Ask HN: How Do I Get In To A Top CS Grad School?

[Jormundir]

I've been out of college (B.Sc. in CS) for about 9 months now, and working as a software engineer / web developer for 6 months now. I've decided I want to go to grad school in the next couple of years, but only if I can get into a top program.

The problem is, I'm very average on paper. I got a 3.34 GPA, and 161 Quantitative, 159 Verbal GRE scores.

So what can I do now to get myself into a top graduate program for C.S.? It feels like a hopeless desire now.

[ekm2]

For top Phd programs research and recommendations are everything .I had the same math score you had and scored slightly higher in the verbal,but there is just no telling if i might get in.Top 5 programs are insanely difficult to get in,so you might want to also try schools between 10-20.A rough estimator of where you might get in can be found here:

http://www.cs.utep.edu/admissions/