purpleD

Congrats man, good choice. I'm curious where did you go to undergrad?

Hi knd7, YOu must have read one of my posts on the forum. First a disclaimer: I went to UIUC as an undergrad which I feel is stronger then Columbia (and therefore probably UPenn), and due to class experience not just rankings. I'm now a CVN student at Columbia so I don't know what it's like to be a "real" grad student, what the true atmosphere is like there. I've only taken two classes so far, Intro to Security (taught by a excellent prof Bellovin snatched from Bell Labs, formally a prof at Penn), and AI. I also don't have plans to go into business, but being in NYC I know a lot of business students. I'll probably be taking intro networks next semester, which I never took as an undergrad. From the Business perspective, we all know Penn is great but so is columbia, albiet less so. There is a big advantage to going to business grad school in NYC, so many jobs and companies and networking goes on here. I'd say it's a negative they won't let you take business schools while doing your MS in CS here at columbia, but if they did at Wharton would those transfer over to an MBA or not? If not you'll still have to take the same number of classes. Business perspective I'd lean towards Penn but only cause it sounds like you'd really enjoy the wharton classes. From the computer science perspective - it's a no brainer, unless you don't like NYC or can't afford it. Choose columbia -it's stronger overall and stronger in your program. It is very strong in the east coast, and especially the NYC area. However silicon valley (worked out there the last three years) isn't going to be nearly as impressed as if you went to a top 5 or 10 program, so they won't care for UPenn vs Columbia. Both are seen as amazing general schools with ok engineering. But it sounds like you don't want to stick to tech... if that's the case why don't you apply for an MBA now? To be blunt - what do you want to do? If you want to continue into business school and work for a large company, I'd say first the business schools are going to look at your application. Either way they'll see an Ivy League not top CS school and it'll look the same to them, so they'll focus on grades and other things. Same thing with companies. So if this is the case go where you'll be happier (the money, city, quality of life, opportunity to take business classes will all be a factor) But continuing down the road on the CS track, your cs collegues will know that Columbia is good for networks and it is a significant reason to take it over Penn. I'd say take it for sure focusing on CS even if you'd like going to Penn more. Well, that's my two cents. Either way you can't go wrong. Good luck and let me know what you pick.

I went to UIUC undergrad and go to columbia part time now for grad. I really enjoyed graphics at UIUC (had a kickass prof from CMU just join the faculty a year or so before I took it). And anyone who knows anything about graphics knows how awesome Utah is... so I say go for it. Yeah the living costs will be low in SLC but NY is NY and LA is LA... have you ever seen slc punk?

I thought this line was funny. This is coming from the econ PHDs! If they don't know, who does?

Hi, I was browsing around looking for the new rankings and saw your post. Went to UIUC for CS undergrad (didn't get into cornell actually) but always wanted to work in NYC so I made my way here eventualy. I'm doing a part time msters at Columbia for MS in CS. I'd have to say that I was very disappointed in UIUC reputation out on the east coast. The bottom line is most jobs out here for CS are at banks who rely on the east coast IVY league name and factor that way too much. So cornell will really cary you well out here. However for architecture/hardware stuff, you'll probably be interviewing with companies who are more hardcore engineering, and then they will probably know UIUC. They certainly love UIUC in the midwest and in silicon valley though. You should really visit UIUC if you are considering it though. It's greatest asset comared to CMU/Cornell is quality of life - I had a blast there, along with a program that I think is just as good if not better, but since it's not on the east coast, it's not always recognized as such. -purpled

Hi All, Since I really benefited from the CS GRE forum here I thought I might as well post my story as encouragement to others who think that getting into grad school is such a hurculean task. I'm an American, went to undergrad at UIUC and graduated in 2002 with a BS in CS with only about a 3.2 GPA. I had close to a 3.0 my first 2 years and more like a 3.4 my last 2 years. I've worked until now at a tech company in Silicon Valley and decided I want to go to school either part time or full time, and I also decided I want to be in NYC or CA. I applied to MS asking for no financial aid to Stanford, Berkeley, and Columbia. I got a 610V/800M/5.5A on the GRE. I studied only a month for the CS GRE and bombed it (I got 690/37%). I took it because a lot of people said its neccessary to make up for my low grades. I stupidly filled out the ETS form really early and sent my CS GRE scores to Stanford and Berkeley, Texas and Georgia Tech. My recommendations were from profs who didn't know me but were cool enough to at least say something non-negative. I probably had good recommendations from my Manager and VP at work. At this point I said to myself: I don't think I'm getting in anywhere, I'll just study for the GRE 3 to 5 months next year, try to do well, and re apply next year. So to my great surprise, I found out on Fri that I got in at Columbia. I'm guessing its a mixture of Columbia not being the hardest place to get in, timing, me paying full for classes, and UIUC's reputation that got me in, but I'm still a bit amazed. So to all those out there who are getting discouraged, I say go for it, and if you don't make it this year there is always next year. So now I'll be a part time student at Columbia starting in Sept.