COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	@make(letterhead,Phone"497-4430",Who"John McCarthy",Logo Old, Department CSD)
C00004 ENDMK
C⊗;
@make(letterhead,Phone"497-4430",Who"John McCarthy",Logo Old, Department CSD)
@style(indent 8)
@blankspace(9 lines)
@begin(address)
Mr. Van Nguyen
7/5l Victoria Road
Malvern
Victoria, Australia 3l44
@end(address)
@greeting(Dear Mr. Nguyen:)
@begin(body)
	Professor Feferman has sent me a copy of your letter and
the letter from Professor Crossley.  I endorse his advice about
the criteria for deciding whether to apply to Mathematics or
Computer Science.  From your letter and Professor Crossley's,
I would judge that you have a good probability of getting in
to our department.  However, there are 250-300 applicants for about
25 places in the PhD program.  Therefore, I would recommend
also applying to other Computer Science Departments.  M.I.T., Berkeley
and Cornell are also strong in theoretical computer science.

	It is not necessary to plan to work with a particular
professor in advance of arrival.  Most of our students don't make
such decision in a final way until they have been at Stanford
for more than a year.
@end(body)
Best wishes,




John McCarthy
Professor of Computer Science