HCI Programs: Georgia Tech v. Indiana Purdue v. Indiana Bloomington

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello everyone. I am a soon-to-be HCI graduate student who is looking for some input and comments about certain M.S. in HCI programs that I have been accepted into. Before I talk about the schools, let me say a few things about my intended career path.</p>

<p>I would like to be a user interface designer / usability engineer. In particular, I would like to be involved with the designing or redesgining websites or software applications from a user-centered design perspective. Thus, I would like to be involved in the ideation phases, wireframing, prototyping, requirements analysis, creating personas, performing usability studies, developing information architecture, iterative testing, iterative designing, and other related processes. I currently have no notable programming or coding skills, but I have begun teaching myself HTML and intend to begin learning CSS and Javascript before I start any of the programs, because I notice that a lot of user interface design / user experience design / usability engineering jobs require a familiarity with or expertise in these languages. So there's some relevant information about me. Now for the schools...</p>

<p>The first program is Georgia Tech. This is currently my top-ranked school for a number of reasons. First, the program's structure and courses seem to be very strong and relevant to the kinds of professional interests that I have. Secondly, since GeorgiaTech is such a big name, I think it would give me a competitive advantage when I am looking for jobs and have its name on my resume. Third, various of the professors there have research interests that correspond with my professional interests. Fourth, as far as I know, the university is located in a much better city (Atlanta) for networking and finding relevant (and hopefully higher paying) jobs while I am in the program and perhaps soon thereafter. Fifth, I am pretty sure that GATech receives more funding than any of the other schools I will mention in this post, which may mean that I will be able to engage in more important or more impressive projects while I am there. Unfortunately, GATech does not offering funding with admission, but there is a 30-40% chance that I could acquire an assistantship while I am there, according to the program director. My biggest concern with the program is that, because I would have to pay a tuition of roughly $21.3K per year, I may end up having to take up a $45K+ loan to complete the program.</p>

<p>I have also been invited to enter the programs at Indiana University Bloomington and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The former has offered me full-tuition funding, while the latter has offered me roughly $6.3K per year on roughly $17K tuition per year.</p>

<p>So here are some questions that are running through my mind as the deadline for my decision approaches (in about 2 weeks):</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Since I currently have no debt and am single with no children, should I not even worry about the debt that I would have to put on my shoulders in order to attend GeorgiaTech? Are the job prospects that I am likely to obtain from exceling in that program likely to secure me jobs that will put me in a comfortable position to pay off that debt in the future?</p></li>
<li><p>How much better, if at all, is the Georgia Tech program than the Indiana universities, given my professional interests and background? In your view, does either Indiana school offer something that GATech does not or offer something that GATech offers but offers it better? Obviously if you believe that either of the Indiana programs is better overall, than your recommendation should be obvious, since GATech isn't offering me any funding. But if you believe GATech is somewhat or substantially better, do you think it is better enough to justify rejecting the funding offers from the other schools and take up a substantial loan to go there instead?</p></li>
<li><p>Can any of you speak to the nature of the 3 mentioned programs? In your view, what are their strengths? Weaknesses? And feel free to discuss not only the programs themselves but the job prospects related with the programs, the networking opportunites related with the programs, etc. (I should, however, note that I am not interested in such factors as weather and social environments).</p></li>
<li><p>I am also curious about DePaul University, the University of Baltimore, and the University of Maryland. Both of the Maryland schools have accepted me so far, but neither offered any funding. And basically, since I have GATech ranked higher and it would not be THAT much more expensive to attend GATech, I am not even seriously considering going to either of the Maryland schools. But I am curious if anyone thinks either school might be a better choice for me, given my professional interests. As for DePaul, I haven't heard back from them yet, but I very much like their coursework and program structure. It seems VERY comprehensive. But I have my doubts about the school because I haven't really seen many people talking about the program anywhere.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Any input at all will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>How did you get $21.3K for GT tuition? I thought it was $14K for out-of-state tuition including mandatory fees (<a href=“http://www.bursar.gatech.edu/student/tuition/Fall10_Spr11/fall10_pdf/fall10_grad.pdf[/url]”>http://www.bursar.gatech.edu/student/tuition/Fall10_Spr11/fall10_pdf/fall10_grad.pdf&lt;/a&gt;).</p>

3

<p>And will you get in-state tuition for your second year?</p>

4

<p>anom217: I got 21.3K like this: Referring to that same document you linked, I looked at the out-of-state tuition (+fee) costs for 9 credit hours, which is $10,651. I multiplied that amount by 2, since I would take about 9 credit hours per semester, and there are 2 semesters in a school year. So $10,651 x 2 comes out to $21,302. I know the program is 36 credit hours total, and I was told by the program director that it would probably be distributed 9 credit hours per each semester.</p>

<p>momwaiting: That is a good question and one that never even occurred to me. Is it typically the case that out-of-state grad students become eligible to receive in-state tuition rates in their second years?</p>

<p>Thanks for the messages by the way. And any further input would be appreciated.</p>

5

<p>Follow the money.</p>

<p>I haven’t an opinion of the schools, other than I suppose that they are similar. To determine if they are different, look at the number of publications and size of this department and if the profs interests are aligned with the concepts. </p>

<p>HCI=HumanFactors=Engineered Art, IMHO.
Son has a BS, MS in HCI. Also a BS in mech eng. He’s doing robotics. Hobby is engineered art. Trying to find the perfect job. He’s too picky.</p>

6

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<p>It’s not possible in Georgia at least</p>

7

<p>My dad went to Purdue for his Ph.D. in Physics, and he says the school is top-notch. I don’t know anything about the academics at Bloomington, but I would give special consideration to them because they are offering you full funding. Is there a professor there that you can see yourself working with, whose research interests align with yours? If so, go for it. You could get a degree without being a penny in debt.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for the input so far guys. Any more opinions about the programs themselves? I am particularly interested in what you guys think about the Indiana schools.</p>

9

<p>GT has one of the very best HCI programs out there, comparable to CMU or MIT.
It might just be worth it to take out the debt – look at where some recent GT grads ended up. Many profs list their alumni on their page. For instance: [Gregory</a> Abowd’s Home Page](<a href=“http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~abowd/students.html]Gregory”>http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~abowd/students.html)</p>

10

<p>Yeah, it is true that GATech is generally recognized as one of the best HCI programs around, and I’m sure that might be very well be true for a number of reasons. But, at the same time, I think the Indiana programs would offer me very good job opportunities as well. I have heard from the program director and from various students in the program that various alumni have landed jobs in Google, Yahoo, Apple, Adobe, etc.</p>

<p>For me, the most attractive thing about the GT program is the idea that perhaps the overall quality of the program will ultimately put me in a better position not only to find a more interesting and better-paying job after graduation but also to be able to excel in the kinds of work that I most desire. In other words, it seems that the program at GT might leave me more well-rounded. But, to play devil’s advocate again, I think that if I were indeed losing anything by going to one of the Indiana schools instead, I may very well be able to ‘make up’ that loss without too much trouble after graduation by gaining relevant experience in the field.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input so far guys.</p>