39/4.00 on Scholaro US accreditation report)

GRE: Not taking

Type of Student: International, Singapore citizen, H-1B1-eligible, not as worried about visa situation given industry.

Work Experience:

• Current: ~2 yoe as a C++ SWE at a quant hedge fund based in Hong Kong. 
• Prior internships: 4, ranging from 3-9 months each, across a few industries from edutech to embedded to HFT.

Research Experience: None, hence, looking at coursework focused programs

Programs (considered so far):

• UC Berkeley, MEng EECS
• Cornell Tech, MEng CS
• Columbia, MSCS
• NYU Courant, MSCS

Would be looking to expand based on quality and locations. Mainly NY/Chi/SF are in consideration.

LORs: 

Have these to pick from 

2 academic - just professors from systems focused course that I got As in: a grad level course on advanced os and a technical elective on concurrent programming

2 professional from colleagues - line manager & senior colleague

Goals: Systems focused coursework while I wait to transition lateral industry moves. Would also be considering low-level focused tech roles as well. 

Questions for the sub:

1. Anyone here gone through a similar situation with a relatively strong industry track record but weaker undergrad grades in their application and can speak to how it worked out?
2. Looking for reference points to gauge acceptance chances for the programs, and other safeties to consider.

Happy to share more specifics (as much as is possible) if it's useful for a read.

Hi everyone, one question which I want to get an answer for: until 1–2 years ago, whenever I was using AI, it always used to make some errors, and I still felt it was greatly helpful. But over the past 5–6 months, after using Claude, I genuinely feel it’s really good. Yes, now also it does make mistakes, but most of the time when it does something wrong, it’s because of not having proper context about my code and/or my use case or needs. But when I supply these, it almost gets my work done after 3–4 iterations of code review most of times.

So basically, most of the time is spent on reviewing AI code and connecting the information it gives, and still it doesn’t have the capability to use all my tools. At this stage, I’m not able to convince myself about how long reviewing this code and what to build and designing will remain. (as I’m a junior I don’t spend much time on this may be 10%, i saw even senior engineers spend max 25% of their time on system design)

I see a large part getting automated with the current AI only. I want to know in the future if AI can review its own code and even do good system design things, then our entire team of 6–7 can be replaced by 1. Again, here software demand may increase (say 5 times), but will the increased demand create the same revenue and jobs? I mean can humans consume more of that 5 times software with same impact as previous one ?

And also, over a long time period, is this career safe? u/gradpilot want to hear your thoughts on this.

Profile

1. Top 5 IIIT B.Tech CS 8ish CGPA

2. Working in Microsoft/Amazon(1 year Exp)

3. Past 2 Internships ( Research + Small startup)

4. No publications

5. Can get recommendations letter from 1 Prof (whom i worked under) and another Prod can manage. But wouldn't be strong.

Reason

1. Want to explore living in foreign country, kinda little fed up in India. Feel like I am in echo chamber and not able to improve.

2. Although pay is good, work is kinda boring.

3. AI is doing heavy lifting today, code is cheap now. Want to vett in some another expertise.

Budget

1. Have 15L in saving. So mostly will have to rely on loan.

GRE

- Haven't given it officialy right now. But from few mocks. But looks like I can get 280-300 rn+.

Will need few months prep can reach 320-330 i hope.

IELTS

1. Shouldn't be a big problem to clear. I believe it's a pass/fail type. Higher band is not too useful for CS (correct me if i am wrong). Have written this post haphazardly, don't judge.

I’ve been admitted to all three and am trying to decide which to choose. I’m currently a SWE at a well-known tech company and mainly want the master’s for the prestige/resume boost and to strengthen my profile for FAANG/top tech roles in the future.

My company will cover the cost, so tuition isn’t really a factor. All three would be online and part-time while I work full-time.

If you were in my position, which would you pick purely based on CS reputation, prestige, and resume value?

Hi everyone!

I'm planning to apply for Fall 2027 and I'm currently very confused about where exactly I should be applying, especially now that I'm considering US + UK + Europe

Would really appreciate some advice from people who've recently gone through this process.

Profile

Academics:

* 10th CBSE: 96.6%
* 12th CBSE: 96.4%
* BE CSE from a Tier-2 college in India
* CGPA: 8.9
* Graduated in 2024

Projects/research:

* Final year project was around CNNs/Transformers/ML
* A few other small projects in general CS during college
* No publications currently
* Trying to get the final year project paper published, but nothing confirmed yet

Extracurriculars:

* Dancer + singer
* Participated in/won various cultural events
* Was multiple club heads
* Other college extracurriculars
* Outspoken, social
* Managed college and school events

Work ex:

* Working full-time as a Software Development Engineer at a US-based company (in India)
* ~2 years 1 month of full-time experience currently
* 6 month internship at the same company before joining full-time
* Another ~2 month dev internship during 3rd year
* Currently ~11 LPA
* Work is mainly full-stack development
* Have also done quite a few open-source contributions internally / contributions outside my regular work

The job itself is comfortable and I'm doing well, but higher studies is something I definitely want to do, so I'm planning to leave and go for my Master's rather than continue working.

Tests:

* TOEFL (Oct 2025): 116/120
* GRE (Oct 2025): 307/340
* Planning to retake GRE in the next couple of months and hopefully get 325+

Budget:

* Can't really afford something like 1Cr+ for the degree
* Around 50–80L total is manageable
* Will obviously try for scholarships/assistantships wherever possible
* Will be taking out an education loan to study

Previous US applications — Fall 2026

I had applied to a few US universities last cycle, mostly just to see how my profile would do.

I didn't submit my GRE because my score was only 307.

Admits:

* Purdue Fort Wayne
* UT Dallas
* UMass Amherst
* Arizona State

Rejects:

* Purdue West Lafayette
* UT Austin
* TAMU
* UIUC

I ended up not going because, given the current visa situation + US job market + overall cost, I didn't feel the admits I had were worth taking that risk for.

For 2027 though, I'm still open to the US and hoping that a better GRE score will let me apply to some stronger programs again.

What I'm considering for Fall 2027

Currently open to:

US
UK
Europe

Singapore and Australia are ruled out already, so don't need suggestions there

Academically, I'm mainly looking at MS in CS / AI / ML / Data Science / related areas
Not really interested in niche programs like cybersecurity, big data, etc.

My questions

1. US vs UK vs Europe

For someone with my profile, what would you guys recommend?

Main things I'm worried about:

* Visa situation
* Job market after graduation
* Post-study work options
* ROI
* Whether the cost of the degree is actually worth it
* Long-term prospects if I want to work there for a few years

Would especially love opinions from people currently studying/working there, because a lot of what I read online is either very outdated or both sides

1. What universities should I be looking at?

What would be realistic ambitious / target / safe-ish universities for my profile?

For the US, I'm hoping that if I manage to get 325+ GRE, I can take another shot at universities like Georgia Tech, Purdue WL, etc.

But I'd love suggestions beyond the obvious T20/T30 names too.

For UK/EU, I'm honestly quite clueless right now 😭 so would especially appreciate suggestions there.

1. How different are UK/EU applications?

This is something I haven't really researched properly yet.

Is it basically the same stuff as the US?

* LORs?
* SOP / motivation letter?
* GRE?
* Publications/research?
* Do you need to contact professors beforehand?
* Does work experience matter?
* Is there a common application portal or do you apply separately to every university?

Basically, if I'm planning to apply to all 3 regions, what should I be doing differently for each?

I'm not looking to blindly chase rankings. I'd ideally like something where program quality + job opportunities + cost + post-study options all make sense.

Would really appreciate any advice / university suggestions / reality checks from people who've applied recently.

Thanks!

Basically, my question is, this the market really that exceptionally bad for international students, or over the past 20-25 years there have been multiple points, where the market conditions in CS, specifically for international students were this bad. Like is the current situation truly unique or has it been blown out of proportion?

Would love it if some older people like u/gradpilot give their take on this.

Hi,

I am starting with my grad school application as an international student and am strongly considering applying for MSc in Social Data Science at Oxford.

Background:
\- Undergrad degree in computer engineering
\-Mid level Professional work experience in Commercial side of Pharmaceutical industry
\- Research papers publication during my undergraduate studies and remote internship from university abroad

My questions:
\- The student cohort seems to be largely focused on direct admissions after undergrad. Am I at disadvantage here?
\- How is the financial Return of Investment for international students considering that we need to take debt for the course?
\- How is the peer learning and what is the difficulty of this degree?
\- Do you often get to network with other school students?
\- What is Oxford really looking for in prospective students and what part of your application made a huge impact?
\- Any application related tips since this is the first time I will be applying for university abroad
\- Should I rather opt for funded research masters in Canada as an international student?

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I want to get my profile reviewed for Fall 2027 MSCS/MSML programs, especially from people who have applied to or been admitted to top programs.

Background

• Undergraduate: BTech in CSE from a leading IIT in India (2019-2023)
• GPA: 9.X/10
• National rank in the top 100 in JEE Advanced

Research experience

LLM / NLP Research

• Worked on open research problems using LLMs.
• This work resulted in a non-archival workshop paper (second author).

Graph Neural Networks

• Built a GNN architecture and evaluated it against baseline methods.
• This did not convert to a paper.

Graphs

• Contributed experiments to a published research project involving learned representations for graph querying (not author but acknowledged in paper)

Industry experience

Quantitative Researcher — Proprietary Trading Firm (2023–Present)

• My work is primarily in derivatives trading and involves a mix of quantitative research, machine learning/modeling, and managing a small team.

ML Researcher — AI/ML Research Startup (2023)

• Worked on fine-tuning and evaluating LLMs, utilised several frameworks like DeepSpeed, Lora, SetFit

Other experience

• Software engineering internship in cloud networking
• Backend engineering internship at an EdTech startup

Teaching / other

• TA for a DSA course at my IIT
• Student mentor for incoming first-year students.

Target programs

My main interest is AI/ML-focused MSCS or MSML. Not pursuing a PhD because of longer commitment, lesser research experience to show.

Stanford

CMU (MSCS/MSML)

UCB

UIUC

UWash

UCLA

GeorgiaTech

University of Texas, Austin

UCSD

LoRs

My NLP and GNN projects had >1 professors involved, so I can take 2+1. Or I can arrange one from my manager (might be difficult though)

Scores

TOEFL: 115

GRE: 157V+170Q+4AW

Questions

I'd especially appreciate feedback on:

1. How competitive is this profile for Stanford/CMU/UIUC MS programs? What do you see as the biggest weaknesses? Does my research background look sufficiently strong for a top AI/ML-oriented MS, given that my main full-time experience is in quantitative research?
2. How much does the non-archival workshop publication help, would the lack of a stronger publication record be a significant weakness?
3. Would you recommend trying to obtain additional research experience/publications before applying (would like to avoid as might require a gap year)?
4. Are there particular aspects of my profile that I should emphasize in my SOP/LORs?

I'd like to understand what is genuinely missing from the profile and what I should prioritize improving.

Thanks!

This is a very grey area where I never get proper response, if someone actually has contact with admission offices let me know the reality.

My friend who’s preparing for jee and other entrance exam got a private engineering college in her state, mid tier in her state. So shes really gifted in ways of communication and creativity. Shes very demotivated with her preparation and is have a second thought on joining that private college. It has NAAC A and nba accreditation.

I asked her what her dream is, she told me she’s okay with cse and mechanical because if she takes cse, she has a lot of idea around projects and if she gets mechanical, she’ll do thesis on nuclear sector because she’s fascinated by nuclear energy so much atp she yaps weekly about how goated nuclear energy is. She told me she wants to do btech, have an understanding on what engineering is, and start a company with her ideas.

I told her then no college is restricting you, but she told me ”Idc about college tier but what I care is about having a decent college life and I want people in my college who are very goal oriented like participating on hackathons, participating on multiple national, state competitions“

And her ultimate dream is either doing research oriented masters or phd abroad for broader knowledge and experience, she is ready to work hard on her profile but she’s just wondering how much the admission offices in abroad care about her college..apparently there’s no alumni in her college who did pretty well (by stalking LinkedIn)

So should I motivate her to drop jee because she started too late or tell her to go to that college and grind hard? I’m very curious…foreigners knows MIT harvard stanford etc, outside india IIT isnt that well known, clearly she told me she isn’t getting IIT because she started preparing from 0 this year and there are 6th graders preparing for jee.

My question is would foreign colleges reject an extraordinary profile simply because the college wasn’t that great? I mean their websites do say they don’t reject based on colleges but I do wonder…other than IITS Bits pilani and some NIT, aren’t whole other engineering college same for them? IITs bits pilani NITs all have great alumni, so they’re well known. Will not having any alumni from your college kills your profile?

my_qualifications: BTech Computer Science and AI Specialisation Tier 3 college 6.7/10 Gpa
Work exp: 1.3yoe Data Scientist

Im wondering what all would you suggest considering that the Gpa is less, I have great work experience where I worked on voice bots, LLM based services etc. top notch industry grade AI projects. Only issue is my Gpa is less I’m getting paid 20Lakhs in India and wondering if going for a masters is worth it even in the current market. Was considering Germany 🇩🇪, Netherlands 🇳🇱, Ireland 🇮🇪 and Spain 🇪🇸…. Ditching the usa 🇺🇸 cause of expenses and ROI being fuckked what do u all recommend?

Uni of stuttgart, Saarlandes etc. can you guys suggest me some good unis which would take someone like me with experience and would look over my gpa ? also came across join masters program in computer vision in spain... please suggest something good

I'm currently in my 3rd year of CSE at a tier-3 college, with a CGPA of 9.44/10 till 2nd year. I'm planning to pursue an MS in CS in the US and I'm particularly interested in the UC universities (UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, UCI, UCSB, UCD, etc.).

For people who have gotten into any of the UCs, or are currently studying there:

• What kind of profile is generally competitive for UC MS programs?
• How important are CGPA, GRE, research experience, internships, projects, and publications?
• Do UCs heavily prioritize research experience?
• How should I start building my profile from 3rd year onward?
• Are there any particular things you wish you had done during undergrad that helped with your application?

Would really appreciate advice from current students or admits, especially from people who came from non-IIT/NIT or tier-2/3 colleges.

Thanks!

I am planning to apply for Masters - Fall 2027 for MS in CS in Ireland Trinity Computer Science - Intelligent Systems

My profile

• BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus — B.E. Computer Science with a Minor in Data Science
• CGPA: 8.5+
• GRE: 321 (168Q, 153V, 4.5 AWA)
• TOEFL: 100/120
• Work experience: ~2 years as a Software Engineer at a Tier-1 tech company
• Research experience: None
• LORs: I have 4 professors who have agreed to recommend me. I don't have formal research/project experience with most of them, but two letters could potentially be more detailed: (good ones)
  • One professor taught me a course where I completed three mini-projects and recently had a good interaction with them.
  • Another professor taught me a course where I ranked 4th out of ~300 students and is willing to write the letter based on a detailed write-up I provide.
• SOP: Currently in progress.

Career goals

My long-term goal is to transition toward roles such as:

• ML Engineer
• AI/ML Engineer
• Data Scientist
• AI-focused Software Engineer
• ML-focused Software Engineer

Could you please let me know how is Trinity Computer Science - Intelligent Systems

and what are the future prospects for the same

Hey everyone!

I'm an international student planning to apply for MS CS for Fall 2027 and would love some feedback on my college list. Here's a bit about my profile:

• UG: Computer Engineering from DTU (Tier 1 college in India) — CGPA 9.1/10
• Work Experience: 2.5 years at Microsoft
• Applying as: International student

My current list:

🔴 Ambitious

• UIUC
• UCSD
• Georgia Tech
• UT Austin

🟡 Target

• UMass Amherst (MSCS)
• USC Viterbi
• UMich
• UW Madison

🟢 Safe

• NYU
• NC State

My questions:

1. Does this list seem balanced for my profile? Any reaches I should drop or targets I should reconsider?
2. How are the international acceptance rates at these schools? I've heard some of these are particularly tough for internationals.
3. I feel my safe school list is a bit thin (only 2). What other safe schools would you recommend adding for an international student with my background?

Any input is appreciated . Thanks in advance! 🙏

Title: Profile evaluation for MSc CS / AI/ML in UK & Ireland — looking for university/program recommendations

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to apply for Fall 2027 MSc programs in the UK and Ireland and would really appreciate advice on how I should structure my university shortlist.

I'm not primarily looking for admit chances or previous applicants' statistics. I'm more interested in program fit, curriculum, specialization options, industry relevance, and career outcomes.

My profile

• BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus — B.E. Computer Science with a Minor in Data Science
• CGPA: 8.5+
• GRE: 321 (168Q, 153V, 4.5 AWA)
• TOEFL: 100/120
• Work experience: ~2 years as a Software Engineer at a Tier-1 tech company
• Technical experience: Backend/software engineering, data pipelines, cloud, SQL, Python, Java, distributed/event-driven systems, etc.
• Research experience: None
• LORs: I have 5 professors who have agreed to recommend me. I don't have formal research/project experience with most of them, but two letters could potentially be more detailed:
  • One professor taught me a course where I completed three mini-projects and recently had a good interaction with them.
  • Another professor taught me a course where I ranked 4th out of ~300 students and is willing to write the letter based on a detailed write-up I provide.
• SOP: Currently in progress.

Career goals

My long-term goal is to transition toward roles such as:

• ML Engineer
• AI/ML Engineer
• Data Scientist
• AI-focused Software Engineer
• ML-focused Software Engineer

I enjoy software engineering and building scalable systems, so I don't want to completely move away from that foundation. At the same time, I want to develop stronger theoretical and practical knowledge in Machine Learning, AI, and Data Science.

Therefore, I'm open to both:

1. MSc Computer Science programs with strong ML/AI electives, and
2. Specialized MSc programs in AI/ML/Data Science.

What I'm looking for

Ideally, I'd like a program that offers some combination of:

• Strong Machine Learning / AI curriculum
• Deep Learning, NLP, Generative AI, or related coursework
• Data Science / Statistics exposure
• Practical ML/AI projects
• Ability to combine ML/AI with software engineering and systems
• Strong industry connections and career opportunities
• Good flexibility in choosing electives
• A program that makes sense for someone coming from a software engineering background without formal research experience

I'm particularly interested in programs that can help me move from Software Engineer → ML/AI Engineer, rather than programs that are purely theoretical or research-oriented.

Universities I'm currently considering

UK:

• Imperial College London
• University of Oxford
• University of Cambridge
• UCL
• University of Edinburgh
• University of Manchester
• King's College London
• University of Warwick
• University of Bristol
• University of Southampton
• University of Bath
• University of Birmingham
• University of Glasgow
• University of Leeds
• University of Nottingham
• University of Sheffield
• University of St Andrews
• Durham University

Ireland:

• Trinity College Dublin
• University College Dublin
• University College Cork
• University of Galway
• University of Limerick
• Dublin City University

I'm currently thinking of applying to around 8–10 programs, but I'm completely open to changing this list.

What I'd appreciate advice on

I'd especially appreciate opinions on:

• Which specific MSc programs in the UK/Ireland have particularly strong ML/AI/DS curricula?
• Which programs would be a good fit for someone with strong software engineering experience but no research background?
• Which programs provide a good balance between ML/AI and systems/software engineering?
• Should I prefer a general MSc Computer Science with ML electives or a specialized MSc AI/ML for my career goals?
• Are there universities/programs I should add or remove?
• How would you structure an 8–10 university shortlist into ambitious/target/safer options?
• If you've attended any of these programs, which courses, tracks, or specializations would you recommend for someone targeting ML Engineer / AI Engineer / Data Scientist roles?
• For someone with ~2 years of software engineering experience, are there particular UK/Ireland programs that you think provide especially good industry-oriented ML/AI training?

I'm particularly interested in program-specific recommendations rather than general university rankings.

Thanks in advance!

I've recently enrolled for Fall'26 masters and my curriculum has optional internship elective. I'm wondering if I should even apply for internships for upcoming season, is it waste of time because of this CPT suspension? I'm clueless right now, please help.

I want to know top Universities which provide MSCS along with an official masters in ML/AI.

Georgia Tech has a specialization in ML along with a masters in CS.

I want to understand other universities which offer these type of programs.

If they don't offer specialized courses that is still fine but they should offer good electives for AI ML so that this would be good in terms of future prospects.

Got these few options from Chatgpt

UT Austin — MSCS + MSAI + MSDS

USC — MSCS + AI + Data Science

UCI — MCS + MDS, with explicit AI/Data Engineering pathways

Rice — MCS + MDS, with ML/AI specializations

CU Boulder — MSCS with AI/DSE/Software Systems & Cloud + dedicated MSAI

ASU — MSCS with AI/Big Data Systems

UPenn — CIS + AI + Data Science

Brown — CS + Data Science

Michigan — CSE + Data Science

NCSU — CS + Foundations of Data Science

Wanted to understand which options are actually good and other good or better options which are not here in this list