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Bump..

[i'm sorry for my double-posting in Computer Science section. I realized today that this is the right place for this post] Well, I consider myself very luck to be admitted to these two programs, both being among the best CE programs. However I am not able to make my mind. My BS is not in CS but I did do a lot of CS courses like C, data structure and operating system. My goal after MS is to find a job as SDE in top tech firms (Big or startup). First of all, either program is pure-CS: ECE-CE, a 1.5 year program, five semesters, requires 4 ECE classes, I will be able to take 8~10 CS classes. BIC, a 2 year program, four quarters, is under school of CS, requires 4 Bio-related classes, I will be able to take 5~6 CS classes, and a CS capstone project which will took a semester. For BIC: + Great reputation. + Great alumni network. + Great job perspective. o Relatively new program, about 40 or so student per year. o High workload. Ever since I started school, I tend to avoid this kind of study environment. I think my personality prefers the kind of lay-back but learn at my own pace way. o Higher cost, which is not too much of a deal for me. - Full 2 year program. - Doesn't like the winter. Honestly nothing about the weather I like. But I guess this won't be too much of a thing since I'll only stay there for two yrs. But heck who know. - No university housing, which sometimes can be a headache: higher rent for a lesser living environ. For ECE-CE: + Great program, small student size (about 80 or so M.S per year for ECE department, And I'm only in CE track). + Great location, CA, career fair will be good. and there will be three of them per year. + Great weather, lower cost + 1.5 year program. + University housing. From what I heard, UCSD graduate housing is a little bit cheaper than rent a outside apartment, and the living condition is a little bit better. - CE ranking is lower than CMU. (US News 12 vs 2). The only downfall.. To be honest, I'm really leaning over to UCSD program, since I already spent four years of BS in a chilly, windy, inland city. But at the same time, turning down an education from the most prestigious CS university somehow struck me as a bad bad idea... :< They say that once you got a offer from top companies, no one will ever care where you come from. So as I'm finishing this post, I realized that what I'm not so sure is the impact of choosing a slightly lower ranked program to my future job perspective and my ability to step-up and succeed in a SDE career. Thanks everyone for your opinions!

BUMP**

From what I can get out of Linkedin searches, in Facebook, twitter, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Linkedin, about 1800 are CMU graduates, 800 are UCSD graduates. Considering that UCSD produces at most 250 CS students (100- in ECE, 100- in CSE), and CMU product at least 500 (there are 10 cs-related majors that I know of until now, 50 students per program) So as I said, 50/50 job-hunting perspective. We're still tied..

yeah. about 3/semester. and SD has three semesters per year. So overall, I might be able to take more CS courses in SD. Well, from what I've heard, UCSD graduate housing is pretty solid and the rent can be considered low in La Jolla area. For a 2 or 3 BR, the rent is 500-620 depending on the location of the house/apartment, both is near the school. And also, UCSD is in La Jolla, so it's kinda suburban. Living cost is about the same in Pittsburgh(Urban, but small city).

Yeah! That's exactly what I reckoned. With CS jobs, location is rather important nowadays. Some of my classmates would easily give up Columbia EE for UCI CS. (No offence, purely ranking-wise) However, with my situation, CMU's rep and network and career fairs are so powerful that they off-set the location disadvantage. With a CMU degree, getting through HR isn't a difficult thing at all. So in job-hunting perspective, I would pretty much draw the line 50/50. With UCSD getting good location and good program, CMU getting good reputation and great program. But I would like to know how those big companies like google fb or linkedin think of UCSD graduates vs CMU graduates. Anyone?

Well, at least that's my big plan. Still a long way to go though. I'm just trying to avoid regretting my gut out in the future for choosing the wrong one. Any thoughts?

Well, I consider myself very luck to be admitted to these two programs, both being among the best CE programs. However I am not able to make my mind. My BS is not in CS but I did do a lot of CS courses like C, data structure and operating system. My goal after MS is to find a job as SDE in top tech firms. First of all, either program is pure-CS: ECE-CE, a 1.5 year program, requires 4 ECE classes, I will be able to take 8~10 CS classes. BIC, a 2 year program, requires 4 Bio-related classes, I will be able to take 5~6 CS classes, and a CS capstone project which will took a semester. For BIC: + Great reputation. + Great alumni network. + Great job perspective. o Relatively new program, about 40 or so student per year. Is under School of Computer Science. o High workout. o Higher cost, which is not too much of a deal for me. - Full 2 year program. - Doesn't like the winter, doesn't like the temp. - No university housing, which sometimes can be a headache: higher rent for a lesser living environ. For ECE-CE: + Great program, small student size (about 80 or so M.S per year for ECE department, And I'm only in CE track). + Great location, CA, career fair will be good. and there will be three of them per year. + Great weather, lower cost + 1.5 year program. + University housing - CE ranking is lower than CMU. (US News 12 vs 2). The only downfall.. To be honest, I'm really leaning over to UCSD program, since I already spent four years of BS in a chilly, windy, inland city. But at the same time, turning down an education from the most prestigious CS university somehow struck me as a bad bad idea... :< They say that once you got a offer from top companies, no one will ever care where you come from. So as I'm finishing this post, I realized that what I'm not so sure is the impact of choosing a slightly lower ranked program to my future job perspective and my ability to succeed in a SDE career. Thanks everyone for your opinions!

Fellowship isn't my main concern since my GPA isn't good enough to begin with(compared to other students in China who are also applying). Thanks for your output I'm aiming for an admission, possibly with partial scholarships like tuition waiver, etc.. Can anyone provide any information as to the requirements of those? What are the chances that I'll be denied to receive any possible scholarships because of my aw score?

Just got my first GRE results. V164 Q170 AW 3 15% I understand there were similar posts. But I just want to make hear your advice first hand. Some basic info: my GPA is 83/100. I'm studying engineering as a undergrad in China. I'm applying for a MS in engineering or computer science in US top 50 universities.(preferably top 30). Given my situation, should I retake the GRE to increase AW for a little? As for re-score, I think I definitely need to request for a AW re-score. I mean the chance that they would actually lower my aw score is just so small... Right?