Which computer science program should I choose?

Graduate School
1

<p>I will get my B.S. degree in computer science this June and have decided to further my study in graduate school.</p>

<p>So far I have been admitted by USC, Penn and Columbia. I also applied Cornell, Duke and NYU but have not got any messages yet.</p>

<p>I will definitely not pursue a PHD degree after my graduation and want to do jobs like IT-consulting or become an analyst in financial companies. Doing developing work in IT companies is OK for me but it is not my first choice.</p>

<p>Would you please give me some advices on these programs?</p>

<p>USC - MS in Computer Science (Admitted)
Cornell - MEng in Computer Science
Columbia - MS in Computer Science (Admitted)
Penn - MS in Computer and Information Science (Admitted)
NYU - MS in Computer Science
Duke - MS in Computer Science</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

2

<p>if I were you I'd go to cornell if not USC</p>

3

<p>Since you want to work for financial companies, and it's a master's rather than a PhD, I'd go for prestige. A very prestigious school (you seem to have plenty of those) with strong connections to the financial industry (don't know which those are, since that's not an industry that I care about, but others might).</p>

4

<p>I think Cornell is the highest rated of all those schools, for Computer Science.</p>

5

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I'm in a similar situation. I'm a MS Electrical/Computer engineering student, and here are the three choices I'm choosing between:</p>

<p>1) UW-Seattle. RA with $2k/month stipend + tuition waiver</p>

<p>2) Columbia - most likely no funding</p>

<p>3) USC - most likely no funding</p>

<p>The choice is probably fairly straightforward, but I don't want to look back 20 years from now and regret losing my chance at experiencing the ivy league education.</p>

6

<p>
[quote]
The choice is probably fairly straightforward, but I don't want to look back 20 years from now and regret losing my chance at experiencing the ivy league education.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I would've thought UW is a better school in this field than the other two. Are you from Washington? If not, go to Seattle. Otherwise, maybe being in NYC would be faaaabulous.</p>

7

<p>Is it? I went by the engineering rankings and USC/Columbia are ranked slightly higher. Maybe it's different for EE/CE programs.</p>

<p>I am from Seattle and I do enjoy the environment here. I have to admit the biggest draw from Columbia, besides being in NYC, is the name.</p>

8

<p>UW CSE ranking is higher than columbia / usc. Also UW's paul allen center is one of the most comfortable, modern, nice, <insert all="" superlatives=""> CS building I've ever encountered.</insert></p>

<p>
[quote]
The choice is probably fairly straightforward, but I don't want to look back 20 years from now and regret losing my chance at experiencing the ivy league education.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>ivy league education especially in engineering is overrated</p>

9

<p>^ lol... i have to agree.</p>

10

<p>Graduate school programs aren't uniform across specialties within a department. So overall rankings aren't that meaningful and it really depends on what area you're interested in. For financial-related work, Columbia or NYU will open up many opportunities just by being in NYC. Columbia also has a strong financial engineering program.</p>