[Any decent US universities for CS that we can stil apply for fall 2015?]

You can apply to Boston University for MS till May 1 (Rolling admissions). I think that's the only top 50 university left. 
Maybe you could try applying to spring admissions in a couple of months

[I have admits from CMU LTI's MS in Intelligent information systems and MS CS at UT Austin. Which should I choose?]

My area of interest is Machine learning and its applications.

Carnegie Mellon University's MS in Intelligent Information systems is a professional program offered by the Language Technologies Institute, part of their School of Computer Science. It focusses on analyzing unstructured data in the form of text, vision or speech. It allows me to (only) take courses in the areas of ML, NLP, IR, Comp. Vision, along with capstone project and directed study with a prof there.

UT Austin MS CS is of course broad, but apart from a couple of diversity courses I can do similar courses as above on ML, NLP, IR. The course offerings in these areas are still lesser than at CMU. But it's pretty much free (because of great aid scene, so a difference of at least 60-70k ) and offers a traditional MS CS degree.  

My goal is to be a software engineer who works on problems in the areas of ML, NLP and IR. While I am not entirely sure about it, I would probably not want to go for a pure data scientist role. 

Factors that I am concerned about are:

1. If I am going to do more or less the same courses both places, I think CMU courses are going to be better. Is the advantage of UTA only the name of MS CS? How important is that? 

2. Will it matter in the long run to have done a broader study through MS CS? 

3. Will job opportunities at both universities be similar? Will CMU's course restrict my job opportunities? 

4. Should the industry reputation or 'brand' of CMU be a factor? How good is UTA's reputation?

5. I hear that the courses at CMU are very rigorous, and this is a great learning opportunity. There are also many leading faculty there. How does UT Austin fare with regard to rigor of the program

 

6. Is it worth to be spending on more than 60-70k for CMU when UTA is also a top 10 program. By difficulty of getting in, UTA is definitely more difficult than this program in CMU.

 

What would you suggest and reasons please.

Thanks!

[CMU INI-MSIN vs UCSD MS CS vs Columbia MS CS]

I'm actually facing a pretty similar decision. I'm still waiting to hear from Columbia, which is one of my top choices, but I am in at Stanford (MS CS) and CMU INI MSIS. Systems and security are my main interests, and my thinking on INI is similar to yours. Still trying to decide whether the reputation is something I care much about, since like you said most of the classes are in the SCS.

 

My other concern is for the long term. Security would be a new direction for me, and there's a chance that once I start that career I decide it's not for me. A regular MS CS would be more flexible, I think.

 

joelc I think you should go for Stanford. Getting admit into Stanford is much more difficult than CMU INI. Also at Stanford you can get tuition waiver if you work as TA/RA. No such opportunities in CMU. Moreover Stanford is at heart of Silicon Valley. You should chuck Columbia. It is simply not in the same league

[MSCS at Columbia or MSCS at Brown?]

IMHO Columbia is a better school for CS than Brown. It's also cheaper than Brown. Could you list the factors on your mind and which area you are looking for?

[How is MIIS (offered by LTI) at CMU?]

Professional MS degrees vary in their orientation and quality.  You must consider each program individually.  Students in the MIIS degree take the same courses as students in CMU's research-oriented MLT and PhD degrees.  They are advised by the same faculty.  The distribution of GPAs for MIIS and MLT students are very similar.  It is just as difficult to get into the MIIS degree as it is to get into the MLT degree.  The LTI is very serious about providing a professional MIIS degree that is just as good as its research-oriented MLT degree.  You can find out how the first cohort of MIIS students did on our web page (http://www.lti.cs.cmu.edu/miis/graduates).

 

Best wishes with your decisions.

 

Hello Prof. Callan,

 

Is the class size for the program increased this year compared to the very low figures last 2 years?

[How is MIIS (offered by LTI) at CMU?]

I'm in the same boat as you