<p>I got admitted to MS of computer science in both UT Austin & Columbia. UT Austin has a top ten cs program, but columbia is an ivy... wut do you think?</p>
<p>as a current UT comp sci Student (and a rejected MS CS applicant), i will be more than glad to give you some insight.</p>
<p>Here are the pro's of UT Comp Sci department.
1. Top notch reputation, especially in A.I., Systems, and formal methods
2. Well recognized professors, bunch of AAAI, IEEE, Alfred P. Sloan, ACM Fellow/award winners and etc.
3. From what I observed, friendly atmosphere amongst the graduate students.
4. Tuition is low, 8k for out of state/international students!
5. Living expenses is dirty cheap as well (in comparison to NY)
6. Austin is a high tech town, slowly transforming itself to the "silicon valley" of the south. In addition, Austin is an awesome town for living in</p>
<p>if you have any more questions, feel free to ask me</p>
<p>btw if you don't mind me asking, what were your stats? Just want to see what kind of tough competition I was facing against :/</p>
<p>also, in a way, I am in the same boat.</p>
<p>I am trying to decide between UCSD (top 15 CS program) and Brown (ivy with similar reputation). Currently, I am leaning towards UCSD b'c of the cheaper tuition (by ~10k and potentially 25k if i get california residency).</p>
<p>However, Brown has a professor who I am highly interested in working with, but she's on sabbatical :/ :/</p>
<p>I am also waiting on USC, apparently they mailed out my admin decision today.</p>
<p>hi, as im an international student, i dont know if my profile would help~</p>
<p>BS college: a top 3 from china with one year exchange in a top 10 college in canada
GPA: 3.7 GRE 660/800/5.0 CS sub: 840 91% with some research background in ITS but no paper</p>
<p>i think cost is definitely an issue between these two alternatives. ive 2 additional questions</p>
<p>1) im personally very commited to high-tech entreprenuership. is there any special program in UT that would help me?
2) wut is normal class size in UT? it seems that UT has a very large undergraduate program (Over 800?). i dont want to attend big classes in graduate school...</p>
<p>UCSD was on my list as well, but i didnt catch up with its deadline.:) wish u good luck with USC~</p>
<p>Top 3 university from China, I am guessing either Tsinghua, Peking, or Nanjing university? :p Our professors think highly of students from either of those 3 colleges, no wonder you were accepted :D</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I am not sure if there is a "special program" per say. However, it is not unusual for professors and the graduate students work closely with the local industry. However, it is not unusual for students to work/intern for a local company during the summer or do part-time during the school year. There might be co-op opportunities available, but I am not sure.</p></li>
<li><p>The graduate class size is relatively small. You might have up to 15-20 students in the mandatory classes (such as advance operating systems), and 5-10 people in the electives. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>feel free to ask me any questions.</p>
<p>I had a smiliar decision to make at the MA level and opted for Columbia.</p>
<p>That being said, the beauty of graduate education is that the quality of the faculty in a given program matters far more than the name of the school or its status as an "Ivy," which means nothing beyond the undergraduate level. </p>
<p>I've accepted an offer of admission and funding for a PhD program at a mid-level public school, and the master's-level students I met during the open house there were far more impressive than my classmates at Columbia.</p>
<p>Read into this what you will--it's worth about what you're paying for it--but I wonder if you might receive a stronger education at UT-Austin, just based on the fact that the school is required to live up to a certain standard that Columbia, due to its name, might not quite achieve. </p>
<p>Again, this is simply my experience as a Columbia master's alum and an incoming state-school PhD candidate, but it is a perspective nonetheless.</p>