I recently got an email from Mahesh Sharma, who is a Third Year student in Computer Engineering at Pune Institute of Computer Technology. Mahesh had a few questions about graduate education in the US. Every student who thinks about doing an MS in the US is apprehensive about things and i thought i would do good if i could put a few frequently asked questions together and answer them for everyone. Mahesh did a good job of asking pertinent questions. In trying to answer his questions, i think a lot of people will also find them useful (at least i hope!). Here goes,

1: Shall I give Subject GRE? How much is a descent score?

Answer: Subject GRE or AGRE as its also known is not as important for applying to a terminal MS program (that is, a program which does not lead to a PhD after Masters). So, if youare applying only for a Masters and dont have an intention of getting into PhD program, AGRE is not required. However, having said that, I would also say that in case you have a messed up GPA or something in your profile is terribly wrong - it can be fixed by cracking the AGRE with a very high percentile. If you score a 90 percentile or above, i think that would really increase chances of admission at some great universities.

2: Does internships at start up count? Or they should it be at biggie organization only?

Answer: Yes to both questions. I think the best internship you can get it where you have a way to prove your contribution in the form of a paper or a product that was released etc. So, any where you can make a big impact, that is where you should work. Again, start ups allow one to contribute more than bigger firms. So that ways start ups can be a good place to intern at. Big companies such as Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, etc are good to have on your resume - so i guess you cant go wrong either ways. But the idea is to show contribution and how exactly you made an impact.

3: What kind of projects should be done? The research oriented or the -normal- user applications which shows that you know more languages, but doesnt involved more research?

Answer: Projects should show some sort of skill level. Now, skill levels in programming languages, etc are not that important. Skills in having grasped the fundamentals of the subject that you are studying are more important. No where is that more displayed than in having published a paper in a peer reviewed journal/conference. Or even may be technical fests/paper presentation contests etc. So, in that having research oriented projects makes more sense. But, in general, the idea should be to thoroughly grasp concepts in the subject and apply them to a real world problem.

4: Is it recommended to apply without work experience?

Answer: Well the amount of weight-age given to work experience depends from school to school. Some US universities give more importance to work experience than others (like SUNY StonyBrook). However, its not as important as having a decent GPA/GRE. Work experience can help you, but you are not terribly disadvantaged. However, i think the recent years more and more people with work experience apply to US schools. And hence, you may be competing with more people with work ex, however, i still think applying without work ex is not a big issue at all.