CreamandSugar

Right now, it seriously looks like I'm not going to get the scholarship I was expecting. I was told I should get the scholarship, that my program would look impressive to them, but I was supposed to find out last Monday and still haven't heard anything. I emailed my school if there was any update, but have not heard back yet. I'm trying to sort through my options if this falls through. I already quit my job, told other schools I'm going elsewhere, and committed to this school. Is it possible to back out? Can I beg my second choice school for a spot? I wonder if I could get funding some other way...Has anyone been in this position before?

Yeah but it's one thing to back out on an offer because you changed your mind about grad school altogether, and another to just run off to another school. At best, you will look bad to the school you're turning down and you're inevitably going to burn bridges. I think part of the reason so many applicants freak out right before the deadline is because a lot of times they have to decide whether to accept a suboptimal offer or hope to get off the waiting list/get funding at their top choices. If you could play both sides of the fence, this board would be significantly less busy.

So I sent the program I finally ended up choosing to attend an email yesterday morning confirming that I decided to go there, but I never received a reply. I was thinking I would get some kind of a welcome or congratulations or next steps or at the very least an "ok we won't give away your spot" email. Is this at all normal? Should I send a follow up? It just seems off to me, but I don't want them to think I'm crying for attention.

Well if you're turning down your undergraduate school, you have to be particularly courteous and thoughtful because the school has already come to know and love you and has put a lot of resources into developing you. You should be humble and personal, and don't make a bigger deal out of it than it has to be. Don't make it sound like you think you're too good for them now. Make them feel valued and not like you just blew them off to go fool around with your friends on the beach. Something like: Ladies and gentleman, next fall...this is tough...next fall I'll be taking my talents to [elsewhere] and study at [X University].

How is studying for a test "gaming the system"? That's how school works.

Well at this point I think you're more than justified in asking for a status update. I mean accepted applicants have to tell them whether they're going by the 15th.

When did you apply? I sent my application in the beginning of December and I was accepted the beginning of February.

News from admissions? I know their main point of contact is out "for several weeks", so that's probably why they've been silent from that end. But I'm not sure if that's what you meant...

I'm sure there are some, but you would open the door to a lot more programs if you just took a few (3-5) foundational courses. Some of the best CS schools (i.e. UIUC and I think Princeton) are very lenient with required CS classes for their masters applicants. The other thing you can do, if you're interested in a subfield, is see if any schools offer a specialized degree in that subfield. I think those admissions committees are much more forgiving of a weak CS background if you can just prove you have strong technical skills. For example, I'm interested in security. I wanted to apply to Purdue CS, but I didn't have all the prerequisite CS classes. So instead I decided to apply to Purdue CERIAS. They didn't demand all the CS background that the CS department did, and I still get access to all the CS classes I wanted to take anyway. I should probably add a disclaimer, though. I'm only about three steps ahead of you in this whole process. I still haven't been to any graduate classes, much less tested the degree in the job market. I could easily see employers being turned off by degrees that are too specialized.

This is more just for fun but I wanna see if there's a clear winner. I got into 6 masters programs: Penn MCIT University of Chicago Computer Science Naval Postgraduate School Cyber Security- with funding Purdue CERIAS Information Security - with funding Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute - possibly with funding (depends on whether I get IASP scholarship) Brown Computer Science I'm interested in information security and working for the government. My background is in applied math (read: not CS). Where would you go if you were me and money was important to you?

Anybody know how the masters students do in the job market? I'm fairly certain Brown is the best school I've been accepted to but is it worth the "nearly $65000" expense?

I'm assuming by Penn State, you mean Penn. Unless both have the same program. If that's the case, look at Penn. Another school to look at is University of Chicago. Their MS program is strictly geared towards people with little to no experience. As long as we're on the subject, though, what do people here think of programs like these? I was admitted to both, and need to decide on Penn in a couple days. Do you think they're worth the money?

Does anyone know about the reputation of, go to, has gone to, or know someone that went to JHU ISI? I'm mainly interested in the quality of education and job prospects afterwards, but also who hires/recruits from it. Do graduates exclusively go into healthcare? It seems extremely health-oriented.