Masters CS at UBC -- what are my chances?

[akwok]

Hello everybody!

I recently applied to grad school for my Masters a month ago, and the phase where I start doubting myself has just kicked into high gear. Due to personal reasons, I only applied to UBC, which, by putting all my eggs into one basket, has made this waiting period even more stressful. For what it's worth, I'm looking to specialize in HCI, and I am not sure whether it is a popular field or not.

Out of curiosity, is there anyone on this forum currently doing a Masters at UBC? If so, how difficult was it to get into the program (some stats from your undergrad would be nice).

About myself... I graduated from Waterloo (BCS) in June, with a ~3.7 GPA if you only count my 3XX and 4XX-level courses (my marks throughout the years have followed a steady upward trend). This is fine, I think, but I have some rather strange courses filling up my transcript (a few music courses here, a few philosophy and psych courses there). I only took 2-3 CS courses per term, which fulfilled the requirements of my degree but I'm not sure if it is frowned upon by the admissions committee. I also took a few of the weirder CS courses (the now defunct, I believe, CS497 and two of the CS489s). Is it expected that competitive students take only courses related to their field in their undergrad? Also, do grad school admissions committees recognize the difficulty of certain courses at University X? For example, if you took one of the 'killer 3' (compilers, CG, real time) 4th year CS courses at UW and scraped through with mid 70s, how would they know whether this is above or below average?

I also unfortunately have zero TA'ing/RA'ing experience, and very little work experience. I'd imagine this to hurt my chances quite a bit?

Anyways, just wanted to throw this stuff out there, it's been nice getting these concerns off my chest and I'd love to hear from you guys!

Thanks!

[jernst]

I can't speak directly about the UBC program, but from my personal experience in applying and getting into grad school for cs, one of the most important things is making connections with potential supervisors. So if you haven't already done so, try to find profs who are willing to take you on as a student. Once this is done, its clear sailing. When I applied for my M.Sc. I didn't have any TA/RA experience either but I think that RA experience would be very valuable. Another very important factor in getting in seems to reference letters. Make sure you get very good reference letters from profs who actual are familiar with your work.

I'm at Guelph right now, and there seem to be alot of people studying HCI, its probably one of the more popular fields of study within our department. (you can actually still apply at Guelph if your feeling anxious about UBC, since they accept applications much later than most schools - actually I'm not sure there is an 'official' deadline).

I don't think is absolutely essential that you take courses only related to what you want to study for your grad degree either since you still have to take some courses (usually) after you get there. I am in somewhat of the same boat as you right now, waiting to get into my phd program...so I know what the anxiety feels like. Anyway good luck!

[Prabhakar Ragde]

akwok @ Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:03 am wrote:

For what it's worth, I'm looking to specialize in HCI, and I am not sure whether it is a popular field or not.

It's not as popular as it should be (because most CS students don't have the social skills to do well at it) but it is important.

Quote:

About myself... I graduated from Waterloo (BCS) in June, with a ~3.7 GPA if you only count my 3XX and 4XX-level courses (my marks throughout the years have followed a steady upward trend). This is fine, I think, but I have some rather strange courses filling up my transcript (a few music courses here, a few philosophy and psych courses there).

This would also be considered important for HCI.

Quote:

I only took 2-3 CS courses per term, which fulfilled the requirements of my degree but I'm not sure if it is frowned upon by the admissions committee.

You're not expected to do only CS for your entire undergraduate career.

Quote:

I also took a few of the weirder CS courses (the now defunct, I believe, CS497 and two of the CS489s). Is it expected that competitive students take only courses related to their field in their undergrad? Also, do grad school admissions committees recognize the difficulty of certain courses at University X? For example, if you took one of the 'killer 3' (compilers, CG, real time) 4th year CS courses at UW and scraped through with mid 70s, how would they know whether this is above or below average?

The admissions committee at UBC will not be familiar with course standards at other universities, but you can bring this to their attention, if you think it is important. It might be for systems work, but not for HCI, I suspect. 497 was the "research survey" course, and you can explain that also (it is not dead, but doesn't seem to have been offered last fall). That indicates your interest in grad work. 489 is an umbrella for courses in development, so you can explain those. HCI was a 489, right?

Quote:

I also unfortunately have zero TA'ing/RA'ing experience, and very little work experience. I'd imagine this to hurt my chances quite a bit?

TA and most work experience (except in a research setting) is irrelevant. RA experience would help, but it is relatively rare at the undergraduate level, and won't be expected. --PR

[akwok]

Hi Professor Ragde! Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

Prabhakar Ragde @ Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:59 am wrote:

Quote:

I only took 2-3 CS courses per term, which fulfilled the requirements of my degree but I'm not sure if it is frowned upon by the admissions committee.

You're not expected to do only CS for your entire undergraduate career.

I understand this, but it seems that some of my peers have taken 3-4 CS courses per term, as opposed to the usual 2 (at most 3) per term. I was just wondering if this was the norm for MS applicants, and whether I would be at a competitive disadvantage with less 'core' courses taken.

Prabhakar Ragde @ Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:59 am wrote:

Quote:

I also took a few of the weirder CS courses (the now defunct, I believe, CS497 and two of the CS489s). Is it expected that competitive students take only courses related to their field in their undergrad? Also, do grad school admissions committees recognize the difficulty of certain courses at University X? For example, if you took one of the 'killer 3' (compilers, CG, real time) 4th year CS courses at UW and scraped through with mid 70s, how would they know whether this is above or below average?

The admissions committee at UBC will not be familiar with course standards at other universities, but you can bring this to their attention, if you think it is important. It might be for systems work, but not for HCI, I suspect. 497 was the "research survey" course, and you can explain that also (it is not dead, but doesn't seem to have been offered last fall). That indicates your interest in grad work. 489 is an umbrella for courses in development, so you can explain those. HCI was a 489, right?

Yes, the two 489s I took were HCI and Security. Actually, I discovered my interest in HCI through 497 and expanded on it further with CS489. I would probably be in a completely different field had it not been for CS497... it was an awesome course, and I'm glad to hear it's still alive and kicking. I mentioned the importance of the course in my statement of interest but I don't know whether it'll come off as being genuine.

Prabhakar Ragde @ Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:59 am wrote:

Quote:

I also unfortunately have zero TA'ing/RA'ing experience, and very little work experience. I'd imagine this to hurt my chances quite a bit?

TA and most work experience (except in a research setting) is irrelevant. RA experience would help, but it is relatively rare at the undergraduate level, and won't be expected. --PR

This is quite a surprise to me. I frequently browse another forum intended for potential grad students (thegradcafe.com) and the student profiles there are nothing short of astounding (some even have papers published, it seems!). It's good to hear that I'm not in that much of a disadvantage, but I'm a bit worried my application looks rather plain in comparison to others. I guess only time will tell!

Thanks again!

[akwok]

jernst @ Thu Feb 05, 2009 8:37 am wrote:

I can't speak directly about the UBC program, but from my personal experience in applying and getting into grad school for cs, one of the most important things is making connections with potential supervisors. So if you haven't already done so, try to find profs who are willing to take you on as a student. Once this is done, its clear sailing. When I applied for my M.Sc. I didn't have any TA/RA experience either but I think that RA experience would be very valuable. Another very important factor in getting in seems to reference letters. Make sure you get very good reference letters from profs who actual are familiar with your work.

I'm at Guelph right now, and there seem to be alot of people studying HCI, its probably one of the more popular fields of study within our department. (you can actually still apply at Guelph if your feeling anxious about UBC, since they accept applications much later than most schools - actually I'm not sure there is an 'official' deadline).

I don't think is absolutely essential that you take courses only related to what you want to study for your grad degree either since you still have to take some courses (usually) after you get there. I am in somewhat of the same boat as you right now, waiting to get into my phd program...so I know what the anxiety feels like. Anyway good luck!

Guelph's HCI program looks great, and I'll definitely be applying to other universities if I receive a rejection letter from UBC. I initially hated UBC for making the deadline for Fall 09 so early (Dec 15th 2008 deadline), but I guess it's for the better in this case! Most of the other universities have a deadline in May.

Yes, these are quite trying times indeed. I find myself refreshing the online application status on an hourly basis. Good luck with your apps as well!

[Prabhakar Ragde]

akwok @ Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:55 am wrote:

I understand this, but it seems that some of my peers have taken 3-4 CS courses per term, as opposed to the usual 2 (at most 3) per term. I was just wondering if this was the norm for MS applicants, and whether I would be at a competitive disadvantage with less 'core' courses taken.

I don't think so, particularly in HCI in which well-roundedness is essential.

Quote:

This is quite a surprise to me. I frequently browse another forum intended for potential grad students (thegradcafe.com) and the student profiles there are nothing short of astounding (some even have papers published, it seems!).

I was speaking of applicants to Canadian Master's programs. Applicants to Ph.D programs at top US schools is another matter.

There is a lot of posturing on online forums. Don't let that psych you out.