Hi guys … This is officially my first post here after quite a bit of lurking 
I’ve applied to a bunch of schools for Masters in CS, and so far I’ve received offers from University of Waterloo, Brown University, and Arizona State University.
My criteria is that I want to join a program that gives me the best overall CS experience to maximize my chances of employment within the Software Dev industry in the US following my graduation, because my undergrad was in Computer Engineering (which some IT companies don’t like that much, so I want to make up for this). Secondly, I’d like a program which offers maximum help in career services, such as better internship chances, co-ops, better employment chances, etc.
Waterloo has a Co-op program, but I believe its only for the undergrad CS students (correct me if I’m wrong). Also, it seems that Waterloo is only famous for it’s undergrad CS, not grad CS.
Other factors, e.g cost, weather, etc., aren’t that important to me.
Other schools from which I’m still waiting for a decision from are: USC, UFL, Gatech, Northeastern, Uni of Toronto, UW - Madison.
Need opinions 
Brown is highly ranked, I’m not sure how much weight that will carry. If its network isn’t good enough, you may have trouble getting that first job since the major nearby city is Boston, which is in a different state. When you apply to out-of-state jobs, your resume will get trashed by HR 99% of the time.
ASU is also good, has very strong industry/internship connections nearby, so you can easily get a job in Phoenix with a degree from there. I don’t know anything about Canada.
If you don’t mind, what were your stats for admission? I ask because I’m applying to some of the same schools as you for M.S. CS programs to start next spring. Don’t answer if you don’t want to though.
I’m not sure it’s true that your resume gets trashed by HR “99% of the time” when you apply out of state. It is harder for experienced workers to move to out of state jobs because HR often only wants to interview people who are local, and can be sure that that person won’t have problems moving to the new city (or decide they hate it 3 months in and want to move back to wherever they came from). But working with graduate students is different - especially at a place like Brown. Almost all of them moved temporarily to attend graduate school, and recruiters and companies often make the reasonable assumption that graduates are prepared to move for their first job, particularly to a popular city like Boston.
It is easier to network your way into a job in or near the city you go to grad school in, though, so that might be a factor.
I speak from personal experience. Before deciding to go back for a Master’s in CS, I tried applying to jobs with just a Bachelor’s and never got anywhere. Now my situation was different because my BS was in Math, not CS, and some other reasons too, but no matter how many times I made it clear in my cover letter or on the phone that I was willing to relocate myself immediately on my own dime, they were convinced that I was attached to the state I was in at the time. (When the HR person calls you and finds out you’re in a different state, they find a way to end the conversation and hang up ASAP.) I had no family there, no job, and wasn’t a student anymore, and I couldn’t have made it any clearer that I was happy to move across the country in the time it took me to drive there. It’s near impossible to get a real interview out of state, but you can still get some in-state interviews.
Now this is all different if you have experience, but this is the post-2008 reality for a new grad. I would hope Brown has a pretty good network with places in Boston (and even New York), but this is a legitimate concern. Would companies in Boston prefer to recruit from Harvard and MIT? I don’t know. I would honestly be less concerned about getting a job in San Francisco coming out of USC since USC is in-state even though it’s farther away.
It may be a little easier to apply out-of-state while you’re in school, but if your job search isn’t going well, the second you graduate and are no longer a student, you’re going to get all the “so why are you unemployed?” questions while they put on their “let me pretend I’ve been living under a rock since 2008” hat. So maybe things will work out, but if you’re shelling out $30-50k on tuition plus paying living expenses while having no job (except for maybe a part-time or a summer job), this is a risk I’d rather not take.
Also go on Indeed or Dice now and try to get a sense of what kind of jobs are available in what cities. Some cities have more Java jobs, some are more focused on C#/.Net, some are all mobile development jobs. Some cities have lots of different types of jobs, while others only have jobs that require a security clearance. Also look up internship opportunities in said cities – this is probably the time of year you’d be applying for a summer internship (well, you’d probably be starting sooner, but you can still get a decent idea).
It’s better to do some research yourself than to believe the claims of people advertising certain programs or degrees.
@mathandcs, thanks for your advice. What if I relocate to the state where I intend to search for jobs ? For example, get a CS Masters degree from Brown, then relocate to Los Angeles or somewhere near Silicon Valley. Does this sound like a good option ? … Or are you suggesting that even doing a second Masters is something not recommendable for me ?
Also, regarding doing research regarding which program will benefit me the most in finding a job, what do you suggest I do ? That is, how can I actually determine how well a CS department’s ties are to the IT industry nearby ?
The problem is you can’t do that until you’re done with school, and by then you’re unemployed, so it’s a huge risk. Employers also want people who are local in the sense that they’re from there. For example, they went to school or have job history in that city (or at least in the state) already. I’m not saying don’t go to Brown, but just do some research on job placement because it is a real risk. If you apply somewhere in, say, San Francisco, even if you move there after graduating you’re going to have a resume that just says Providence, RI for the previous 2 years. Even if your current address says SF, you’re not going to have any history there, and if there’s nothing you can provide that a local resident doesn’t have (and considering so many CS majors move to SF, it’s going to be extremely difficult to stand out), they’re just going to move on to the next applicant.
One thing you could do if you do go to Brown is try to land summer internships in whatever city you intend to live in after you graduate. This will give you a little history in that city, and maybe that company could even give you a full-time job after graduation.
When I apply, my list of schools I apply to will be almost completely determined by location. I don’t care about academic prestige since I don’t want to go into academia. As long as I get into a reasonable program in a location where I can get a job afterward, I’ll be happy.
To research departments, you could start out by looking at different grad school forums, reading up on reddit for different schools on CS related threads, and then trying to ask current students in the department. Also look for nearby employers on Linkedin and look for employees and where they went to school. See if they went to the nearby universities, or if they all came from MIT, Berkeley, and CMU.
I did get one out-of-state interview when job hunting, and a bunch of the people there asked me if I went to the local school, almost to the point of only wanting to hire from there.
@mathandcs … Your response is kind of depressing, but I appreciate your honesty. I never thought that location could be such a major issue, because all my friends who graduated from a US school, mostly ended up with jobs in some other state. Nevertheless, I feel that what you’re saying is also something correct (at least to a certain degree).
How do you feel about Brown in comparison with ASU ? Which do you think will help me more in securing a job after graduating ?
Like I said, I don’t know much about the department. Brown is a much better school and has a much better department, but it’s not in a great state. You’ll need to determine how easy it will be to get a job in Boston from RI. I have no experience with this. You should also ask yourself if you’d rather spend your life living in Boston or in Phoenix. If money matters for now, Phoenix is much cheaper to live in, and ASU tuition is A LOT cheaper than at Brown.
I’m sure Brown will have way smaller classes though. If being in class with 80 other students even at the grad level would bother you, then don’t go to ASU.
I think this instate talk is way overblown if not completely ridiculous. My dd has a math/cs degree from Brown and a CS grad degree from UW-Madison and has had job offers in NY, Seattle, SF, Madison–the main places she has looked. I also do not think she has ever used career services at either university.
Brown CS is awesome according to my dd. CS undergrads at Brown don’t go to work in RI usually, they go all over. In her graduating class the vast majority went to Microsoft and google. MS people I don’t know so much because the ones I heard of when on to Phd programs. But I don’t know that the job ops would be different or less than undergrads.
Have you had any work experience? Did you have trouble getting hired now so are getting MS instead? That sort of surprises me. I take it you are a Canadian citizen though, so your are going to have not quite the same ease of job offers yes, do you have to have H1B?
@BrownParent, thanks for your reply. No actually I’m not a Canadian citizen, and am rather from the eastern side of the world. I do have experience within Software Development, but because my previous Bachelors and MS degrees are in Computer Engineering, I’m having somewhat difficulty within the Software Development world, as I’m constantly thought of as a second rate candidate. Hence I want to fix that now and get an MS in CS.
I’d like to work in the US after graduating, which is why I’m trying to determine which program would be the best for me, in terms of increasing my chances of employment.
You realize Madison is arguably top 10 in CS, right? There are some schools that can get you a job anywhere. Madison is one of them. Brown may be one of them. I don’t know. You might as well say graduates from Berkeley or UIUC can go anywhere, and use that in your argument.
It’s easy to call all this talk about local candidates only overblown or ridiculous if you haven’t attempted to enter the entry-level job market in the post-2008 world yourself. If it weren’t true, you wouldn’t have so many people with JDs from good schools becoming bartenders, or people with Master’s and PhDs becoming adjuncts at community colleges or tutors and making less than they made from their stipend in grad school, but with no benefits or job security.
What about USC and UFL and GT ? I haven’t received offers from there (yet!), but what if I do ? For Madison, I’m been rejected for their normal CS Masters program, but verdict for the PMP CS Masters is still undetermined (fingers crossed!)
GT is Georgia Tech? They have a great CS department. USC seems like a bit of a cash cow program, but it is highly ranked and in California. The campus is in a bad area of LA though. Don’t know much about UFL, except Florida has a terrible economy and it’s probably not prestigious enough to get you a job on the other side of the country. I’d probably go to ASU over UFL since you could then get a decent job in Phoenix.