Difference between revisions of "Graduate Admissions Interview"

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This page contains details on the Phone/Skype interview that is used by the department for graduate admissions.
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This page contains details on the technical interview that is used by the department for graduate admissions.
  
 
=Summary=
 
=Summary=
All applicants who have a complete application for the CS MS program will be invited to have a brief Skype interview with a CS faculty member.  The interview is intended to take 15-30 minutes.  We use the interview to inform our decision on admission and consideration for assistantship positions.  The interview includes technical questions related to data structures and algorithms, and a portion of doing some basic coding on the computer.
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All applicants who have a complete application for the CS MS program will be invited to have a brief technical interview (over Teams) with a CS faculty member.  The interview is intended to take 15-30 minutes.  We use the interview to inform our decision on admission and consideration for assistantship positions.  The interview includes technical questions related to data structures and algorithms, and a portion of doing some basic coding on the computer.
  
=Standards=
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Note that the [http://cs.indstate.edu/info/apply.html CS Admissions Page] mentions the standards we are looking for to admit a student, which we verify using the technical interview.
'''Admission'''  For admission, the following is the minimum standard we are looking for: (a) can communicate clearly in English, (b) can do basic programming from scratch, (c) basic understanding of data structures and algorithms.
 
  
'''Assistantships''' For consideration for an assistantship the standards are much higher - very good programming skills, very good knowledge/mastery of data structures and algorithms.
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=Before the Interview=
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When you have a complete application, the department will write to you asking you to complete a series of online quizzes ([https://indstate.instructure.com/courses/12565/pages/cs-ms-admissions-instructions?module_item_id=919137 MS Admissions Quiz Instructions]) to demonstrate that you are competent in programming and data structures and algorithms. You can take some time to be able to complete the quizzes at the required mastery level, and reply to the department message when you have completed them at the required level.  When you have done so, you should reply to the department message with the items listed on the quiz instructions, and also attach a current resume or c.v.
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'''Note''' - if you are still working on your programming skills, you might take a look at the recommended resources in our [[Python Programming - Getting Started]] or [[C Programming - Getting Started]].
  
=Before the Interview=
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'''Note''' - for studying data structures, [https://www.tutorialspoint.com/data_structures_algorithms/index.htm TutorialsPoint] has a nice tutorial that you should follow.  You should study until you can explain the content and answer questions about the differences between different algorithms and data structures.
We require that you '''reply to the interview invitation with the following'''.
 
* Current resume or c.v.
 
* Skype id
 
* Interview days and times (see the email invitation for possible days and times) that would work for you
 
* Solutions to the following problems on hackerrank.com.  You '''should solve at least 4 of the 5''' problems before replying to the interview invitation.  You can use whatever programming language you like.  Note that you should understand your solutions and be able to answer questions about them.
 
** https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/30-hello-world/problem
 
** https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/30-loops/problem
 
** https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/30-arrays/problem
 
** https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/30-recursion/problem
 
** https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/30-sorting/problem
 
  
'''Note''' - if you are still working on your programming skills, you might take a look at the recommended resources in our [[Python Programming Bootcamp]] and [[C Programming Bootcamp]].  The list of problems above was chosen so that if you are able to solve these problems you have a very good chance of being admitted to our problemThis is meant to be motivation, not intimidating or a huge barrier.
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'''Note''' - if you are considering a university that will admit you to a CS MS degree without you needing to have some basic programming and data structures skills, you should be wary of the programIf the admissions standards are too low, the program itself will likely not live up to your expectations either.
  
 
=The Interview=
 
=The Interview=
We will ask you about your recent background (when was your degree finished, what major, what have you been doing since, etc.).  We will ask you questions from data structures and algorithms.  We will also ask you to share your Skype screen and have you do some coding on problems we ask about (possibly some of the above, possibly others).
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We will ask you about your recent background (when was your degree finished, what major, what have you been doing since, etc.).  We will ask you questions similar to the questions on the admissions quizzes.  We will also ask you to share your screen and have you do some programming.
 
 
See our [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jUBQKAOVTc9BzhQSW83KsoE5q3Vq3luh9TUsKJANqSM/edit?usp=sharing Interview Evaluation Form] for what we are looking for; note that there are sample questions starting on page 2.
 

Revision as of 18:44, 26 April 2022

This page contains details on the technical interview that is used by the department for graduate admissions.

Summary

All applicants who have a complete application for the CS MS program will be invited to have a brief technical interview (over Teams) with a CS faculty member. The interview is intended to take 15-30 minutes. We use the interview to inform our decision on admission and consideration for assistantship positions. The interview includes technical questions related to data structures and algorithms, and a portion of doing some basic coding on the computer.

Note that the CS Admissions Page mentions the standards we are looking for to admit a student, which we verify using the technical interview.

Before the Interview

When you have a complete application, the department will write to you asking you to complete a series of online quizzes (MS Admissions Quiz Instructions) to demonstrate that you are competent in programming and data structures and algorithms. You can take some time to be able to complete the quizzes at the required mastery level, and reply to the department message when you have completed them at the required level. When you have done so, you should reply to the department message with the items listed on the quiz instructions, and also attach a current resume or c.v.

Note - if you are still working on your programming skills, you might take a look at the recommended resources in our Python Programming - Getting Started or C Programming - Getting Started.

Note - for studying data structures, TutorialsPoint has a nice tutorial that you should follow. You should study until you can explain the content and answer questions about the differences between different algorithms and data structures.

Note - if you are considering a university that will admit you to a CS MS degree without you needing to have some basic programming and data structures skills, you should be wary of the program. If the admissions standards are too low, the program itself will likely not live up to your expectations either.

The Interview

We will ask you about your recent background (when was your degree finished, what major, what have you been doing since, etc.). We will ask you questions similar to the questions on the admissions quizzes. We will also ask you to share your screen and have you do some programming.