There are twice as many opportunities in CS, IT and Data Analytics than those in the co-fields. A lot of job prospects right now combine your core discipline with some software skills. For example, if you were to take Data Analytics elective, then your job prospects will double up instantly because when I was looking for an energy analyst job, a lot of options required Python, SQL or R. If I was proficient in them, I would have got many job opportunities. So for the non IT or CS majors, you will not have as many opportunities as your will have if you learn some software skills. Go to your dream company’s website. Look for the requirements in the job openings, and choose your electives accordingly.
In Cornell, there is a system of Career fairs where a lot of companies come to campus and set up stalls for recruitment. They speak about the roles that they have and the roles they seek students for. You have about two to five minutes to pitch what is called an elevator pitch. It’s called an elevator pitch because it’s as short as an elevator ride. But it has to cover all the information that can impress the employer. It’s not a campus placement exactly but provides a setting where you can express yourself.
Hi Apoo,
Yes, it takes place at Cornell itself. There is one career fair in spring and another one in fall. Yes, the authorities do prompt the students about it. You can get information about the other career fairs in the city and other cities too.
Thanks
My overall profile is 322 in GRE, 168 in Quant, 154 in Verbal, 110 in TOEFL. My GPA was 9.2 from Manipal. I did not have research papers, but I had 4 to 5 internships. So the LOR, SOP, GPA, etc are the standard requirements for any selection committee. If you have a low GPA, you don’t have to get disheartened. You don’t have to be a 9 pointer to get into Cornell. I know people who had 9 backlogs or 302 in GRE are in Cornell. You need to make your profile very impressive. If you have low scores, then you must have a strong reason explaining that. In your SOP, you have to convince the selection committee why you are the right fit for the job. If you are more of a practical kind of person who is involved in extracurricular then you, then you must substantiate it through an example.
No, I won’t say the spring entry is easier than fall. Although, the numbers of applicants are lesser than other seasons, but then the proportion of seats is also less. So the difficulty level remains the same. I am not sure about the average profile for MS Computer Science, but for MEng in Computer Science, Cornell has one of the top-rated programs in the country. My friends have an average of 325, some have 320. In Quants, if you have less than 165, then attempt it again. Their average GPA was 9. They had internships at Microsoft and startups
Yes, you heard right. If you join in spring, you will finish your course in December and probably start working in January and H1B applications start in March, so you have about 3 months to prepare and impress your employers. The good news is you are doing a STEM degree, so you have 3 years of OPT and the employer doesn’t have to apply in the 1st year. So the 3 months is not the key part. If you are from a non-STEM degree, I would suggest coming in the fall or do a one-and-a-half-year program, that way you can start your job in August.
If you are doing a 1-year course, it makes sense as you get the summer. If you come in the fall, you miss out on summer. If you’re coming in spring, you will have the internship opportunity for CS and Chemical engineering. I think the department doesn’t allow summer internships. There was a rule that you had to study for at least nine months before you can intern but they’re changing that right now. You can intern in summer too. So, if you do come in spring, you can do a one year course and get an internship experience. So I would suggest that you can consider but it’s going to be freezing cold in January so that’ll be a huge weather change for you guys.
Yes of course. You can definitely start reaching out to professors right now and I think you will find that right now would be an ideal time to reach out to them. As I said, just add in a motivation why you want to do it, add your skills, your TOEFL report too.
I think what they really look at is if you had a previous mentorship experience. So try to sound convincing in your email to the professor, just tell them why you want to do it, and how you are the right fit, how you have mentored people before, how you enjoy teaching students and speak about your proficiency in the respective subject, tell them about some of the projects done in the field. Tell them how you are a practical thinker and how you want to inculcate the same in the students and just be honest about yourself. I think that is the best way to avail a TA ship.
When someone looks at your resume and. They look at two things they ask two things. Can he do that and will he do the job. The first question, can he do the job gets answered immediately by looking at the university you go to. If you go to a good university, the employer knows that you have the skill set to do the job and your interview is about will you do the job. So, most of my interviews were HR based and less about technical based. Nobody tried testing my technical knowledge nobody asked questions about whether I knew my content or not because they probably presumed I did. So I think that’s what the brand value brings in, and it does set you apart. If you don’t have star experiences, that puts you aside. For example, if you just did a couple of normal internships and you don’t have any work-ex and are coming directly to your masters. If a company can give out 50 interview calls and if they had to choose between profiles that does exactly like yours but from a better university, which one they would choose? So that’s what it boils down to. Should I spend the extra bucks on Cornell is a very subjective question. It is to an extent worth it. Oh well, you know what’s best about Cornell, the alumni network. As I said when you reach out to alumni they really want to help you and that’s what a good university brings out. So that is an advantage that you will get.
Yes, the verbal score matters to an extent because if you get below 150, they will know that it’s probably harder for you to do well in interviews and obviously colleges want their placement statistics to be higher. So if you cannot get a job, then it is bad publicity for the college. So they want to hire people who they think can make it to the industry. And if you can’t communicate, well, it’s harder for you in the industry. So, definitely verbal score matters but not as much as the overall score. I’m not too sure whether work experience will compensate for it, but it definitely adds on, it makes your SOP stronger. It gives you a stronger reason why you want to do your master’s. More than admissions, I think you will have better chances in your job search. For admissions, I wouldn’t say it’s a great advantage. Around 80 percent of my class is fresh out from undergrad; just fewer than 20 percent have work experience. So your chances don’t necessarily increase, but yeah, I think you will probably get a better understanding of the course if you have work experience.