Career path to grad school
Best way to get on software teams that would be good for grad school letters of recommendation ? I've been grinding leetcode but how can I best position myself for a team where I can ask for a letter of rec for a MSCS from top schools? Dream is a PhD and I don't mind spending years.
I don’t think PhD is much more competitive than MS, and it’s a much better deal. But you should probably consider if it’s the right move for your career. Does it need to be a top program? The typical profile is a top undergrad (US or international MS) who had 1-2 good publications, and can get funding/fellowship (important to advisors).
I have heard it is considerably more competitive so I want to get a MSC first because I want to both get the best PhD experience and also hedge my bets if I don't like it.
I have a nontraditional background so I haven't done a PhD but have spent a lot of time researching departments and professors who I think do interesting work. Based on what I've seen, the three most important factors leading to admittance to a top program are: 1) rec letters from well known professors in their field and who know the people in the department at which you'd like to study and are respected by them. 2) you did prestigious reus which probably led to your elite recs 3) you took a shit ton of grad classes as an undergrad and got A's 4) gre proves you're not a complete idiot. Is anyone at your work well connected at Stanford?
No one I know is well connected. Hence why I want to work elsewhere to work on getting a rec from a researcher or manager. I have zero research stuff, 4.0 from state school in MechE and top GRE. Got rejected from top schools last year so I'm gonna try again. Heard Stanford more easily accepts Googlers.
How many schools did you apply to? And are you trying for top 20 or even more restrictive? You could try for a good MS and then lead into a top tier PhD. Your advisor will be more important than the institution.