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Masters Application Journey

I will be starting my Masters in Computer Science at the University of California San Diego this Fall 2021. In this post, I talk about my experience in applying for Masters. The idea of studying in the US started when I did this course on Data Structures and Algorithms on MIT Open courseware. I was fascinated by how easily they explain complex concepts and the interesting way the professor taught the concepts. I wanted to get a flavor of that. I discussed this with my friend and decided that yes, I want to go for Masters. Not just for the courses but also the seminal research being conducted.

Now I had to decide the timeline of when to go for Masters. I was still not clear about my field of specialization. So, during my final semester, I opted for an internship at AI Labs, Amex. I was interested in High-Performance Computing and Machine Learning but was not exposed to both fields interacting together. Thankfully, my mentors saw my interest and gave me a project in XGBoost (Large Scale ML Boosting Algorithm). I worked on AXGBoost (specific to Amex) for two years and have contributed to 4 successful releases contributing to multiple features like distributed AXGBoost, GPU execution, quantile algorithm, etc. There were numerous setbacks while researching distributed XGBoost. Still, I had to come out of those and have finally submitted a paper at CIKM detailing my work in distributed boosting (waiting for results).

My work in AI Labs helped me explore the field of Large-Scale Machine Learning and exposed me to the area of ML Systems. I had primarily been confined to algorithm side of things. But have started looking into the systems part of things too gradually. I would like to learn more about fault tolerance in ML Systems, ensuring reproducibility across different versions of a tool, debugging distributed ML model building, replicating model-building issues on a smaller dataset. I also want to learn more about scaling ML algorithms and processing data efficiently without compromising on the performance of ML systems. These are a few of the things I want to know about and hopefully aim to conduct research upon. After my Masters, I want to lead the development of ML systems impacting society on a large scale. This experience will help me achieve my long-term vision of working on products with a positive social impact. Working two years at American Express gave me good experience in deciding my specialization and the problems I would want to work upon.

Along with my work, I had to give GRE, TOEFL, and work on my application. Thanks to the constant support of my friends and family, I was able to start early on my application process. There were a lot of hurdles here too. Firstly, I needed to ensure that I have recommendations from Professors for my application. The process of gathering recommendations lasted for a few months. I am truly grateful to everyone who gave me recommendations. Then I had to work on my resume and SOP. Here also, I am grateful to my seniors and friends who helped me review multiple drafts. I would say this is the point which took the maximum time. I created almost 30-35 drafts till the deadline date. It was an interesting as well as a tiring process. Few applications required me to think more on some questions (some had quite thoughtful questions on which I had to work from May till October). Finally, December 15th came, and all my applications were done. I didn’t know that the waiting process after applications can also be hectic.

Results started coming in from January mid. First 3 results that come in were rejects. I was dejected because I was hoping I would definitely be getting in. Then on March 2nd, 2021, I got a mail from UCSD, the letter stating that I have been accepted. I was jubilant to get an admission and immediately called and informed my family and friends. The waiting process was way too stressful and getting an admit was quite relieving. Who knew what was to come ahead?

I waited till April to accept my admit, but the issue was that the pandemic consulates were all shut down and were not issuing visa appointment slots. I still had faith and, thankfully, another friend who will be going with me to the same college. We somehow kept each other motivated and did one step after another in the visa process. The only thing left to do was getting an appointment.

I guess it is very accurate that everything happens for a good reason. We got our slots in June on the same day. Thankfully, we are preparing ourselves for the next step in the journey. There would be much more challenging problems in the future, and I may not be prepared for those, but I need to do what has to be done, and life will take care of itself. There have been multiple things that happened during the process, multiple deterrents, but I guess we need to keep doing what we are without giving up, rest all will itself fall into place. I am both excited, and a bit scared to see what is ahead. Here’s to a new chapter!!