<p>There are very few schools that really focus on a heavy hands on approach in engineering.</p>
<p>The three that come to mind are Cal Poly, Olin, and Northwestern. These three have broken from the traditional model of engineering undergraduate work. I am sure there are others but they are the minority that is for sure.</p>
<p>I have a son in Computer Engineering at USC but he was only a freshmen so his experience is limited in the engineering classes. Fortunately he works for a company at home in the summer and remotely from USC during the school year and is heavily involved with coding for and manufacturing communications equipment,</p>
<p>Guys,
How is the graduate studies at USC? I've been admitted for Masters in Computer Science during Fall 2008.. Have admits from other univs too which are far cheaper compared to USC. Is paying such a big amount for USC worth? How is it comparable with SUNY Stonybrook and University of Minnesota Twin Cities? Btw, I'm not planning for PhD after MS, my aim is to land in a good job.</p>
<p>I'm an Indian and doesn't have much idea about US cities. The only difference we know here is the climate and tech companies around. So with ideas like these, which one to choose that provides me good education with less tuition cost, post MS job prospects in tech companies and nice climate.</p>
<p>Did USC offer you any financial aid? USC has the best climate of your choices but is probably the most expensive choice unless USC gave you financial aid.</p>
<p>No aid :-( . Infact, in recent times i have never heard of any international student getting aid in USC. Moreover, they are stopping any aid to international students from this fall. Can I be positive towards paying off the tuition using the internships that I may get during 2 years? I'm planning to finish masters in three sems and to dedicate the other just for internship. Wats ur say on this? We normally use USNEWS rankings to evaluate the universities and USC is ranked above other two. Should I have this as an important factor while deciding on the university? After choosing USC, will I be able to transfer to nearby cheaper one, say UCLA. Is this possible?</p>
<p>UCLA is not much cheaper out of state (or in your case international). UCLA is cheaper for in state residents. If you want USC, I suggest that you try to find a job in Los Angeles, if you can, where the company will pay for graduate education tuition at USC. Otherwise, you are probably better off at one of the other schools if it is more affordable. I highly doubt that internships will pay that much to cover all of your expenses at USC. By the way, isn't the dollar cheaper so that USC tuition is not that expensive for international students? I don't know the exchange rate in your case if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>As an international student, you may not get in-state tuition from any of the other two schools. So I don't think tuition cost will be a big difference between them. Academics and job opportunity wise, USC is definitely better, if you want high tech jobs. Stony Brook may give you advantages in finding finance related jobs. </p>
<p>Internships have some restrictions, such as you can only work full-time during the summer. During the semesters, you may need a car to work part-time at some local companies. After all, internship can only alleviate some of your financial burden. What people usually do is to graduate earlier, and find good jobs to pay off the debt. Internships are not a big factor in any of the decision makings. Of course it is a good thing to have during the summer, and can help you to land a better permanent job later. However, finding a good job after your graduation can solve all of your financial problems. You may find the tuition difference between these schools should not have affected your decision.</p>
<p>It's hard and not worthy to transfer to UCLA. UCLA admits a lot less Masters student than USC, thus, it may have higher bar. As other people, it also won't save you much money, and won't help your job search much.</p>
<p>Most masters students don't get aid of any kind, US or international. Briefly there was an engineering master's honors program that gave some tuition/units free, but I don't know if that's still going on.</p>
<p>(International undergrads are typically eligible for merit aid at USC, and all PhD students are funded including internationals)</p>
<p>Transferring schools for master's is not typical, since the master's program is so short, you would almost have to start over again. For example, USC lets people transfer a max of 4 units for master's (out of 27 required) However, some schools may have more generous transfer rules.</p>
<p>Guys thanks for your replies. Here are my further doubts, guess I'm not boring you all..</p>
<p>@mdcissp
I'm trying for an educational loan and its in process for quite sometime. Guess the fund allocated in the loan may affect my decisions. Btw, US dollar value against Indian rupee is in steep rise for quite some months and I'm really wonder and also doubt the credibility of all those weaker dollar news in weeklies. Is it possible for me find a Job in Los angeles and ask the company to pay for me? Sounds new for an international and this is the first time I'm hearing about this. Do you have contacts with some one who did this?</p>
<p>@QW553
If stonybrook gonna land me in some finance jobs, I better stay off because of recent downslide in finance sectors and my alieness towards finance. Though I have written about my 3 sems plans, I'm not sure whether I will be able to complete or not. How difficult is to graduate in USC? Many say that getting into USC is easy than passing out with some good grade. Is it true? If i what i understood is right, Indian educational system is completely different from US.</p>
<p>@jbusc
Ya i too heard about worst aid scene for masters in USC. Say if i go for some transfer, when do you think is the right time for me to apply? Should I go through the normal process or get in touch with some professors to recommend me for admission. Which is more viable way to get a transfer?</p>
<p>Stony Brook can help you to get a finance related job because it is closer to NY, but those jobs aren't the only ones available for the students there. </p>
<p>It is still possible to get a company to pay your tuition right now, but a lot more difficult than during the golden time, i.e. 1998-2000. You need a different visa to work in U.S. When you work at a company for an extended time, I believe the company will consider paying tuition for you.</p>
<p>Graduating from USC is not hard, but getting high GPA does need great efforts.</p>
<p>My understanding is USC does not give financial aid to international students, but you can check on that. If you don't have the money up front to pay the bills, then I suggest you go to a less expensive school. There are U.S. companies which pay 100% for graduate school if the program/major is related to what you are doing on the job. I can't tell you which companies. You have to do a major internet search looking up various companies which have jobs related to your skill set and then look up the company benefits. On the benefits page you will be able to see if the company pays for graduate school. In your case, it might be very difficult to get a job in the U.S. when you live outside the country. U.S. companies generally (and I say this as a generality) do not want to pay moving expenses (which is a lot of money for those who live outside the country). My advice to you is to go to graduate school where the cost is the cheapest, get a part time job while in graduate school and aim for part time work in a company which will pay for graduate school tuition. Do not rack up high amount of debt. It is hard to get loans in the U.S. and the interest rates are a lot of money if you can get an educational loan.</p>
<p>I also want to add that you generally need to be a full time employee, the grad. school program must be related to your job, and the company benefits have to say that the company will pay for grad school.</p>