Saturday, August 30, 2008

GRE

I took the GRE this morning. It started with two writing sections. My essays weren't spectacular, but the topics were interesting so at least I had something to write about. The next section was the math section. I did really well on this and finished just barely on time. I switched the answer for my last question with less than 5 seconds to spare! Next was a verbal section which went about as well as could be expected (English is not one of my strong points). I thought that would be the end of the exam but was surprised when another math section started. My practice tests only had one math section so I was annoyed that the test wasn't finished. This second math section went terrible since by then I was getting tired. I was working way too slow and still had 7 questions remaining with only one minute left. I had to randomly guess for the last few questions. I was surprised to see in the end that my scores were 800 in math and 600 in English. I am really lucky that the second math section must not have been scored. Apparently they put in an extra unmarked experimental section. I will have to wait for the scores to be sent to me before I get the marks for the essays.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Internship Finished

I finished my internship at Microsoft last Friday. It has been a great summer. Almost every weekend there was some Microsoft event taking place. I took part in two puzzle events. One of them was non-stop for 36 hours and really well organized (our team came in third)! A few weeks ago I went cave exploring at Ape Cave Lava Tube near Mount St. Helens. Two days ago (my birthday) I saw Dark Knight at IMAX - incredible movie.

On August 30th I will be taking the GRE. I haven't done much studying for it yet, so I plan on studying for the next few days. Over the next semester I will start applying for grad schools. I have decided where I will be applying for six out of my nine applications:

- Carnegie Mellon
- MIT
- Stanford
- UBC
- Waterloo
- University of Toronto
- ?
- ?
- ?

The other three will most likely come from this list. I will be applying to AI programs. I am currently planning to focus on learning about pattern recognition. Since I eventually plan on doing industry research, hopefully I can get research internships over the next few summers.