For Fall 2022 applicants, the UCSB Computer Science department eliminated the GRE requirement. Here is the basic admission requirement for 2022.
GPA in undergraduate | At least 3.0 |
TOEFL | 600 - Paper-based test 100 - Internet-based |
IELTS | 7.0 |
Good undergraduate performance, references, and recommendation letters with a solid personal statement will help with your candidature. If you have pursued research at a well-known university during your undergraduate, mention that in your application.
If you are thinking of pursuing research-based MS, then you have to consider whether your choice of institute will have the professor or lab where you want to work on your research. You also need to ensure if they will provide you with funds so you don’t have the burden of paying the tuition for the degree. If you look at their rankings, both are ranked at 79th place in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs rankings by US News and World Report.
If you have completed your education as an undergraduate in the computer science or engineering department, then you will have only a few classes. You won’t get much value out of it as there will be very few classes teaching you advanced topics that you are keen to learn. In the other classes, you will be learning things you have studied or had a glance at earlier. The rankings of institutes are based on many factors that may or may not be important to you, so you should rather focus on aspects that are of significance to you.
The master's degree usually is 30 credits and you may complete the degree in 2 years or before too if you are not thinking of pursuing the Ph.D. The classes you take with this period may not have full effect if you consider entering the industry.Here are the program details of both the colleges for you to compare:
University of Cincinnati | Illinois Institute of Technology | |
Program | M.SC (Computer Engineering) | M.ENG (Computer Engineering) |
Tuition Fees | USD13,105/Year | USD45,447/Year |
Exam Scores (Average) | IELTS-7.5 TOEFL-100 SAT-1230 ACT-26 | IELTS-7.5 TOEFL-105 SAT-1320 ACT-28 |
Research Universities rankings (Forbes) | #152 | #111 |
Top Recruiters | General Electric Aviation, University of Cincinnati, General Electric Co., The Kroger Company, etc. | 6COM.Inc, Allscripts, Amazon, Antra Inc, Black Phoenix, Deloitte, etc. |
The tuition cost of the programs is also an important aspect you should consider while choosing your college.The University of Cincinnati being a public institute offers a lot of resources in placing you in the computer engineering industry. Illinois Institute of Technology may be very expensive for you if they do not have enough funds for your education. Whichever institute costs you less will reduce your burden of debt so that may be the best choice considering the financial aspect. The decision is yours to make keeping in mind the factors which are of utmost importance to you.
UCSB has a decent Computer Science department. The department is smaller compared to the other UCs. Students get equal attention from faculties. Overall, UCSB campus is friendlier, you can adjust easily to the environment. US News ranking ranked the CS department of UCSB 28th in the country.
The curriculum is a combination of basic programming, surveys of numerical methods, programming languages and compilers, automata theory, algorithm and data structures, etc. UCSB CS faculties are accomplished researchers and teach well.
As per Payscale, CS graduates from UCSB earn around $76k - $137k.
Being a small department, it isn’t good in all domains of CS. For instance, there aren’t any faculty members at UCSB who are pursuing research in hardcore Machine Learning. So, if you are interested in a particular area of CS, take it into consideration while choosing the institute.
The difficulty level mainly depends on the majors you want to get into. The acceptance rate of the PSU is 96% which means it is not hard to get into. The admission procedure also changes depending on if you’re applying for an undergraduate or graduate course. Some majors are easy to get into while some are hard to get in, usually the in-demand majors have a larger applicant pool so there is that. Completing the program is more difficult as compared to getting in. The best thing about the institution is that the professors want their students to excel and become successful. If you’re an international student, you’ll have to provide many additional things like TOEFL/IELTS scores and some other exam scores depending on your program.
The admission requirements are different for freshman admits and transfer admits. The only requirement is to meet the eligibility criteria for the major you are interested in. PhD programs are hard to qualify as they are only admitting the best applicants. You also need to meet the course-specific requirement for your majors like CS, School of Music, etc. For admissions in Music major the applicants should clear the audition round and for CS the applicants should gain minimum grades for mathematics and CS classes and meet GPA requirements.
Acceptance rate | 96% |
International students’ percentage | 6% |
Students faculty ratio | 21:1 |
Students retention rate | 74% |
TOEFL | 71 |
IELTS | 6.0 |
PTE | 53 |
SAT | 560 |
DET | 110 |
You can apply to this university and expect to be accepted here as the university is not hard to get in if you meet all requirements.
If you go by the brand name and ranking, University of Massachusetts clearly is our winner. But what about other factors? Let us consider three parameters to choose a better University for you shall we?
Job opportunities:
When it comes to job opportunities, PSU has an edge because of its proximity to Intel. But UMass weighs equally if not less because of its brand name and connections it has. Upon that UMass is a huge University which offers you tons of connections globally. So there is a tie between both UMass and PSU.
Research:
Students at Massachusetts, Amherst usually team up with the University faculties in their ongoing research projects along with pursuing their degree. The department focuses majorly on Computer networking, embedded systems and Computer system security.
PSU on the other hand is a great University if you are looking to pursue your career in front end VLSI. It's curriculum aligns perfectly with the technology which Intel is using.
Funding:
UMass Amherst clearly beats PSU in both internal and external research funding. If your area of focus aligns with that of the university, then well you would just hit a jackpot! While PSU still offers internal research grants upto $5,000 UMass is on par with that.
With one tie and two leads, University of Massachusetts Amherst is a clear winner. So yes, the money you pay at UMass is clearly worth it and you can earn a lot more than your investment within a few years of graduation.
Job opportunities for MS Electrical Engineering graduates from the University of California Santa Barbara are pretty good. This branch has a better placement record than other branches of the institute. Majority of students get placements in the storage industry.
Goleta has a decent technology industry. There are many reputed corporate horses like AppFolio, Toyon Research, Control Point, etc.
Any major you take up at Northeastern University has a good career counselor who accompanies you whenever you need their help. They act as a link between students in co-op and companies that are looking to hire. Counselors at the university are available to help you find the co-op you are looking for.
Northeastern University ranks 49th place in the National Universities rankings and boasts of a reputation in the co-op program which they have had for more than 100 years. Whatever major you have chosen, should map out the path keeping in mind your goals. Northeastern also has a good reputation for high post-college job placements.
If you do well at the co-op, the employer will definitely try to hire you after graduation. You will have a chance to work in a place you are keen, and the company will assess you and look out for the positives. The co-op office the college assists all your needs for the co-op. You have opportunities available to you for a job you are interested in. Here’s an insight about their co-op salaries:
Co-op presents opportunities to students all over the globe. You will have a chance to work in different parts of the world including Boston, LA, Colorado, Dubai, South Africa and more. Northeastern University offers large databases of companies for students to choose from, where you can choose the company you are interested to work in.
Students looking to go for co-op may find Northeastern University a great career pathway. Co-op will help you gain the theoretical knowledge in the six months and then you can choose to work in your desired field for the other six months.
The best part about the University of Oklahoma is that the fees are not exorbitant and it has a great reputation. It ranks at #133 in National Universities according to US News. The upper division classes are small which will help you build valuable relationships with your professor. In my sister’s experience with Biochemistry, the department is a close knit circle and you will also learn to develop connections and network.
Location:
The institute is located in Norman, Oklahoma which is a free-thinking town with affordable housing and you will have a large campus to explore. It is littered with gyms, libraries and fine arts spaces with really good architecture. The college also has an active football scene and in my opinion, you will definitely end up at a game or two.
Classes:
Depending on the course you choose, your course classes may have 500+ students to small classes with just 30 students in a class. The faculty is also quite approachable and genuinely cares for students and their academics.
Placements:
On an average, their graduates make about USD 70,929 per year so you can expect to make an amount closer to this. OhioHealth and JP Morgan and Chase are some of the popular companies that hire students.
You can expect to have a good career after graduating from the program and have a great college life as well. Just research a little about the program you want to go to and give it a shot!
Oklahoma is known for the oil and gas industry and the college being the flagship campus of the state has more opportunities, so you should consider UO over UTD. While the two schools are not similar to one another, you should look into the criteria you are considering prior to applying to either colleges. UT Dallas was traditionally a commuter campus with on campus housing being recently built in the last 15 years.
Rankings & Tuition:
This is usually the two most important factors students consider. According to US News and World Report:
Name of the University | Ranking | Tuition |
University of Oklahoma | #133 in national universities. | USD 27,068 |
University of Texas, Dallas | #143 in national universities. | USD 38,970 |
Popular programs:
University of Oklahoma: From my experience, OU is primarily known for its Petroleum Engineering and Meteorology programs. The business school is quite good too with programs in Business, Management and Marketing being some of the popular ones.
UT Dallas: If you are looking into research programs, Dallas has some really good research options with top tier faculty available. Additionally, the MBA program at UTD is also very popular among students. Other programs that are sought after include biological sciences, engineering and other business related programs.
Additionally, if you’re looking at campus and room and board, OU at Norman is much more affordable and a quaint town with a good football scene at the campus compared to UTD. Nevertheless, my advice to you would be that you should zero down on a program and look at which institute offers it better before making a decision.
The greatest asset of University of Oklahoma is its professors. The faculties are brilliant, especially in honors and engineering/science colleges. You will get networking opportunities with professors who genuinely want to see you grow.
OU offers ample opportunities to carry out undergraduate research. You can apply for undergraduate research funding and present your work at the annual conference of the university. These opportunities can do wonders to your resume.
OU has a good connection to the Texas job market. You can leverage these connections to receive good recruitment opportunities. A recent Georgetown University study states OU offers the best long-term ROI. Around 87% of students receive job offers within six months of graduation. The median salary for OU graduates is $57,000.
OU offers a great community and atmosphere. The campus experience it offers is enviable. If you are a bibliophile, you will love the reading clubs of the university. From Harry Potter to Freakonomics, you will certainly find books from any genre that you find interesting.
Football is an integral part of life in the state of Oklahoma. OU is a part of this culture. It actively competes in the football rankings.
OU offers its students all the academic advantages of elite schools and gives them freedom to experiment with different disciplines.