MS program choice help

[crouthers]

So, I'm going to be graduating this Fall with a Bio-Chem degree accompanied by a CS minor plus additional hours, giving me ~ 35 credits of Comp Sci. studies.

I was preparing to send in my app, but am debating what schools I want to apply to. Following the coming semester, my stats will look something like:

GPA - 3.9

GRE - 760 Quant

- 750 Verbal

Approximately 3 years of quantitative biology research. Want NOTHING to do with integrated CS/Ecology systems anymore.

For personal reasons, I will most likely need to be in the NYC or Chicago area, depending on where my partner will be attending medical school.

I was definitely leaning towards applying to Columbia as a top choice, but I've seen some students claim that Stony Brook is an exceptionally nice school. Are there any other sought-after programs in the NYC area, aside from these and NYU; and are there any comparable programs in Chicago?

I would like whatever school I attend to have some on-campus-recruitment opportunities, which is why Columbia seemed like a good choice, but are there any programs notorious for the OCR in either of these areas?

Thanks~

[Ancient CS Grad]

A couple of observations. Stony Brook does have a good program but if your partner will be studying in NYC you really do not want the commute. On the other hand If you are a gluten for punishment commuting to New Haven (Yale) or Philadelphia (U Penn) are both possible but obviously time consuming, I have know people who have done both train commutes though not for grad school. The best choice in NYC for Biomedical related CS research is definitely Columbia. If you are interested in Cyber Security NYU-Poly (cs.poly.edu) has an excellent program, it is a different application than NYU-Courant Institute.