The second part of this post talks about housing and such, once you have decided to join UCLA.
Here is an FAQ for new admits to graduate school in the US, especially those from India. Some parts may be specific to UCLA/LA. Feel free to discuss and contribute. Also, a lot of these issues could be very subjective, depending on your background, your disposition and your goals. What I write here is just my opinion.
Q. I saw approximation of the fee on the UCLA site and the i20 is 44k. However, what does the actual fee turn out to be? They say that MS CS is a 5 quarter course...so is the fee / quarter. In the nut shell, how much will the tuition come to for the entire MS?
UCLA fees and tuition amount to about 24k/year for the MS program. That is for three quarters a year, excluding summer, therefore about 8k/quarter. Living costs included in the calculation are estimated to be about 2k/month, adding another 20k for I-20. Tuition + fees alone are, therefore, 24k/year. MS program usually will take 5 quarters of university. (The spread will be 6 quarters because it will include a quarter of summer). It is not hard to finish in 4 quarters if you plan out your curriculum well.
Q. What is the approximate duration of the course? Is it 1.5 years or 2 years?
1.5 years, as explained above.
Q. What does your monthly expenditure come to, staying in LA + misc..
Obviously, that subjective, but LA, especially Westwood (the area where UCLA is located) is one of the most expensive areas in the US. If you live close to the university campus and share bedroom, you will pay about $600/month for house rent (including utilities). A personal bedroom would be anywhere from $900-$1100. Assuming you share, $1000/month is a moderate, comfortable expenditure, but even the stringent estimate would be atleast $850/month.
Q. How is the aid situation? How easy is an RA/TA? I haven't been offered any aid as of now... So, do MS-CS grad students get something at least by the 2nd quarter or so, or there is absolutely no aid?
As of April 2009, the economy's downturn has affected everyone. The aid situation is bad. Even PhD students don't feel secure. Aid for MS students is yet harder to find. In my batch, a few have found TA positions are in the third quarter, but new students without aid should not count on finding one. RA positions are similarly hard to find due to very reduced funding to professors. Apart from RA and TA, there are some "reader" positions that include grading homeworks, and pay about $1000/quarter at best. Usually, you can hold more than one reader positions but, again, don't count on it.
Q. How easy do campus jobs come by, and what do they pay like? I am really hoping that cali should be better than elsewhere...
Campus jobs don't pay enough to buy tuition - best jobs will pay about $15-20/hour (usually coding jobs). Campus jobs like working in stores/restaurants etc will pay about $7-10/hour. Given your work restrictions and available time anyway, this is all peanuts, especially since you're also paying NRT.
Q. How is the internship / job scene there? Is UCLA CS as affected as other colleges?
Quite affected. Some students are deliberately extending their stay in the program because they didn't find a job of their liking.
Q. And right after your admit, did you write to professors, and if so, did it help? I wrote to a few profs before the admit, no response....do u think that wriiting now can possibly help for RA/TA?
I wrote after my admit and got no response. Professors are very busy, so it's no surprise they don't respond. You shouldn't read anything into it. Since the funding scene is pretty bad, there are a lot of students roaming around for funding, so perhaps it's not that much personal/individual attention to student funding right now. My best advice to try find a funding is to arrive early - say 2-3 weeks earlier than most students would, and approach a professor immediately. That's what I did, and it worked. Chances of finding a yet-vacant TA position also improve if you come early. But again, no guarantees.
Q. I know if I should be taking such a heavy loan...so, do you think, taking the job + internship situation there, that UCLA CS will be worth the money I pump in?
Always entirely your call. From my personal experience and exposure, I'd say that the research scene and culture in US is significantly different than in India. This is not to compare professors, students or the quality of work, whatever is being done in either India or US. I'm only comparing the environment, culture and the working of things. If you aim to make research a career, the US experience would be very valuable. As for loan, try to imagine yourself 10 years down the line on either path, and weigh loan today against your place in 10 years, rather than weighing against your/your family's current situation. That should be a more appropriate basis for decision. But, like I said, it's entirely your call.
Q. I have an admit from Cornell MEngg. CS as well now, so I have to choose between UCLA CS and Cornell MEngg. What is your opinion?
That's exactly the situation I was in. The Cornell MEngg program is a rapid 9-month two-semester program with 5 courses each quarter. It is not a research program, be design. It's more of a terminal degree for students looking to enter the industry. MS, on the other hand, is a degree that prepares you for a research career through PhD. MS also allows you more opportunity to do research. It was mainly this that led me to choose UCLA MSCS over Cornell MEngg, because I was sure on continuing for a PhD (either at UCLA or another university). Another factor was that UCLA MSCS to PhD transition is internal to the department and therefore, easy if you perform well enough in the MS, while at Cornell, switch from MEngg to PhD would go through a full central application procedure and is much less common (to the best of my knowledge).
Q. How do you think are the job prospects from UCLA for an MS CS grad...And if they have deteriorated sharply in the past couple of falls, were they great before that? And how do you thing it compares with Cornell job-wise?
I'm not very aware of the job prospect comparison of the two programs.
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8 comments:
Hello Manu,
It was very comprehensive post. Answered many questions in mind. Thank you.
First of all, thanks for all the info.
As u said some ppl have extended their degrees because they didn't get job of their liking, does dat mean most of them got offers? Do you have any idea about the percentage of ppl who got jobs/internships?
Just a comment about the Cornell MEng CS program, first: it is 30 credits: does not translate to 5 course a sem, you need to take a 3-6 credit mandatory project, and also many courses are 4 credits.
Also, most students end up doing good research during their Project or they do it as an RA(as I am). You are right about the conversion to PhD, it has to be through Grad admissions, but like any other department, if you have done good research here and a prof is willing to take you in, this is not much of an issue, since departmental approval is final.
@Ankur: I really don't know much stats. Try asking someone more knowledgeable.
@Hari: I was of the opinion that the MEngg program is a very fast paced and hectic program, and a couple of months (a semester, generally?) isn't that much time to do significant research along with the workload, so that's news. Also, I thought finding TA/RA positions is hard for MEngg students, and so is converting to PhD (or proving yourself to be recommended strongly enough), because not many students do/get the conversion. Maybe it's because only a few are interested anyway.
The thing is most students coming from India to the US are interested in jobs and not in research. I know at least a couple of people, who are doing real good research in the MEng Project, and are likely to get into the Phd here. It is not really a couple of months, you can extend it for your entire stay here. In my case I am done with my project, but I am now working as an RA(I was a TA this sem, official appointment as RA from Summer session). Contrary to the belief, it is real easy to get a TA or RA here, just walk up to the prof and talk to him. TA is almost direct, upon talking. RA, though, he might like to know how good you are.
With regard to the workload, I feel it is possible to manage it, without an issue.
That said, excellent posts you have there.
@Manu:
Hey
Have got admits from EE departments from gatech n ucla. Not able to decide :(
1. How much do the rankings matter? Gatech being ranked 4 and ucla, 11.. How big is this difference?
From what have heard, communications n networking is gatech is stronger.
2. How big should the "California" factor be in making this decision?
I ask this because the only reason I would choose ucla over gatech would be the access to internships and jobs?
I have heard gatech would also get you good jobs. Then is there any solid valid reason for me to stick to ucla? :)
3. Is it true that LA is saturated in terms of opportunites?
I am really confused over this.. Pls share your thoughts :)
@Nalini: Congratulations on your admits! I don't know how big rankings are - I'm too young in the academic world to judge that, but maybe it matters more if you want to become a faculty, and not so much if you want to go to industry. But I'm not sure. One thing which I definitely think makes a difference is the current publication trend of the group/faculty you are looking to work with. There are departments with very active groups publishing in top conferences but not yet ranked the highest, and higher ranked groups not publishing so well. That, in my opinion, is the most representative factor.
CA factor: depends on you. It was definitely a factor for me - I wanted to go to a big city. What better than LA. And LA really has a lot of fun opportunities. But this depends on whether you're looking to utilize them or just want to concentrate on your work. So your call. Oh, I just realized you're talking in terms of job/internship opportunities. I wouldn't think there's a difference - companies recruit from all good schools.
LA saturated in terms of opportunities: what opportunities specifically? I would strongly disagree. In terms of tech, LA is actually growing. Southern California (Greater LA, Irvine, San Diego is actually a tech hub when put together).
I would say that given the current economy, the biggest factor is to find a professor willing to support you, or to decide based on the general funding scene at the department. Other factors are quite subjective - how picky are you about the work or the professor? how picky are you about the place? etc.
Hi Manu,
I am thinking of applying to US universities(CS dept) for my masters but I need finacial support from the universities. Can you suggest some good universities where I will also be able to get funding?
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