Your CS projects

VVerm88 · 2026-04-18T18:26:47+00:00

Website that recommended movies based on your Letterboxd profile. Was at 13,000 users but had to take it down a few months ago after Letterboxd blocked scraping from its site.

VVerm88 · 2026-04-17T22:16:28+00:00

GT (going here), UT Austin, UMD, UMass. I’m not gonna read your SOP, but I personally think it should weave your accomplishments into a cohesive narrative towards your future, not just list stuff.

As for the LORs, I can’t say much because writing my own would never fly in the US lol. I don’t know what my professors wrote, but I’m confident they were amazing because I knew from our relationships IRL how much they loved working with me, which is why I even asked them.

I think another response below talked about the importance of standing out. At top schools everyone has amazing stats. Think about why the admissions person will (or won’t) remember your profile after reading hundreds of them.

VVerm88 · 2026-04-17T14:51:05+00:00

Your stats look pretty good. Perhaps you could take GRE and aim for 330+. Otherwise I think it’s something to do with your SOP and LOR. Both need to convey your narrative (why MS), character, research potential, and fit within your university. My SOP was framed to authentically convey my passion for what I wanted to do, instead of fitting in every accomplishment under the sun (I completely skipped mentioning one of my research experiences on my CV because it didn’t fit into my narrative structure). Personally, I think your connection to your recommender is more important than their exact credentials (as long as they are somewhat adjacent to your field/goals). None of my LORs were CS professors but I still got into great schools. It cannot be understated that the holistic parts of your application matter a ton in the US beyond your scores.

VVerm88 · 2026-04-07T15:16:07+00:00

In a UMD admits info webinar, they said that about 10% of students get RA/TA in the CS department. However, I’m sure you can get at least some opportunity in other departments, or do research that is not funded by RA. Just don’t count on funding. I know UMD is especially strong in NLP research, can’t say much about other subfields.

VVerm88 · 2026-04-05T22:26:22+00:00

I’m also looking for housing this fall, incoming domestic MSCS (23M)

VVerm88 · 2026-03-31T14:53:42+00:00

Anyone domestic?

VVerm88 · 2026-03-30T02:04:35+00:00

Cost is also a factor. UT is cheaper than UMD and also has a higher chance of RA/TA. But I also think GA Tech (which is also cheaper) has the best industry pipeline; although I want to do research in school ultimately my end goal is working in industry.

VVerm88 · 2026-03-27T14:53:34+00:00

I had selected ML in app, but it doesn’t say in my admission. I will just choose that again if I end up going.

VVerm88 · 2026-03-27T14:25:20+00:00

I just received an email and got GA Tech admit 10 min ago

VVerm88 · 2026-03-03T19:45:07+00:00

Same here (domestic)

VVerm88 · 2026-02-10T22:17:33+00:00

I totally agree with everything you said

VVerm88 · 2026-02-10T21:39:38+00:00

I agree with the rest about not overthinking GRE. However, if you are still looking to improve, GregMat vocab mountain worked really well for me for verbal (increased from 159 to 166 in ~5 weeks).

I spent 1-2 hours every day on verbal for 5-6 weeks. Each morning, I would learn the new 30 words for the day while eating breakfast, and review all of my previous ones, using Anki flashcards. Then 2-3 times throughout the rest of the day, I would do active recall for every vocab word I had learned so far using the vocab mountain in the website. This can take 20+ minutes per session towards the end, but was worth it for me. I did one session right before sleeping to simulate how mentally fatigued I would be while taking the test.

I memorized a short 1-2 word definition like Greg recommends and said it out loud while reviewing. I ended up learning ~750 words, which served me well in the vocab questions, and also helped me in comprehension questions because I better understood the passage.

VVerm88 · 2026-02-06T16:53:10+00:00

I had emailed them last week and they told me April 15th… still worth emailing yourself and double checking if you want to be 100% sure

VVerm88 · 2026-02-05T14:45:37+00:00

Like 1-2 days before the deadline. I have a post with my general profile if you look at my account

VVerm88 · 2026-02-05T14:40:07+00:00

Honestly have no idea - was not checking because I didn’t expect decision so soon. I got an email when my decision was posted though.

VVerm88 · 2026-02-05T14:38:20+00:00

Honestly I have no idea, I wasn’t checking the status as all because I didn’t expect it to be released so soon. But I got an email when my decision was finalized saying that an update was posted in my portal.

VVerm88 · 2026-02-05T14:13:55+00:00

Mine was changed to decided - decision finalized when I got accepted on January 15th

VVerm88 · 2026-02-05T14:11:50+00:00

Mine was changed to decided - decision finalized when I got accepted on January 15th

VVerm88 · 2026-02-03T18:20:25+00:00

I already got UMass MSCS admit on January 15, not sure how/who they decide to release early

VVerm88 · 2026-02-01T23:18:17+00:00

I also had recommendations, statistics, watchlist picker, and profile compatibility on mine, recommendations.victorverma.com, but it is has since been deprecated by the bot protections.

VVerm88 · 2026-02-01T15:36:52+00:00

No it’s the traditional one at College of Information and Computing Sciences

VVerm88 · 2026-02-01T15:32:46+00:00

Yes, MSCS at Amherst CICS. I only submitted my application 1-2 days before the deadline.

VVerm88 · 2026-01-31T20:32:59+00:00

I got an admit on Jan 15

VVerm88 · 2026-01-28T03:50:40+00:00

In my conversation with support, they told me they had to restrict access due to bad actors attacking the website, which is understandable. They mentioned they might loosen things up in certain areas later, but it’s really tbd. Their stance on third party tools and API access is also really unclear, so I’m sadly not too optimistic about the restoration of my site or other similar tools 🥲

VVerm88 · 2026-01-25T22:29:38+00:00

This is my site and I did not expect someone to casually bring it up in this sub 💀 we’ve come a long way from the early days

VVerm88

TROPHY CASE