As in, I give you my stats and you recommend a grad program. Interest: Granular computing, distributed systems, ML systems. Stats: 3.9+ UGrad GPA, average state school. GRE - not taken but if like my SAT 151Quant, 169Verbal Research - 1 undergrad thesis, 1 2nd author paper to mid tier conf (25% accept), 1 1st author paper in progress in ML applications for security. Work - 4 internships, 2 at big names including Amazon in ML. Full time at Amazon, also ML SDE. Would this profile get me in anywhere good for an MS or PhD like UCSD, UWash, UNC, or Stanford/Harvard/UTexas? Not interested in GT online MS.
Not before you decide if you want an MS or a PhD, and then decide whether you want to study granule computing or ML.
Try for UIUC, Stanford, and CMU
I think your letter writers (professors) are the most qualified people to tell you what kind of grad school you could get into. Remember that because tech companies are paying lot of money (just look at all these TC threads ) you have a much better chance of getting into a higher ranking school now than 10-15 years ago. Not as many people want to go and be poor for 5-6 years if they don't have to. Once the tech bubble bursts it will reverse so go for it! Try all the top 10 ones. You may make it into one. Grab one in 10-15 another in 15-20, and another in 20-30. I wouldn't recommend going lower than 30. People hiring for PhD jobs sometimes are too stuck up to give people from lower ranked programs a chance.
As long as you got $$$ those schools will take you for MS
Coming recently from a top tier department for undergrad, a well-worn strategy was: apply to your favorite grad schools, and if you don’t get into anything you’re ecstatic about going to, apply to a masters program at one of the places you’re ecstatic about going to. Masters programs are limited in large part by your ability to pay, and much less by academics.
Which undergrad? What did you end up doing?
What’s your take on GT’s online MS? Why no interests?