31 Mar 2021

Columbia University, UCLA, UT Austin

Computer Science, Masters (F21)

Accepted via E-mail on 31 Mar 2021

Note

Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well! I have been accepted to the CS MS programs at Columbia, UCLA, and UT Austin, and I'm having trouble finding any extremely concrete advantages/disadvantages that some of these schools have in relation to each other so that I can have tangible reasons for filtering some of the schools out and coming to a decision. I was wondering if anyone might have any insights, from personal experiences or from friends, about any of these schools that you would be willing to share. Columbia and UT Austin have coursework only options (without research), whereas at UCLA you're required to do a thesis/project, and since I am not planning on getting a PHD and I don't enjoy research very much, coursework only options appeal to me more. Cost is definitely one factor (Columbia comes out to be around $57,000 more expensive than UT Austin, and about $45,000 more than UCLA), but I don't want to base my decision solely, or extremely heavily on cost, as Columbia has some advantages the other schools do not (located in NYC, near Wall Street, as I am potentially interested in going into the fintech/financial industry after getting my Master's degree). Thanks so very much! :)

---