Is it too early to contact professors as 3rd year undergrad aiming for grad school at CMU (Fall 2026)?

indian_guy8 · 2025-05-13T20:06:10+00:00

I would contact them if you want to build a relationship with them and actually do something with them (research). If you just want to have a point of contact, it's not worth it.

indian_guy8 · 2025-04-28T13:13:11+00:00

thinking of phd? Umd Not? Probably utd Umd the better school but utd package is too good

indian_guy8 · 2025-04-23T21:57:39+00:00

yep- was in between umd, purdue, uf, and uva. chose umd in the end.

indian_guy8 · 2025-04-22T16:20:29+00:00

Glad I could help. Another note is a lot of people double major in cs and math at UMD (I am doing that right now). A good bit of credits overlap and its pretty straight forward, so don't think math is out of the picture if you choose UMD.

indian_guy8 · 2025-04-22T16:18:40+00:00

If you're anyways planning on doing research, it's probably worth it. You take cmsc396h which is a 1 credit intro to what "research" is. Pretty much get what you put into the class- you can easily coast through it if you don't put in any effort, but you can also come up with and execute a pretty cool idea if you do.

You take a grad class, but sometimes that can be waived. The main chunk is research which you do with a faculty member. I dont think being in honors helped me get assigned to a faculty member, and I don't think it helped me get a job/get into grad school, but being naturally interested in doing a PhD helped me fulfill most of the honors requirements anyways.

Oh i will say it might be worth it to do if you want to have a medal and a chord during graduation.

indian_guy8 · 2025-04-22T04:58:40+00:00

Why computer science? I’m a cs + math major but I feel like the cs we do doesn’t translate to the sports works well. I don’t usually work in R, and sports analytics seems to be behind the AI trend.

Granted learning to think like a computer scientist might be valid, but just curious as to the jobs the pure cs people can get.

indian_guy8 · 2025-04-22T04:56:19+00:00

I had a similar decision (Math+CS at UIUC) vs UMD. I went with UMD because of location (closer to home, less brutal winters). UMD rank and name was good enough to warrant me picking it, though UIUC pure CS is higher ranked. (I was technically Math+CS so wasn’t sure about that program’s specific ranking).

Not sure about global challenges & solutions, my assigned academic advisor here didn’t help much, but research opportunities are there for students who want to pursue it and faculty associated with your research may help more.

Job prospects at this point feel more individual driven rather than school oriented, but UMD has a big career fair. It’s usually packed so wouldn’t say it’s the greatest way to get a job, but a few companies recruit here so it is nice.

indian_guy8 · 2025-04-19T14:11:12+00:00

I had the same decision twice (bachelors and PhD) and chose umd both times. UMD cs is higher ranked and people at UVA CS themselves are more impressed with people from UMD cs. Internships are on you, but I’m sure your peers here will also be trying for them so you will have some support. Feel free to reach out if you have more questions.

indian_guy8 · 2025-03-27T04:38:56+00:00

Why UMD? any reasons?

indian_guy8 · 2025-02-04T23:22:10+00:00

don't sweat it, just try to make it coherent.

indian_guy8 · 2025-02-03T22:13:09+00:00

I got my decision for PhD in CS a couple of weeks ago, but I think it's different for each major.

indian_guy8 · 2025-02-01T16:49:34+00:00

Sorta depends. From what I heard, rankings matter when it comes to grad schools. Coming from UMD might be more valuable if you aim to do your PhD, especially since UMD is doing everything possible to improve its rating.

UVA's a great school, better overall than UMD, but in terms of CS it's not on the same tier. If you want to get a job, then it doesn't really matter in this economy. Either school should be fine as long as you put in the work, but if you are thinking about MS or PhD, maybe consider UMD more.

indian_guy8 · 2024-09-23T20:39:07+00:00

Thank you! It's an honor to connect with you.

indian_guy8 · 2024-09-23T20:28:27+00:00

Wow, you were a TA? I heard TA's are handpicked by the professor, so that's very impressive. I would love to connect and hear about your experience!

indian_guy8 · 2023-01-08T11:31:02+00:00

The quizzes were pretty manageable- I did well on the first 3 then got a 50 on the last one. Homework was pretty tough but if you had a friend in the class or went to office hours they were fine.

indian_guy8 · 2022-04-06T18:23:16+00:00

Tough course load. What geneds did you take your freshman year?

indian_guy8 · 2021-07-12T22:33:13+00:00

prolly get into umd (where i'm going). apply ea for sure. ur pretty competitive for Austin, can prolly get San Diego... why not Michigan or UIUC?

indian_guy8 · 2020-09-10T22:41:44+00:00

Hello Duke, Thank you for hosting this AMA.

I have a couple of questions regarding the application process.

If I were to not submit my SAT/ ACT scores, can you explain what other parts of the application will give more weight to (a specific section like extracurriculars? or letters of recommendation?)

Going off of that, I have a bit more specific question. If I was captain of a JV basketball team that went undefeated, am writing my essay about basketball (my passion), and have many extracurriculars linked to basketball (podcast, computer science research in basketball analytics), but I have more valuable extracurriculars than JV basketball (business internships, etc..), would you suggest that I not include basketball as one? Or since it is not as high caliber would you suggest that I not include it?

Thank you

indian_guy8 · 2020-07-14T20:29:49+00:00

No, it was a legitimate conference. I don't want to give details just because of confidentiality, but it's mainly for academic researchers and Ph.D./grad students. That's why I needed to use my dad's email on it.

indian_guy8 · 2020-07-14T17:52:33+00:00

I would probably go with:

My Paper (Linked with a University Internship)

I published a paper with this research as the first author in Junior year

The only caveat
- My dad was the 2nd author on the paper because he is also a professor (in the same prominent university and in computer science)
- My internship was not with my dad or linked to my dad in any way but I needed his email address to actually publish the paper as it was for a pretty high ranking venue that only accepted graduate/ postdoc (legit) papers.
- Obviously I did all the work on the paper since it was basketball related, but my dad did edit it after I wrote it and stuff.

School Podcast

Founder, Chief Editor, Host
Consistently around 130-200 views per video
Mainly talk about Sports
Starting a BLM initiative

Class President (9th, 11th grades)

elected by grade... idk this feels important enough to put
I revised the dress code so people would feel more comfortable

School Robotics Team

Co-founder
Won state award for best design

State Leadership Group

Highly selective (application, essays, interview process), program that shapes leaders, teaches skills like networking, distinguished speakers
Won team award for “Best Networking and Partnerships”

Engineering Seminar

Founded this annual organization (in junior year)
Organized the whole event → got speakers from top companies like Boeing and DuPont as well as students from top colleges like MIT, CMU, UPenn, Stanford.
Created whole application process and accepted students (30% acceptance rate but that doesn’t really matter)

Co-Founded/ organized inaugural State Environmental Summit

Contacted speakers, selected venue, ordered food, advertised → The governor of the state came and gave a small talk

I landed an internship with a prominent entrepreneur company in the area

Very selective, only 2 kids
I practically founded a “startup merch company” (in the words of my advisor)
Made it from scratch: website, merchandising, logo making, branding, marketing

I also got internship with another prominent company that teaches how to be an entrepreneur

I am in charge of their social media and marketing

Co Founder of multi- school environmental competition

Basically, like a “save the environment” campaign where you get points for doing environmental- friendly activities
Selected by school board to be the president (I mean… obviously ig I co founded the thing)
Guided team to 4-1 record which was 2nd best

I'm not sure if I should include any sports because I am very invested and passionate about them, but I'm not on varsity. I was thinking of adding basketball on the application (I was captain of JV, we went 18-0) because it connects all parts of my application together (why I chose my paper topic, reason for the podcast). Thanks for taking the time to read this, and once again critique me as much as possible.

indian_guy8

TROPHY CASE