stepbystepwegrow

I didn't get any research exposure in my undergrad. I have been working as a application developer for over 2 years now. I have received an admit for Professional Masters Program at University of Wisconsin Madison (Same masters but without funding). I am not sure what my computer science area of interest is. I seem to have a positive inclination towards AI/ML mostly because my friends were working on it in undergrad. I seem to have a negative impression on Systems because of the way my undergrad professors taught and de-motivated us saying it's not right to join industry. I want to pursue masters with interest, not for the sake of getting an entry to the US. I am not keen on investing time and money on a program which is not good for someone looking to explore different areas without a specific area in mind. So I'm confused now whether to pursue after getting an admit. Request inputs from seniors.

Here's my status. Applied for Masters in Computer Science 1. UW-Madison (MS CS PMP - Professional Program) - ACCEPT 2. USC - ACCEPT 3. Rutgers - Reject 4. UCI - Reject 5. UCD - Reject 6. UIUC - Reject 7. GaTECH - Reject 8. Stony Brook - Reject I kindly request you to suggest me which university to go. UW-Madison has a better ranking on grad school news but my program doesn't allow me to accept assitantships so a hit on funding opportunities, I can still do campus jobs though. I am stuck in deciding between UW-Madison (PMP) vs USC. I would be very grateful if you can suggest me which is better considering the details above.

I am planning to apply for Masters in Computer Science in US for FALL 2015. Majority of my work in college and office has been in developing desktop, mobile and web applications (except my final year project which was on Human Computer Interaction). I'm finding it difficult to relate my entire work to a particular speicialization in the universities. By specialization I mean tracks like Data Sciences(Machine Learning), Cloud Computing, Human Computer Interaction. Some people told me that application development comes under Human Computer Interaction, some others told me it's not exactly human computer interaction to be developing mobile or web apps, it is if you are designing the apps or devices that host these apps. Honestly, I am not sure completely about which specialization I want to do, but I feel I have a vibe for Machine learning and data sciences. I just have one mini-project in that area from undergrad. I wanted to do more with Machine Learning in my undergrad, but all the teachers who were experts in that field were occupied, so I had to settle for my next most interested topic Human Computer Interaction. I got to know that when Profs are reviewing SOPs of students, they feel confident to choose a person who knows what he wants clearly and has done something substantial in that field prior to applying. Hence some of my seniors suggested me to apply for what I have the most experience in, so that I have better chances of getting selected. In most universities, we are allowed to explore tracks once we start attending school for about 2 weeks and then decide our specialization. It's not really mandated by what I have written in SOP. I would be very glad if anyone can guide me in the right direction by answering the following questions. Here are my questions 1. Is it okay if I am generic in my SOP that I want to do Masters in Computer Science without mentioning a specialization? Would this hurt my chances? 2. Does application development come under Human Computer Interaction? If I write about that in my SOP would it increase my chances? Thanks in Advance.