Information Security: CMU INI vs. JHU ISI vs. Columbia

[fallfromgrace667]

Hello all,

I was curious whether anyone had any comments about these three schools in the area of information security. I've gotten into Carnegie Mellon's Information Networking Institute which offers a degree in Information Security Technology & Management. I'm curious if the INI is as highly regarded as Carnegie's engineering and CS departments. I also got into Johns Hopkins' Information Security Institute which offers an MS in "Security Informatics." I've been told this program highly regarded in the information security field. I've also been admitted to the MS in CS program at Columbia University. I know Columbia is fairly highly ranked in CS and they have an MS "track" in computer security.

I was wondering if anyone had comments about these three schools or programs. All three look pretty good to me at the moment so it's going to be a tough choice.

[One]

Hey have you found already an anwer to the above ? I heard that for example, the CMU INI in Portugal will kill you. You will loose 1.5yrs of your life in front of a computer. You literallly dont have time for nothing else: no personal life, no health, nothing. Only working, working , studying , studying ... 24h, 7 days a week. On top of that, you will have the whole time the impression that faculty both from CMU and Portugal is not convinced what this kind of masters are good for.

[vincent]

Probably this does not matter anymore.

I know a guy who graduated from CMU INI. And also I hear admittances from this program way more often than to the CS program in CMU (check edulix). So I am almost sure that getting at CMU INI is way easier than getting into CMU CS. CMU is highly regarded in CS. The CMU INI and information systems programs are for people who want to go to industry. If you want to consider an academic/research career in the future then I hope you didn't choose CMU INI but for instance, Columbia MS in CS program.

[krok]

Actually the CS classes at CMU are part of the INI program. The INI is an interdisciplinary program not an MS in CS program. The INI program curriculum consists of faculty and classes from the CS, ECE, business and policy schools of Carnegie Mellon. The CS program at CMU is one of the best in the world so naturally they have a very high applicant pool and they choose only outstanding individuals who show promise for PhD work since yes they want MS students who can go on to the PhD. However INI students sit in the same classes with these MS CS students. In terms of the INI since it is not strictly a MS CS program they don't get as many applications. It's strictly a numbers thing however if you look at their admission requirements it seems you need to be pretty damn good to get in, since they are doing many of the same classes as CS/ECE majors. They are a professional graduate program and they specialize in security, networking and mobility with business and policy thrown in, though according to their placement stats INI students have gone on to PhD's, though I don't think it is the norm. As to security, they undoubtably have one of the best security graduate programs since US-CERT has a research lab on CMU's campus and CERT also teaches the INI's computer forensics courses. Also Carnegie Mellon CyLab is the largest security research lab in the US and the INI, CERT and CyLab all work together. Given that INI works with all of these different departments and labs on campus it's pretty safe to assume that INI students have lots of opportunities but I guess it really depends on what you are looking for. If an MS in CS is your thing because you want a PhD one day, the INI might not be the way to go. If you are looking at an MS in Security I don't think you can find a place better than the INI. They have a lot of good info on their website.

[krok]

I heard CMU Portugal program will kill you also, but it is because the Portuguese education system is completely different and the students are not used to taking 3 classes a semester with tons of work, which is the standard for US grad programs. They are used to taking 7-9 classes a semester with little work and a huge final exam period in which they get like a month of nothing to do but study for their final. US programs are nothing like that. It's a big difference if you are not used to it. I have heard faculty from Portugal who teach in the CMU programs say this (I'm an alumn of CMU Heinz).