CS PhD: Decision between UCSB and UCI

[endlessdream]

Hi,
So far I've got admissions to UCSB and UCI. I applied to CS PhD program. I showed my interest in the area of Systems, Compiler and Programming Language. UCSB offered a TAship of $16K (for 9 academic months). UCI's funding has not been finalized yet. I guess it would be a TAship/RAship.

Now, I seek for your suggestions regarding the relative strengths of the CS PhD program of these two schools. I would appreciate if you share your experience or knowledge on any related issues (like, living expenses, cultural stuffs etc.) about these universities.

Thanks in advance for your response.

[angel08]

congrats!!

Did you get any acceptance mail from UCI..or an informal mail from a prof..

Both are equally good schools, reputation wise...so, to decide, you can consider other factors as..cost of living, future opportunities, research exposure etc...

It would be great if you an you share your profile please..

[angel08]

personally... i heard a lot of good things abt Irvine...a wonderful place ..and great research facilities..

[endlessdream]

Hi angel08,

Thanks for your wish. I didn't yet receive the official mail from UCI. However I had a communication with a senior professor, who assured my admission and funding (unofficially). So I'm confident enough to get an admission offer form UCI with full funding. I like to think optimistically

I agree that one needs to consider about the research facilities, future funding assurance, living expenditures, and future career when selects a Grad school. However, browsing the universities' websites it's not always possible to extract all these information accurately. That's why I asked for other people's opinion, preferably who studied at those places or who are highly informative. By the way, did you apply to UCI/UCSB?

Sorry, I don't prefer posting profile in public forum. I don't have stellar credentials, you might say "above-mediocre" level. Good gpa (top 10%), moderate GRE and AGRE score, no research experience in my fields, and some programming experience. I feel my SOP and recommendations boosted my chance.

Wish you a good luck!

[MDK]

Congrats for these Admits.
IMO, you should go for UCSB without any hesitation.

[CalmLogic]

For computer science generally, I would think Irvine could be better since they rank slightly higher in USNews with a grade of 3.4 for Irvine and a grade of 3.2 for Santa Barbara:
http://www.cs.gmu.edu/news/cs_rankings-2006.pdf

However, since those rankings are so close, I would think it would depend on your research interests, and I'm not familiar with either school.