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\F0\CSTANFORD ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LABORATORY
\CDEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
\CSTANFORD UNIVERSITY
\CSTANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305
\F1


						December 6, l973

Mr. Leon Piasetski
4895 Bourret #P,3
Montreal, 252, Quebec
Canada

Dear Mr. Piasetski:

\J	1. The assistantships are worth between $2925 and $3060 for a three
quarter year + tuition.  The difference
between this and waiving the tuition is that you have to pay income
tax on the tuition.  Many students without any other income get by
on the assistantship so I wouldn't worry.

	2. In writing to me rather than the department, you have written
to someone who doesn't know about eligibility rules, so your anti-
bureaucratic reduction is counter-productive.  The situation is explained fully
in the packet of admission materials available from the Graduate Admissions Office.

	3. It will be difficult to evaluate your application without the
graduate record exam unless you get absolutely top letters of recommendation
from people we know.

	4. An acceptance as a graduate student is only good for the particular
quarter it is issued.  If you do not enter then, you must reactivate your files,
and reacceptance is up to a committee vote.

	5. I can't estimate your chances without seeing what amounts to
the completed application, so you might as well apply.  Your interest in
working on chess will not help in itself.
If "good" as a grade means what it means in some European educational
systems, this isn't very good.

	6. Chess 4.0, a successor to Chess 3.5 won.\.

						Sincerely yours,


						John McCarthy
						Professor of Computer Science
						Director, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory