SUNY Buffalo vs George Washington University vs NYU Polytechnic for MS in CS

[tobyps]

I was accepted to the Master's in Computer Science programs at SUNY Buffalo, George Washington University, and New York University Tandon (formerly Polytechnic) School of Engineering.

I'd love to hear the opinions of anyone who knows about these schools/programs to help me decide between them.

[Buffalofan4255]

Have a few friends that went through the UB comp sci program, 2 work at Google HQ, the other works for a small startup in LA. My dad is an alum and he's a director at a major defense contractor. Would highly recommend it  

[MastersHoping]

As someone who has experience in both Buffalo and Washington (not so much in NYC), my question is to you, how important is the tuition/cost of living/financial aid?

 

If you are by any chance in state for UB, I would seriously suggest going there. I currently attend Georgetown University for a 1.5 year master degree (and I'm about to graduate), I can tell you, it was the worst financial decision I'd ever made in my life. I was accepted at SUNY Binghamton for the same program, and just my cost of living alone in DC could have paid for the entire program. So essentially, although I think Georgetown is a good university and I like it, I sincerely regret coming purely due to the costs. Of course, I know some of my classmates got full fellowships/scholarships, so they lucked out, but me, not so much. 

There might be some difference in quality of program, but that's more or less subjective, and besides, to me there is no way the quality difference could justify being over 75, 000$ more expensive. 

If you plan to stay around the Buffalo area, I can also tell you that UB is highly respected in the area. Even if you aren't, UB is a solid name. Besides, neither GW nor NYU are that much more prestigious anyway, and my impression is that UB is very good in computer science. Also, cost of living is extremely affordable in Buffalo. You can split an apartment with someone and your share of the rent might be as low as $400 a month! Whereas in D.C., it's rare to find something less than $1000.

Finally, computer science is, from my understanding, one of those fields where the actual hard skills you gain from the program will be much more important than the actual name. So in that sense, I guess it ultimately doesn't really matter too much where you go, so long as you acquire the relevant competences and skills.

Overall, if I were you, I'd take Buffalo. Go Bulls! 

Edited May 12, 2016 by MastersHoping
Just in case the staff/professors from my program read my post, I wanted to add in that I like the program and that I only regret it for financial reasons