<p>I assume that most programs offer fellowships or teaching assistantships that provide free tuition and a stipend.</p>
<p>Can anyone share what the offers are these days at top 25 CS graduate programs?</p>
<p>Isn’t your son a freshman?
Had he already declared a major?</p>
<p>He’s in his first year year but with credits he will be a junior next year. Debating whether he should get a masters at his current school or double major in CS/Math and get his masters elsewhere.</p>
<p>Does he have merit money and will his current school allow him to earn a grad degree with that money? Does current school guarantee same merit money for grad school? Can he get a grad degree in 4 years?
My son was in a similar situation, but unfortunately has NOT been taking a full load so far. I’m trying to stress the importance of doing so…
I’m suggesting he go for the double major, mostly because I think it helps with employability.</p>
<p>He can get a grad degree in 4 yrs or double major, but not both.</p>
<p>If his goal is to land a CS job after graduation, a double major or even just a CS major with serious CS skillsets behind it will mean much more at this point.</p>
<p>The Masters can come after he works a few years in the industry and if his employer likes his performance, may even pay for the Masters.* </p>
<p>This has been the best path for most CS graduates I’ve met/worked with in the engineering/CS industry.</p>
<ul>
<li>Unless he plans to go into academia or go into high level research oriented positions, a Masters is the highest degree most engineers/CS folks get…sometimes with an MBA to boot to advance professionally.</li>
</ul>
<p>Stipends are around $28-32,000; at least 4 years ago. I don’t know what the worm receives now.</p>
<p>I think there are different routes. The worm majored in CS, with a strong minor. I’m not sure if his UG had double majors. He worked then went to grad school. He took awhile to figure out his interest.</p>
<p>At least 2 sons of CC members went straight from UG into a job at a great place. Not much point in 7 years of grad school if you find a great job. If a MS or PhD increases one’s worth in the job market, then it makes sense.If research/academia is your son’s goal, then grad school makes sense. As your son is just a freshman, and has not yet done internships, he has time to explore and chose.</p>
<p>He has actually interned at a software company for 2 yrs. so he knows he wants to do CS for a career. Even though he is a freshman, he will be a junior credit wise after this year so he will have to chose a path. The other issue is he will be 20 when he graduates, so a year or two of grad school will give him a little more maturity.</p>
<p>I second the $28k to $32k stipend range for the top schools (though the $32k end is pretty much entirely national fellowship winners.) however, the funding situation is very different for masters vs PhD. It is more difficult to find funding for a masters degree .</p>
<p>Too early to know if he wants to get a PhD. It’s possible. He doen’t go to a prestigious school so the idea was to go to a top grad school for his final degree.</p>
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<p>One issue he may face if he graduates with a BS/MS in CS with little work experience beyond the internship is that employers may view him as overqualified in the education department while lacking in CS skillsets needed in the work setting…some of which cannot easily be gained in school or summer/short-term internships. </p>
<p>Plus, working in the field for two or more years may focus his interests more so he’ll have a better idea of what he wants to specialize in. </p>
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</p>
<p>In the field of engineering/CS, one should only pursue a PhD if one’s planning to go into academia or work in high level research-oriented positions. Otherwise, it will give no additional advantage and may actually make one overqualified for most jobs outside those abovementioned two categories. </p>
<p>For most positions related to engineering/CS, the MS along with a possible MBA is considered the better path for career advancement. </p>
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</p>
<p>Most engineering/CS colleagues who took an MS after working for a few years had their MS in engineering/CS paid for by their employers. </p>
<p>So long as they were considered good employees and didn’t screw up their MS grades/coursework, the employers would pay for it. One does need to research companies to see if they offer this benefit.</p>
<p>If there is a BS/MS program available at the school where your son currently is studying, he should do that. It will be the easiest and most cost-effective option and take the least time, with the least redundancy.</p>
<p>He’s also working as a programmer on campus and was recommended for a summer internship with a large international company in Silicon Valley. Not 100% certain, but it is looking good.</p>
<p>If he does an employer paid for masters, would he do it on-line? </p>
<p>He’s in a STEM MBA program but it doesn’t interest him. He’s more technical.</p>
<p>He’s in this program and while it’s more demanding than the regular class, he’s learning a lot.</p>
<p><a href=“http://100p.cs.ua.edu/[/url]”>http://100p.cs.ua.edu/</a></p>
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<p>He can do that, but what are the pros/cons of getting a BS/MS at the University of Alabama versus getting a BS from Alabama and a MS from a top CS program?</p>
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<p>Only if the company he ends up working for doesn’t feel he needs to pursue another MS because his specialization in his prior BS/MS program wasn’t compatible with their needs or with the career path he finds himself in after working a few years. </p>
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<p>Depends on the program and employer. </p>
<p>While attitudes are changing, the engineering/CS employers I’ve known of/worked with still tend to strongly prefer employees pursue MS programs where they go to campuses and interact with grad classmates/faculty in person. </p>
<p>There’s still some lingering skepticism/suspicion about the rigor and quality of online degree problems among those employers…rightly or wrongly. </p>
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<p>Standard advice I kept hearing from employers and older folks who have gotten their MBAs is that one should only pursue them after spending a certain number of years in the workforce. </p>
<p>An MBA without meaningful work experience isn’t very useful for most prospective employers and going into an MBA program without meaningful work experience means the student doesn’t get as much out of it.</p>
<p>I think he can get his masters from UA in 4 yrs, but if he double majors in math, the MS would likely add a semester. His scholarships only covers 4 yrs. I do see the value in getting his masters latter, but he will have to have the discipline to do it.</p>
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<p>Is there a way for him to pursue a double major in math/CS and get the MS by taking some summer courses? Does the scholarships cover some summer classes? </p>
<p>Am wondering as my summer courses were covered by my near-full ride scholarship/FA during my undergrad years.</p>
<p>His scholarship doesn’t cover summer courses, but I have been invesigating that. Chadron State has some fairly inexpensive on-line math courses.</p>
<p>One problem I see is there Calc III class is 3 credits and UA’s is 4.</p>
<p>Taking a look at a few of the posts here - </p>
<ul>
<li><p>He’s only in his first year (having ‘junior status’ isn’t that relevant except usually for getting priority in courses if that’s an issue - depends on the college). As such, he has limited experience to draw on in what he’ll ‘really’ want to do when he finishes undergrad. A lot of CS majors are fairly burned out after undergrad and don’t really want to head straight into a masters. This’ll depend on the rigor of the program and the individual, of course.</p></li>
<li><p>He has a potential internship at a big Silicon Valley company for the summer. This could easily end up translating into a job offer when he graduates. He might end up moving there.</p></li>
<li><p>It sounds like he may or may not be interested in an MBA. I’ve found a lot of CS people ‘think’ they might want an MBA but really end up never getting one because either they like the technical side better and get involved in that track or they end up in management regardless since an MBA isn’t really necessary - especially one from anything other than a top MBA program.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Combining the above -</p>
<ul>
<li><p>He might want to not worry much about it at this point since he still has a few years to decide what to do.</p></li>
<li><p>He might want to see how the internship pans out - especially if he likes the company and the company likes him and he ends up with a job offer.</p></li>
<li><p>If he ends up working in the Silicon Valley, for example at this company, he might want to see what that particular company offers regarding reimbursement for a Masters as well as which colleges in the area are possible locations - Stanford, UCB, San Jose State, Santa Clara U in the bay area, obviously other choices elsewhere.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Whichever company he works for might be flexible in hours to permit him to take courses at a local college. </p>
<p>Some companies reimburse for grad school but limit it to a certain amount of money per year. This means he might get it paid for but it might take a bit longer to complete which might not be a bad thing if he’s also working at the same time.</p>
<p>Moreover, an MSCS isn’t necessary to get a good job offer and have excellent career prospects. It’s not a milestone point that’s necessary for the career at many/most companies. Of course, it doesn’t usually hurt either (sometimes it does since companies are sometimes only looking for the BS level) and if he’s interested in it ‘at the time of graduation’, he should consider it.</p>
<p>If he’s going to want to go for a MSCS right away without possible company involvement he might want to see about getting it from a well known college with a highly regarded MSCS program - as high of a level as he can get in - especially if he thinks he might relocate to different areas of the country.</p>
<p>Of course, getting it from the college he currently attends is an option as well - especially if he gets auto-admitted, has prof connections, is situated there and wants to attend there, the price is right, etc.</p>
<p>mathson went straight from BS (at CMU) to a great job from UG. He has no interest in research and writing papers which is what a master’s would have called for. He had a minor in physics only because his school’s CS program required a minor. (Their thought is CS is an applied science so you can minor in something to apply it to.)</p>
<p>Can he apply for jobs from undergrad and also to grad school if he doesn’t like his offer(s)? Mathson and many of his friends got job offers from their junior year summer internships.</p>