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From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Graduate Programs in Comp Sci
Message-ID: <82400017@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 10 Sep 88 06:41:00 GMT
References: <9340@ihlpa.ATT.COM>
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Nf-ID: #R:ihlpa.ATT.COM:9340:p.cs.uiuc.edu:82400017:000:2085
Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Sep 10 01:41:00 1988


For full-time work, many of the best schools prefer Ph.D.-track
candidates with all the necessary preparatory work (an undergrad C.S.
degree or equivalent).  The University of Illinois is perhaps the
highest-ranking school that cheerfully accepts M.S.-only candidates
(250/450 students), often from other discipines.  Stanford has a large
part-time M.S.-only program.

You should perhaps choose a school based on your sub-interest in
computer science.  For instance, if you absolutely KNOW you want AI,
attend a major AI school.  On the other hand, I've heard that 70% of
Stanford's entering grad students want to do AI, but they are
disappointed by the discipline, and only 20% of them graduate in AI.
So hopefully you know what you want to do (for a thesis).  If you
don't know, then choose a huge/multipurpose school (Berkeley,
Stanford, Illinois).

Here are some top-10 schools and some specialties
----------
Stanford AI Theory		  NA	Systems		Architecture
MIT	 AI Theory Dataflow		Systems
CMU	 AI 	   Multiprocessing	Systems
Illinois           Supercomputing NA DA			Architecture
Cornell	    Theory
Berkeley    Theory		     DA Systems(4.2BSD)	Architecture(RISC)
UCLA	??  				Systems?
UT-Austin		 	     DA   + ??

AI - Artificial Intelligence
NA - Numerical Analysis
DA - Design Automation
Theory - More than one of: Algorithm design, Program Semantics/Verification,
         Formal Languages, Complexity, Discrete Math, Queueing Theory.

You really need to hustle to graduate in 1 year -- it probably isn't
possible at the top schools.  Perhaps you should get a job in Palo
Alto/Sunnyvale, CA, and attend Stanford part-time?  Stanford has a BIG
off-campus M.S.-only program, and many employers in Silicon Valley
will reimburse your educational expenses.

Disclaimer: I have undoubtedly exaggerated some programs and
accidentally forgotten others.  I apologize, for I do not intend to
offend anyone.

Don Gillies, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Illinois
1304 W. Springfield, Urbana, Ill 61801      
ARPA: gillies@cs.uiuc.edu   UUCP: {uunet,ihnp4,harvard}!uiucdcs!gillies