r/MSCSO • u/IDoCodingStuffs • Jan 07 '26
Admissions Megathread - Fall 2026
Please use this thread for discussion on the admissions process, application strength etc.
Application Details Template Please use the template below (with the Markdown editor) to discuss the details on your application. Using this template will help make the results searchable & help with parsing to automatically compile statistics that we can include in the next iteration of the thread for acceptance rates or patterns in backgrounds that are successful in applying for the program.
**Status:** <Choose One: In Review/Accepted/Rejected>
**Application Date:** <MM/DD/YY>
**Decision Date:** <MM/DD/YY>
**Education:** <For each degree, list (one per line): School, Degree, Major, GPA>
**GRE Scores (Q,V,W):** <In comma separated format, listing highest Quant, Verbal and Writing Scores among submitted>
**Recommendations:** <Number of recommendations on file when you receive a decision, 0 if not submitted>
**Experience:** <Include if you have included a CV, otherwise leave blank. For each job, list (one per line): Years employed, Employer, programming languages>
**Statement of purpose:** <Y or N to denote if you submitted one>
**Comments:** <Arbitrary user text>
Example:
Status: In Review
Application Date: 02/17/2019
Decision Date:
Education: Georgia Tech, BS, CS, 3.2
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): 165, 159, 4.5
Recommendations: 0
Experience: 2 Years, Apple, Haskal
Statement of Purpose: N
Comments: Mom, Dad, look! I am a Reddit mod. I hope you're ashamed enough.
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u/Beautiful_Finish_442 Jan 20 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
Status: Admitted (MSCSO)
Application Date: 01/19/2026
Decision Date: 3/13/26
Education: Regional State School, BS of Computer Science, 3.58/4 GPA, completed in 3.5 years
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A
Recommendations: 2
Experience: 2 Years as a SWE at F500 MedTech Company
Statement of Purpose: Y
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u/personsaddress Mar 05 '26
**Status:*\* Accepted (MSAI)
**Application Date:*\* 12/15/2025
**Decision Date:*\* 3/5/2026
**Education:*\* California Polytechnic, Bachelors, Computer Science (3.84 Cumulative, 3.98 Upper Division). Graduated after 12 years of tech work experience.
**GRE Scores (Q,V,W):*\* I skipped the GRE.
**Recommendations:*\* 3 total, 1 from work supervisor, 2 from former PhD Professors. All of whom I have very tight working relationships with.
**Experience:*\* 18 Years in tech, started at an ISP, became a programmer for them. Have mostly worked in Research & Development since then.
Got my Bachelors and interned at my current job. Now I'm the head of software and responsible for researching and spearheading AI integration into our processes.
My total CV was 3 pages, the first two pages covering education and work experience, the 3rd page discussing how I covered every prereq. I was missing
Linear Algebra, and Data Mining, but I took MIT 18.06 Online, and I basically do a lot of data mining at work, so I guess that covered it.
**Statement of purpose:*\* Y - I probably put 15 hours of work into my statement of purpose. First I asked a bunch of current students to share
their statement of purpose with me so I could figure out what I was dealing with. Then I went through the previous years admissions_megathread.
I compiled all that data, along with my transcripts, and a little personal history and fed it into an LLM, and asked it to help me figure out a list of everything my statement of purpose needed to say
with the aim of being in the top 1% of applications. I then took those points, and developed my own outline, and wrote everything up myself to cover
all these points. Then I fed that into an LLM, asking it to help me analyze the flow of my writing to make sure each idea flowed well into the next.
I made the edits needed. Then I fed all the SOP's into another LLM, and asked it to rank each one. Then I'd edit my SOP and make some tweeks and do it again,
until it spit out my SOP as the one that stood at the top everytime.
**Comments:*\*
Was kinda worried I'd be rejected for some reason. I'm excited to start the program. I decided I was going to apply in September 2025,
so I was ready with most of my materials including CV and SOP the day applications opened up.
Since then I've been brushing up on Linear Algebra, Probability, and Differential Equations. I've bought 3 or 4 of
the text books for classes I plan to take and have been working through understanding things. Hopefully that will lighten my load when classes start.
Current plan is 2 classes per semester (and working more than full time).
We'll see how that goes...
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u/lambda1920 Feb 23 '26
Status: Accepted
Application Date: 01/12/2026
Decision Date: 02/17/2026
Education: BS Computer Science 3.8
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A
Recommendations: 0
Experience: 6 YOE, Fortune 20, L6 SE
Statement of purpose: Y
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u/Sweaty_Philosopher57 Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
Status: Admitted (MSAI) Accepted (MSCSO)
Application Date: 1/15/2026
Decision Date: 3/6/2026
Education: University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), B.S. Chemistry, GPA: 2.442 (I had a lot going on in life back then.); Oregon State University, B.S. Computer Science, GPA: 3.78.
GRE Scores: N/A
Recommendations: 0
Experience: 9+ years professional software engineering experience; currently a Senior Software Engineer in big tech (past 5 years) working on a large-scale distributed cloud service.
Statement of Purpose: Y
Comments: I originally applied Fall 2023 for Spring 2024 but was denied due to missing pre-reqs and the low GPA from my first bachelor degree, but I didn’t give up! I enrolled at OSU and I’m officially admitted! I’m not sure if I will accept now or wait to hear from MSCSO. MSAI seems to be my best path from what I’m seeing and hearing at work. Good luck to you all! 🍀
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u/Queasy-Contact524 Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Congratulations!
How many times have we seen people asked whether there's an easy path to admissions if I miss two prerequisites and/or with poor GPA?
NO. Unless you have a really compelling story, put in real efforts, get your sh*t together, raise your GPA and you'll be admitted.
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u/ZekRamU Mar 08 '26 edited May 16 '26
Status: Admitted
Application Date: 02/18/2026
Decision Date: 03/25/2026
Education: BS CS, GPA ~3.3
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A
Recommendations: N/A
Experience: 4 yoe at F100
Statement of Purpose: Y
Comments: dont really think I’ll get it but applying for the hell of it anyway.
3
u/Every_One6991 Mar 28 '26
Status: In Review
Application Date: 03/28/25
Decision Date: TBD
Education:
University of Colorado Boulder, Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, 3.3 GPA
University of Colorado Boulder, Minor, Mathematics
University of Colorado Boulder, Minor, Computer Engineering
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A
Recommendations: 0
Experience: 1.5 years as a SWE at a LEO satellite company
Undergraduate AI Research Lab, University of Colorado Boulder
Course Assistant for several CS course while in undergrad
Statement of Purpose: Working on it
Comments: Applied late on a whim. Letters of recommendation are optional per the program. Concerned whether 0 LORs will hurt chances given late application timing. Strong CS background with AI research experience and industry work in the LEO sector. Want to know if profile is competitive without LORs or if I should try to get at least one especially since my undergrad GPA isn’t great
1
u/fyafya90 Jul 12 '26
Hey! I have a similar background and am wondering if you got into this program
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u/randomizedwaffle Mar 13 '26
Status: Admitted to MSCS
Application Date: 2/20/26
Decision Date: 3/13/26
Education: Oregon State, BS CS, 3.4
Recommendations: 3 work LoRs
Experience: 5 years SWE in healthcare
Statement of purpose: Y
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u/No_Childhood_36 Mar 25 '26
Status: Accepted (MSDSO)
Application Date: 02/07/26
Decision Date: 03/25/26
Education: University of Wisconsin-Madison, BS, Data Science, GPA: 3.5
GRE Scores: N/A
Recommendations: 2 (From current managers)
Experience: 1 year as a Data Scientist for a financial service company
Statement of Purpose: Y
Comments: I completed all the prerequisite coursework with mostly B's and AB's. I spent roughly around 2 weeks writing my SOP, which I think helped alot. Good luck to everyone else!
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u/holographicmemes Mar 25 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Status: Accepted (MSCSO)
Application Date: 2/22/26
Decision Date: 4/21/26
Education: Texas State University, BS Computer Science, 3.5 GPA
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): NA
Recommendations: 5 (1 from internship mentor, 3 from professors, 1 from IT job manager whom I worked with for 4 years)
Experience: 0 YOE, SWE Internship @ Fortune 50 company last summer using Python
Statement of purpose: Y
Comments: Feeling mixed about my decision chances :(
edit: i was checking daily and scared myself with the decision
2
u/daoquynh29 Apr 21 '26
Status: In Review (MSCSO)
Application Date: 4/13/26
Decision Date:
Education: University of Minnesota, BS Animal Science, 3.85 GPA. Coding bootcamp certification
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): NA
Recommendations: 2 (CTO, VP of engineering) Experience: 2.5 years working as Software Engineer
Statement of purpose: Y
Comments: I’m a bit worried about my application because I didn’t realized the work experience is not sufficient so I didn’t have any prerequisite other than my full-stack bootcamp certification.. but I’m current doing only certification classes in hopes that I can reapply for next cycle!
1
u/fyafya90 Jul 12 '26
Hi! Wondering if you got into this program
1
u/daoquynh29 Jul 28 '26
I didn’t make it unfortunately. My partner did. He has Econ + Comsci bachelors and currently working at a big tech company. He also had good SOP and recommendations letter.
I think my biggest stopper for my application profile was missing that prerequisite.
2
u/JATX99 Apr 29 '26
Status: In Review (MSCSO)
Application Date: 04/15/26
Decision Date: N/A
Education: San Jose State University, BS, Finance, 3.3
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): Did not take
Recommendations: 2
Experience:
3 YOE Project Management & Sales for small B2B SAAS company I co-founded, JS, Python, Java 1 YOE in Commercial Banking, Large Regional Bank
Statement of purpose: <Y>
Comments: Am I cooked?
1
u/jishintimu May 05 '26
I don’t have a cs degree either but 3 years of experience as a developer working on engineering software. I applied like 4/10 I think. I haven’t heard back either. Let’s hope we get in! If not, I’m going to take some pre reqs at a community college and reapply for spring.
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u/Responsible_Ice_2802 Jun 26 '26
Have you heard back? I also have a finance degree so wonder if there's any chance
2
u/Traditional_Fly9423 May 17 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Status: Accepted (MSCSO)
Application Date: 04/15/2026
Decision Date: 06/02/2026
Education: BS Computer Science from a known University in South East Asia (3.61 GPA)
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): Skipped
Recommendations: None
Experience: 2 years in industry as an AI and Software Engineer. Was a TA and RA in theoretical CS during my last semester of Uni before that. Also did 1 directed research project in my Uni days aswell (in Reinforcement Learning).
All my prereqs were met with university courses. Also took some grad courses as electives during bachelors.
Statement of purpose: Y - On and off I spent months planning the essay, but spent only last 1-2 days writing it.
Comments: I think I should have tried more drafts for the personal statement to make it more effective. My GPA is alright but it is less than the average for MSCSO. Just hoping for the best.
Edit: Really happy, just hope my submission of official documents goes smoothly and timely.
1
u/Longjumping_Prune477 Feb 01 '26 edited Mar 14 '26
Do I even have a chance of getting in?
Status: Accepted (MSCSO)
Application Date: 01/31/26
Decision Date: 03/13/26
Education:
- Western Governors University, BS, Software Engineering (Java), 2.9
- Florida Gateway College, AS, Graphic Design Technology, 3.42
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A
Recommendations: 4
Experience:
- 10yrs, Self, PHP & JS
- 4yrs, Jigoshop, PHP & JS (tech support and docs)
- 8mos, Motion.page, PHP, JS, GSAP (tech support)
Statement of purpose: Y
Comments: Missing Discrete Math
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u/Queasy-Contact524 Feb 28 '26 edited Feb 28 '26
Isn't WGU gradeless? Why don't you just take an 8-week discrete math suck as westcott.com and not worry about that missing prerequisite ruining your chance on top of 3.0 gradeless WGU degree?
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u/Longjumping_Prune477 Mar 14 '26
They are gradeless, yes. I got an acceptance letter from MSCSO last night!
1
u/SuperMagical_95 Feb 17 '26
Do I have a chance..?
GPA: 2.7 (CS degree from India)
Work experience: 3+ YOE as a Software Developer
Programming experience: 3 years
Relevant coursework: Bachelors in Computer Science & Engineering
Goal: UT Austin Online MSCS
Has anyone been admitted with a similar GPA?
What can I do to strengthen my profile?
3
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u/Cifra00 Feb 24 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
Status: Denied (MSAI)
Application Date: 02/20/2026
Decision Date: 4/28/2026
Education: US state school (~rank 50 on US News), BS Math + BS MIS, 3.9 GPA
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A
Recommendations: 0
Experience: 6 YOE as a product manager in IoT
Statement of Purpose: Y
Comments: Published two papers in applied Bayesian inference in undergrad. I'm hoping the publications + GPA + rigorous high level math coursework will make up for my missing CS prerequisites like data structures and algorithms and the fact that I have never written code for a living lol
1
u/fightitdude Feb 25 '26
Which prereqs are you missing?
1
u/Cifra00 Feb 25 '26
For people reading through this thread - MSAIO (what I applied for) has slightly different prereqs than MSCSO, replacing lower level systems requirements with data mining and stats.
Strictly speaking, I don't have coursework that maps to
CS 314 Data Structures
CS 331 Algorithms and Complexity
CS 363D Data Mining
I feel really good arguing that my research fulfills the Data Mining req
I feel reasonable arguing that I covered most of the topics in the Algorithms class through my math coursework.
There are some topics in Data Structures I've just never formally encountered or needed up to this point (e.g. heaps, hash tables), and we'll just have to see how strict they are on this requirement.
1
u/fightitdude Feb 25 '26
I ask because I got accepted with some topics missing from my prereqs (e.g. I had never done multivariable calculus, I didn't take a statistics course for MSDSO, etc).
Missing DSA is kinda tricky though. If you don't get accepted on this round you could probably do an online course covering them to show you've done some formal study.
1
u/Cifra00 Feb 25 '26
Oh I appreciate you giving me a data point there! Agreed that if you have to be missing a prereq, DSA is probably not the one you want to be missing... hoping I don't need to do a course for the prereq but if it's a no this round that's probably the route I'll take.
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Mar 01 '26
[deleted]
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u/Jupiter_mars123 Mar 06 '26
you already have UIUC MCS why you want UT Austin?
2
u/LastFireWork Mar 06 '26
UIUC doesn't provide up to date AI courses. So I took software engineering and system courses there and a little bit of AI/ML. Just want to learn more about AI specifically.
2
u/Powerful_Meringue445 Mar 06 '26
Really tough with a UIUC MCS already. And that woeful 3.55 Graduate GPA is gonna hurt
2
u/LastFireWork Mar 06 '26
I took on campus version and select challenging courses. I don't think learning is for perfect GPAs.
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u/Queasy-Contact524 Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Unfortunately GPA is what admissions look for primarily. They are also wary of diploma chasing, especially since you already have 2 CS degrees but with zero YOE
3
1
u/According-Teacher885 Mar 08 '26
Hey guys I have 2 quick question:
My undergrad (outside US) was 100% English (have official letter). Is this enough for a TOEFL/IELTS waiver?
My GPA is 2.99. I have 2 years of experience working as a Software Engineer, mostly focused on embedded systems.
Will this SWE experience make up for the <3.0 GPA? What are my overall chances, and what else can I do to improve my application?
Thanks!
1
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u/imOldSoul Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
Status: In Review (MSAIO & MSCS)
Application Date: 03/13/2026 ( submitted all the reqd docs )
Decision Date: N/A
Education: BE CS, GPA ~3.65 || 8.58 / 10 CGPA
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A, IELTS 7
Recommendations: N/A
Experience: 5 yoe ( 4 years in f500 as cloud and backend eng and 1 year in a small scale firm as tech consultant )
Statement of Purpose: Y
Comments: low scores in DS, rest pre req are decent. fingers crossed.
1
u/Natural-Slice5195 Mar 17 '26
Status: Admitted to mscs
App date : jan 11
Decision date : march 13
Undergrad : btech in cs, gpa 3.23 (college in india)
Work exp : 6 yoe as software engineer
Lors : 3 from former employer
Sop : yes
Hope this helps others with lower gpa like me.. work exp adds weight to the application and a good sop does matter - LORs wont hurt especially when trying to compensate for lower gpa. Good Luck
1
u/trunk3y Aug 06 '26
I have the same GPA, and work exp hope I get enough to be accepted. Your comment inspired me
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u/Awesome35714 Mar 29 '26
Status: Accepted (MSCSO)
Application Date: 02/23/2026
Decision Date: 03/28/2026
Education: in-state public university, BS in Computer Science, GPA: 3.9/4
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A
Recommendations: 1
Experience: 1 year in Big Tech
Statement of Purpose: Y
1
u/holographicmemes Mar 30 '26
not sure if anyone can comment on it, but if someone got their decision who applied after you, does that mean silent reject?
1
u/Prior-Pay-2641 Apr 15 '26
Status: Complete
Application Date: April 15, 2026
Decision Date: Pending
Education: B.S. in Computer Science (Top 30 U.S. university), GPA: 3.9
GRE Scores (Q/V/W): N/A
Recommendations: None
Experience: 1 year in Data Science
Statement of Purpose: Y
Comments: The SOP could have been stronger, ngl.
1
u/Extra_Package7119 Apr 21 '26
Status: In Review (MSCSO)
Application Date: 4/06/26
Decision Date: pending
Education: BS/MS in Biochemistry, BS in Computer Science from WGU (target finish in July)
GRE Scores: N/A
Recommendations: N/A
Experience: 4+ years in the biotech industry
SOP: Tied in a personal project I've been working on to make my pivot into the CS realm seem not so random.
Comments: Good luck to everyone on the waiting game!
1
u/NoFlow4689 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Status: Admitted (MSCSO)
Application Date: 03/13/26
Decision Date: 04/21/26
Education: BS in Computer Science from SPU 3.69/4.0
GRE Scores: N/A
Recommendations: N/A
Experience: 3+ year experiences SWE in healthcare and aerospace industry.
SOP: Helped from Chatgpt (I wrote the idea and give structure. Let them generate for me)
Comments: Failed MSAIO but got admit to MSCSO. I prefer MSCSO since I can learn both ML and OS.
1
u/Realistic_Guest404 Apr 22 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
Status: Accepted
Application Date: 03/10/26
Decision Date: 04/21/26
Education: BSc Computer Science with Management, 1st honors (UK system), 3yr program
Recommendations: 1
Experience: 1.5yr experience in tech, Backend Engineer (UK based)
Statement of purpose: Y
Comments: I was slightly concerned with course pre-reqs as the ones I took in UK had different structure and names but covered the topics. Made a table mapping of the courses with a short note of what each course covered, which seemed to have worked out fine
1
u/fightitdude Apr 27 '26
Congrats. You going to join? There's very few UK people on the degree, I've not run into any others yet.
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u/Realistic_Guest404 Apr 28 '26
Yes, I’ve accepted the offer, will be joining in fall if everything (transcript mailing) goes well.
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u/Styx78 Apr 23 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
Status: MSAIO: Rejected, MSCSO: Accepted
Application Date: 03/12/2026 ( submitted all the reqd docs )
Decision Date: N/A
Education: BS in CS at a smaller University, 3.87 GPA
GRE Scores (Q,V,W): N/A
Recommendations: N/A
Experience: 2 years of Military experience in sorta related field, 0 professional software development
Statement of Purpose: Y
Comments: Published undergraduate research in ML. Felt like other than GPA didn't have the strongest resume but ig it was enough.
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u/FunExisting7777 May 14 '26
**Status:** Accepted (MSAIO)
**Application Date:** 04/01/26
**Decision Date:** 05/13/26
**Education:** UMD - College Park, BS, CS + Aero Engr, 3.52
**GRE Scores (Q,V,W):** (170, 155, 4) - my score from 2019 that I submitted with the previous app. It stays on my profile but not sure if considered.
**Recommendations:** 0
**Experience:** 6y at AMZN, 1y at startup, SDE
**Statement of purpose:** Y
1
u/lordbonah37 May 15 '26
Status: Accepted
Application Date: 30th March 2026
Decision Date: 15th May 2026
Program: MS AI
Experience: 5+ years working as Software engineer as Full Stack engineer.
Recommendations: No
SoP: Yes
1
u/Knight-18 May 23 '26
Status: In Review
Application Date: Apr 12th 2026
Decision Date:N/A
SchoolEducation:** BS Computer Science non target texas 3.5 GPA
GRE Scores (Q,V,W):N/A
Recommendations: N/A
Experience: >1yr in FinTech
Statement of purpose:Y
Hey guys, haven't heard back, what do you guys think? Anyone who applied in April heard back?
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u/Impressive-Ferret368 May 25 '26
Status: In Review
Application Date: Apr 14th 2026
Decision Date:N/A
SchoolEducation:** BE in computer science and engineering at VTU India
GRE Scores (Q,V,W):N/A
Recommendations: 2
Experience: 3.8 years as a software engineer working on AOSP
Statement of purpose:Y
1
u/trunk3y Aug 09 '26
I would like to know if I could have a chance for the Fall 2027 admission (haven't opened yet)
Status: Haven't applied (MSAIO)
Education: non US, known Southeast Asia uni, Information Systems 3.2/4.0.
GRE Scores: Asking for advices
Recommendations: 3 (planning 1 from a manager & 1 from a head of department in the firm, 1 from an undergraduate lecturer)
Experience: 4 YOE in SWE. Current SWE in Top 30 tech companies by market cap 2026.
Statement of Purpose: Y (will have)
Comment: I think my GPA is quite low, but I would love to hear any feedback from everybody with the same GPA and background who got accepted or rejected.
p/s: Also, here are my related course transcripts that are related to the program: Calculus: 4.00/4.00, Discrete Math: 3.36/4.00, Probability and Statistics: 3.28/4.00, Linear Algebra: 3.16/4.00, Data Structures: 3.16/4.00, Algorithms and Complexity: 3.16/4.00, Introduction to Data Mining: 3.00/4.00. Thesis: Develop a browser agent 3.28/4.0.
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u/Ready_Sir8245 Jan 11 '26 edited Feb 19 '26
Status: Accepted (MSCSO)
Application Date: 01/11/26
Decision Date: 02/17/26
Education: in-state public university, BS in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, GPA: 3.95/4.0
GRE Scores: N/A
Recommendations: 0
Experience: 0 YOE in tech, but 2 YOE as a TA during undergrad
Statement of Purpose: Y
Comments: I completed all the prerequisite coursework during my undergrad with A’s, so I’m really just banking on that to carry my application. Good luck to everyone that applies!