UTAustin vs UMCP vs UCLA vs cmu

[hopelesslyconfused]

Hello,

Please help me out with the final decision regarding Ms in Cs admissions. ( Data mining, Db all univs are good with respect to research work in my field)

I have recieved admits from the following univs:

Carnegie Mellon University, Masters LTI (Extremely expensive, good course, CMU reputation, no aid)

University of Texas, Austin, Masters (Comparatively cheaper, Excellent University, no aid)

University of Maryland, College Park (Fully Funded, slightly oriented toward DB not DM though not a big factor, job scene unknown)

University of California, Los Angeles, Masters (California, Job Prospects, Pretty Expensive, no aid)

Please help me out with the decision in terms of job prospects (do not wish to pursue PhD), reputation and financial constraint (BIG FACTOR)

Thank you so much in advance. Hoping for your valuable suggestions and comments

[_Hamlet_]

UCLA~

[Antonio Baez]

Hi!

First of all, congratulations in all your admittances. Is a great pool of universities you have there.

Personally, I don't know the field you are seeking a graduate study (if Data mining was supposed to tell me something, sorry..i don't know what that is.. hehe :S)

I can tell you that I applied to UCLA and UTAustin, both of them in the Electrical Engineering field. I don't know much about job placement (I am a venezuelan living in Caracas so I don't have with me the best info).

From what I've seen in webpages, I thought I could give you my humble insight.

Carnegie Mellon is an extremely good university. If you stick by ranking (again, my saying in this is biased by the fact that I know about Electrical Engineering), CMU is the winner. CMU has a great reputation in two fields: Robotics and Information Technology (IT,networking).

UTAustin has a great reputation in Communications. It's one of the most competitive in this field.

UCLA is a great place for wirelees comunications and has a profile similar to UTexas.

UMaryland is unknown by me.

Also, I would like to take advantage of this to ask you about my status. I was accepted into UCLA's MSc in Electrical engineering. In this sense, I would like to ask _Hamlet_ why does he say that UCLA is the best choice. I think it can help me as well.

Another question I have, is that, I've also applied to UTAustin in the Electrical Engineering field but I have not received an answer yet. How did you hear from them? How long ago was it?

Thank you!

[ilikemoney]

I'd go to UMD. Great CS program, close to DC, and it's free. Just my take...

[origin415]

I wouldn't take debt if I didn't have to, so I would go UMD.

[hopelesslyconfused]

thanks everyone

i am inclined towards ut austin finally

am putting down some of my thots.. open for discussion for the help of juniors in similar dilemma

1. cmu lti masters - extremely expensive, hands down the best course bt too specefic, current US scenario not ideal for this mch loan

2. cornell meng - best course to get placements but not sure if cornell meng tag == cornell tag. dont knw wrth of the degree as compared to nrml ms from uta

3. ucla - no point after ut austin since uta is cheaper and better ranked and a bit mre reputed for cs

4. umcp - HARDEST DECISION for me. funded admit. very helpful advisor. still nt sure y im leaving this and gng fr ut austin (20-25 lacks hit) but mostly because of the higher ranked and better reputation of ms course at utaa