2020 Fall CS MS/PhD 申请

Lessons

• Please DO do a summer research internship both in the summer of second year and third year if you want to apply for Top 10 CS universities, this means that you can get two recommendation letters from two faculties in U.S. universities which are much stronger than recommendations from your own university.

• Recommendation letters from famous faculties are the most important, they can better help you get an offer than one top conference paper. So if you can not publish a top conference paper, at least keep in good relationship with your recommender.

• Before asking recommendation letters from your recommenders, please make sure how strong the letter is, take it easy to directly ask them since letters can significantly influence your application results. Be careful if your recommenders from U.S. universities say that they can not write strong letters, a normal letter may have bad influence since most other applicants have strong letters.

• If you are advised by two faculties in summer research but only one faculty closely works with you and knows most of your work while another faculty is more famous. It’s best to ask the faculty who works closely with you to write a strong letter draft and let the famous faculty submit. However, please keep in mind that it’s even better when the faculty works closely with you submit a strong letter for you than the famous faculty submit a normal letter. A strong letter really matters, give up the reputation if you have to choose from a strong letter from a less famous faculty and a normal letter from a more famous faculty. Normal letters really hurt even if the recommender is famous.

• If you have to choose recommender from your own university, choose your research advisor instead of course instructors. It’s no doubt that your research advisor knows you better than course instructors.

• For MS applications, please do make sure your TOEFL score is larger than 105 while GRE score is larger than 325+3.5, these scores can prevent you from being rejected by committee or application system.

• All in all, do research as early as possible if you want to apply for PhD programs. But this dose not mean that you should enter the research lab very early and do useless work such as labeling dataset or running baselines for others’ paper in it. Keep in mind you are there to learn how to conduct researches and find your research interest. It’s best to find a faculty who is willing to advise you from choosing a topic to writing a paper. Faculties from your own universities may not be willing to accept you at first or second year, do not believe that you are too early to enter the lab. Your courses do nothing to your research and everybody who begins to do research needs learning.

BackGround

Education Background

GPA: 3.87/4.3 90/100
Rank: 3/78(少年班学院计算机方向) 8/226(所有计算机方向学生)
TOEFL: 28+26+23+26(103)
GRE: 154+169+3.5

Research Background

Research Interests: Software Engineering and Security

One full-time research experience (UIUC暑研: Prof. TaoXie)
Full Paper submitted to USENIX ATC 2020

One part-time research experience (USTC实验室: Prof. YinxingXue)
Workshop Paper

Program Selection

Selection Principles: If more than two professor in one university whose researches match more than 60 percent with mine, apply for Ph.D. program in this universities; Otherwise apply for M.S. program.

Selection Range: Top 30 in CSRankings

Ph.D. Programs: CS@Purdue, CS@UChicago, CS@UIUC, CS@NEU, IST@PSU, CS@UW, CS@Cornell, CS@Gatech

M.S. Programs: CS-MSE@CMU, ECE-MSE@CMU, INI-MSIN@CMU, MSCS@Columbia, CSE@Umich, MSCS@WISC, MSCS@UCSD, CIS@UPenn, MSCS@USC, MSE@USC, MSCS@NYU Tandon, MCS@Rice

Application Materials

Taoci Email

A Top 3 USTC Student Interested in Your Group

Hi Prof. xxx,
I am a student majoring in computer science at University of Science and Technology of China. I have great passion in learning and research and get full marks in over fifty percent of major classes. I have strong interests in your group and I wonder if you accept PhD students in coming 2020 Fall.

The two research projects I did in the undergraduate period are both about security. The first project is building a more precise and efficient detection tool to find the vulnerabilities in smart contracts used in the Ethereum. Those vulnerabilities such as DAO caused millions of dollars lost and it’s very necessary for a smart contract to avoid those vulnerabilities. The second project is advised by Prof. Taoxie when I was doing my summer research in UIUC. In this project we try to repair the vulnerabilities reported by detection tools in Ethereum. Using the fix tool we built programmers do not need to fix vulnerabilities one by one like fixing bugs reported by compilers and can focus on the main logic flaws. I am now preparing a paper towards USENIX2020 about this project. From these two projects I find out that security is an important part in today’s computer systems and I also accumulated some relative skills during these researches. 

I am very interested in your research area and I think security researches are significant and can really make influence on industry. I am looking forward to working with you so I wonder if you accept PhD students this year.

The attachments are my resume and transcript. I hope to get your reply soon.
Thank you for your patience!
Best wishes,
Yun Peng

Statement of Purpose – Normal Version

The first time I saw a computer, a question came to my mind: how did a computer really shut down after I clicked the “shut down” button on the screen? This question interested me, so I tried to find the answer to it. After entering college and obtaining basic knowledge about computers, I realized that “shutting down” was a complicated process related to the operating system, computer architecture, digital circuits, and more. Having a fundamental understanding of computer science, I realized that we can not only learn the principles of a computer but also define and modify them, which gives us a chance to create a world in a computer using our creativity and imagination. This plasticity and freedom in computer science strongly inspire me to pursue further knowledge in this field.

Having been selected to the Elite Class as a top 3 student in my department, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to receive the best education in the School of Computer Science at University of Science and Technology of China. During the first three years, I explored my research interests by working on diversified research topics provided by the program. In addition, the program offered numerous mathematical courses, such as Graph Theory and Mathematical Logic, which improved my ability of logical thinking. I also worked diligently to accumulate programming experience and handle practical problems by doing extra projects out of class. My hard work and full support of the education program equipped me with essential research skills and prerequisite learning abilities, which motivated me to pursue a graduate program in the future.

I found my interests in software analysis through my compiler class. In the course research project, I chose the topic of finding and analyzing hot functions, the most frequently used functions, in the programs written by both C and Python. This work was challenging since hot functions are always implemented by C but wrapped by a Python interface, so I had to develop a method that could analyze both C and Python. Stuck on this problem, I tried to review the code of built-in analyzers from large libraries such as OpenCV. Inspired by their ideas, I built an unwrapper to process the interactions between the codes in Python and C, making the existing single language analyzer useful for this project. My work was highly regarded by the professor, and I was invited to present my work in front of the class, which gave me a great sense of achievement and cultivated my passion for software analysis.

With this wonderful introduction and further investigation of this topic, I realized that software analysis is a boundless and significant field that I could not wait to study further. Fortunately, I found a fascinating research project about security analysis of blockchain in Prof. Yinxing Xue’s lab. Blockchain has been a hot topic in recent years, and many blockchain platforms such as Ethereum have been established. However, there were many emerging vulnerabilities in these platforms that caused millions of dollars of losses, so it was highly urgent to identify and fix them. In our project, we tried to pinpoint vulnerabilities of smart contracts, a computer protocol playing a role of agency used in Ethereum. There were some existing detection tools, but they all had a high false-positive rate. False positive warnings create trouble for programmers by providing incorrect messages. However, decreasing the false positive rate is difficult due to the limitation of static analysis and inaccuracy of vulnerability patterns. To achieve the goal of a low false-positive rate, I reviewed a lot of real-world smart contracts and identified an explanation for high false-positive warnings: current detection tools mistook protections used by programmers for vulnerabilities. I then collected different kinds of typical protections from existing smart contracts and modified vulnerability patterns. By eliminating a main drawback of current detection tools, the false-positive rate of our tool decreased by 20% compared to other detection tools. This research project not only strengthened my ability of quick learning and problem-solving but also offered me a clear view of how a research project was conducted, which provided me with an essential reference for my future career planning.

During my second research project, I thought, why not build a tool to repair the vulnerabilities automatically instead of showing rebarbative warnings to programmers? This idea inspired me, and soon I delved into another research project with Prof. Tao Xie’s group at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I first designed a repair pipeline that firstlytransformed the source code into an abstract syntax tree, then modified the abstract syntax tree using the fix solutions summarized in advance, and finally transformed it back to source code. However, I was soon stuck on a problem: the accuracy of current detection tools which we had used to locate vulnerabilities were limited by the high false-positive rate. To handle this problem, I did a lot of research on other relative fixing tools and discussed with my co-researchers. Finally, I realized that my pipeline lacked an important aspect—pre-processing, which was usually designed to exclude the factors unrelated to research goals. Implementing this part, I filtered 99 percent of the false-positive warning and reserved 97 percent true-positive warnings, which indicated that this part would not largely affect the authenticity of the repair tool. Another challenge was to fix the DAO vulnerability. It was much more complex and severe than other vulnerabilities. In its repair process, we were highly likely to change the semantics, which was not allowed. We had to ensure we did not change the semantics, but I was unsure how we could check our work. Writing test cases for every contract would be time consuming and hard to cover its all functionalities. Thinking about this problem, the characteristics of block chain drew my attention. In a block chain, all transactions are public and could be viewed by anyone. We could directly use these existing and free test cases to evaluate our tool. This proposal was highly praised by other group members, and we finished the testing portion in a short time. At the end of project, I achieved an up to 80 percent fix rate. Currently I am preparing the paper about this work, and it will be submitted to USENIX ATC 2020 on January 15. Throughout this research project, I improved my professional skillset, such as static analysis and pointer analysis. I also acquired additional knowledge and experience about pre-processing and testing in the field of software engineering, which will definitely support my future research and academic pursuits.In the field of software engineering, there are currently not only new areas such as blockchain to conduct research, but also new techniques such as machine learning, which offers different solutions for researchers. Though this field is well developed, it still has strong potential and significance, and we still have plenty of problems to deal with. With the skills and knowledge I learned through my research experiences in my undergraduate period and my continued interest in software engineering, I am confident enough to work on the subject of software analysis and software security in my PhD education. I know that Pennsylvania State University has many excellent professors and research labs in this field. For example, I am really interested in Prof. xxx’s research on cyber security and software systems in which he used machine learning methods to detect and fix software vulnerabilities. If granted admission, I do believe my study and research at Penn State will put me on a solid and promising path to success.

Statement of Purpose – Gatech Version

Q1: Briefly describe your eventual career objective.

I hope to become an industry researcher because I am passionate about solving practical problems and improving people’s lives.

Q2: Please describe your background (academic and extracurricular) and experience, including research, teaching, industry, and other relevant information.

I excelled academically, as demonstrated by my rank as one of the top three students in my department. As a member of the Elite Class, I was able to take more advanced mathematics courses, which improved my problem solving and logical thinking abilities. Outside of class, I worked to build experience and expertise in programming by pursuing extracurricular projects.

In terms of my research experiences, I first realized my interest in research through my compiler class. For the course research project, I chose to find and analyze hot functions in C and Python programs. I built an unwrapper to process the interactions between the code on the Python side and on the C side so that I could leverage existing single language analyzers. This unwrapper was really fascinating for me to build, and helped me develop an interest in software engineering.

My second research project aimed to pinpoint the vulnerabilities of smart contracts in Ethereum. To decrease the high false-positive rates of existing detection tools, I identified various typical protections used by programmers which were usually mistaken for vulnerabilities in existing smart contracts and compiled them to the detection pattern. Using this modified detection pattern, I was ultimately able to achieve a 20 percent drop in the false-positive rate when compared to the average rate for other detection tools.My current research project, advised by Professor Tao Xie at UIUC, aims to automatically repair vulnerabilities reported by detection tools. For this project, I first implemented a pre-processor to filter out 99 percent of false positive warnings while retaining 97 percent of true positive warnings, then converted the source code to an abstract syntax tree, transformed it according to corresponding solutions, and finally converted it back to the source code. Through this process, I was able to achieve an 80 percent fix rate. I am currently finalizing my paper on this project, and will submit it to USENIX ATC 2020.

Q3: Please give a Statement of Purpose detailing your academic and research goals as well as career plans. Include your reasons for choosing the College of Computing as opposed to other programs and/or other universities.

The first time I saw a computer, a question came to my mind: how did a computer really shut down after I clicked the “shut down” button on the screen? This question interested me, so I tried to find the answer to it. After entering college and obtaining basic knowledge about computers, I realized that “shutting down” is a complicated process related to the operating system, computer architecture, digital circuits, and more. Having a fundamental understanding of computer science, I realized that we can not only learn the principles of a computer but also define and modify them, which gives us a chance to create a world in a computer using our creativity and imagination. This plasticity and freedom in computer science strongly inspire me to pursue further knowledge in this field.

I first developed my interest through a small project, in which I built a tool to help analyze interactions between C and Python in one program. I was really excited to have built a new tool independently, and I continued to push myself with other projects. I believe that projects in this field address some of the most pressing concerns in the world, which meant that my work could have a direct positive impact on people’s lives. In the field of software engineering, there are not only new areas of research such as blockchain, but also new techniques such as machine learning which give researchers new ways to solve problems. There is still enormous potential for growth in the field, and I hope to contribute to that growth. 

With my strong interest in software engineering and security, I hope to become an industry researcher in the future, particularly because I believe this is how I can best make a positive impact on society. As an industry researcher, I will have the opportunity to solve practical problems or to invent new techniques that can improve our quality of life. To achieve this goal, I need to gain more advanced knowledge and to keep up with the frontier of research. Georgia Institute of Technology is one of the best possible universities I can attend for computer science. The College of Computing has not only advanced laboratories providing a sophisticated research environment for PhD students, but also renowned and brilliant faculty to guide the students. I am excited for the faculty to mentor me, to point out areas for potential development, and to guide me as I further explore the field. I also believe that Georgia Institute of Technology has a collaborative community, and I hope to learn from my peers. Finally, there are several professors whose focus areas are closely related to my previous research experiences. For example, Prof. xxx’s work on software testing and program analysis is fascinating to me. He has developed many techniques or tools to improve software reliability and security for real-world systems. His work inspires me, particularly because it has such large implications for practical problems within industries, and I would love to work with him. Besides this, Prof. xxx’s research about botnet detection and malware analysis also interests me since his research addresses many existing security problems and greatly improve the safety of entire computer network, which highly matches me goal. If granted admission, I believe that my time at the College of Computing will put me on a strong and promising path to success.

Statement of Purpose – CMU INI Version

Q1: Other than reputation, why do you want to attend the INI graduate program or programs you selected?

There are three main drivers for my desire to attend the MSIN program at INI. First, it is a comprehensive master’s program with courses related to electrical engineering, software engineering, and information systems. These courses focus on different aspects of computer science and can offer me a well-rounded understanding of computers and computer systems. Today, the industry requires individuals who are well-rounded and capable of approaching problems from an interdisciplinary perspective, and I believe I will gain this perspective through the MSIN program. Secondly, I would take full advantage of the successful INI alumni network. I am certain that the alumni network from this master’s program will help me reach a higher level in my future career path. Last but not least, I am passionate about software engineering, and I believe that this program will provide me with a great stepping stone to enter the software engineering industry. Past students have received offers from tech companies, and I hope that an internship and then career with a tech company will give me an important reference for my long-term career goals. For all of these reasons, I would be incredibly excited to join the MSIN program at INI.

Q2: What are your career goals after you complete your INI degree? How will the INI program you’ve chosen help you achieve your immediate and long-term career objectives? 

My immediate career goal is to work as a software engineer after graduation. I plan to do this in order to build work experience and to improve my ability to solve practical problems in a structured way. In the long term, I hope to become an IT entrepreneur. As an IT entrepreneur, I would have the opportunity to create techniques that would improve quality of life for people all around the world. To achieve this goal, however, I would need to push myself to learn about cutting-edge technologies and to learn from those pushing the frontiers of the industry. Carnegie Mellon University would give me the opportunity to do so. MSIN would be a perfect fit for my current level, and would help me develop further as a software engineer and researcher. By taking the advanced curriculum at MSIN, I would build on my existing knowledge and challenge myself academically. I would also seek a mentor-mentee relationship with the world-class faculty in MSIN program. Additionally, by pursuing internship experiences at tech companies like past students in the MSIN program, I would be able to fully confirm my passion for the industry while gaining first-hand experience in how to apply academic knowledge to real-world situations. I am also excited to engage with my peers in the MSIN program, to communicate and work with them, and to develop a more diverse perspective on and approach to problems. Finally, the MSIN program helps students acquire business and policy perspectives, which is an aspect I believe to be indispensable but often ignored in graduate curriculums. Therefore, I firmly believe that the MSIN program is a great fit for me and that it will help me build a successful career.

Q3: Describe how your work, research, educational and other life experiences have prepared you for graduate studies at the INI. 

I excelled academically, as demonstrated by my rank as one of the top three students in my department. As a member of the Elite Class, I was able to take more advanced mathematics courses, which improved my problem solving and logical thinking abilities. Outside of class, I worked to build experience and expertise in programming by pursuing extracurricular projects.

In terms of my research experiences, I first realized my interest in research through my compiler class. For the course research project, I chose to find and analyze hot functions in C and Python programs. I built an unwrapper to process the interactions between the code on the Python side and on the C side so that I could leverage existing single language analyzers. This unwrapper was really fascinating for me to build, and helped me develop an interest in software engineering.

My second research project aimed to pinpoint the vulnerabilities of smart contracts in Ethereum. To decrease the high false-positive rates of existing detection tools, I identified various typical protections used by programmers which were usually mistaken for vulnerabilities by detection tools when reviewing existing smart contracts and compiled them to the detection pattern. Using this modified detection pattern, I was ultimately able to achieve a 20 percent drop in the false-positive rate when compared to the average rate for other detection tools. In summary, my hard work and research experiences have given me the essential research and learning abilities I will need to thrive in the MSIN program.

Q4: Why do you consider yourself to be a strong candidate? What sets you apart from other applicants? For example, have you placed well in CTFs, programming competitions, or hackathons? Have you published peer-reviewed research? Have you won any significant awards? Have you done significant community service? Have you participated in sports or joined a performance group? 

I believe that my ability to quickly process and absorb information will be invaluable for an industry that is constantly changing and evolving. My second major research project was to pinpoint the vulnerabilities of smart contracts in Ethereum, but before undertaking the project I had not known much about smart contracts or Ethereum. I pushed myself, however, and developed the knowledge necessary to successfully complete the project in only a week. 

Secondly, as a student who excelled academically, I received awards and scholarships as an undergraduate. In 2018, I won the Gold Outstanding Student Scholarship, an honor offered to only two students per year. I also received the first prize of the Elite Class Scholarship every year as an undergraduate. 

Moreover, I am proficient in programming and in thinking on my feet. In April, I attended the BitRun Hackathon in Hangzhou, China. For this hackathon, my teammates and I built an auction system based on a provided blockchain in 48 hours. My team was one of few teams that built a fully integrated system, and we were rewarded with third prize. Last but not least, I will soon be able to submit my research for publication. My current research project, advised by Professor Tao Xie at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will be submitted to USENIX ATC 2020 on January 15th.

Q5: Please provide any additional information you’d like to share with the admissions committee. The information provided here should relate directly to your program qualifications (i.e. technical skills, work or research experience, or undergraduate education).

In 2018, I volunteered to be a researcher for the Chinese National Social Science Fund. I was assigned with collecting the public’s opinions on genetically modified foods and products. To successfully complete my project, I had to speak with many different people. However, at the time it was difficult for me to approach strangers and to explain the program to them. However, I soon realized that while some people were willing to fill out the questionnaires without any explanation, many others believed it to be a waste of time without further explanation of the ways in which the survey could have a positive impact on their lives and on society. This realization pushed me be more confident in communicating with people, and I saw that changing my strategy yielded an increased number of useful questionnaires. This experience expanded my communication abilities, and I was recognized by the National Social Science Fund with an Excellent Investigator award. Though this experience was a challenge for me, I came to enjoy stepping outside of my comfort zone, and I am confident that I will be able to successfully navigate any challenges I may face in the course of the MSIN program.

Letter of Recommendations

Prof. TaoXie – Research Advisor – All universities except for NYU Tandon and Rice

Prof. YinxingXue – Research Advisor – All universities

Prof. Xuehai Zhou and Prof. Yuzhang – Course Instructor – All universities

Resume

A General Guide for SoP

Application Results

Ph.D. in Computer Science:

Offer:

• Purdue CS: Interviewed with POI in Dec. POI promised to give an offer in the interview. Purdue’s official letter comes a little later than others. I was offered a Ross Fellowship which gave me salary of $27000 at first year. This should be much more than other PhD programs.
• PSU IST: Interviewed with POI in Nov. POI promised to give an offer in the interview but expected I made final decision as soon as possible.

Rejection:

• UW CSE: Expected, no interview, it’s said that you’d better to take an research internship in this university if you want to get in, also said that this university does not welcome Chinese as much as other universities
• Cornell CS: Expected, no interview. It is very difficult to get an offer. I should have done my summer internship in this university
• UIUC CS: Expected, no interview. There are very few professors in UIUC which focus on software engineering.
• Gatech CS: Unexpected. I have an interview with a professor and the feedback should not be bad. One of my POI emailed me and asked me to wait. However, the result of waiting is just a rejection email. Do not know why they did not offer me a position.

M.S. in Computer Science:

AD:

• USC CS-General: Got it less than ten days after submission, safe admission, two RLs at that time since one recommender submit his RL at the end of Dec
• USC Software Engineering: Got it in Jan, safe admission
• NYU Tandon MSCS: Got it in Jan, safe admission, $8000 bonus
• CMU MSE-SS: This should be the greatest news at this time, I am so happy to be admitted!
• Rice MCS: It should be a safe admit. But it seems not to admit me when it release the first round of offers. However, safe admit is always safe. 2333
• UCSD MSCS: I am very happy to receive this admission since this program should be the top choice if you want to find a job with satisfying salary quickly
• Umich CSE MS: Expected. This program should not be difficult to apply.

Rejection:

• WISC Traditional MS: Do not know what kind of applicants the admission committee want, many applicants with strong research background and high GPA are rejected
• CMU MSIS: I received a email that I have been waitlisted and final decision will come in May. This actually functions as a rejection.

Websites to Check Others’ results

Websites to Check PhD Stipends

Decision Emails

UW-Madison

CS at UW-Madison

Dear YUN PENG,

We regret to inform you that you were not selected for admission for graduate study in the Department of Computer Sciences.  This year, we had more than 2000 applicants and we were not able to find space for every qualified applicant.  All decisions are final; we do not have a waiting list, nor do we reconsider applicants who wish to change their degree goals.

If you have also applied to the Professional Master’s Program (https://www.cs.wisc.edu/graduate/professional-masters-program-2), a separate admission decision will be made for that program later, independent of the decision communicated here.  If you are interested in applying, the Professional Master’s Program (PMP) has an application deadline of March 15, 2020.

Thank you for considering UW-Madison and may you find success in pursuing your academic and career goals.

Sincerely,

Andrea Arpaci-Dusseau
Chair, Graduate Admissions Committee

UW

Your application to Computer Science at the University of Washington

Dear Yun,

We regret to inform you that we will not be offering you admission to the
Ph.D. program at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.

We received over 2200 applications this year and were not able to admit all
competitive applicants. The Graduate Admissions Committee evaluated the
applications very carefully and had to make difficult decisions, denying
admission to many excellent candidates because of the limited number of
available slots.

We sincerely appreciate your interest in our program and wish you the best
of luck in the pursuit of your graduate education.

Yours truly,

Elise Dorough
Director of Graduate Student Services
Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Washington

USC

Your USC Decision Letter Is Available Online

Dear Yun Peng,

USC ID: xxx

A decision has been made regarding your application to graduate studies at USC. You may view your decision letter by logging in to youSC at you.usc.edu and clicking on Decision Status.

If you are logging in to youSC for the first time, click on Create a New Account or Register and enter the e-mail address used on your application. A temporary password will be e-mailed to the address provided. If you have any questions about logging in to youSC, please refer to our FAQ.

Please note that you will not receive a hard copy of your decision letter. We recommend you print a copy of the letter from the youSC portal for your records.

Sincerely,Office of Graduate Admission
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0915
Contact: Click here

NYU Tandon

NYU Tandon School of Engineering – Application Update

Dear Yun,

There has been an update to your application status. Please login to your application status page here: https://apply.engineering.nyu.edu/?e=pyapply2020%40gmail.com

Sincerely,

Office of Graduate Enrollment Management and Admissions
NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Cornell

Cornell Decision, PhD, Computer Science

Dear YUN PENG,

On behalf of the Graduate Faculty in Computer Science, I regret to inform you that we cannot offer you admission to the Ph.D. Program in Computer Science for this year.

We had a record number of applicants this year.  Since the number of students who can be accepted is limited and the overall quality of applicants is very high, it is not possible to accept many excellent students who are interested in coming to Cornell.

We appreciate your interest in Cornell, and hope you will consider us again should you be on the faculty market in a few years!  We wish you success in continuing your studies at another university.

Sincerely,

David Bindel

Director, PhD Admissions

Purdue

Purdue Computer Science PhD Visit Day Invitation

Dear Yun, 

The Purdue Department of Computer Science is recommending you for admission to the PhD program with four years of funding. Congratulations! An official funding offer letter will be sent to you shortly.  

We invite you to Visit Day on March 2, 2020. The day will include: 

·         One-on-one meetings with faculty

·         Time to talk with current PhD students during poster sessions and a panel discussion

·         Opportunities to learn about our different research areas

·         An evening social event (held on March 1, 2020 7pm-9pm)

In order to schedule the one-on-one meetings with faculty, please fill out the attached questionnaire and return to me via email no later than February 21, 2020.

We plan a full day of activities on that Monday, so we recommend arriving on Sunday, March 1^st. A bowling social event will be held on the evening of March 1^st. You should book your own travel, which the department will reimburse you for up to $600. I recommend flying into Indianapolis or Chicago and taking a shuttle to West Lafayette. Once you have made your arrangements, please let me know when you will be arriving at Purdue (via the attached questionnaire). I will take care of booking your hotel stay for the visit and preparing the necessary paperwork for your reimbursement.

We understand that international travel requires you to get a visa and that it can be time consuming and expensive, but we want to ensure you are aware of the invite in case you are able to attend.

Please send me a quick reply if you think you will try to come to Visit Day. This will help me with planning.

Regards,

Lacey Siefers
Graduate Program Coordinator
Department of Computer Science

Lawson Computer Science Building
305 North University Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907

PSU

Application to the Ph.D. in Informatics – Yun Peng

Dear Yun,

Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that you have been offered admission to the College of Information Sciences & Technology’s Graduate Program in Informatics for the Fall 2020 semester at the Penn State University. Attached you will find your official offer letter and terms of offer. 

If you accept our offer, please let us know by signing a copy of the terms of offer and sending it to graduateprograms@ist.psu.edu.  Please also be sure to visit the Graduate School application portal to “Check Your Application Status” to accept or follow the directions in the automated email you will be receiving to officially accept. 

Let us know if you have any questions. 

Thank you,

Carly Marshall

CMU

MSE-SS Admission Decision

Dear Yun,

Congratulations! It is our pleasure to inform you that you have been accepted into the Master of Software Engineering-Scalable Systems program at Carnegie Mellon University. Please find your official offer letter from Dr. Travis Breaux attached to this email.

We are thrilled at the possibility of you joining our Class of 2021 and the next step is yours. To accept our offer and to hold your place in our program please:

1.    Complete the decision form and submit the $500 non-refundable deposit*
2.    Fill out the personal information form

The deadline to submit your decision is Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 11:59pm EST.

Later today we will email you additional program information about tuition, important dates, and more but for now, we welcome you to our Tartan community!

Sincerely,
MSE Faculty & Staff

*The $500 deposit will be credited towards your Fall 2020 tuition.

MSE-SV Admission Decision

Dear Yun,

Thank you for applying to the Electrical and Computer Engineering program in the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. We regret to inform you that we were unable to admit you to our graduate programs for the Fall 2020 semester.

This decision is partly due to the fact that, while there is an increasing number of highly qualified applicants for graduate study, the department’s resources and physical facilities impose limitations on the number of students who can be admitted. We hope that you will consider applying again in the future.

We would like to thank you again for considering the graduate program in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and wish you continued success in your graduate studies.

Best wishes,

Admissions Review Committee
Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University

MSIN Admission Decision

Dear Yun,

Thank you for your application to the Information Networking Institute (INI) for MS in Information Security in Fall 2020. At this time, you have been placed on the waitlist for admission.

We appreciate the time and effort that went into your application. There are a limited number of seats available for incoming students and due to the high volume of competitive applications, we may only offer admission to select individuals from the waitlist. In order to be considered for admission, you need to first accept your spot on the waitlist on the application status page.

Applicants on the waitlist are not ranked. The decision will be based on the information in your existing application and the needs of the INI. There is no need to send additional information in support of your application.

If space becomes available and you are selected, we will contact you with an offer of admission. All students who accept their spot on the waitlist will receive communication from the INI no later than May 15th with notification of their final waitlist status.

If you have any questions, please email our admissions team at ini-nextsteps@cmu.edu and Lisa Currin, Associate Director of Admissions & Enrollment or Jennifer Spirer, Senior Associate Director of Admissions & Recruitment, will be in touch.

Sincerely,

Dr. Dena Haritos Tsamitis
Barbara Lazarus Professor in Information Networking
Director, Information Networking Institute (INI)
Founding Director of Education, Training and Outreach, Cylab
College of Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University

Rice

Application Status Update

Dear Yun Peng,

An update has been posted to your application status page.

You may access your status page here:

https://gradadmissions.rice.edu/?e=pyapply2020%40gmail.com

Best regards,

Rice University

UCSD

UC San Diego Graduate Application Update

Dear Yun,

An update has been posted to your application status page.
You may access your status page here: https://connect.grad.ucsd.edu/?e=pyapply2020%40gmail.com

Best Regards,

Graduate Admissions
Graduate Division, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0003
Phone: (858) 534-3554
Fax: (858) 822-5690
gradadmissions@ucsd.edu| grad.ucsd.edu | gradapply.ucsd.edu

UIUC

Computer Science@Illinois Graduate Admissions Decision

Dear Mr. Peng:

Your application for graduate study in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been carefully considered by our Graduate Admissions Committee. We regret to inform you that the committee is not recommending you for admission. Due to space limitations and a very large number of exceptional applicants, we are unfortunately unable to recommend many well-qualified students for the program. Therefore, we hope that this decision will not discourage you from pursuing your future academic and career goals.

Please note that the department policy is not to communicate the individual reasons for its decision. If you have any questions, please contact the department at admissions@CS.illinois.edu.

We appreciate your interest in our program and all of your efforts in preparing an application. Together with the rest of the department, we sincerely wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brian Bailey, Professor
Director of Graduate Programs

Dr. Chengxiang Zhai, Donald Biggar Willett Professor in Engineering
Chair of Graduate Admissions

Umich

Admission Decision at the University of Michigan

Dear Yun Peng,

It gives me great pleasure to inform you that you have been recommended for admission to the Master’s Degree Program in the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) division within the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) department at the University of Michigan for the Fall 2020 term. In the next few weeks, you will receive a formal notification from the Rackham Graduate School acknowledging your admission. In this formal notification, you will be provided with a link where you may indicate your intent to enroll via Wolverine Access.

Admission at the master’s level does not include an offer of financial aid.

To assist you in your planning for the Fall, counseling and course registration will take place in late August, and classes begin August 31, 2020. Please let us know whether you accept by May 1, 2020.

The CSE faculty look forward to having you in the program. In the meantime, please email any questions you may have to csegradstaff@umich.edu.

Sincerely,

Professor Quentin F. Stout
Master’s Chair
Computer Science and Engineering

UMID: 27485081

Gatech

GT School of Computer Science Decision Available

March 16, 2020

GTid: xxx3610377

Yun,

Thank you for submitting your application to Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Computer Science.

Your decision will be available after the close of business this evening. You may retrieve your decision via the secure CollegeNet portal with the following steps:

• Login to Application Status Checking using the same CollegeNET user id that you used to apply to Georgia Tech
  
• Click where it shows “Georgia Tech Graduate Online Admission Form” for the term you applied for
  
• In the Decision section click on “View Decision Letter” to open the PDF of the decision letter