Graduate School in Computer Science
There are lots of good reasons for going to graduate school in
computer science:
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It helps to have more credentials when you look for a job.
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People with advanced degrees often have more options in advancing their
careers.
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Some jobs require an advanced degree. For example, you need a PhD to
teach at the college level.
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You often get paid more if you have a graduate degree.
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Many companies will pay tuition fees for graduate education.
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It avoids having to work for a living (at least for awhile).
Checklist of Things To Do
- [Fall, Junior Year] Talk to some of your teachers about subjects that interest
you in order to figure out what you might study in grad school. Often these
discussions lead to suggestions of schools where good work is being done in
those areas. Visit the web sites of people at those schools to see what kinds
of projects they are doing.
- [Fall, Junior Year] Apply for an
undergraduate research experience over the summer. This is a great way
to find out if you like research, and you will learn more about the grad student
lifestyle. There are also several government labs
that sponsor research internships.
- [Junior Year] Do some research to find out where you want to apply. For
example, check out this list of the top 26 computer science
departments as ranked by US News and World Report in 2001. (They have
taken their complete listings off their website so that they can sell their
print and online versions of the complete rankings.) Another source of rankings
is a study
sponsored by the National Research Council in the early 1990s. It is about
ten years out of date, but most of the rankings are still accurate. Their
website allows you to produce rankings by many different attributes, such
as percentages of women and minorities, publications, median years to PhD,
etc. There are many other schools worth considering. Most departments are
stronger in some areas than others, so look for a department that is strong
in your area of interest. The
Career Services office holds a Graduate School Fair in the fall each year
to go over the admissions process. About a dozen graduate schools send representatives
to that fair. Finally, the best catalog of grad school programs is
Peterson's Guide. Their site provides good links to schools and their
programs. If you are worried about your chances of getting into schools, check
out this Acceptance Estimator.
It uses publically-available statistics to determine whether your GRE scores
and GPA are typically accepted by individual schools. It also gives somes
hints on criteria used by many schools.
- [Fall, Senior Year] Download application forms or apply online.
- [Fall, Senior Year] Take the Graduate Record Exams (GRE). This is a multi-step
process:
- [Fall, Senior Year] Ask for recommendation letters from faculty. Keep in
mind that faculty are busy, too, so ask early. Be sure to give them a copy
of your resume, a description of your interests, and some information about
why you are different from all the other students that are applying. Collect
all of the recommendation forms or instructions and give the whole packet
to the faculty member well in advance of the deadlines.
- [Fall, Senior Year] Request copies of your college transcripts.
- [Fall, Senior Year] Apply for financial aid. Some schools have a separate
process for applying for financial aid, or they require that applications
be completed earlier. Be sure to check these details.

LI> [Winter, Senior Year] Visit some of the places where you have applied.
Departments will often pay for some or all of your travel expenses, so ask
before making plans. Some departments have special "visit days" or weekends.

- [Spring, Senior Year] When the acceptance letters start arriving, consider
visiting again. Departments are delighted to sponsor trips by accepted students.
You can use this trip to investigate housing options.

- [Spring, Senior Year] After you decide on a school thank the faculty who
wrote you letters of recommendation and tell them where you are going. You
never know when you may need another letter of recommendation from them.

Recommended Reading
Matt Lepinski has written a nice note giving
advice on applying to graduate school.
Here are some links with more advice or information:
mark.ardis@rose-hulman.edu