How I Got Into Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) For MS in Software Engineering?

Hello Akilesh! Let’s uncover how you got into CMU for MS Software Development!

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

I’m Akilesh N S, currently pursuing my Master’s in Software Engineering with a focus on scalable systems at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Before this, I worked at Fidelity Investments, starting with a two-month internship, followed by a six-month internship, and then about eight to nine months of full-time employment. After that, I decided to pursue my Master’s.

I did my undergrad at RV College of Engineering, where I earned a Bachelor’s in Electronics and Communication Engineering. During my time there, I faced a decision between going down the electronics route or shifting towards software engineering. What solidified my choice for software engineering was my internship at Fidelity. My mentor there introduced me to software practices and showed me what it means to write good software. 

During my time at Fidelity, both in internships and full-time, I worked with the same team under Fidelity Brokerage Technology. Our team was responsible for handling the movement of money between banks and Fidelity. A significant part of my role involved creating APIs using TypeScript and developing systems to facilitate the transfer of money between these institutions on a daily basis.

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

Throughout my undergraduate courses I realized that this field wasn’t for me. During my internship, I found myself in “the zone” while developing software. I realized that when I was coding, I didn’t care about anything else. Even during breaks, all I could think about was getting back to work and writing more code. That’s when I knew I could build a career in software development because I genuinely enjoyed it.

Why pursue a Master’s? That was always part of my plan after completing my Bachelor’s. Initially, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do my Master’s in. I did consider going down the regular computer science route, but I decided against it because it’s very competitive, and with my electronics background, I felt I wouldn’t stand out. Besides, software engineering was more interesting to me. I saw myself more on the managerial side, ensuring software processes adhered to standards.

As for choosing the United States, it wasn’t necessarily about the country itself, but the schools within it. The colleges here are doing some of the best work in software engineering. Plus, the pay scale for software engineers here is more fair compared to other countries.

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

I would suggest getting the GRE and TOEFL out of the way first, because honestly, they are the easiest parts of your application. Once that’s done, start looking at colleges. When I began looking, I considered two main factors: first, whether the college offered courses that interested me, and second, whether they would accept a profile like mine. It’s important to be realistic about which schools are likely to accept your profile. I used a few websites, including Yocket, to look at profiles that had been accepted by different schools, and I gauged my competitiveness based on that. 

GRE

For GRE prep, I highly recommend GregMat over Magoosh. Magoosh is well-marketed, but GregMat has better content, in my opinion. GregMat offers structured study plans, like the one-month or two-month plans, where they curate videos and practice tests. I followed the two-month study plan closely, and it worked well for me. I took my GRE in June, but I started preparing in April. My preparation wasn’t intense for the full three months, but the last two months were quite focused. The time you need really depends on your baseline score and your target. My target was above 325, since CMU’s average score was around that, and I aimed to score above average in both the Quant and Verbal sections.

SOP

When it comes to the Statement of Purpose (SOP), the key is to define a clear goal for your career. It’s a deep, thoughtful question, but you need to figure out the specific thing you want to achieve. Your SOP should essentially build up to this goal. You talk about how you’ve worked towards it, where you’ve faced challenges, and how the Master’s program will equip you to overcome them. Admissions committees want candidates who have a specific direction and know how the program will help them achieve their goals. After laying out your goal, you then discuss why you’re a good fit for the program, referencing your accomplishments.

Writing a good SOP takes time—it took me months. If you finish it in two weeks, it’s likely not a good SOP. You should revise it at least 10 times before finalizing it. 

LOR

For my LORs, I had two professors from my department. One was my counselor, who knew me for four years and could speak to my growth during that time. The other was a computer science professor who taught me data structures and algorithms, which helped reinforce that I’m a strong candidate for a software engineering program. The most important LOR, though, was from my manager at Fidelity, since he saw me work as a software engineer and could speak to my skills in that area.

Overall Profile

In general, from what I’ve seen, GPA plays the most significant role in grad school applications. The importance of the GRE and GMAT seems to be decreasing, especially after COVID, with some concerns about test integrity. But once you clear the initial criteria, like GPA and GRE, the SOP becomes the most important part of your application. 

Timelines

I pursued my Master’s from early 2022, completing the GRE/TOEFL by June, and spent July to December preparing applications, finalizing SOPs, LORs, and transcripts, receiving admission offers from February to April 2023.

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

I applied to eight universities as below.

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I chose CMU over the other schools primarily because of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), which is closely affiliated with the program. SEI is a federally funded institute that focuses on software research, and many industry-standard practices, like the MoSCoW method, originated there. I felt this connection to SEI, with its direct influence on the curriculum, made CMU the best fit for me. 

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

The courses at CMU focus on thinking about software development as a practice. We have courses like “Design Patterns,” which covers different design methodologies and why certain designs are chosen over others, and “API Design” where we work with different types of APIs, such as gRPC and GraphQL, to understand their advantages. Another course, “Engineering Data and Scalable Systems,” has us implement different software architectures, like microservices and asynchronous systems, to see their practical applications.

We also have courses focused on process design, like “Agile Methods” and “Software Project Management.” These help us understand how to gather requirements from clients and translate them into actionable tasks, which is crucial during the initial phases of software development. The program caters to both aspiring software engineers and those aiming for managerial roles in development.

In my final semester, we’re working on a capstone project called “Practicum”. This is an incredible experience where real clients come to CMU with software projects, and we, as student teams, develop solutions for them. I’m currently working on a project for a non-profit organization called “Smart Futures” in Pennsylvania.

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

The cost of tuition is about $29,000 per semester, and my program has three semesters. So, in total, that’s approximately $87,000. This does not include health insurance, which is mandatory and adds another $5,000 for two years. I’m self-funding my studies, but many of my batchmates are using Prodigy Finance as a loan provider.

As for the cost of living, it depends on the city. Pittsburgh, where I’m studying, is relatively affordable. You can get a two-bedroom, two-bathroom place for about $800 per month (per person), including utilities. My personal expenses, like groceries and food, come to about $400 to $500 a month. 

In total, the cost of living and tuition for one and a half years comes out to about 94 lakhs INR, including tuition, health insurance, and living expenses.

Regarding scholarships, they’re pretty limited for my program. A few students, about two or three, receive scholarships in their final semester based on financial need or if they are in the top 5% of the class and excel in leadership activities. For Teaching Assistant (TA) and Research Assistant (RA) positions, it’s easier to get one if you’ve taken the course before and reach out to professors early. TAs and RAs typically get paid around $17 to $25 per hour, and students are allowed to work up to 20 hours a week on campus.

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

For the visa process, my advice is not to get stressed out about the availability of slots. I used an extension called CheckVisaSlots.com, which I paid a small subscription for, around $15 to $20 a month. 

For finding accommodation, once you receive your admit, you’ll likely be added to WhatsApp groups for your university. I highly recommend not opting for a studio apartment. It’s better to share a house because living alone in the U.S. can be overwhelming. Having roommates allows you to split responsibilities and have company, which is important. I used Zillow to find housing, but another option is to sublet from seniors who are leaving their homes. This is usually hassle-free because things like Wi-Fi, electricity, and furniture are already set up, and you just need to move in.

What are the job opportunities after master’s?

Since I pursued the SE degree, my goal is to become a Software Development Engineer (SDE). For my internship, I worked at Amazon in San Diego for 12 weeks. Internships pay between 5 – 12k per month. After completing a master’s, typical SDE salaries range between $120,000 and $150,000 annually. It varies based on your experience—if you have more than two years of full time software engineering experience, you might join as an SDE 2 which pays anywhere between $150,000 to $200,000 per year. 

In terms of job search, especially for roles like SDE, the two most important things are communication skills and grinding LeetCode. There’s no other way around it—you really need to prepare well before your interviews. I started my LeetCode prep right after arriving in the U.S. and applied for jobs soon after. Initially, I didn’t have much success, but you only need one interview call to secure an internship. Once you get that call, focus all your energy on preparing for it, which is exactly what I did. I got my interview call from Amazon in early January, but they kept postponing the interview. It worked in my favor because I had more time to prepare. I eventually had my interviews in February and received the offer by the end of the month.

For finding internships, I googled company job listings, and applied from their websites. I used Handshake, too, which is a platform connected to universities. Recruiters can list opportunities specifically for students at your university. LinkedIn works well too. I applied to Amazon through their website with a referral. When it comes to applying to Big Tech, a referral is crucial—without one, your application might not even be considered. So for Big Tech, always try to get a referral.

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

My advice would be to start early. The most important thing is figuring out what you want to achieve in your career or research, and defining a very specific goal. Once you know that, you can create an application that clearly conveys your interest in the master’s program. 

If I could do something differently, I would have applied to more colleges. I was too conservative and only applied to eight. My advice would be to apply to around 15 schools. The application fees are worth it because having more options to choose from is valuable. Apply to a mix: five ambitious, five moderate, and a few safer ones. It’s not much extra effort to apply to an additional college, but having that choice when you get multiple admits is a big advantage.

I do believe that without the CMU brand, I wouldn’t have landed my Amazon internship. The college name matters, but not to the extent people make it out to be. If your college isn’t highly ranked, you can make up for it with strong projects. A prestigious college reduces the effort you need to put in, but if you’re at a top 25 or 30 college, you’re already in a good spot.

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

For GRE, GMAT, and TOEFL, I used GregMat for both GRE and TOEFL prep, as well as for GMAT. It was really helpful.

For university selection and the application process, I relied on platforms like Yocket, and the US News website. These resources helped me get a sense of which universities to apply to and provided insights into the admissions process.

For accommodation, I used WhatsApp groups to connect with other students and Zillow to find housing. The WhatsApp groups were especially useful for finding roommates and getting advice from people already living in the city.

For travel and visas, I flew with British Airways since I was heading to Pittsburgh. For the visa process, I found Beyond Boundaries, an organization in Bengaluru, to be a helpful resource.

When it came to loans and banking, a lot of my friends opted for Prodigy Finance.

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