Syracuse vs Michigan State University(MSU)

[ved]

Hello:

I have been admitted to the CS department of these universities for Spring 2008.

I know MSU is ranked better than Syracuse but I have been admitted into Syracuse with a tuition waiver (very tempting!!)

Please help me weigh my options.

[CalmLogic]

How much is this tuition waiver? (20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent, 100 percent?)
It seems the typical amount is 40 percent.

Also, are you talking about MS or PhD programs?

Assuming you are talking about MS programs and you want to work in industry rather than academia, I would go to Syracuse even with just a 40 percent waiver. For most of the IT industry, where you got your MS is not going to matter at all in the long term. (For example, an IT wiz who just saved a company a million dollars by finding a new way to increase automation is going to have a more impressive resume than someone fresh out of CMU's expensive INI-MS program.)

Related links:

http://www.urch.com/forums/admission...td-lehigh.html (Syracuse or UTD or Lehigh)

http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aurch.com+Syracuse++waiver&rls=com. microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SUNA

[ved]

Thanks CalmLogic!

Admitted to the MS-CS program.The tuition waiver at Syracuse is 30%

Another of my concern is the major.I intend to work in field of database and data mining.

Not many professors @ Syracuse seem to be working in this field as compared to MSU

[CalmLogic]

The tuition waiver at Syracuse is 30%

As you probably know, another issue is that the living expenses are usually at least slightly higher in Syracuse, depending on if you live with roommates, etc.

Not many professors @ Syracuse seem to be working in this field as compared to MSU

How many data courses were you planning to take? 6? 3?

Worse come to worse, you could teach yourself

Webcasts
Videolectures category: Data Mining
Videolectures category: Data Visualisation
Videolectures category: Information Retrieval
Videolectures category: Information Extraction
Videolectures category: Text Mining
Videolectures category: Web Mining
Videolectures category: Machine Learning

However, I really don't know what is best because there are a lot of factors, including your future earning ability even without an MS degree. In the long term, paying $10,000 more to go to MSU may not matter at all or it could, with unpaid student loans, cause financial ruin.

[MDK]

Would you please share your profile ???
because I am applying for MSU for Fall '08.

[CalmLogic]

Please help me weigh my options.

I would recommend looking at IT industry job ads:

Job Search | one search. all jobs. Indeed
The Best International IT & Tech Jobs Online

They always provide a sense of perspective that balances out the inherently academia-obsessed nature of these forums.

[CalmLogic]

I am leaning more towards MSU since their tuition rates seem lower than I thought and SYR's tuition rates seem higher than I thought. (I had glanced at USNews, and their info for SYR seems out of date since the tuition cost has gone up.)

MSU:
Tuition, Fees and Housing Calculator

For taking 9 credits in the Spring at MSU:

Your one-semester total
for tuition, fees, and housing is
$10,792.75
(based on Spring 2008 rates).
The above figure includes your total for:
tuition and fees of $8,258.75
based on 9 credit(s)
as an out-of-state engineering graduate student
and your total for housing costs (including housing tax if applicable) of
$2,534.00
based on your housing choice of
Owen Graduate Center, double room & partial board

For taking 12 credits:

Your one-semester total
for tuition, fees, and housing is
$13,185.25
(based on Spring 2008 rates).
The above figure includes your total for:
tuition and fees of $10,651.25
based on 12 credit(s)
as an out-of-state engineering graduate student
and your total for housing costs (including housing tax if applicable) of
$2,534.00
based on your housing choice of
Owen Graduate Center, double room & partial board

SYR:
SU- Cost of Attendance
http://bfasweb.syr.edu/bursar/TuitionFees_07-08.pdf

For additional perspective:

MSU India Club

Regarding finances:

Finances
Initial Expenditure: Initial expenses (for the first two months) would be quite high. Typically, you would have to get money for the apartment rent & deposit, telephone installation, books, stationery, groceries, winter clothing etc. These costs could run up to $500-$600. Be prepared for this. If you have an assistantship, you will get the first paycheck after the second week of September.
Short-term interest free loans up to $250 and nominal interest rate loans up to $1000 are available to Graduate assistants on arrival. The Student Services Department at MSU provides loans to all students depending on their ability to pay back.
Regular Expenses: After you settle, your regular monthly expenses will approximately be:Rent - $180-$270 (if you share the apartment), Food and groceries - $100 per person (if you cook), Utilities (heat-water-electricity) - $10-$25 and miscellaneous (telephone, laundry, etc.) - $100 (again this depends on the amount of telephone calls you make). [CalmLogic's note: These monthly estimates are too low. They are outdated and were not updated since 2002 or 2005.]

Supporting yourself without an Assistantship
If you don't have an assistantship, please be prepared to have sufficient funds to pay for your tuition, fees and living expenses for at least two semesters. Apart from the funding you might get from your own department, a lot of other Graduate assistantship openings might also be available. Most of these positions are the ones in the areas of computer support (NT, Unix, etc) Web page maintenance (HTML, Java), Database (Access, Oracle) and related stuff. It would be helpful if you could do some short term courses in the above mentioned fields.
There are numerous colleges and departments here at MSU (the second biggest campus in the nation) and hence there are many opportunities in these areas as far as Graduate Assistantships are concerned. Therefore the student needs to hunt around the campus for getting one. So, if you have not heard from your department regarding your funding, make sure you get here a little earlier so that you can start looking for assistantships even before the semester starts Some Resources for Scholarships in U.S.A.

Welcome to MSUIC

Regarding housing:

We recommend that you file an application for Spartan Village campus housing, even if you ultimately decide to live off-campus. The University provides initial accommodation for one week for students with assistantships. You may use that if you wish. For all students, we will arrange for temporary housing.

Welcome to MSUIC

My guess is that it is too late to get on-campus Spring housing but you may want to apply now for Summer housing, assuming courses are offered in the summer.

[MDK]

GRE 1370 : (v-610, Q-760)

MCA(Master of Computer Application) from VJTI Bombay -Topper of the last year,Top 3% of the.VJTI is a premier institute in Maharashtra.
BCS(Bachelor in Computer Science) from Pune University - Top 3% of the class
I have a work experience of 3 years working closely with clients like Microsoft and SPSS inc.

This is your profile , Thanks Google

[CalmLogic]

BTW, an interesting professor at Syracuse that focuses on HCI for enterprise environments:

Dr. Ping Zhang
http://melody.syr.edu/books/amis/index.cgi

[ved]

WOW CalmLogic!!

I am falling short of words for all the effort that you have put in.
For every query posted you make it your own and research it so very well.

Thanks a lot again.I have already set my mind on MSU because
1.The living costs are definitely lower.
2.Most of the seniors that I have contacted have vouched for the fact that one does get some form of financial aid.

One other reason is the fact that the acceptance percentage of this university is so low that once you get through it is very difficult to let go
Also it makes you feel good about the quality of students.

But then again this is personal opinion.