University Selection :: By when should I person have decided which universities to apply ?

[ahmadka]

Hi guys ... I'll be applying to universities this fall for a second Masters, this time in Computer Science.

 

These days I'm trying to prepare for GRE so I haven't had a lot of time to investigate about universities, so I'm a bit worried that I might be falling behind on that front.

 

I also know some people who have also finalized which universities they'll be applying to this fall, and this realization is putting even more pressure on me to decide this ASAP.

 

So by when is the best to have decided which universities to apply to ? What date should I give myself ?

[GeoDUDE!]

Depends: some schools i added a week before the deadline ! 

[beyondaboundary]

App deadlines are in Dec. generally. You will need RECs (3 or so) good form dictates that you give your writers at least a month to write them...then YOU need to write SOPs and Personal Statements for each one (making changes to make each specific to the school) organising transcripts and GRE scores to be sent to each school.

Given all of the to-dos and not wanting to scare you I would think that Labour Day would be a great date to aim for. This would leave you with August to look at Depts, make contact with POIs etc (if necessary) and finalise your list. It would be ideal if you knew them before GRE so you could identify schools to send scores to as part of the ETS service.

Personally, I was filling apps out the day they opened...

[Vene]

I added my final school to the list when I took the GRE itself so I could send the score to them for free. Turns out that it's the school which I was most interested in attending when all was said and done.

[peachypie]

I wouldn't worry about it as long as you give your recommenders 3-4 weeks to submit before deadline.  mostly that means you should have information to them by November for the earliest schools.  Once you are done with your GRE begin to put together a more substantial list if you haven't already.  Don't worry about your peers schedules.  I as geodude mentioned was applying to thinks maybe 2 weeks before deadlines (they were later deadlines) but I made sure I got my favorites done.  I seriously started working on them in October and submitted most of mine a week before the early december deadlines.  Then I added some with a bit later of deadlines as long as my LORs were able to accommodate.  Best of luck.

[ahmadka]

Well I have a very vague idea of where I might want to apply, but that list needs serious refinement ..

 

Thing is, my actual fear is that I don't really know what goes into the process of university selection .. I mean the way I see is, aren't all universities teaching CS more or less the same, assuming you're looking within the same tier of universities ?

 

For example, if I had to decide between picking CMU, Stanford, and Berkeley, how would I pick ? Since their reputations are more or less the same, how do I decide between them ?

 

I know you can talk to professors there and see who you like more, etc., but I've never been good at that (I don't like research, etc,.) ... And isn't that only for PhD dudes anyway, as they have to find an adviser ?

 

The idea of choosing universities sounds intimidating to me because frankly I don't really know what questions to ask when deciding between them. If I somehow knew the answer to this question, I might get the job done in a week.

 

Both times I went to university before, this choosing business was more or less done for me through external help. But this time I'm on my own so I'm a bit worried about this impending doom.

 

Need some help :/

Edited July 26, 2014 by ahmadka

[ahmadka]

Guys, I seriously need some tips to answer my concerns highlighted above ...

[Vene]

What type of research do you want to do? That should be your primary reason for selecting programs, at least if you're looking at a thesis option. Check out what the professors at the various universities do and see which one has more work being done which you could see yourself doing.

Otherwise, you can rank for yourself what other features are important such as location. I, personally, wanted to make sure that wherever I went that I would be able to maintain a certain level of comfort so I compared stipends to cost of living and used it to weed out a few programs. For a MS I don't know what your funding situation will be like, but you can either use funding opportunities or expense of the degree to weed out some programs as well.

Ultimately, however, nobody can tell you the questions to ask. It is up to you to figure out what you want from your education. Other people can tell you what was important to them, but nobody can tell you what you want.

[ahmadka]

Yes funding issues and comfort level are good factors, but I think they're relatively secondary in nature (just my point of view for my specific case - could be different for others) ..

 

But apart from these factors, what other mainstream factors can I use to choose between universities ?

 

Currently I don't have much idea about the research options within the CS field, but generally speaking, I'm not a research kinda guy .. This is why I decided to forego my fully-funded PhD program from Georgia Tech 3 years ago, and which is why I chose to do a Masters in which there's no thesis involved .. This could change once I go to a university (if there's a possibility to switch), but its highly unlikely ..

 

So again I'm not sure what factors to use to choose between different CS programs since I assume they're all more or less the same ..

 

Someone please help :/

[geographyrocks]

Well, since you want a terminal masters, I'm guessing job placement is important. Look at the universities that feed into industry.