CS MS in America

This is a collection of tips and pointers for Indian students who want to do MS in computer science in the US, based on experience and observations.

Picking schools

There are dozens upon dozens of American universities. Which ones do you apply?

Use USNews lists as a starting point. It's worth the 15 dollars. You'll pay much more as application fees.

If you are from the IITs or IISc, you should try the top ten universities, keeping the next ten as "safe options". UMass (Amherst) also seems to be an IIT ghetto. If you are from BITS or a well-known REC, you can still try the top ten. You have a good chance of admission if you have published a paper or presented it in a conference of repute. Grad student listings say Univ. of Utah and Texas A&M Univ. like BITS people.

Pretty much all other Indian engineering colleges are in the same rung as far as MS admissions go. You can still try the top universities, but chances are bleak. There's a lot of competition. Of course, good grades, publications and other outstanding achievements help.

My document concentrates on this majority of applicants. Following is an empirical list of universities you can try if you are from these colleges.

U Texas Austin
Georgia Tech
Columbia Univ
UC Irvine
Penn State
Ohio State
SUNY Stony Brook
U Colorado Boulder
U Minnesota
U Arizona
North Carolina State
U Florida
Arizona State
Michigan State
SUNY Buffalo
U Illinois Chicago
Colorado State
Oregon State
Syracuse Univ
U Texas Dallas

I picked them from the USNews Comp.Sci. 2006 and Comp. Engg. 2007 rankings. It's not exhaustive, and it will certainly be biased, but I've given it anyway. UT Austin and GATech are top schools, and the rankings go down as the list goes on. Bangaloreans: as of this writing, Stony Brook is rich in RVCE alumni and NCSU has a lot of PESITians.

Shortlisting schools

Next, identify which area of computer science you want to specialize in. For example, Utah is great for graphics. GATech is superb for HCI. UT Austin is strong in systems. You can get a feel of the research going on in any school by carefully browsing through its department's "Research" webpages.

Now look at the costs of attendance. There's the tuition fee and the living costs. USNews gives both figures. Drop the ones you think are too expensive. For example, Columbia is costly and it's in New York — not a cheap place to live. Texas schools are usually cheap. SUNY schools don't cost much either. Both are quite reputed.

(Of course, costs don't matter if you have funding, but I'll come to that soon.)

Go through the student directory to get a feel of what kind of students are currently in the university. This is a very helpful exercise. If you see mostly IITians, you can probably drop it. ;-) If you see students from your college, you can probably give it a try.

Some universities have a one-year M.Eng. course that's usually based on coursework. Check your course details to see if it suits you.

If it matters to you, read through the climate of your university town (on Wikipedia or weather websites) to get a feel of it. Some people don't like freezing winters — they should not enroll at, say, Minnesota. Some hate bleak, rainy weather: keep away from Oregon. But do keep in mind that the US is in the temperate zone and the winters are cold pretty much everywhere. Unless you choose Univ of Hawaii.

If possible, you should choose universities that are close to the technology industry. Univ of California schools are great that way, but at least the top ones there are hard to get into and California is expensive. UT Dallas and NCSU are good choices, Stony Brook isn't bad either.

Also consider the crime rate in your university town and the State in general, especially if you are a woman. You can find these figures on Wikipedia. Oh by the way, women generally have better chance of admissions because so few of them apply and universities try to maintain a good gender ratio.

Money

Ph.D. students usually get funding on admission, but most M.S. students are not so lucky. Funding means that your tuition fee is waived and you also get a monthly stipend. Without funding, it can cost a lot to attend graduate school in America. If you have no funding and you have admits from schools with not much of a difference in rankings, it makes sense to pick the cheaper university.

MS usually lasts 3 to 4 semesters, so count your total expenses for that period. If you join in fall, you can do internship in the summer quarter. That will probably pay for the next semester's tuition. You can do campus jobs. That will cover living costs, but not tuition. Funding, of course, is the dream of every graduate student.

Other Factors

Make sure you prepare well for your GRE. Good GRE scores help. If possible, take the TSE or SPEAK Test. It is mandatory to apply for TAship, which is a form of funding. Some universities may accept the spoken component scores of the new TOEFL iBT for this purpose.

Get your recommendations from professors, academics or researchers. Make sure they are from or working at well-known institutions. If possible, ask them to write personally and not use a standard template.

Don't use flowery words in your SOP. The GRE has already tested your vocabulary. Don't make complicated sentences. Don't make long, winding sentences. A good rule of thumb is that your sentence should not be more than 2 lines. Don't use contractions like "don't" or "I'll". Don't ramble about how much interest you have in the subject; instead, show results (grades, prizes, etc.) that actually prove that you were an achiever. Go through the school's website and name some research labs and professors that interest you.

Applying

Apply to 5-8 universities. Keep a few schools above your range, a few within your range, and a few "safe options". You will get some rejects. Don't fret over them. If you get an admit with funding, you should probably go for it. If you get admits without funding, you should probably go for the cheapest place. (Personal note: Ohio State is not cheap!) MS students are not fund-worthy for professors because they don't stay long. Universities give a lot of MS admits nowadays and that means there's a lot of competition even if you want to get funded later.

Thesis and Coursework

MS can be done in "thesis" or "coursework" options. In the first option, you do research under a professor and write a thesis. Under coursework, you just take courses, write exams and finish. I prefer the thesis option. But sometimes it can take a long time (2 or 3 years), depending on the professor and the kind of research. On the other hand, if you want to finish quickly, you can try the coursework route.

Work or study?

MS costs money and you will start pretty much as a fresher after you graduate. You will have to work in the US after your MS (or for longer if you decide to go back to India) to break even. On the other hand, you can keep earning money and you will add up years of experience if you continue to work. Evaluate carefully before you decide to quit your job for Masters. If you are learning a lot in your current job, the pay is handsome, and you have worked for more than 2 years, then the balance tilts against MS.

Good luck.