faiman@uiucdcsb.cs.uiuc.edu (10/03/86)
Keith must be referring not to the "graduate school" but to his
department in saying that they "don't even look at GRE scores." At
the University of Illinois in Urbana graduate admissions are handled
individually by each department. This department DOES evaluate GRE
scores.
Mike Faiman - Department of Computer Science.andrea@hp-sdd.HP.COM (Andrea K. Frankel) (10/06/86)
In article <900006@uiucme> keith@uiucme.UUCP writes: > >If he can get a certain score on this test, he can finish his degree without >taking any classes, so he's quite serious about doing well on this monster. When I took the advanced test in CS, I found it to be utterly ridiculous. It bore almost no resemblance to anything I studied in school (maybe 15% of it was relevant). Now that I've worked a few years and have interviewed many CS graduates from various schools for technical positions in our R&D lab, I can also state that the test you mention has no relevance to the real world either. It was difficult, frustrating, and boring. (P.S. I had a 4.0 in my CS major at UCSD, so I don't think it was lack of ability.) If your friend is bent on a life in academia, why not suggest he spend some time doing research for extra units, or taking some of the electives he might not get a chance at later? If your friend is thinking of getting a real world job with his BSCS, he'd be better off taking extra "lab courses" (microcomputer-controlled whatsits projects or whatever) or utilizing the extra courses he has to take to broaden his background (hardware vs. software, high level and low level languages). Of course, it's possible the test has changed some since I took it in 1980; my comments are based on an admittedly small sample! Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 592-4664 "every time that wheel goes round, bound to cover just a little more ground" ______________________________________________________________________________ UUCP : {hplabs|hp-pcd|hpfcla|hpda|noscvax|gould9|sdcsvax}!hp-sdd!andrea UUCP : {cbosgd|allegra|decvax|gatech|sun|tektronix}!hplabs!hp-sdd!andrea ARPA : hp-sdd!andrea@nosc.arpa CSNET : hp-sdd!andrea@hplabs.csnet USnail: 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA