NYU MS CS vs Cornell Tech M Eng CS

[prospectiveCS44]

I got into the MS CS program at NYU (GSAS) and the M Eng CS program at Cornell Tech. I'm not sure which to pick honestly. I do enterprise development at a bank currently and hate it. I definitely want to continue programming but I want to do something more technical and interesting, preferably at a tech company. I figured getting a Masters would be a good way to do that.

Cornell Tech seems like it may be a little too professionally focused and an M Eng may not be as valuable as an MS. On the other hand Cornell is more prestigious/ranked higher, and maybe a more professionally focused curriculum is valued more by tech companies. Also it'd be nice to have the option to pursue a PhD after (even though I probably won't do one), and it seems like an M Eng doesn't provide that option.

Any advice would be appreciated, especially from people who have done either program.

[prospectiveCS44]

I also got into Tufts and BU MS in CS for both.

[fa20cs]

AFAIK, NYU MSCS program is also course-based. Non-thesis MS program won't help you that much when you apply for PhD. Also I think Cornell's program is shorter than NYU's so you can go back to the industry earlier while paying less tuition.

[prospectiveCS44]

While not required, you can write a thesis at NYU as a masters student, https://cs.nyu.edu/home/master/current_research.html.

[fa20cs]

Then I guess It all comes down to whether you want to go to thesis track or not. I am also in the middle of choosing between thesis and non-thesis track for a different MSCS program. I rather spend my time on job searching than writing papers but writing a paper is like a now or never thing and it's slightly more future proof choice. Maybe you can share your opinion on this?

[prospectiveCS44]

I think (and this is just my guess I don't actually know) that jobs probably won't care if you wrote a thesis or not. So if you know you're going to be looking for a job then you probably don't need to spend the time writing a thesis. On the other hand if you ever want to continue on to a PhD (again this is just my guess I don't actually know) a thesis will probably help your application. Also ignoring jobs and PhD, if the point of going to grad school is to learn, then writing a thesis will definitely cause you to learn about a subject in a lot more depth than you would have if you skipped the thesis.

 

Anyway yesterday I got into the MCDS program at CMU, so that changes my options up a lot. I'm still not sure about NYU MS CS vs CMU MCDS, it's basically the same dilemma (academic vs applied) but switching out Cornell with CMU.

[meesuni88]

On 4/9/2020 at 8:22 PM, prospectiveCS44 said:

I think (and this is just my guess I don't actually know) that jobs probably won't care if you wrote a thesis or not. So if you know you're going to be looking for a job then you probably don't need to spend the time writing a thesis. On the other hand if you ever want to continue on to a PhD (again this is just my guess I don't actually know) a thesis will probably help your application. Also ignoring jobs and PhD, if the point of going to grad school is to learn, then writing a thesis will definitely cause you to learn about a subject in a lot more depth than you would have if you skipped the thesis.

 

Anyway yesterday I got into the MCDS program at CMU, so that changes my options up a lot. I'm still not sure about NYU MS CS vs CMU MCDS, it's basically the same dilemma (academic vs applied) but switching out Cornell with CMU.

 

Hey, I received Cornell Meng CS like yesterday, so now I am considering CMU MCDS vs Cornell MEng CS. 

prospectiveCS44, could you share why you chucked out Cornell MEng? I mean both universities are prestigious. (Cornell also being an Ivy League.) + MEng is a shorter program: you can quickly go back to earning.

[prospectiveCS44]

11 hours ago, meesuni88 said:

 

Hey, I received Cornell Meng CS like yesterday, so now I am considering CMU MCDS vs Cornell MEng CS. 

prospectiveCS44, could you share why you chucked out Cornell MEng? I mean both universities are prestigious. (Cornell also being an Ivy League.) + MEng is a shorter program: you can quickly go back to earning.

Well it's for a couple reasons but I think maybe our preferences are different.

1. CMU is ranked above Cornell so that's definitely a plus.
2. To me, it seems like Cornell Tech has a greater emphasis on the business and entrepreneurial side of tech, which I'm not really interested in.
3. I actually like that the CMU program is longer. Both program's are a sizeable amount of money and I'm hoping both will lead to high paying tech jobs so I'd rather get the opportunity to take more classes. Also to be honest I'm not rushing back to the work force and am excited to take the opportunity to spend some time learning.
4. Since the CMU program is on the main campus it has a lot more classes to choose from where the Cornell Tech one seems to only have a handful of classes available.

Cornell Tech is in NYC and I love NYC and there are a lot of good companies in NYC so Cornell Tech might have better relationships with them. But I think any tech company would know of CMU and respect the name even though it's not in NYC. Also I get that Cornell is an Ivy which is cool, in 20 years rankings may shift but Ivy's will probably always keep their prestige. I think though that while our masters degree has an effect on jobs, ranking will matter more than Ivy or not Ivy. By the time rankings shift (if they shift) job experience will matter more than the school you got your masters from.

[meesuni88]

6 hours ago, prospectiveCS44 said:

Well it's for a couple reasons but I think maybe our preferences are different.

1. CMU is ranked above Cornell so that's definitely a plus.
2. To me, it seems like Cornell Tech has a greater emphasis on the business and entrepreneurial side of tech, which I'm not really interested in.
3. I actually like that the CMU program is longer. Both program's are a sizeable amount of money and I'm hoping both will lead to high paying tech jobs so I'd rather get the opportunity to take more classes. Also to be honest I'm not rushing back to the work force and am excited to take the opportunity to spend some time learning.
4. Since the CMU program is on the main campus it has a lot more classes to choose from where the Cornell Tech one seems to only have a handful of classes available.

Cornell Tech is in NYC and I love NYC and there are a lot of good companies in NYC so Cornell Tech might have better relationships with them. But I think any tech company would know of CMU and respect the name even though it's not in NYC. Also I get that Cornell is an Ivy which is cool, in 20 years rankings may shift but Ivy's will probably always keep their prestige. I think though that while our masters degree has an effect on jobs, ranking will matter more than Ivy or not Ivy. By the time rankings shift (if they shift) job experience will matter more than the school you got your masters from.

 

Thanks for putting forth these points. They make a lot of sense!

I might have missed it, but I thought you got into Ithaca campus for Cornell. Yeah Cornell Tech is Entrepreneurship focussed. Ithaca one, not some much. But the Ivy point is a good one

[knowyours1it]

The author should not be going to MS without knowing what he/she wants to do. You are going into a grad school and do not seem to know anything about the industry. 

You are comparing apple and orange.

1. Cornell Tech is not prestigious as NYU Courant when it comes to CS program; actually Cornell tech do not have any CS program. You are comparing computer science program to Information system science program(hybrid with management in tech). This should not even be comparison. If you wanna compare Cornell to NYU then you should do Cornell Itacha MS CS program to NYU MS CS program(Tandon and Courant Both rank higher than Cornell Tech).  Cornell Tech is a brand new school and it is not engineering school. As long as you are in top 50 MS CS program, it is all same stuff unless you are going into PHD program in top 5. Then again, your ultimate goal is gaining a job in tech firm or making your own tech firm, it is totally up to your ability to make that happen. I saw too many people coming into MS CS program without knowing how to code even a easy question in Leetcode. Seriously all tech firm make you do coding assessment at all level and for all jobs related to backend, fullstack, front end, machine learning, AI, data science, data analytic, and the schools never teaches. So basically it is your ability to get the job.  

Second, CMD Data Science is not computer Science either. What are you trying to do??? are you going for software engineering, AI, Machine learning??? or just trying to get a a job in tech firms?  Data Science is so far from computer science, they are not really technical in terms of AI, and Machine learning, software engineering, and algorithm analysis. Data science is the field that connects between stat modeling and CS but it is hardly technical as long as you have some math background. 

I just can't believe people compare CS program to DS program because of the school name. CMD is good CS school but there are plenty of cash cow major like DS that people know in the industry. At the end of the day they are not drastically make you look smart. Only really hard program to get in is MIT, Caltech, and Stanford for MS CS. Everything else align with GRE score 315-330 with relevant experiences. So stop talking about being reputation lol 

[Greencanopy]

On 2/13/2021 at 11:04 AM, knowyours1it said:

(Tandon and Courant Both rank higher than Cornell Tech).

What is your source here? I haven’t found any rankings that distinguish cornell tech from cornell Ithaca.

[uncouthSWE]

On 2/13/2021 at 11:04 AM, knowyours1it said:

1. Cornell Tech is not prestigious as NYU Courant when it comes to CS program; actually Cornell tech do not have any CS program.

Prestige is somewhat subjective but the bolded second part is blatantly false: https://tech.cornell.edu/programs/masters-programs/master-in-computer-science/