[Profile Review] Fall 2027 | MS CS and Related Programs
Hi everyone! I'm a 4th year EEE undergrad at a Tier 1 Indian university, graduating in 2027, and applying for the Fall 2027 cycle. I've been working primarily on generative models and AI safety. I'm looking mainly at research-oriented MS programs in CS/ML/AI in the US and Europe.
The GPA is definitely the weak point in my profile, so I'd really appreciate some honest feedback.
CGPA: 7.5/10
GRE: Will appear soon.
TOEFL/IELTS: Will appear soon.
Research Experience:
- Major French research institute — Research Intern, onsite (~3 months, ongoing) — video generation methods.
- Top-5 UK university — Research Intern, remote (6 months) — LLMs and interpretability.
- Top Norwegian university — Research Intern, remote (9 months) — Diffusion models and biometric applications.
- Independent research group — Research Fellow, remote (7 months) — Multimodal foundation models, including collaboration with researchers from a US T20 university.
- My home university — RA under a faculty member (1+ year) — Trustworthy AI and LLMs.
Publications:
- ICPR 2026 Main Conference, Oral (co-author, with the Norwegian university)
- WACV 2026 Workshop, Oral (first author, with the Norwegian university)
- ICML 2026 Workshop (first author, with my home university)
- CVPR 2026 Workshop (co-author, with the independent research group)
- IEEE T-BIOM — Under Review (first author, with the French research institute)
- AAAI 2027 — Under Review (first author, with the UK university)
Other (not sure if it matters, but here it is): Reviewer for an ICML 2026 workshop. Won a competition held at IJCB 2025 as a part of my lab at the Norwegian university, with a published competition paper.
LoRs:
I expect 3 LoRs from my internship advisors:
- Current supervisor at the French research institute
- Research supervisor from the UK university
- Research supervisor from the Norwegian university
I should also be able to get LoRs from the professor I worked with at my home university and from the founder/research scientist at the independent research group, if needed.
School List:
Please tell me if I'm still being too optimistic given my low GPA.
Ambitious:
UCSD, UMD, Georgia Tech, UCL, UMass Amherst, University of Waterloo
Target:
University of Edinburgh, KCL, Saarland, University of Amsterdam, NUS, École Polytechnique, Virginia Tech, McGill, UBC, MBZUAI
Safer (not entirely sure, they might be targets):
NEU, ASU, University of Alberta, SFU
I'm primarily looking at research-oriented MS programs in CS/ML/AI at these universities, but I'm still figuring out the exact programs.
Questions I'd really appreciate advice on:
- I'm considering a PhD eventually, but I'm still quite undecided given the commitment involved. Would an MS first make more sense, or is it worth considering direct PhD applications?
- How much does the GRE matter for someone with this profile? Is it worth spending substantial time preparing for it?
Thanks a lot in advance! I'd especially appreciate feedback from people who have applied with relatively low GPAs.
Best of luck to everyone applying this cycle!