<p>Does he want to actually work with code and design? An MBA-track is going to head in a very different direction.</p>
<p>Everyone I know who had grad work funded in C.S. was admitted to the PhD program. Students in the “terminal masters” program were either self-funded or funded by their employers.</p>
<p>Already deleted the site H emailed me from a Stanford PhD in comp sci-the article author had trouble getting jobs despite his school and degrees for lack of job experience. I’m sure someone could Google the article. </p>
<p>Our gifted son had enough AP credits to have junior status early on- he could have had his math degree in 3 years but chose 4 to get the Honors degree and more math (including several grad level math courses at a top 15 or so grad math U). He overreached for grad schools and then did a 5th year (flagship- affordable and graduation easily cancelled) adding the computer science major ans some fun electives. Got a software developer’s job at a major company in its field, switched after 2 years (headhunted) to a top [layer as a software engineer (don’t ask me how they determine who’s a what). We’re still hoping he does some grad school eventually- whether in math or comp sci. Having the PhD in many science/math fields is no guarantee of a job- see above and people we know.</p>
<p>The question may be if your son should get a the MS at his current school or work then get one from one of the top schools in the field. He also should look at his college years as a chance to become well educated, not just job skills. Concentrating on adding the masters may not give him the chance to explore many electives purely for the fun of it/joy of learning. He will have forever to be in comp sci but his undergrad years may be his only chance to explore more math and totally unrelated subjects.</p>
<p>Don’t consider the junior number of credits that big a deal. Encourage your son to do a full college experience- AP classes are not the same as many college’s courses.</p>
<p>Our S entered college with 60 credits, making him a JR in credits. We urged him to enjoy his 4 years with significant merit aid. He got his EE bachelors. His employer has programs (subject to funding with the shutdown) toward a masters in engineering or MBA. He was very burnt out and happy to work and didn’t want to stay an extra year to get his masters. </p>
<p>At this point, he and we have no regrets, but hope he will get a masters of his choice. He also was flirting with the idea of law school, but hasn’t mentioned it recently.</p>
<p>My son came in with a boatload of credits, but said it was almost impossible to complete the required sequence of comp sci courses in three years. So be sure that if he does graduate early he’s not missing comp sci courses other programs make you take.</p>
<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>I don’t know if there are many tuition/stipend awards for Masters. Those who want those usually apply DIRECTLY to PhD programs (and the Masters is awarded at some point). </p>
<p>So, if your son wants a funded program, he needs to apply to PhD programs.</p>
<p>(that said, since PhD (funded) programs are highly competitive, your son may want to have the strongest app by either doing his Masters at his current school (simultaneously) or doing the double major.</p>
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<p>I know a few friends who ended up having the same issues or being underemployed like one friend with a BS/MS in CS from a respectable CS program who ended up working as a salesperson at a tech-oriented bigbox store after graduation because they went straight into grad school with little/no post-college work experience. </p>
<p>And they all had CS related internships during college. Issue was they were regarded by hiring managers/HR as “overqualified” educationally and “underqualified” in the job experience area considering their education level.</p>
<p>When we were with S at his BEE graduation, one of the other students was moaning that the prior year, he didn’t have any jobs when he had a bachelor’s degree so he went on for his masters and now just had more debt and still no job offers. </p>
<p>S really wanted some job experience before going for advanced degrees. One friend’s S got two bachelors degrees (finance and engineering) and a masters degree in four years and a few summers. He’s brilliant, very motivated and has been greatly in demand in the job market.</p>
<p>As mom2collegekids mentioned above, the funded graduate programs in CS are now reserved only for PhD candidates. While it was the case 15-20 years ago, that MS candidates could get funded positions, that ship has sailed.</p>