queller

Also consider what campus your program is on. If it is not on college ave consider you have to add 20 minute min to get between the train station and the campus your program is on. Another odd thing about the Rutgers bus system is that on breaks the bus runs even less sometimes making it a 40 minute wait to get the bus off of college ave. I would say the commute from NYC would definitely take a toll on you so as the others said considering at least spending your first year near Rutgers would be wise.

killer whale

classical music

You won't die. If your looking for other books to reference the Schaum's Outline series is rather good, and often used by engineers to learn things. I believe they have a book on Linear Algebra. I am working on improving my matlab skills as well, as it has been a few years. Beyond the mathworks documentation I have found putting commands along with the word examples in google search to be productive. Also the new edition of matlab should be out soon so I would wait until it comes out to purchase the student edition if you plan to do so. Good luck.

apple pie

What are you doing to prepare for graduate studies in CS? …. well besides the application process I'm planning on applying in the Fall 2012 cycle, and after years in corporate refreshing my memory on api's related to my research interests (OpenCV, OpenGL), as well as relearning Matlab. What are you doing or have done? Or if your already in grad school what do you wish you would have done? Also are there some field specific things that it would be good for people to refresh their memory on before stepping foot on campus? I just figured that while everyone is so focused on the application process that once that is over the important thing is to be prepared for that first day. As when it comes down to it the application process is really a job interview of sorts where it is expected one will be ready to start producing on day one.

Thank you for your response to my question above, and for all the other responses you have made that have provided useful information to me. In researching Brown further I came across some references to a foreign language requirement. Is it required for one to learn/know a foreign language to graduate from the Brown PhD program in CS?

beach bum

Yes. (or at least that is the case with me) When you first meet someone it is about first impressions and acting ones best. One is thinking more on the subject, or not taking an existing friendship or acquaintance for granted. Then once you get to know someone you fall into one's natural bad habits. Which means if I am working on something particularly hard I am less inclined to be friendly and chit-chat as I don't want to break concentration. However if I had just met the person I don't think in the back of my head "ohh I know them they will understand."

Royal Brat

That is interesting that Rutgers doesn't specify campus on the MBA degrees, good to know. I would investigate the places and positions the people at the Rutgers program were placed in job wise. If these are jobs you are interested in then the MBA program may be best for you due to the placement rate it has, which was more impressive than I was expecting. Also the concentration of course in the Rutgers Marketing concentration may be comparable to a continuing education program at NYU. Also check if the NYU continuing education degree says that on the diploma when you graduate. Which one is better for your situation could come down to placements at the Rutgers program vs the focus of knowledge the NYU program could provide in marketing. Good luck in making your choice. I always assume to some degree grades always manner. Mostly as many employers use them as cut-offs and base compensation off of them. So either way I would be sure to keep your GPA above 3.5 in a masters program of any type. Which is especially important as even if Rutgers is ranked 3rd in the area, the area is not what you will be competing with in the NYC job market.

problem solving

I am looking at ranking from the perspective of choosing schools to apply to - not choosing between them at this point. I must admit I have found this discussion interesting, and will be considering some of the things presented by the posters above in determining schools to apply to. As a basis I am taking any ranking of CS PhD programs over 50 as something similar to a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. I am not considering rankings outside of the CS department - as CS graduate programs are my area of interest. Naturally I hope I get in some of the schools towards the higher end of the top 50 when I try and apply, but if I don't I have no intention of applying or looking below that point. Beyond that I am going for fit and research when considering schools.

It honestly depends on which Rutgers MBA (Camden, Newark, New Brunswick). It also depends on how ambitious you are in finding your own opportunities after graduation, as my impression is a lot of the Rutgers recruiting is with financial, and pharmaceutical companies. ( It could be different for MBA but that was the general impression I got from career fairs at Rutgers New Brunswick when I was there as an undergrad in a different field. ) An MBA would likely be very helpful for your own business, and running that as it is a large focus on general business. As for a large company I would say the NYU program would be better due to the reputation, and possible resources at its career service department. Since by going to Rutgers for the MBA won't help you get additional career resource help as I believe Rutgers alumni can use some of the Rutgers career services. Plus with the concentration of really good MBA programs in the greater NYC area (Philly, Boston, NYC) I do not think Rutgers rank wise competes with the individuals competing for jobs in the NYC area. So I would consider your reasons for wanting to get the degree in your decision as I think Rutgers low comparative rank to the area does not make up for the slight impression of prestige that an MBA has over a Marketing masters degree. As NYU due to its rank probably has better employers recruiting there presenting more opportunities with employment with large companies if that is your goal. Plus you have 12 years of experience with running a marketing business which I would suspect has taught you more about business than an MBA ever could. Good Luck.

I am a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the word was used as a name for a type of demon on the show. I am hoping it shows up on my gre so I can smile. Definition of QUELL transitive verb 1 : to thoroughly overwhelm and reduce to submission or passivity <quell a riot> 2 : quiet, pacify <quell fears> — quell·er noun Definition from http://mw4.m-w.com/dictionary/queller

I have been lurking this board for quite some time as I plan to apply to programs either in Fall '11 or '12, with Brown as one of my top schools. Thank you so much for the replies to others questions as it has cleared up some of the nervousness I had about applying to Brown. I was wondering if there are a lot of people, or is it rare for people to have been in the workforce for a considerable amount of time before applying to the PhD program? It took working as a programmer for a number of years (a bit under 5) for me to realize that I was more interested in the solving of problems associated with research rather than the implementation of others ideas. Thank you for your time.