Yet Another Guide to Graduate School

work in progresswork in progress...

Here is a compilation of my emails answering several questions I received over the past couple of years regarding PhD and admissions to graduate school at University of Florida. I shall not be able to individually answer questions to my Gatorlink account from now.

#1 email:
I’m ABC from DEF planning to apply for PhD in the Computer Science program at your school. I found your email id under students page in the University of Florida's department's database lab website. I would really appreciate if you help me by providing some information about Database research lab in your school. My profile is GRE Score – XXXX, TOEFL XX, Academic GPA 4.0, Dean's list 6 semesters, 3 paper presentations (1-Symposium,1-National Conference and 1-International Conference). I am working in Oracle and have 1.5 yr experience.

I would like to know-
What is the minimum GRE Score required for admission?
Do I get admission with enough funding, if not how does funding scenario look?
What is the cost of living for students, particularly since I am from outside USA?
What is scope of specializing in Database in US because I am very much interested in Databases?

reply:
Hi-
I cannot comment much on the GRE score, because things have changed a lot from the time I came here. MS admissions are very different from PhD admissions and with a decent score in the higher percentiles, acads and experience you might be able to get in. But it is always more competitive for PhDs. Apart from good GPA (3.7+ in MS) and publications, a good subject GRE score would give you a better chance for both admit and funding (alumni fellowships, RA, etc.).

If you get a PhD admit from UF, almost always it will come with funding. Atleast part funding. Meaning it might be a TA which covers your tuition and offers half stipend (10 hrs, not 20 hrs). Once you decide on your advisor after being here 1 or 2 sems, you can try for RA or other funding from them.

That said, a PhD is only if you exactly know your interest. Databases is a very large field and UF does significant work in it - in probabilistic DB, spatial DB, parallel databases, etc. However, find your interest and talk to or email the profs well before you even consider accepting a school for PhD. See conferences in that area and rate how the profs have published in them. Read a few papers and see if all this matches your interest.
A major part of doctoral studies involves high quality publications. This takes a while to learn and practice, particularly if you do not have much research experience in undergrad. Hence research your options, talk to your graduate advisor, the graduate secretary and the faculty before signing up for the program. Getting a stipend or funding from the department should not be your motivation for entering the program, though it never hurts to have confirmed 4+yrs of funding with the prof of your choice.

Cost of living: Gainesville is one of the most social (because its a big college town and has lots of helpful ppl around) and economical places to live in the US. So, if you want to try an MS and then decide on the PhD, that might also be a plausible option. For PhDs, the TA stipend at CISE should cover all your major expenses here. But getting a confirmed RA, fellowship and other source of funding can alleviate all your financial concerns during hectic academic studies.

Databases and in general, data management is one of the top fields in CS in recent years and has immense potential. We see larger and larger data sets collected by corporations, social networks and other places (like eCommerce houses, sales industries), etc. Hence data engineers will always have a significant role to play for atleast another decade or until machines take over... whichever is earlier.

Hope this helps. All the best.

#2 reply:
Part-time Work:
If you have previous experience or good project work in college, etc., it is fairly easy to find a graduate assistantship here. However, TA and RA are very difficult to come by for MS students. However, there is a big hospital on campus (Shands at UFlorida) that requires programmers (statistics, web, db stuff, etc.) and several other depts like physics and dean of students also hire CS ppl. Internship and final job scene has improved greatly in recent years-Amazon, Microsoft, Bloomberg and Google come to campus nowadays and recruit in a big way. That said, all these jobs require a good level of effort and commitment. However, we do not get the kind of post-job offers that you might see in NY or New Jersey area, just because of the location (FL). Meaning, we miss out on several startups and smaller Si-valley companies, but the big firms do recruit.

I will forward you an email we got on the list recently for on-campus jobs (called 'OPS' - other personnel services). Also check out our OPS jobs portal at jobs.ufl.edu. Most hiring happens through this website now.

Research:
We are actually quite good in terms of databases, vision, networks, algos and theory research. Dr Daisy Zhe Wang just joined us from the RAD lab at Berkeley and will be hiring atleast two research students this Fall. For algos, theory and vision, check out the works of Dr(s) Meera Sitaram, Anand Rangarajan, Jeffrey Ho and Baba Vemuri. For database related work refer to Dr(s) Sanjay Ranka, Schneider, Dobra, Tamer Kahveci and Zhe Wang. You can get the entire list and specilizations from here (http://www.cise.ufl.edu/people/faculty/area).

#3 reply: Read the CISE and UF graduate school webpage carefully. All answers are there. However, here are more specific replies:

1. 30 credits are required for entire MS degree. 9 credits atleast for each Fall/ Spring sem as per I-20 (and F1 Student Visa) rules. 6 atleast for Summer. This is for fulltime enrollment. Last sem can have less than 9 (for Fall/Spring) or 6 (for Summer) credits.

2. For tuition and other fees, check: http://fa.ufl.edu/ufs/cashiers/feecalc.asp

The situation for on-campus jobs has improved greatly, particularly if you have related work-experience. Post-MS jobs situation is also quite good now, if you take the right courses, have the right skills and maintain your GPA.

3. Gainesville is one of the most economical cities in the US. You can get cool student deals starting from $280+ per month (for one BR in a 3-4 BR apartment). Check the Indian student mailing groups on Google and Yahoo! groups (NewIndianStudents_UF or yearly groups). Campus housing starts at $470 something but is much more convenient and safe. Rent includes UF wired internet (~9 Mbps), cable TV, landline phone service (and utilities at reduced rates). It takes about 6-12 months to get graduate housing, so apply for it during your early years at http://www.housing.ufl.edu/villages/. A related blog for graduate housing is here.

Useful Web-links* :

  1. UF Graduate School
  2. CISE Department, UF
  3. UF International Center (UFIC)
  4. Jobs.ufl.edu
  5. UF Career Resource Center
  6. CISE Career Dev. Workshop (CDW)
  7. UF Database Center (most info here is aged)
*for the latest link google the term on Bing.


Disclaimer: All statements on this website are my personal opinions and views and should not be construed as official or reflecting the views of any other person or organization I may or may not be affliated with. Take it all with a pinch of salt, since every student's path to wearing the doctoral hood is unique and yet equally memorable.