USC graduate school - computer science

psydent
Tue, 30 Jul 2013 01:57:43 +0000

I agree it’s a good idea to get a better score if not accepted the first time.

Did you do CS in undergrad? That should be enough to get a good job if you have decent professional experience and/or a portfolio. It seems you want to go further though, maybe for one of the cool CS jobs at Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, or a startup. USC is a good place to get a M.S. from not only for the education but there’s alum at all those companies and the recruiters come at least once a year.

If you can find a USC professor who you would want to study under, then reach out to them to learn more.

I think you might have a decent chance of getting in. Mentioning on your app how you reached out to a prof and your interests align (if they do) could only help.

Getting a M.S. CS from USC is interesting.

The profs are any possible combo of these attributes: brilliant prof or night job prof, horrible teacher or excellent teacher, sort of easy or really hard, etc. Ratemyprofessor has decent reviews for a number of them.

The other students are at all levels, from elite to incompetent. The incompetent ones will frustrate you to no end, but the elite ones are great to work with and learn from.

Outside of academics, USC is a large school but it seems most masters students (if they don’t know other students) find friends in class or with similar interests such as through the many clubs and orgs. Being in LA is great with so much to do, but if you choose to stay within a block or two of campus is has a sort of small city vibe if that’s what you’re looking for.

Hopefully that helps. Any more specific questions? And please keep us updated on the admission process and if you get accepted!