cartel

CMU is obviously the better respected program. It's hard to quantify that in terms of ROI, though...like psycho_killer said, $30k isn't that much in the long run, not when your starting salary after a master's is >$100k.

Congrats Adamah, that sounds terrific! I'll be at CMU next year too, in the general MS in CS program. Have you been contacted with names of the other people in your program yet? I haven't heard about housing yet, so I'd be interested to hear about the process you're going through. It'd be nice to know someone entering a similar program.

Like the guy above me said, computer science is about much more than IT...also, you linked to California College San Diego, a for-profit institution that isn't regionally accredited. I would advise the OP to seek guidance from a more reputable institution.

I'm not surprised at all.

I know this is a late response and so you have likely made a decision, but hopefully you chose Oberlin or Richmond over KU. For graduate programs, overall undergraduate school reputation is much more important than specific CS ranking -- unless it's a top CS school (and KU does not have a top CS program). Oberlin and Richmond are very reputable, competitive schools -- Oberlin is ranked in the top 30 liberal arts colleges in the nation and Richmond is ranked in the top 30 universities in the nation. Both are very selective. KU, on the other hand, isn't even ranked in the top 100 universities...trust me when I tell you that you would have a much harder time getting into a good CS grad program as a KU graduate compared to Oberlin or Richmond. Highly ranked undergraduate schools open doors for you regardless of your area of interest. If you excel at Richmond or Oberlin, it would be easy to get into a top CS program for your MS. It would not be as easy from KU.

I don't know how many people got off the wait list, but I do know the number is at least one -- I was accepted off the wait list on April 17. I have no idea what overall admissions statistics are, though.

no deal

Thanks for the thoughtful responses, guys. I was on a similar wavelength -- since the rankings really are more of a range, then +- 5 probably isn't as much of a gain/loss as having or not having that Ivy status. And yes, that connection building could be huge... werd, Re: Berkeley vs. Harvard, just remember that research interests can change/develop over time, so the initial question of "is this a perfect fit" might not be as relevant as "is this a good enough fit that I'll be happy". Not much to add on top of what ghanada already said. It comes down to how much the difference there is between the Harvard fit compared to the Berkely fit. But man, you've got some good options!

One thing to consider is that CMU might be accepting PhD applicants into the Masters program and rejecting them from the PhD program -- so assuming those applicants get offers elsewhere (and there'd be a good chance that they would considering they're good enough for CMU masters at the very least), then they'll likely turn down the Masters offer. So the question is: does CMU accept extra applicants with this in mind? Or is that what the wait list is for? We'll see, I suppose...

Similar scenario, but mine is more hypothetical because I am still waiting on admits. But consider that I am looking at M.S. in CS programs: UMD College Park (14th) v Columbia/UPenn (17th) UMD College Park v Brown (20) In this case, these are top 20 programs versus a top 15 program, but the actual difference is relatively small, isn't it? To the point that name brand may be the larger factor? All of this assuming I don't get off the CMU waitlist...which I'm still holding out for

I asked a friend at CMU in ECE to see if he could find out any information about this. I know there are 9 on the waitlist, but I don't know any other information. I'll update if I find out anything worthwhile.

Applied to the Masters in CS and was waitlisted. I know there are 9 total on the waitlist, but I do not know the size of the program or how many they want to matriculate.

chin up

That's very disappointing to hear.