I have a bachelor degree in Computer Science, and is curretly working
at an IT Consulting firm.  I am planning to purse a master degree in
Computer Science to enhance my technical skills.  Do high tech
companies place more weight on work experience or education?  Also,
with my scores and background, what tier of universities I can get
into?
GRE: v640, m790, a680
GPA: 3.6 (from USC)
2 years of work experience at an IT consulting firm
excellent recommendations from managers.
1-2 ok recommendations from professors.
Do I have any chances of getting into Stanford, Cornell, UCLA, UCSD,
CMU and UMich?

Hi kongyee,

   Good day and thanks for your question. The reason I posted a
comment earlier and not an answer was because I was working on another
answer and guidelines forbid us to 'lock' more than one question.
Regarding your question about the institutions I got admission to, I'm
applying for fall 2003, and will get to know only in April next.

Q1. Do high tech companies place more weight on work experience or
education?

  This depends on what sort of work experience you have. In today's
market with major economic slowdowns, it is essential you have a
combination of the two. More importantly, you should be able to work
independently. The companies want people who are innovative in their
thinking. Many companies who conduct aptitude tests ask questions like
"What is the taste of purple" and "What is the sex of 6".

   Depending on the position and the field of work, certain jobs
require that candidates have the appropriate educational background or
its equivalent. There are of course many other jobs and professions
that require a college degree but do not necessarily require
specialized academic study. Nevertheless, education and experience
usually are considered equally important to any job.

Q2. Also, with my scores and background, what tier of universities I
can get into?

   You can definitely get into one of the top tier universities. You
were able to get into a top tier university for your BS (USC), so you
definitely have it in you to get into a top tier university. In your
list, Stanford, CMU & UMich will be the tough ones to get into.
Admission is highly competitive. No doubt, you have an edge over
others as far as work experience is concerned. An international
research paper would have helped, but its not an absolute necessity.
Some stats regarding graduate admission for the universities you've
listed

Stanford (which happens to be Google's original home)
--------
2000 acceptance rate : 39%
2001 acceptance rate : 36%
Avg UG GPA : N/A
2000 GRE Verbal : 550
2000 GRE Quants: 769
2000 GRE Analytical : 703
2001 GRE Quants : 770
2001 GRE Analytical : 710

The figures for the other universities (in the same order)
Cornell : 28%  27%  N/A  544  768  700  771  726
UCLA : 42  36.8  3.57  490  770  660  780  680
UCSD : 20  22.1 3.45  531  758  688  766  708
CMU : 16  21.1  3.61  568  770  718  770  730
UMich : 38  33.6  3.5  524  765  703  768  709

There is no problem with your GRE scores and your GPA, and the fact
that you have work experience could be an added advantage. Make sure
you have strong recommendations (minimum 1 professor - if you have 2
its good) and your Statement of Purpose/Objectives should be crisp and
clear.

I would also advise you to include some "backup universities", say 2
or 3 - universities which you know you are sure to get

Good luck with your admissions.

If you have any clarifications, then please don't hesitate to ask

Regards,
Aditya.

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Request for Answer Clarification by kongyee-ga on 05 Nov 2002 14:34 PST

Thanks for your clear explanation!  But I would like to know, where
did you retrieve the data(GRE and GPA) from? and is the data for CS
admission only or for engineering admission as a whole?

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Clarification of Answer by aditya2k-ga on 06 Nov 2002 01:32 PST

Hi kongyee,

  The stats are for grad admissions on the whole and not only CS. As a
rule of the thumb, add 0.2 to the GPA and 30 to the GRE scores.

  I got these stats from the usnews.com site (when it was free). I was
lucky to save some information before they made it a pay site. I did
collect quite a bit of information as even I'm pursuing an MS.

Cheers,
Aditya2K

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Clarification of Answer by aditya2k-ga on 06 Nov 2002 01:36 PST

By grad admissions on the whole, I mean engineering admissions.
Anything more you need, don't hesitate to ask.

kongyee....we're both sailing on the same boat.

My gre is 600-800-790, 79% acads. Its difficult to say for sure if you
will get into those universities. There are various factors. like
recommendation letters, SOP etc..

can you tell me what kind of institutions you got admitted to?  I
don't want to shoot for something too high...