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Ask HN: tips for hacking the admission system for top graduate schools?

2 points by asdf_acnt ↗ HN
I figure a lot of the people on HN would have experience with this. How does one increase their chances significantly of getting into the top graduate schools? I'm talking about places like MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech, CMU, etc. The focus here is on top engineering/computer science schools.

Is it a spotless GPA? Killer reference letters (and from whom)? Extra curriculars? Independent research? Maybe business experience? Some linear combination of it all? What are the coefficients?

Feel free to share your experiences and give some advice on hacking the admissions system.

5 comments

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_delirium
PhD or MS? The admissions processes are quite a bit different. MS admissions are mainly run by the admissions office; PhD admissions at many schools are run by professors.

For PhD, the single biggest way to get a leg-up is to be familiar with one or two faculty members' specific areas of research, have an idea of what projects their labs are working on, and briefly explain some ideas for projects you might work on (that fit into that research agenda). Bonus points if you've met or corresponded with a prof before (but don't send generic saying-hello emails, since most get way too much email to begin with).

YuriNiyazov
Move to the town of a school of your choice. Most schools allow you to pay and enroll in a class as a non-matriculated student. Enroll in classes in the area that you would like to study. Meet the professors. Work with them. Impress them with your intelligence and diligence. Talk to them about getting admitted. This might require multiple tries.
[dead] ZackShapiro
At the highest level (and this won't really help you, this sentence at least) it's making yourself stand out.

I like to think of any application as a group of 100 people. I then ask myself, "What can I do to beat 40% of the pack?" Then you're in the top 60. What can you do to eliminate 30% of those contenders?

I'd say that doing a startup or having a project with traction would be a huge way to stand out. Colleges are easily impressed by numbers. If you can stay "I increased attendance at basketball games 700%," somebody's going to see that and take notice. I increased attendance at the University of Colorado Basketball games over the last 2 years by that magnitude and it turns into a story every time I drop the number.

Genuine references will help from teachers and possibly someone close to the university. So will a GPA and high SAT scores.

mtogo
Please stop using the word "hack" to refer to absolutely everything.

I'm hacking waffles for breakfast.

I'm hacking my car to work today.

I'm hacking a web app.

I'm hacking hacker news.

It's really annoying. You can come up with more descriptive words.