rookie93

Hello everyone, I'm an international student and I've been admitted to both the Duke ece ms and NCSU cs ms program this fall. Background: I'm an EE major. During my undergraduate study, I fould that I'm more interested in cs, especially web development. So, I applied for some cs programs, as well as some ece programs in which I can attend cs courses easily. I'm not fond of theory research. All I want from a graduate program is to equip myself with solid programming skills from courses and projects, and then get a SDE job. Comparison: Duke pros: 1. The Duke ece program has a software track in which students can attend all software courses. 2. Higher overall reputation and rankings. 3. Due to less students, the peer pressure may be lower. Duke cons: 1. Duke is not renowned for engineering. 2. Since it's an ECE program, the quality of the software courses may not as good as NCSU. 3. Very expensive: the estimated annual cost is $77,070. NCSU pros: 1. Renowned for engineering. 2. General cs program with more complete software courses. 3. Much cheaper than Duke: the estimated annual cost is $46158. NCSU cons: 1. Lower overall reputation and rankings. 2. The peer pressure may be higher. To tell you the truth, my parents want me to choose Duke because of its higher reputation and rankings. But personally, if the Duke ECE doesn't have better courses quality and better level of employment, I think it's not worth spending around $50000(1.5 or 2 years) more on a professional ms program just for higher reputation. So could someone tell me more details about the actual employment situation of these two programs, and I would appreciate it if you could tell me some thoughts on which one would be the better choice. Thanks a lot.