My 2023 Fall CS Application Experience

Easier-to-read web version: https://swh00tw.dev/2023-Fall-MSCS-application

Sharing a post I finished long ago but never got around to sharing. I hope it at least adds one more data point and helps some people～

Preface

Written in early May 2023, in my last week before finishing military service. I had too much free time, so I wanted to record this year's application experience while my memory is still fresh, before the pressure of internship hunting and grinding coding problems catches up with me.

All through my applications I read a lot of valuable experience shared by people who went before me. I still remember, after scoring only 20 in TOEFL speaking twice, frantically searching online for anyone admitted to Cornell Tech with a speaking score of 20. Or, when I was juggling too many things and exhausted to the point of hating the world, I'd read other people's admission stories to get a bit of motivation back. Now that I've made it through, I hope I can offer passers-by a little something useful too!

Results

Admission

• Cornell Tech Master of Science Information Systems with a Concentration in Connective Media (CM) (2/10)

• UCSD Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering (MSCSE) (3/2)

• Rice Master of Computer Science (MCS) (3/10)

• NYU Master of Science in Computing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MSCEI) (4/25)

Rejection

• CMU Master of Computational Data Science (MCDS) (3/2)

• CMU Master of Software Engineering — Scalable Systems Track (MSE-SS) (3/11)

• UIUC Master of Computer Science (MCS) (3/21)

• UW-Madison Professional Master’s Program in Computer Science (CS PMP) (4/5)

• UC Berkeley Master of Engineering in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS MEng) (4/13)

• Columbia Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS) (4/22)

• USC Master of Science in Computer Science (cs28, cs37)

Decision

Cornell Tech CM

Background

Education

• B.S. in NTUEE

• GPA: 3.73/4.3 (3.66/4.0)

G/T

• GRE: 324 (V: 154/Q: 170)

• Toefl: 105 (R: 30/L: 28/S: 20/W: 27)

Work experience

• Part-time frontend engineer at National Taiwan University, office of academic affairs. (6 months)

• Software Engineer Intern at WOD.co (startup) (6 months)

Other

• NTUCourse Neo: started as a class project, became a side project with friends, and ended up as a collaboration with NTU, which used it as the basis for the new version of its course website.

Publication

None

Recommendation

1. NTU CSIE professor (my work supervisor during my job at the NTU Office of Academic Affairs)

2. NTU EE professor (courses / independent study project)

3. CEO of the startup where I interned

Timeline

2021 July — Oct

• Prepared for & took the GRE

2022 Feb

• Started the startup internship

2022 July — Aug

• Prepared for the TOEFL

• Researched schools

• Started working at NTU in August

2022 Sep

• Finalized the school list

• First TOEFL attempt

• Resume v1

• SoP v1 (written for one or two schools first)

• Lined up all three recommenders

• Found people to edit my documents

2022 Oct

• Second TOEFL attempt

• Final resume

• Kept revising the SoP, then customized it for each school

• Wrote one of the recommendation letters myself

2022 Nov, first half

• Wrote the Personal Statement (some schools require one)

• Looked into WES (required by Cornell Tech)

• Filled in the Online Applications (got most of the basic info done first, uploaded the resume and SoP, entered recommenders)

2022 Nov, second half

• Finished all Online applications

• Recorded or prepared for video essays or video interviews (a few schools require them)

• Reminded recommenders to send their letters

• Paid fees & submitted all applications

Thoughts

Strategies

I narrowed down the programs I wanted to apply to in two stages.

Stage one. I'd lurked on the PTT studyabroad board for a long time, so I roughly knew which programs and which top schools were worth a shot. At first I didn't overthink it (I only considered shallow reasons like the school's reputation and whether the location seemed fun). Any program that caught my eye went into my Notion (Google Sheets or Excel works too).

Stage two. I'd carefully go through each program's official website, looking at the curriculum, course restrictions, whether there were courses I was interested in, and so on. I'd also weigh more practical questions, like whether internships are possible, the program length and the cost, and filter out the ones that didn't meet my expectations.

Side note 1:

I originally considered applying to ECE programs, since with my EE background they might be easier to get into. But then I figured, if I'm spending big money to study abroad, I shouldn't force myself through hardware courses I'm not interested in anymore, so I deleted every ECE program from my list, ha.

Side note 2:

Because I was working at a startup that year and had experience launching a large project myself, I was very interested in programs like Cornell Tech CM, and it was my first choice from the very start. Later I read a post by a Cornell Tech alum and decided to also apply to NYU MSCEI, a similar kind of program, as a backup. If you're interested in entrepreneurship or startups, check it out～

GRE/TOEFL

The GRE went smoothly and I was done in one try. The TOEFL, though, I was never happy with. Speaking was my nemesis: two attempts and still 20, and I almost thought my Cornell Tech dream was over.

When my second TOEFL score came out and I saw it had gone down instead of up, I was a wreck for a while. Then I made the call not to take it a third time and put what little time I had left into revising my SoP and other documents. Looking back, that seems to have been the right decision (?).

Resume

Your resume is where you show off your firepower, so just write down what you've done honestly～ There should be plenty of templates online, so I'll be lazy and skip the details here, ha. If you're short on research experience (like me), you can move your more impressive work experience higher up.

Statement of Purpose

Here's how I structured each paragraph, for reference. I think it's pretty conventional haha, and you don't have to write it this way (but if you're short on inspiration, you can start with this layout):

1. Talk about a future goal or something you want to do, so the reader immediately knows which field you're interested in (HCI, Software engineering, entrepreneurship). Then explain why this is your goal, and you can write about the particular experiences (for me, my startup experience and my side project experience) that pushed you in this direction.

2. Side project experience

3. Startup internship experience

4. NTU work experience

5. Leadership experience (optional)

6. Why you want to apply to this program / why you think it's your best choice (you can mention which courses you want to take)

7. Your goals after graduation (echoing the first paragraph) & conclusion (say again something like: because of ..., this school is my top choice)

Tip #1:

Go to the schools' info sessions and the like. Besides the fact that some of them let you waive the application fee, you can get advice on your SoP from faculty. For example, I attended a Cornell Tech online info session, and they mentioned some qualities and experiences they care about (leadership, teamwork experience in interdisciplinary team, startup experience, side project experience and so on).

As for how to find out when there are info sessions: register your online application account early and the school will send you notices.

Tip #2:

Once you've written it, show it to friends as much as you can. Through some connections I even got a Cornell Tech PhD to look at mine, and I learned a lot (they pointed out many problems). Below are some of the reviews I received and my own thoughts, for reference.

First paragraph

• Keep the goal realistic. If the scope is too big, it comes across as a bit cliché or like you're making things up. People at the school have read thousands of SoPs, so think about how to make yourself stand out.

Paragraphs two to four

• Tie each experience back to the values the school cares about.

• Ex: at the end of my second paragraph, I wrote about how my side project taught me the importance of leadership and teamwork, and so on. (Because Cornell Tech said they want to see this)

• Ex: in my third paragraph, about my startup internship, I wrote about the people and things I encountered there that sparked my interest in working at a startup or starting a company. (This also matched the values Cornell Tech cares about)

• You can also talk about how these experiences led you to want to dig deeper into certain fields or take certain courses.

Paragraph six

• The paragraph that needs the most customization

• Research the school's distinctive features, signature courses and so on in depth, then write them out, so they know other schools may not be able to offer these opportunities or resources, and that's why this school is your top choice.

• Rule of thumb: if this paragraph still reads fine when you swap out the school's name, it has pretty much failed. (Someone told me this, and I think it makes a lot of sense)

Letter of recommendation

I'm grateful that my recommenders were all willing to submit letters for all 12 programs (some professors may limit how many they'll do, so ask up front).

All my recommenders were connected to the experiences I described in paragraphs two to four, and I think that matters a lot. It may make your SoP more credible, since recommenders can back up your performance and describe your qualities from a different angle.

Conclusion

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but while writing my SoP I really felt what Steve Jobs meant by connecting the dots. For the first half of college I thought I was drifting, but looking back, I'm actually glad I tried so many different things, because that's what brought me to where I am now.

The application process was brutal, but I was pretty lucky: the first status update I received was from my top choice, Cornell Tech, and it was an admission, which arrived during my first leave from military service. So I didn't go through the long waits and painful offer decisions so many applicants face, and the weight was off my shoulders by early February.

When it came, along with the euphoria I felt a sense of unreality. The people I'd seen online who got into Cornell Tech were all hugely talented geniuses with unusual backgrounds. During my application prep I kept doubting myself: was I special enough to stand out, or would I get buried among all the other applicants and go unnoticed? I never expected to be someone Cornell Tech wanted, and the thought that I might end up as one of those impressive people future applicants look up to still feels unreal (or maybe I'm overthinking it hahaha).

That's my application experience. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask me～

Wishing everyone who read this far great results with their applications!