CS@UCSB, RICE, PURDUE, DUKE, USC

[maston14]

Hi,everyone. I got these admits so far. 

I really need some advice on these schools. Personally I am inclined to go to UCSB right now but have some doubts. I think RICE and PURDUE are also good and ranked higher than UCSB on USNEWS.

1.my area of interests includes database, data mining and distributed systems. So which of these schools is the best for these areas?

2.I plan to work in US after the graduation. 

Thank you 

[blacknighterrant]

UCSB is the worst program and is considerably worse than the others. Purdue and Rice and USC are the best three programs (all equally ranked @ 20 if that is what you care about, UCSB is 34) and duke is slightly worse. Purdue is the best at systems. Honestly though why live in Indiana when you can live in LA? I would just go with USC unless you have different levels of funding for each of the schools, if UCSB is cheaper going there would not be detrimental.

[svent]

Living in Indiana is safer and far cheaper than living in the horrible area of LA that USC is in

USC admits as many people as possible and is huge. They have more postgrad students than undergrads. Their algorithms class has over 500 people I believe. If all you care about is ranking, go ahead. They have way too many red flags for me to want to go there, even if I do get in.

I thought Rice was PhD only, aside from the professional Master's program, but Texas is good for jobs. UCSB is in CA (though not LA or SF), which is good for jobs. Raleigh is pretty good for jobs too, so if Duke has good coursework/research options for you, it's nearby. Purdue is near Chicago. Where do you see yourself living in 2 years?

[missgord]

i wouldn't call UCSB considerably worse at a rank of 34. and i'm not totally sure where these rankings come from. i currently work for a program in education at a different school that is literally begging people to apply and admitting EVERYONE, and they were just ranked top 20.

a rank of 34 is still reputable

[svent]

USC's #20 ranking is based on the PhD program, which is legit. The Master's program is just there to rake in insane amounts of profit.