CS Master's Admissions: Carnegie Mellon or UIUC ?

[cs_grad1]

Hi all,

 

I’ve been accepted to the Computer Science Master’s program at CMU and UIUC and was looking for some advice/opinions on which would be the best fit for me. Any insight into this decision would be appreciated!

 

Here are the programs I’ve been accepted into:

• CMU – MS in Computer Science (3 semesters, non-thesis) - http://www.csd.cs.cmu.edu/education/master/curriculum.html
• UIUC – Professional Master’s of Computer Science (3 semesters, non-thesis) - https://wiki.engr.illinois.edu/display/grad/MCSRequirements

CMU

Positives

• Lighter course-load requirement (8 courses over 3 semesters) which would give me more time to pursue other technical work/opportunities outside of class
• Courses in web application development and mobile computing which I’m interested in taking
• Ranked at the very top of CS graduate schools

Negatives

• The MS CS program is only 2 years old, so I’m not sure how well known it is
• The overall cost is about $5K/semester higher than UIUC

UIUC

Positives

• Well-known, established program
• Courses in software engineering and databases which I’m interested in taking
• Costs about $5K/semester less than CMU

Negatives

• Heavy course load (12 courses over 3 semesters)
• Ranked lower than CMU

 

My primary goal after completing graduate school is to obtain a position in software engineering, ideally related to the development of web systems. I do not intend to pursue a Ph.D.

 

Given this information, which school do you think is the better choice for me, and why?

 

Additionally, I was curious if anyone could provide some insight into other qualities about these two schools:

• How common is obtaining an assistantship in these programs? Ideally I'd like to offset as much of the tuition cost as possible.
• How heavy is the recruitment from top companies at these schools?
• How is the overall campus/social life?

 

Any insight/comments would be appreciated - Thanks!

Edited March 17, 2013 by cs_grad1

[skylar]

I didn't see any responses on this question. What did you end up doing? 

[Icydubloon]

Hopefully he went to CMU 

[UCLAColumbiaUNC]

UIUC only requires 32 units to graduate from MCS program. So it's 8 classes if you opt to take 4 units for all classes. (You have the options to take 3 units or 4 units as a grad student if you take a upper division undergrad class.)