

How necessary is it for a Master's in Computer Science? - shaganappi200

Hi,<p>I am currently a third year undergraduate studying computer science at University of California, San Diego.  I have a few questions regarding graduate school and was hoping to get some insight.<p>- Process of applying to grad school (Whats important, Is it similar like undergrad?, How should I prepare?).<p>- Masters in CS?  MBA?  Business in CS?  Law + CS?  What opportunities would each offer?  Are the opportunities different?<p>- Which grad schools, if any should I aim for.  Does it matter on the school?  Do some look better than others in particular?<p>- What should I look for in a grad school?  Which factors should I weigh more over others?<p>- When to attend grad school: Work for a year first?  Immediately?<p>- Employment opportunities before and after.  How is it affected?<p>I would love to get your guys' input on these questions.  Thanks!
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bartonfink
Unless you're positive you want to go the academic route, I'd highly recommend
working for a year or so first, and I don't mean as an intern. I remember
folks from my M.S. who came straight from undergrad, and by and large they had
trouble with the sort of things that you'd simply _know_ if you'd worked on
production code before. For example, in a database architecture class, one
student actively argued with me on theoretical grounds (chiefly that it breaks
the concept of defined primary keys) when I pointed out that it's common for
commercial RDBMS's to be able to create autoincrementing identity columns for
tables. Another student opened up separate copies of Eclipse for each file he
wanted to edit, and then asked me why he was having performance issues on his
machine.

I know that computer science != programming, but you can get a significant
amount of knowledge from just a small investment in time in the "real world",
and that knowledge may prove quite useful later in your studies.

~~~
queensnake
Plus, at least when I went back, it was like a glorious vacation for the first
couple of semesters - nothing to do but Learn New Stuff (what a concept!) and
do tidy, school-sized projects :)

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geekytenny
>Masters in CS? MBA? Business in CS? Law + CS?

Make up your mind first, then u will know.

>What opportunities would each offer?

Endless opportunities..as far as you can see or imagine. But i would be biased
towards CS because you can make a product and be off to the market very
easily...if you know what you are doing...

>Employment opportunities before and after. How is it affected?

Help lower unemployment stats......think of creating jobs instead.

~~~
dlikhten
Furthermore I would never encourage anyone to do nothing but stay in achedemia
for long periods of time. That is unless the job demands it (my wife is a
Speach Language Pathologist and cannot work until she has a M.S. in SLP
period) however I don't have a masters. I was considering getting one
eventually in a field like AI or something but I would want to ensure I go to
a very respectable school where I am guaranteed to find some awesome research
projects to work on.

End-of-the-day a Master is for a specialization you want to work on for
specific type of jobs. Generally past a B.S. is not required in 99% of the
market especially if you are good.

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alecbenzer
I'm also (as in, "I, too, am") wondering what grad schools look for down the
line. How much do things like school reputation and prestige matter
(specifically in CS)? GPA? Curriculum (eg, do honors courses help), stuff like
that? GRE scores? Research? Internships? Do any of these matter more than
others?

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veyron
What do you want to do after education? That will govern your education
decisions

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shaganappi200
I'm not exactly sure yet, but I currently have a lot of interest in
application development. I plan on becoming a software developer and working
in the industry. At the same time, I read a lot of business and tech blogs
about start-ups and do find immense interest in that also. That may also be a
path I would like to pursue. Still exploring....

