I graduated 2 years ago from a (frankly shitty) US state school with a 2.9 GPA and a Bachelor's of Arts in Computer science and no research experience.
I am well aware that this is a very poor undergraduate record. My mental health has has improved markedly since I left undergraduate and I have continued educating myself (self study/undergraduate courses).
I have the opportunity to move to a group within my company that does machine learning and statistics. Provided I take this position, will this experience be a positive mark on an application to a Master's program in a related field (comp. sci, statistics)? If so, how can I maximize the utility of this work experience in terms of admission?
More generally, what can I do to prevent myself from being permanently locked out of acceptance into graduate studies?
Answer
Getting experience on a work project using statistics & machine learning is a great first step towards remedying a poor undergrad GPA.
Your next steps should be:
- mastering your work project (reading books, picking your colleague's brain),
- finding CS programs & faculty that specialize in machine learning,
- reading their popular/latest articles (list your questions),
- discussing these articles and questions with coworkers,
- attending the weekly colloquium/seminar of a CS department, and
- talking to the speaker and other interested faculty afterwards.
Once you're comfortable enough to talk faculty about their research, make friends and say, "I am considering applying to grad school, is there a place for me in your group? Would you consider putting a good word for me with the admissions committee?"
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