Penn MCIT vs. Chicago MSCS

[rpnpolska]

Hey friends - would love some input from the community!

 

Non-CS undergrad looking to make a career change.  Interested in working for a startup or bigtech, and dabbling in research (obviously never have done it before some I'd love to at least try).

 

Accepted to both Penn MCIT and Chicago MSCS.  One caveat: if Penn, I'd move on to complete their normal MSE CIS degree as well.  Here are some of my impressions and considerations:

• Prestige/ranking - Penn takes this... Ranked 18th vs. 35th; Ivy
• Research - Penn again
• Courses (from a 'practical skills' standpoint) - Chicago... classes more focused around very specific skills (e.g., IOS, Android, C, etc.); practicum program
• Courses (from a 'selection and interest' standpoint) - Penn... much broader selection, with cool ones like AI, game design, machine learning, computer vision, etc.
• Startup opportunities - Chicago... Chi-town seems to have a much more booming startup community than Philly
• Bigtech opportunities - tie... seems fairly even, maybe slight edge for Penn

Please vote and post any feedback.  Thanks

[gorki]

Any idea of subfields you would be interested in? 

 

For the "practical skills" courses, you can probably pick objective C (as an example, since you mentioned IOS) by reading an online tutorial, no need for lectures...

 

For the startup, I'd think the people you meet in the program is more important than the town, but then again I'm not really following startups so someone else can comment.

 

I can only talk for my field, programming languages theory / formal methods, but I see (at conferences) lot of interesting research in that area being performed at UPenn. 

Edited April 14, 2014 by gorki

[rpnpolska]

Appreciate your insight, gorki!  In terms of subfields, it's tough to say since I've never really been immersed in the field, so I don't know everything that's out there or what will keep my interest once I go deep.  But from my "outsider's" perspective, I think I'll be very interested in things like AI, computer vision, machine learning, etc. - things that Penn seems to crush Chicago in.

[Aurora15]

I am in the MCIT program. There is one other thing that's great about Penn - the summer internship. I'm not sure if Chicago has this, but a majority of MCIT students do a summer internship (after their second semester). Interning is optional -- you find it on your own, you get no credits for it, but it will give you a some great experience (and a paycheck). Many of my colleagues are interning at very prestigious places - Amazon, Goldman Sachs, etc. I am interning at a start-up in Philadelphia. There's a decent amount of start-ups in Philly. I applied to many start-ups in the area and got quite a few interviews. Penn's Career Services is great - lots of good resources, advice, and organized career fairs (including a Start-up Fair).

 

MCIT is excellent. In September, I didn't know how to code at all. I didn't even think I could ever get an internship 9 months later. But here I am, able to program in at least 4 languages, able to recognize the right data structures and algorithms to use for a particular problem, ...it's incredible. 

[billrach]

Just had a general question regarding these types of programs.  If the goal is to get a job after completing the MS degree (no plans to get a phd), does the specific title of your degree matter?

 

For example UPenn's degree is called Master in Computer Information Technology and Uchicago's is called Professional Masters in Computer Science.  And there are degrees like 'Masters in Information Systems', etc.  Do employers view these degrees as lesser degrees compared to degrees that are specifically called 'Masters in Computer Science'?  

[Aurora15]

No, in my experience, employers really do not care about the title of your degree. What they care about is the skill set you acquired through your education.

[rpnpolska]

Aurora - thanks for the feedback!  I'm glad to hear you are having a great experience, especially since I have now committed to MCIT!  Would love to connect with you for any tips, insight, etc you can provide as I start the program.

[Aurora15]

Congrats for committing to MCIT! You'll really like it! Feel free to send me a message here if you have any questions!