Thread: MS CS Fall 2014|Q:159 V:159 AWA:3.5|TOEFL:Awaited|Goa University 55% | 2 yr Exp.

Hello Seniors,

I shall be very grateful if you kindly evaluate my profile given below,

Academics: B.E In Information Technology, 64% with honors (Degree Percentage) Aggregate: 55%
Goa University; Information Technology Deparment

My academics have been low in the second year but have picked up from then and increased it gradually.

GRE - 318; Verbal: 159; Quant: 159; AWA: 3.5
TOEFL - 106

Publications:

1. Conference: VSI Society of India - Goa Chapter (VLSI and Embedded systems)
Paper Presented: Mobile Application for Emergency Alerts using Nokia Qt
Description: An Application designed specifically for Mobile Users to use in case of Emergency.
If the user is in a panic situation, the application informs this to the emergency contacts of the user and also sends the snapshot of the users GPS Location as a snapshot.

Final Year Project: Mobile Application for Emergency Alerts using Nokia Qt (Completed under Persistent Systems Limited)

Work Experience: Currently working as a Software Developer in Zedo India Pvt Ltd. (2 years)
Domain: Java
Work done: Have developed various applications used in our Adserving domain, with Java, Servlets, JSP etc.
Learnt PostgreSQL db, PHP, Adobe Flex etc.
Also got an insight into the way a product is designed, keepin a certain code structure and design pattern in mind.

I have had seven backlogs in my college, not in core subjects of Computer Science though, and not altogether in a single semester. One in each semester and two in one sem. Final Year all cleared in single attempt.
The course structure in our college was too theoretical and getting great marks was dependent on the length of the answers in the examination

Do you think my two years of work ex can help boost my application, along with strong LORs and an SOP?

Domain: Java

I have prepared a tentative list of colleges according to your suggestions.

North Carolina State University
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Old Dominion Univ
West Virginia University
Univ of Maryland - Baltimore County
University of Kentucky
UT Arlington
San Jose State University

Please present your views on this list

Also, if you think I should add or drop any university to/from the list, please help me out with that..
Also kindly provide comments on:

1. The Computer Science course : Major in Software Dev/Computer Security/Programming Language Theory
2. The fees per year/chances of financial aid
3. Chances of Placement/Job
4. Safety aspect

Also comment on Availability of Jobs on Campus.
If possible, can u also suggest Universities which are suitable for my profile.

Thanks a Lot,