Computer Science Graduate School

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Computer Science Graduate School
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Outline of Discussion

• What is graduate school like?
• Is graduate school for me?
• What schools should I consider?
• How do I apply?
• How will they evaluate me?
• Question and Answer

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Grad school is not for everyone

• Plenty of smart people go right to industry
• Learn on the job
• Advance within company or hop jobs
• Entrepreneurs cannot afford to wait
• For some, grad school provides
• A way to one-up UVa on the resume (degree as
  status symbol)
• A fast track to a job (faster than working your
  way up)
• Unique opportunities (no other way to be
  professor)
• A great opportunity to focus

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What is Graduate School Like?

• A professors perspective
• Every professor runs a small company
• Product Invents and develops long-range research
• Customer typically Federal Government (National
  Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research
  Projects Agency DARPA)
• Annual Revenue 300,000 - 1,000,000
• Employees Grad students

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What is Graduate School Like?

• M.S. Degree
• 1.5 - 2 years
• Coursework similar to senior-level undergraduate
  courses
• Usually provided an opportunity to specialize
• Can easily start degree without selecting area of
  focus
• Good schools provide opportunity to take many
  focused courses in your favorite area
• Research (in form of thesis) may be required
• Tuition and stipend are possible
• (full tuition 16k / 9 mos summer job)

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What is Graduate School Like?

• Ph.D. Degree
• 4 - 7 years
• Similar coursework to Masters Degree plus
  seminars and courses related to research
• Research required
• Tuition and stipend scholarships are standard
• (16k / 9 mos some summer jobs)
• Required to specialize
• Helpful to know research interests from day one
  to expedite selection of research focus
• Many select research focus after starting school

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Is Graduate School for You?

• What are your career goals?
• Sick and tired of school
• Learn on the job (job hopping)
• Entrepreneur
• Technology management (manage engineers)
• Professor

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Is Graduate School for You?

• Do you enjoy learning - becoming an expert?
• PhD makes you worlds expert in foo
• Do you like being a big fish in a small pond?
• Question applies to job and school options
• Do you prefer constancy or change?
• Higher degrees are entree to management and
  provide you with more control
• Financial situation

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Is Graduate School for You?

• Degree pros and cons
• Bachelors Degree
• Good starting salary (50k) but peaks early
• More job openings
• Opportunity to swap jobs or move to management
• But many jobs are entry level
• Less control of day-to-day tasks
• Employer usually benefits from not promoting you
• May become bored have to hop jobs

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BS in CS Job Satisfaction

• 1992 CS graduates were surveyed in 1997
• Reported high satisfaction with working
  conditions (and the economy only got hotter 1997
  2001 its cold now)
• From www.nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid
  2001165

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Show Me the Money

• 2001 Undergraduate Salaries

www.naceweb.org/press/display.cfm/2001/pr071101.ht
m
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Show Me the Money
2002 Undergraduate Salaries
http//www.naceweb.org/press/display.asp?year2002
prid155 http//www.naceweb.org/press/display.asp
?year2002prid164
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Show Me the Money
2003 Undergraduate Salaries
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Show Me the Money

• UVa-specific salary info for 2002-2003 school
  year
• Average Salaries
• CS - 55,000 (max 77,000) 18 respondents
• Systems - 50,750 33 respondents
• Computer Engineering - 54,000 9 respondents
• EE - 53,000 13 respondents

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Is Graduate School for You?

• Masters Degree Benefits
• Better starting salary (70k)
• Many job openings
• Potential to start at management level
• Opportunity to swap jobs
• More control of day-to-day tasks

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Is Graduate School for You?

• Masters Degree Cons
• Still not in charge of project
• 1.5 - 2 years of lost wages (less if paid during
  school)
• May become bored by repetitive tasks
• May become frustrated by poor employees and lack
  of support from upper-level management

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Is Graduate School for You?

• Ph.D. Degree Benefits
• Better starting salary (100k)
• Large amount of control over work
• Opportunity to teach in university
• Management skills assumed
• Youll be the worlds expert in ________

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Is Graduate School for You?

• Ph.D. Degree Cons
• 3 - 4 years of income beyond the masters is lost
• Overqualified to make large jumps between fields
• Its a lot of hard work with few clear paths

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Total numbers in grad school

• Year 2002 Data From www.cra.org/statistics/
• 16,907 BS degrees produced
• 19 women, 3.4 African American, 3.6 Hispanic
• 7,031 MS degrees produced by top 40
• 26 women, 1.1 African American, 1.2 Hispanic
• 700 PhDs produced in US
• 18 were women
• Only 9 were African American (1.3)
• Only 11 were Hispanic (1.6)
• 45 were international students (50 decline in
  2003 GRE takers)

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How Do I Apply?

• Application packet consists of the following
• Transcript
• Important, but not much you can do about this
  now
• Letters of Recommendation
• Important make or break marginal cases
• Establish relationships with 3 UVa profs now!
• Personal Statement
• Somewhat important think about what you like
• GREs
• Sanity check only. Subject test is hard, but many
  do poorly.

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How Do I Apply?

• Transcript
• Your schools reputation,
• your grades
• and your courses will speak for themselves
• Schools are sympathetic to GPAs that improve over
  time and weaknesses in outside areas

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How Do I Apply?

• Letters of Recommendation
• These carry a great amount of weight
• Help your letter writer by reminding him/her of
  significant interactions you have had
• Help your letter writer by sharing your research
  interests so he/she may find ways to write a
  letter that complements your personal statement

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How Do I Apply?

• Contact person at other school
• This is very difficult
• Strike up an email conversation with prof from
  another school
• Us profs get many such emails from Chinese and
  Indian students
• Dont sound desperate
• Ask a reasonable question about the professors
  research showcase your qualifications

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How Do I Apply?

• Personal Statement
• This is a great opportunity to stand out
• Research the schools in which you are interested
• Ask professors to explain research areas
• Try to sound like a student with experience,
  focus, and initiative
• Dont limit your choices by writing something
  that makes you sound too focused (unless you are)

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How Do I Apply?

• GREs
• General test always required
• General test is like SATs but slightly harder
• New for 2002 Writing Component (true for SATs
  too!)
• Used to be called analytical section (multiple
  choice)
• Subject test frequently required
• Subject test is very detail oriented
• Study! Purchase old tests for practice!

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Where Do I Apply

• US News and World Report top 20
• Try to upgrade
• UVa grad school is good, but you can probably do
  better. Exposure to new school (breadth) is
  encouraged unless youre part of a special
  project here already that will make your graduate
  experience really valuable here
• Try not to worry about the money
• Most schools have similar packages for their
  students. Those who want funding can usually
  find it.

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Where Do I Apply (US News 2003)

• 1. Carnegie Mellon University
• 2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 3. Stanford University
• 4. U. of CaliforniaBerkeley
• 5. U. of IllinoisUrbana-Champaign
• 6. Cornell
• 7. U. of Texas AustinU. of Washington
• 9. Princeton University

• 10. California TechU. of Wisconsin - Madison
• 12. Maryland, Georgia Tech
• 14. Brown University, UCLA, Michigan
• 17.  Rice University, UNC, Penn
• 20. Columbia, Duke, Harvard, Purdue, UCSD
• 25. UMass Amherst, Yale
• 27. U. of Southern Cal, U. of Virginia
• 29. Hopkins, NYU, Rutgers, SUNY-Stony Brook,
  UC-Irvine, Utah

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Soapbox (Daves Opinion)

• Get a Masters Degree
• Youll have more control over your day to day
  tasks and have a leg up in management
• Only get the Ph.D. if you are strongly compelled
  to get what it provides
• Dont go to work and think youll come back to
  school its too hard
• Always remember to consider cost of living
  adjustments when comparing salaries
• Silicon Valley is expensive

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Special Case

• Get employer-paid M.S. while working
• Consider quality of school (in NoVa GMU and GWU)
• If you werent working, a better school is
  possible
• A MS degree from GMU might not be worth much to
  you if you are capable of CMU (wont open doors)
• Difficult to work and study but youre young
  and might not have time committments
• Consider that school will likely pay you too