UIUC vs USC

[kindarough]

Hi all,

I have been accepted in the PhD program of Computer Science at USC and awarded the Graduate Fellowship.

Currently, I am in my final year of Undergraduate Studies.

But, I also have an admit from UIUC for MS in CS with partial funding.

At this point of time, I am pretty sure that I want to join a PhD program, so my first priority is USC. Moreover, my research interests are also inclined more towards a professor in USC compared to professors in UIUC.

I have few questions on deciding between the two and I would be grateful if some1 can answer these question of mine.

1)Since I am only an undergraduate student, so will I be able to earn MS degree on the way to my PhD at USC?

2)Will it be a wise decision to reject the MS offer from UIUC because if i accept it, i will have an option of taking/not taking PhD later on. Whereas, if I accept the PhD offer from USC, will I be able to leave in the middle (and get an MS degree) in case i get disenchanted from research?

[optimistic09]

You may want to visit the schools to find out more information.

You may also want to consider the funding packages.

At SC you would earn your master's during the PhD program, you should check out the schedule or classes, or talk to the department directly about that.

[rohan]

Hey,

I just wanted to confirm something about USC. I've got the Annenberg Fellowship there and this is the only offer I have with assured funding. However, in my particular field of interest, there are only a few professors and the labs and research groups have all been recently set up. So there isnt much variety in the work being done there.

In case I enjoy the research I get involved in... its all great. But if I decide I want to finish my course work and maybe seek a PhD at a bigger school.... is it a big problem? Can I quit easily ? And will I be given a masters?