<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I've got accepted at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College's MS in Information Security Policy and Management program, and Johns Hopkins' Information Security Institute. I'm mostly interested in getting a good job after graduation, and not so much in research. </p>
<p>Since both the programs have equivalent costs, I'm very confused which one to pick. CMU's program requires students to be on campus for four semesters, but on the flipside one gets to take 25 courses from varied areas. JHU's program ends in three semesters, but one can take only 10 courses. </p>
<p>If anyone knows about the overall reputation of either of these programs, and has some inputs on which one would be better, I would highly appreciate it. Thanks.</p>
<p>I think MSISPM clearly has the better reputation compared to JHU ISI. I’m not a JHU ISI student so I can’t comment on that program but MSISPM is taught by the people from CERT and CMU has the largest cyber research lab in the US. You also have the option to take classes from Computer Science, INI / ECE, SEI or if you are interested public policy or even arts. The cerriculum gives you quite a lot of room to customize to your own interest.</p>
<p>The job placement rate is pretty much 100%. Most go into government (DC), consulting (primary NYC), the banks (primary NYC) or the tech companies (primary CA). MSISPM is a small program so there isn’t a lot of alumnis floating around but you can definitiv take advantage of MISM’s alumni network. The two programs are so close together that you will have more than enough opportunities to socialize with MISM students.</p>
<p>FYI courses at Heinz is slight different than most schools. 25 is a possibility but what you will end up with can significantly deviate from this number. For one, Heinz pretty much allows you to take as many classes as you want for the same fixed tuition. The only limitation is how crazy you are. There is a registration limit but it’s for preventing people from “reserving” an excessive number of classes and then drop the ones they don’t like after the semester started. You can easily get the registration limit waived if you are truly interested in taking more classes. Also, many classes are mini’s which are half a semester long. Don’t be deceived, they are definitiv not half the content of a full semester class. Most people take 48 - 60 units per semester which could translate into 4 - 5 classes (if you take all full semester classes) or 8 - 10 classes (if you take all minis).</p>
<p>Thank you zerolife. You confirmed my impression of the program. I considered the possibility of taking classes from SCS and Tepper to be the biggest strength of the program.</p>