3 ms·

I went to a low, low ranked US state school for undergrad and moreover I graduated with a bad GPA (2.9). I'm now in industry doing a job that I enjoy, and I'm

by bglazer 12y ago

I went to a low, low ranked US state school for undergrad and moreover I graduated with a bad GPA (2.9). I'm now in industry doing a job that I enjoy, and I'm continuing to take classes at the local university. I would like to go to back to school for a Masters and then possibly a PhD after that. However, this article fills me with a great deal of despair. I had hoped that I could "redeem" myself by working exceptionally hard in whatever Masters program would let me in, and then possibly have a shot at a more prestigious program. Now knowing that both Silicon Valley and higher ed will laugh me out of the room if I don't come from some name brand university is a sad thought. I think that I care enough about the subject matter itself to try for a Masters but it's sad nonetheless to know that basically no matter how hard I work, or how good my work is, that I'm forever locked out of certain circles.

x0x0 12y ago
The article only talks about where tenured professors get their phds. If your goal is a phd, but not a tenured academic position, you may well be fine. That said... my experience is the coursework at top universities is significantly harder than at poorer universities. When I look at what math is required for eg an MS at various okay universities such as SJSU or SFSU, it seems to be about equivalent to the undergrad at my top 15 university. Interviewing lots of engineers and ML people has also turned me into much more of a school snob than I used to be. My experience has been that graduates of top10 ML schools know the material cold, but graduates of, say, a school ranked 50-30th can produce PhDs in stats that struggle to explain a linear regression. Which should be very easy.
- bglazer 12y ago
  Having watched MIT and Stanford lectures online, I was quite taken by the level of depth that is expected, so I understand your comment regarding that. That's the beauty of those online courses, I suppose. I now know exactly what is required at Stanford and MIT.
chriskanan 12y ago
If you get admitted to an okay masters program and obtain a high GPA (3.8+), and you do some publishable research then you would have a fighting chance to get into a decent PhD program. Keep in mind that getting into top 50 PhD programs in the US is very competitive, but showing that you have the skill to do research by already having a publication or two will dramatically help your chances. Graduate students are the cogs that keep a professor's lab churning out research, and showing that you are capable of that will help tremendously to get into a PhD program. So, I do think it is possible to "redeem" yourself, and I know several people that have done this. I also went to a low ranked state school for undergrad, went to a higher ranked school for my MS, and then did a PhD at a well ranked university.
barry-cotter 12y ago
>HOWTO: Get into grad school for science, engineering, math and computer science >Juniors and seniors often ask me how to get into a Ph.D. program. Having looked at applications for three years now, I feel like I can offer some good advice. [This advice applies for masters students too.] >The one-word version of that advice is: PUBLISH. >Read below for my full set of recommendations. http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-apply-and-get-in-to-graduate-school-in-science-mathematics-engineering-or-computer-science/ http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-apply-and-get-in-to-gr...
- bglazer 12y ago
  This is an excellent article. Thank you.
mahyarm 12y ago
No, you wont be laughed out of silicon valley. They actually test for capability in their interviews to an extent. It's partially why the interviews take 4-8 hours per company. Barely anyone cares about your school, or even your GPA to an extent. There are many good engineers who did not go to the ivy league. And they hire people from many schools in many different countries going through a relatively painful H1B process.
Bahamut 12y ago
I got into a good PhD program through solid GRE subject test scores & okay recommendation letters (one glowing, with a cavaet), despite my 2.83 final GPA from an ok state school (rank maybe ~100?) - my in-major GPA was a little lower, since I had 3 Fs in my majors. I had to toil in the Masters program first, but after proving myself, I transferred into the PhD program proper. Had I not had an unfortunate issue that arose (non-academic that ended up affecting academic performance), I would have netted a PhD from a top 15 program in mathematics. Instead I ended up leaving graduate school after 4 years. It ended up being a blessing - it ultimately helped honed my hard work and made me more receptive to adopting new passions. I'm now in Silicon Valley as a quite successful & very high demand developer after only ~2 years in the field & being self-taught.
bglazer 12y ago
*It appears this comment has been duplicated multiple times in this thread. Apologies. I'm unsure how that happened.

by bglazer 12y ago

x0x0 12y ago

The article only talks about where tenured professors get their phds. If your goal is a phd, but not a tenured academic position, you may well be fine. That said... my experience is the coursework at top universities is significantly harder than at poorer universities. When I look at what math is required for eg an MS at various okay universities such as SJSU or SFSU, it seems to be about equivalent to the undergrad at my top 15 university. Interviewing lots of engineers and ML people has also turned me into much more of a school snob than I used to be. My experience has been that graduates of top10 ML schools know the material cold, but graduates of, say, a school ranked 50-30th can produce PhDs in stats that struggle to explain a linear regression. Which should be very easy.

bglazer 12y ago
Having watched MIT and Stanford lectures online, I was quite taken by the level of depth that is expected, so I understand your comment regarding that. That's the beauty of those online courses, I suppose. I now know exactly what is required at Stanford and MIT.

chriskanan 12y ago

If you get admitted to an okay masters program and obtain a high GPA (3.8+), and you do some publishable research then you would have a fighting chance to get into a decent PhD program. Keep in mind that getting into top 50 PhD programs in the US is very competitive, but showing that you have the skill to do research by already having a publication or two will dramatically help your chances. Graduate students are the cogs that keep a professor's lab churning out research, and showing that you are capable of that will help tremendously to get into a PhD program. So, I do think it is possible to "redeem" yourself, and I know several people that have done this. I also went to a low ranked state school for undergrad, went to a higher ranked school for my MS, and then did a PhD at a well ranked university.

barry-cotter 12y ago

>HOWTO: Get into grad school for science, engineering, math and computer science >Juniors and seniors often ask me how to get into a Ph.D. program. Having looked at applications for three years now, I feel like I can offer some good advice. [This advice applies for masters students too.] >The one-word version of that advice is: PUBLISH. >Read below for my full set of recommendations. http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-apply-and-get-in-to-graduate-school-in-science-mathematics-engineering-or-computer-science/ http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-apply-and-get-in-to-gr...

bglazer 12y ago
This is an excellent article. Thank you.

mahyarm 12y ago

No, you wont be laughed out of silicon valley. They actually test for capability in their interviews to an extent. It's partially why the interviews take 4-8 hours per company. Barely anyone cares about your school, or even your GPA to an extent. There are many good engineers who did not go to the ivy league. And they hire people from many schools in many different countries going through a relatively painful H1B process.

Bahamut 12y ago

I got into a good PhD program through solid GRE subject test scores & okay recommendation letters (one glowing, with a cavaet), despite my 2.83 final GPA from an ok state school (rank maybe ~100?) - my in-major GPA was a little lower, since I had 3 Fs in my majors. I had to toil in the Masters program first, but after proving myself, I transferred into the PhD program proper. Had I not had an unfortunate issue that arose (non-academic that ended up affecting academic performance), I would have netted a PhD from a top 15 program in mathematics. Instead I ended up leaving graduate school after 4 years. It ended up being a blessing - it ultimately helped honed my hard work and made me more receptive to adopting new passions. I'm now in Silicon Valley as a quite successful & very high demand developer after only ~2 years in the field & being self-taught.

bglazer 12y ago

*It appears this comment has been duplicated multiple times in this thread. Apologies. I'm unsure how that happened.