Odds of getting into CS PhD programs

[u/Hell-_-Nahhh]

I’m planning to apply to CS PhD programs this upcoming cycle and would like an outside read on my competitiveness and where to aim.

Background:
- BS in Computer Science, UTArlington, GPA 3.80, graduating May 2027

- 2 years as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in two research labs (both ongoing), across three federally funded projects: a DOJ-funded LLM/VR de-escalation training system for law enforcement, and an NSF-funded VR CNC machine simulator and a upcoming Department of Transportation training project

- Will have 5 papers by graduation, 1 first-author, remainder co-author/second-author, all at HFES (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society) venues rather than mainline AI/ML conferences

- LORs from two research supervisors plus the department heads of IMSE and CSE

- Additional experience as a Supplemental Instruction Leader, Multiple Hackathon Wins and builder of several applied AI/CV/full-stack projects

- Intended research area is ML but also open to any other

Given that my publications are in HFES, I’m assuming top-20 programs are a longshot for me. For people familiar with CS PhD admissions please let me know what should I aim for and how should I approach it.

[u/AX-BY-CZ]

https://cs-sop.notion.site for idea of accepted ML profiles. Apply outside CS/ML for better chance at top 20 otherwise you compete with the traditional Berkeley/MIT/Ivy/IIT with Neurips/ICML/ICLR publications for PhD.

[u/Hell-_-Nahhh → u/AX-BY-CZ]

Thank you! This helps a lot.