cs_phd

if you feel comfortable that way, you can wait for some time after you accept B and before you tell A.

Accept B first. I don't think A would badmouth. Let A know that it is impossible without funding and hence you are declining (with nice words and that you are in regrets and in pain to take this decision).

there is no rule. it is just about having good relations and propriety. But, in your case, there is leeway because you got offer from dream school at last moment. I would choose B without any issues.

I would choose B because it is better and has provided funding. There is no reason to choose A. If you decline A, there is no problem because they themselves know that they have not provided funding. I don't see any confusion here.

yes unless you have funding.

there is no rule but its more about principles and propriety.

2-3 weeks after the course starts is the deadline to register. Don't register before you get your F-1 visa. After that you can register and you can change your selection any time before the deadline.

even F1 comes with multiple entry.

Example: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~rshriram/shriram_cv.pdf

I know people from UBC CS phd who have done internship at USA (IBM watson NY and MSR Redmond which is close to Vancouver). I don't know the exact class of visa they used. But people have done internships.

UBC CS is better overall as per rankings. But, it depends on what you want to do. Are you applying for PhD or MS and what is your area of research ?

not much difference between the 3. stevens and iit chicago are located near bigger cities and financial industry. More opportunities to work in banking and finance technology after graduation. i know most of them join developer jobs in boa, morgan stanley etc.

You may ping some students at Columbia to check about how successful MS students are in transitioning to PhD. If you feel you have a better fit there, then you can check about your chances of getting enrolled to PhD program. I know a friend from another Ivy who got transitioned to PhD after 2 semesters. Once he got transitioned, his fees got waived (not the 2 previous sems for which he had to pay) like other PhD students and got monthly stipend. But, he took the required course exams in his first 2 sems like a PhD student (need to score more than a MS student) and cleared them. So, it may depend on how they do at Columbia. You can check with some students.

umass amherst and edinburgh both are great. I would take one of them. What is your area of research? For some areas like AI, umass amherst is ranked higher than Columbia. Even systems (distributed systems and networking) is great. There are some very good professors who even founded akamai. So it depends on the area of research and the professor. Its difficult to get funding for MS in CS at Columbia (this is what I know). I don't know about transition to PhD.

As far as I know UPenn does not offer funding for MS programs. You can check the program website for details.

That is true but the reason is different. Universities rate degrees from american universities more than degrees from outside. Even international students who have bachelor/master degree from america get in to good programs for Master/PhD.

I agree with grindian to go with Cornell or UTA. With Cornell you will definitely get interview calls from all top companies. Then it is for you to convert it. UTA is also same but Cornell is slightly ahead in my opinion.

apply to UPenn's MCIT program. This is designed for non-cs undergrads.

contact the school. you need to change the name on i-20. i know a friend who had similar problem (no surname in passport). he rectified the passport once he arrived in us.

I don't about MSE but atleast in CS, EPFL is top 10-15 uni in the world and far better than OSU. If the difference is same for MSE, then I would choose EPFL. EPFL program is similar to that in US and most profs are from US.

i would choose UW PhD and the reasosn are covered by above posts.

I would choose michigan PhD or Wisconsin PhD. Both are great.

I think it needs to be rectified. DOB is an important field.

any day CMU. ML is great there.

GaTech is a top-10 university for CS. All of them get placed in reputed companies. Your fears are misplaced.