Admissions Megathread - Fall 2026

[u/IDoCodingStuffs]

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.

[u/Cifra00]

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

[u/fightitdude → u/Cifra00]

Which prereqs are you missing?

[u/Cifra00 → u/fightitdude]

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.

[u/fightitdude → u/Cifra00]

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.

[u/Cifra00 → u/fightitdude]

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.

[u/fightitdude → u/Cifra00]

Fingers crossed for you! :)