Anyone starting preparation for Grad School now?

[u/Competitive-Bed-9913]

Hello guys!

I had been facing the dilemma of going to grad school vs industry, and since the market is not well suited for me to join the industry, I have decided to pursue grad school. I was under the impression that GRE wouldn't take much effort for me to crack in 1-2 months max. Now, I am realizing that it is way tougher than I thought.

I haven't prepared any SOPs, or anything else except shortlisting MCS universities this summer. What do you think are my chances of getting into good schools if I start now? I am currently doing Bachelor in CS in fairly rated uni in USA, but I am tired of these low-ranked/mid-ranked unis. I will rather do nothing than go to these universities for my masters. I also have internships as research interns, and SWE internships. I hope to have 2 papers by the end of this year.

I can dedicate good number of hours and maybe target for late-September GRE test. As cliche as it may sound, do I have enough time to do everything and still get into top unis?

Edit:
added more info

[u/oceanman32]

starting now and feeling late

- not taking gre

[u/Competitive-Bed-9913 → u/oceanman32]

Not sure if I understand it but, would I be able to get into top unis without GRE and still get decent scholarship?

[u/SpiritualAmoeba84]

GRE is usually the thing that has the longest lead time, when you consider the latest testing dates that will deliver a score in the required time window, plus whatever time one needs to prepare. Many programs are dropping the GRE requirement.

Letters of recommendation are usually requiring the second most lead time.

You know you’re gonna write your SOP at the last Minute anyway. 🤣

One thing I’ve heard from procrastinators have told me, is that they underestimated the time it took to actually fill out the application.

[u/Competitive-Bed-9913 → u/SpiritualAmoeba84]

Thanks for the comment!
I have couple of friends from student orgs, professors, mentors who are willing to write me LORs for my application. They have written me LORs in past so they have those letter for the reference as well.
Maybe, I should start preparing for GRE and use if I get good enough score on the test.

Aren't we allowed to fill basic information now and apply after application opens officially?

[u/SpiritualAmoeba84 → u/Competitive-Bed-9913]

I don’t know the answer to your last question. I don’t think our forms are even available to fill out until the applications open, but I do believe that once they do open, you can fill them out and submit later, as long as you successfully submit before deadline. My comment was mostly aimed at people who don’t get started until the last minute and then discover the forms take longer than they thought.

This number of times this or something like this happens is not negligible. Every year we get people who logged into the portal shortly before midnight and then faced some kind of issue that prevented them from submitting in time. I can think of only a single time that any of those people were given a chance to late submit. That time was because our portal went down on deadline day, so we granted everyone a day of grace. But if it’s an individual lateness, even if the cause was last minute congestion, we don’t grant relief.

That’s why I don’t recommend waiting until the last day.

[u/Competitive-Bed-9913 → u/SpiritualAmoeba84]

Totally understand that! I plan to apply as early as possible as long as I have everything ready. Personally, I get scared when deadline is near and would apply at least couple of days in advance in case anything goes wrong.

[u/SpiritualAmoeba84 → u/Competitive-Bed-9913]

Good plan!

[u/iamyuu_119]

Hey in the same shoes with GMAT. I think ill push myself more and wait for R3 instead.

[u/Competitive-Bed-9913 → u/iamyuu_119]

I was also thinking of going for R2 or R3, but wouldn't university funds be exhausted by then? For me, I would need a good enough scholarship to cover my expenses to consider the university.