Applying to Graduate School

William Gasarch: "It's generally not a good idea to go to the same university for graduate school as undergraduate, because different schools expose you to different ideas. For example, at the University of Maryland, there's almost nobody studying computer hardware. So there's not going to be a class where you solder chips together."

Vibha Sazawal: "Actually, some of my students do."

Gasarch: "But as you can see, the fact that I didn't know that demonstrates how little emphasis there is on hardware here.

- Two computer science professors giving students advice about graduate school

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So I am almost finished applying to graduate school. The only thing I have left to do is I gave my personal statement to one of my professors to look at. I will be getting it back later this week and then will revise and resubmit it to the colleges. (Colleges currently use an online application system - you don't have to physically send anything to the colleges. They let you "submit" and pay the application fee before you have all the materials in, and they recommend you do that so that they can start looking at the parts you do have in before they get the rest. You can upload the new personal statement all the way up until the application deadline.)

I am applying to MIT, Carnegie Mellon, UIUC, and the University of Maryland. I am also going to apply to the AMSC program at Maryland, though I haven't submitted that application yet. That one is not due until next semester.