How I Got Into UC San Diego, USA For MS in Computer Science?

Hello Aronya! Let’s uncover how you got into UCSD for MS CS!

Hey! Who are you, what is your background and what are you currently doing?

I’m Aronya, a first year graduate student at UC San Diego. I’m currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from PES University in Bengaluru in 2022. During that time I published a conference paper at the AAAI’s spring 2022 symposium on intelligent knowledge systems (AAAI-MAKE) held at Stanford University, California, as well as another work at IEEE CONIT 2021 held at Hubli, Karnataka. For six 

During my third year, I interned at PricewaterhouseCooper Pvt Ltd’s Bangalore office, working on machine learning projects for their internal learning platform and analyzing customer data for a large commercial vehicle manufacturer. This was my first experience with real customer data and understanding customer needs. In my final semester, I interned at HP Enterprise for six months, implementing multi-factor authentication for their Apache-based NSHTTP web browser. The feature was released about a year after my internship, with much of my proof of concept code still present. Following this, I worked as a Cloud Developer at HP Enterprise on HPE GreenLake’s Private Cloud Enterprise product, gaining experience with AWS, Kubernetes, and real-time monitoring, which fueled my interest in systems. This role also taught me the importance of technical communication and how to confidently engage with senior colleagues.

While PES’ curriculum offered a mix of updated content and some rote-learning aspects of the old VTU system, it provided me with the rigor needed for a master’s degree. The strong foundation I gained in operating systems, computer architecture, set theory, and discrete mathematics has been invaluable as I begin graduate studies at UCSD. My internships and professional experience allowed me to apply this knowledge, alongside cloud infrastructure like AWS, large-scale Kubernetes deployments, and microservices in Python and Go. Working in an Agile team, interacting with senior colleagues, and giving demos further boosted my confidence and skills.

How did you decide that you wanted to pursue an MS in the US?

Since roughly the second year of my bachelor’s degree, I knew that I wanted to pursue some form of higher education after two years of experience in the industry. Two years seemed enough time to prepare myself after undergrad, to handle the pressures of higher education in an entirely unfamiliar setting. 

A master’s degree in computer science was a fairly logical choice for me given my educational background and professional experience. I wanted to give myself the flexibility to choose my area of interest and picked programs that allowed me to pursue as wide a range of interests in computer science as possible. I wanted to pursue some courses that corresponded to my undergraduate interests in natural language processing, while mostly staying focussed on my goal of increasing my depth of knowledge in cloud computing, distributed systems, and parallel computing. 

A master’s degree abroad is a fairly major commitment in many ways – physically, mentally, emotionally and financially. I found the risk-reward equation fairly straight-forward given that I had a fair amount of real-world experience behind me, and speaking to people already pursuing similar degrees gave me a decent idea of what to expect. I must acknowledge that I had a lot of unconditional support from my family and friends in pursuing my goal of studying abroad which I consider very important to where I am right now.

How did you start your application preparation; can you throw some light on profile building, GRE, LORs and SOPs?

I approached the process of applying without any fixed game plan. I fixed on 8 as a good number of universities to apply to, given my profile. I knew that I needed good GRE and TOEFL scores (I decided on the TOEFL as it’s a more relevant exam for US admissions than the IELTS), at least 24 letters of recommendation, and a good SoP. My plan was to get all of this stuff ready by the beginning of November. 

During my undergraduate years, I placed a premium on getting a good GPA (being from a tier-3 college in India, a good GPA does open lots of doors), getting research opportunities that I could put on my profile to apply to universities. I worked on small research projects with a number of professors in my college, and was a TA for a semester for a professor whose machine learning course I really liked (despite it being online during COVID).

My GRE and TOEFL attempts were fairly ad-hoc in terms of preparation. I went into both exams knowing the very basic details of exam formats and timings, and not much else by way of preparation. Some nice resources I’d recommend are the books by Princeton Review and Gregmat’s online practice tests that gave me some confidence going into these exams. I ended up with a 321 in my GRE (Verbal- 155, Quant – 166), and a 110 in my TOEFL (28 Reading, 30 Listening, 25 Writing, 27 Speaking). 

One piece of advice I received before I started writing my SoP came from my brother who was, at the time, pursuing his own graduate education in Economics at Stanford. His central idea was that the point of an SoP was to sell oneself. With the mindset of writing the world’s best sales pitch for myself, I had to confront a good deal of impostor syndrome, but managed, with the help of lots of rounds of reviews from friends, seniors and my brother to come up with a template SoP. One important thing about my SoP was the fact that I had looked into the CSE faculty at each university and name-checked professors whose work I found relevant and interesting. This personal touch really adds a point of difference to what might sound like a generic SoP otherwise. 

ChatGPT helped me compose my LoRs, and I had three faculty LoRs(two professors I had TA-ed for in college, and one who had mentored me in a short research project) and one from the industry (a tech lead from my work).

What colleges did you apply for and what was the result?

US News and Reddit (r/MSCS and r/gradadmissions mainly) were my best friends when it came to shortlisting universities and judging their strengths and weaknesses. Of course, another great way to judge the strength of a graduate program is to look at its research output, and the profiles of the teaching faculty, mainly whether they align with your research or professional interests. When shortlisting universities and grouping them into categories (ambitious, safe, moderate and so on) I found that it was very advantageous to have a network of friends and seniors to discuss this stuff with, and get a good range of varying opinions.

I applied to 9 universities as below.

Note from TheGradPost: To view the below list of ambitious, moderate and safe universities, please subscribe!

Hey, get access to premium content by subscribing to TheGradPost!




Email

With regards to timelines, I started with giving my GRE and TOEFL in August, gathering my LoRs by October, finishing my SoP by November, and completing all my applications by Christmas (there really isn’t much advantage to applying super early unless the uni you are applying to uses rolling admits).

Can you tell us more about the course and what the learning outcomes are?

UCSD’s masters program in CS requires students to complete 40 units of coursework. Credits can be earned by completing courses (typically a quarter-long course is worth 4 units), engaging in research work as a graduate student researcher (GSR) or taking up work as a teaching assistant. UCSD offers thesis as well as non-thesis tracks for completion of the degree requirements. I personally chose to take the non-thesis track as it aligns more closely with my goals of working in the US and leaves time for me to focus on the process of applying and preparing for internships and full-time roles. 

Coursework at UCSD is fairly involved and practical, and there are plenty of courses that give you hands-on practical experience with aspects of computer systems that we simply take for granted at the undergraduate level. 

One unique challenge of education at UCSD is the quarter system (instead of a more traditional semester system) which means time really flies by, and demands that one stay on their toes at all times during the course. The major point in favor of a quarter system that many of the UCs follow is that it allows one to take a larger number of courses in the same amount of time. However, the compromise is that it allows for slightly less time to explore courses in depth as compared to a more traditional semester system.

What is the cost of tuition and cost of living, and how are you planning to fund your studies?

Tuition per quarter at UCSD is around $11,500, which comes out to $69,000 for a full 2-year master’s program. This is on the slightly lower side compared to some other universities like NYU but definitely quite expensive nevertheless. 

On-campus housing at UCSD is cheaper than off-campus, with rents ranging from $600 (for a shared room) to around $1000 (for a single room in a 3BHK). Living costs in California are on the higher side, but expect to be able to manage within $200-300 a month. 

TA and GSR jobs provide a full tuition waiver for the quarter, as well as a stipend of around $3800 per month for three months.

How was your experience with the visa process, finding accommodation and travel?

Since I hold a US passport by virtue of my birth, I did not have to have to work towards a visa. 

As for housing, UCSD offers excellent and very cost-effective options ($500-600 per month in rent for a shared room with one other person, $1100 per month for a single room) options for graduate student housing on-campus. On-campus housing is the route that most graduate students at UCSD prefer to take, and despite the fact that UCSD’s housing is the largest among the UCs, it’s a fairly competitive process. It’s recommended that one apply to be on the waitlist for graduate housing very soon after getting an admit from UCSD.

What does the future after master’s look like?

Internships in tech pay quite well, and the lower paying roles I’ve seen so far pay around $30 an hour. Getting one of these roles is a tough game to play, but a very valuable learning experience in networking, profile building and upskilling. 

SDE, MLE, DevOps, Data Science and cloud engineering roles pay at least $80-90k annually and upwards based on your experience level and skills. Roles oriented towards research (especially in AI) pay even more, north of $120k annually. One tip towards job hunting in the current scenario which I’m finding quite useful is to look beyond tech roles in tech companies, and instead look for tech roles in non-traditional sectors such as banking and medicine. Roles like these are similarly high-paying, and good ways of getting practical experience for a career in the industry.

Universities in the US do not directly invite companies for placements like Indian universities do, but they still have very useful career centers. The one at UCSD invites companies for talks on hiring and interview tips regularly, and these events offer amazing networking opportunities. Handshake is another great source of jobs, and gives one the option to look for companies that are open to hiring students on F1 student visas who are currently on OPT. 

Any final words of advice for anyone who aspires to be where you currently are?

A masters program abroad is a serious commitment in many different ways, and there are lots of things that are very scary about going for one, not least of which is the current state of tech hiring and the job market. However, it is also an absolutely unreal opportunity to network, make new friends and experience living alone in a foreign country on your own. Simply the act of networking with peers, co-workers, and students from around the world is something that adds an immense amount of value to you as a person. 

Having your application materials ready in good time makes the process of filling out applications really quick and easy. Some universities do also require a personal statement that talks about your experiences as a person and how they might contribute to life on campus, so it might be useful to have a document like that prepared ahead of time as well. 

In conclusion, if the risk-reward equation works out for you, just dive into it head first with absolute commitment and give it your best!

Throughout the process what were some helpful resources, tools and books you used?

For the GRE, I primarily used the Princeton Review books and Gregmat, which I found really helpful. For the TOEFL, I also stuck with the Princeton Review books.

When it came to selecting universities, I relied heavily on US News rankings and Reddit, especially the r/MSCS and r/gradadmissions subreddits. They provided valuable insights into different programs and application processes.

For travel and visa information, I turned to Reddit again, particularly r/F1Visa. There are various Telegram and WhatsApp channels that offer real-time updates on visa appointment slots, and I found the links to those on r/F1Visa as well.

Regarding loans, HDFC Credila and Indian Bank offered good interest rates, so they were my top choices for funding my studies.

As for banking in the US, I found Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase to be the most convenient options.

Suggested by TheGradPost

For GMAT, especially for acing it in the quant session, try out Target Test Prep (TTP).

For air travel and temporary accommodations – MakeMyTrip

For help with a simpler transactions process – HDFC, SBI, ICICI Credit Cards

Connect

Linkedin – Aronya Baksy

The Grad Post is organising 100s of such case studies for students going abroad. You can have a look at the website here.

If you want to feature on my blog, lets have a quick chat! Fill out the form and I’ll contact you 🙂