considering admit in these 3 universities, what would be the best college for MS in Computer Science( major in Data analytics or data management) and best in living conditions, expense and other opportunities.
Can you actually write out the full name of the two universities (Northern Iowa? Indiana?)
Have you actually been admitted?
All three are odd choices though.
sure its Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University(Carbondale), University of Massachusetts(dartmouth)
and I received mail confirmation of my acceptance.
Are you a US student, or are you an international applicant?
If a US student, are you in-state for any of these?
The tuition and on-campus living costs for grad students should be right on the websites. You also need to account for health insurance, If there is no on-campus housing for grad students, check craigslist.org to get an idea about rental costs in the area. Also ask the department. Another student might need a housemate.
Will you need to have a car or is public transportation available?
How difficult or expensive will it be for you to travel from where you live now to each campus? Will you need to be able to go home during vacations?
What do you know about job placement? Email the career center at each campus, and ask. This is even more important if you are international. You need to be able to get a job after your visa expires and you have to leave the US.
I expect that your everyday livimg expenses would be the lowest in Carbondale.
well I am an international student from India and I am not referring to college tuition fees but in terms of other living expenses and I still need to attend my visa interview. But to attend it i need to select a university. these 3 universities have accepted my admit for now i am still waiting on another university.
any type transportation is ok for me depending on distance and people I know there.
and traveling to home during holidays is out of the question.
and well considering the current situation in the US I probably cannot ask about the job placement as there may be complications.
thankyou for ur time seeing this.
Unless things change, you will be able to work in the US for 12 months of OPT after you graduate. However, you need to have that job all lined up before you graduate, and you need to start very soon after graduation (within 30 days???). So it makes good sense to ask about each department’s history with that. If you might be interested in OPT, you need to know if the department or university have ever been able to help arrange it.
You also should check with potential employers in India to find out if they prefer any of these universities. You might need to attend one that employers know something about.
Are you being offered funding at any of these schools? Graduate students that are not on funding (RA or TA) tend to struggle compared to funded students.
as per year only 20000 students get funded from India and as I am applying for spring this makes it even more difficult for funding. I did indeed receive a mail from siu that i may have to study on my own funding.
UMass is very strong in CS in general. Dartmouth is not the strongest branch but the UMass system is generally well funded. Have you reviewed the research being done there? And not a bad location. Southern Mass can be nice. Not too far from Boston and the tech corridor so probably work being done with companies in that area.
Don’t discuss jobs during your interview, it’s an immediate disqualifier. They will want to ascertain that you are truly going to be a student, IE., to learn.
Exactly. You need to let the visa interviewer know that you fully intend to return to India after you finish your studies.
It’s a difficult question because all these areas have upsides and downsides!
Carbondale would likely be the closest to a true college town and the cheapest to live in. S, overall, good quality of life. However, in terms of internship prospects, I’m not sure it’s all that. Also, it’s in Illinois, which is near brankupcy.
UMass Dartmouth would be in the shadow of UMass Amherst but would likely have more professional opportunities (internships, co-ops, career fairs) but I don’t consider the environment especially pleasant.
Northern Illinois has a good reputation among regional schools but Illinois is a dire straits financially and the directional campus (such as Norther Illinois’) have suffered a lot from lack of funds.
@MYOS1634 You mean the college environment? The location of Dartmouth is not bad. Farms and vineyards.
Yes, the campus’ quality of life linked to a deindustrialized area and I find the campus ugly ( I don’t like that style of concrete architecture, it feels dystopian to me). 2,000 students can be an upside (tight knit group) or a downside (hard to find your people since it means few people in each dept). Southern MA is OK and it’s probably easier to get to major urban areas from there than from SIU or NIU.
Ah. Well at least there is well maintained greenery around it. There are whole eras of US history that nothing should have been built. UMass Amherst has a few of these. The worst is CCRI. The building is supposed to be a ship. It’s like going to school in a parking garage. I don’t mind New Bedford or Fall River.
So the best college now would be SIUC for studies and to best area to stay is dartmouth.
@kethan I’m not sure SIUC us the best for studies. The Illinois schools have budget issues. Have you looked at the research being done at each school? The Mass schools have a well funded program that is well regarded in general but the Amherst and Lowell branches are the strongest. @MYOS1634 Doesn’t like the architectural style of the buildings at Dartmouth. Google that. And the size 2000 can be good or bad. You’d have the best professional opportunities in Massachusetts. About an hour from Boston. Half an hour from Providence.
^2,000 grads (5,000 undergrads). Can be a + or a - .
Have you applied to any other university?
What about Iowa state? Nebraska Lincoln?
I can tell you my friend graduated SIUC in Information Systems and is a Manager of Information Systems for Northwestern University. I graduated SIUC in 2004 and didn’t have problems finding work in downtown Chicago (Although the Economy was much better back then). Another friend of mine graduated from SIU and now works at Oracle. If you like the outdoors I recommend it. You can rent a 3 bedroom house down there for 700$ right on a lake. I went down 2 months ago to see the campus for the first time since finishing, still very beautiful and better weather than up here!