MS CMU Robotics vs MS Stanford CS

[Adamah]

I've been fortunate enough to be accepted to both the MS in Robotics program at CMU, as well as the MS program in Computer Science at Stanford. I had visited Stanford on Monday and was all set to decide on them, but today a professor at CMU emailed me offering me an RAship that provides full tuition coverage and a stipend for the two years of the program. I am now back to square 1 in deciding where to go.

The funding situation is definitely in CMU's favor. They offer guaranteed funding plus a stipend in the form of an RAship. Stanford doesn't offer guaranteed funding, but from what I've heard TAships are commonly available. I speak native English and have a lot of TAing experience though, so I'm pretty confident I could land a TAship. TAships at Stanford cover tuition and give a stipend.

In terms of reputation... this is a little more tricky. Stanford is Stanford. It's a name that's hard to beat, regardless of the field. Then again, when it comes to CS CMU is just as good, and when it comes to Robotics CMU is probably better. The MS Robotics program seems more competitive than the Stanford CS program though, and it seems like the school invests more in their MS students than Stanford.

I think the big thing Stanford has in its favor, in my opinion, is the location. Silicon Valley is next door. The weather is perfect... that's hard to beat. I've also finished 10/45 credits for the Master's program through the Stanford SCPD program, so I'd be able to finish the degree in a little more than a year, compared to CMU's 2.

My heart is telling me Stanford right now, but objectively it seems CMU is a better choice. I'd appreciate any feedback people have. Are there questions I should be asking that I've not been looking at?

[psycho_killer]

If Robotics is what you want to do, it sounds like it's a no-brainer for CMU, honestly. RAship > TAship even if the TAship were guaranteed, which it isn't. "Silicon Valley is next door" is irrelevant - recruiters will come to you at CMU. The weather and overal geography is a legitimate factor in Stanford's favor, but it's up to you to decide if it's more important than the above.

Edit: Also, I understand it is rare to get a TAship your first quarter at Stanford, so at least that one you'll have to pay out of pocket.

Edited April 6, 2012 by psycho_killer

[Adamah]

I guess my concern is that I'm not necessarily set on robotics. I'm interested in AI, and I guess more specifically in multi-agent systems but I'm not set on anything. Funding is a factor, but one quarter isn't huge for me. I've worked for three years after college so I've saved up enough to get through grad school comfortably.

[psycho_killer]

Okay, then yeah it's a closer call. I'd say it comes down to how much curricular flexibility there is in CMU's robotics degree - i.e. can your electives come from general AI, neural computation, machine learning, and whatever else, or are they expected to strictly come from the robotics department. If the latter, then Stanford might be a better choice in order to keep more options open if you aren't sure.

Just out of curiousity, did you apply to CMU's general CS masters program too?

[Adamah]

I did not. I only applied to Masters programs that have a research option.

[jjsakurai]

CMU definitely. This is a no-brainer. The only thing Stanford has going for it is that the Silicon Valley is next door and the weather is nice. Research-wise, CMU is a lot bigger and better. Reputation-wise, CMU is as big a name in Tech as Stanford. It's true that the average person on the street will be more likely to have heard of Stanford but honestly - that's really irrelevant and you don't want to base your decision on that. Any recruiter will know how good CMU is.

Plus if you want to go for a PhD later, there are a lot of funded MS Robotics students who stay on for a PhD. Even if you get a TAship at Stanford, RAship is so much better than a TAship. Plus all the tech recruiters come to CMU.

What Stanford can offer is many more opportunities to be a part of a startup while you're pursuing your MS. There are many more Stanford students (and not just in CS) I've seen doing a startup compared to CMU and MIT - even while they're still at school.

Edited April 6, 2012 by jjsakurai

[jwang511]

CMU Robotics is TOP notch. Hands down CMU. Stanford is not bad for sure... but to be advised by someone from CMU's Robotics? They're all superstars there. Plus, I would give a slight edge to CMU for Machine Learning over Stanford Machine Learning.

[Adamah]

Yeah... I guess objectively CMU is a better choice. Is it weird that I'm a bit downed by that? There's just something so romantic about living amidst Silicon Valley.

I'm going to talk to the professor soon and get more details. More than anything, I think it will come down to the project I'd be RAing for. That will be the main focus of my life for the next 2 years, so I need to make sure it's something I can be passionate about.

[jjsakurai]

Yeah... I guess objectively CMU is a better choice. Is it weird that I'm a bit downed by that? There's just something so romantic about living amidst Silicon Valley.

Nah...Pittsburgh is not exactly a top-notch city and is in the middle of nowhere. Plus the startup culture in SV can be infectious. But if you're not that into startups, then you won't miss SV. And while Pittsburgh is no SF or NY, it's not that bad to spend 1-2 years in.

[psycho_killer]

Plus the startup culture in SV can be infectious.

It can be obnoxious too...

[Pauli]

I want to warn you that you should also base your decision on whether you will be a good fit in your lab and to see if you will be able to contribute. If the program or lab of interest is already top-heavy, you might end up being pushed to the side or given lower priority as compared to one which is looking for people to fill in.

[Adamah]

So I thought I'd fill you all in on what happened. I went to CMU for a visit and met with the professor. Overall I felt the project didn't really fit the research area I want to go into, so I turned it down. That said, I was really impressed with the program. It seems like they invest a lot more in their MS students than Stanford does. There's only about 25 MS students each year, compared to 200-300 or so from Stanford (most of whom are former Stanford undergrads who treat it, perhaps rightfully, as an extra year of college). The professors I spoke to at CMU were all more than willing to sit down and talk, and their interests seemed to align very well with mine.

In the end, I decided to turn down the offer for full funding but accepted CMU anyway. It is almost guaranteed that I'll have an RAship after the first semester, so I decided it would be worth the loss of funding to wait for a project that I'd be really passionate about.

[cartel]

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.

[Adamah]

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I don't check this site very often anymore and every once in a while I get messages from people in a similar situation asking how my choice turned out. I thought I'd just post an update here.

I'm very happy with having decided to go to CMU. I ended up getting a RAship after the first semester (full funding + stipend). The Robotics MS program is indeed fantastic -- most people get funding (it varies from year to year, but my year ~90% received funding) and the expectations and social interactions are essentially identical to the first 2 years of the PhD program. People quickly forget who is a Masters student and who is a PhD student. This is not the case at almost any other MS program in other universities or even at CMU (I think LTI at CMU is another excellent example of this though, from what I've heard). I eventually continued to a PhD program at CMU and am very happy there.

Looking back, the decision to go to CMU should have been a no-brainer in my situation. When I visited Stanford it was clear to me that they don't really care about their MS students, and when I visited CMU it was clear that they did. At least on the CMU side, my impression proved accurate.

[therisingpage]

On 9/8/2016 at 7:09 PM, Adamah said:

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I don't check this site very often anymore and every once in a while I get messages from people in a similar situation asking how my choice turned out. I thought I'd just post an update here.

I'm very happy with having decided to go to CMU. I ended up getting a RAship after the first semester (full funding + stipend). The Robotics MS program is indeed fantastic -- most people get funding (it varies from year to year, but my year ~90% received funding) and the expectations and social interactions are essentially identical to the first 2 years of the PhD program. People quickly forget who is a Masters student and who is a PhD student. This is not the case at almost any other MS program in other universities or even at CMU (I think LTI at CMU is another excellent example of this though, from what I've heard). I eventually continued to a PhD program at CMU and am very happy there.

Looking back, the decision to go to CMU should have been a no-brainer in my situation. When I visited Stanford it was clear to me that they don't really care about their MS students, and when I visited CMU it was clear that they did. At least on the CMU side, my impression proved accurate.

Reading this totally validates the reason why I opted to apply to CMU for my PhD!

I did my MS there and completely appreciate the environment and culture of CMU.
Granted that there were days when the workload was out of this world, but in a way, it was totally worth it! 

[Icydubloon]

On 9/8/2016 at 9:09 AM, Adamah said:

Looking back, the decision to go to CMU should have been a no-brainer in my situation. When I visited Stanford it was clear to me that they don't really care about their MS students, and when I visited CMU it was clear that they did. At least on the CMU side, my impression proved accurate.

 

On 1/10/2017 at 0:20 AM, therisingpage said:

Reading this totally validates the reason why I opted to apply to CMU for my PhD!

I did my MS there and completely appreciate the environment and culture of CMU.
Granted that there were days when the workload was out of this world, but in a way, it was totally worth it! 

But... Pittsburgh sucks compared to the Bay Area. And I go to CMU