I dream of Masters

I woke up; its one fine Saturday morning in Bangalore. The first thought (based on early morning dream) to strike my mind is a Masters degree. I have always dreamed of completing a Masters from reputed and well known institute / university. Now with addiction to fixed salary every month, it needs a strong will power and financial back up to take up full time study. Its a good progression if the Masters is taken upon the completion of Bachelors as it helps in maintaining a state of mind to handle the study load. Majority of the people do not do so mainly due to financial reasons. And once on job, the study and work gap increases. There are a large number of people whom, for one reason or another, are unable to pay out the fees of a full time Masters. For those, remaining in the workplace is the only viable option. Some of Masters require hands on work experience esp. the management courses. Even the institutes / universities are emphasized on designing programs / courses for experienced working professionals There are n number of programs / courses available, full time, part time, evening, distance, technology, management, etc. making it still tougher to decide the value addition needed to transcend. My intent for the Masters is to integrate knowledge across disciplinary boundaries, combine theory with practice, and leverage on my expertise. I started searching for a Masters that would fit my requirements. And they were: 1. As I am working professional, the program / course should be Online / Distance / Part time / Evening / Weekend. 2. Test such as CAT / GRE / GMAT need dedicated time and effort. I want to avoid them. 3. Medium of instruction for my entire education is English. So TOEFL / IELTS should not be mandatory. 4. As I am self-sponsoring, program should not be very expensive. After all its hard earned money. 5. Possible Scholarships / Sponsorship / Discounts in Tuition. 6. Easy application. Recommendations, Statement of Purpose are not so easy to write. 7. Proximity to the institute / college / university. 8. Also if Online program, Transferable to Full time? As an experienced professional I cannot ignore the fact that management degree can add substantial credit. There is more money in Wall Street than in Silicon Valley. There are more than 100 institutes / colleges / universities offering distance / correspondence MBA degree in India. Symbiosis, ICFAI, Sikkim Manipal, KSOU, IGNOU, etc. are definitely not the institutes / universities I would like to go for. The ones I like to go for are: IIMB offers Post Graduate Programme in Software Enterprise Management that targets software professionals. 3-4 courses every quarter for 2 years and attend classes on Fridays and Saturdays. CAT or GMAT test scores are mandatory for the admission. The program cost is about Rs.11,50,000, damn. Details at http://www.iimb.ernet.in/pgsem/ IIMC along with Hughes Education offers 1 year Executive Program in Business Management program. The Program Fee alone is Rs. 2,72,000. Details at http://www.hugheseducation.com/iim-calcutta I am sure of my area of interest, and that is Computer Science, Software Engineering or Information Technology. There are many institutes / colleges / universities offering distance / correspondence ME / MTech / MS degree in India. Apart from India, there are institutes / colleges / universities abroad that offer good programs / courses. Australian degrees do not excite me. UK / European institutes / colleges / universities are good for full time programs / courses. US institutes / universities are the nicest but are very large in number and make it difficult to choose. They are recognized and respected globally for their excellence, diversity, flexibility, range of opportunities, modern facilities, resources to enhance the learning experience, and top quality teachers. They offer the most diverse and exciting range of higher education options anywhere in the world. e.g. Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, USA offers MS in Computer Science with 7-8 months full time study on campus and then two years of internship. Two courses can also be completed by Distance education. Details at http://mscs.mum.edu/ So, my search now narrowed down to US (and also Bangalore) with respect to the curriculum and flexibility. I have captured some of my findings below, hope it will be useful to others as well.

Institute

Course

Courses / Units / Credits

Duration

Exam / Test

Fees

Email

Deadline

Stanford University MS in CS Honors Cooperative Program http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/gradadmissions/prog http://scpd.stanford.edu/certificates/mastersDegre rams/computer-science es.jsp MSE / MS Computational Engineering https://engineering.purdue.edu/ProEd/credit/CompEng

45 quarter units

3 to 5 years

GRE tests

$1,310/unit

admissions@cs.stanford.edu

Dec. 11, 2012

30 credits (10 courses) GRE or GMAT are not required 34 credit hours

3-credits $3,333.00 Larry Fischer, Program Manager <lefische@purdue.edu> $750 per credit hour

Purdue University https://www.distance.purdue.edu

MS in Technology in IT Project Management http://www.tech.purdue.edu/prostar/programs/itproject-management/ Master of Science in Engineering - Computer Networking http://msengrol.seas.ucla.edu/resources/documents/co mputer_networking.pdf M.S. System Engineering with Domain of Specialization http://msengrol.seas.ucla.edu/resources/documents/SE onlineflyer-CSL.pdf MS Program in CSE http://www.cseprograms.gatech.edu/csems

Prof M. Gerla <gerla@cs.ucla.edu> 8 courses + project GRE scores are required 9-Course program is $33,000 Peter S. Pao <peterspao@ucla.edu> Dr Sanjay Singh <singh@seas.ucla.edu> Hongyuan Zha Director <zha@cc.gatech.edu> csconline@uis.edu Barbara Selvaggio Program Coordinator <bselv1@uis.edu> Carolyn Williams Program Coordinator <carolynw@uic.edu>

UCLA http://msengrol.seas.ucla.edu

January 15th July 15th

Georgia Tech Professional Education http://www.gtpe.gatech.edu/

30 Credit Hours

GRE scores are $1,100 per semester credit hour required

February 1st

University of Illinois 5 http://www.online.uillinois.edu/catalog/OnlineDegr ees.asp

MS in Computer Science http://www.online.uillinois.edu/catalog/ProgramDetail. asp?tab=1&ProgramID=438 Master of Engineering http://www.online.uillinois.edu/catalog/ProgramDetail. asp?tab=1&ProgramID=33

32 Sem. Hr(s). GRE or GMAT are not required 36 semester hours

$337.50/Hr

$675/credit hour $24,300 about $13000

July 1 November 1

Boston University Distance Education http://www.bu.edu/online/programs/index.html

Master of Science in Computer Information Systems (MSCIS) http://www.bu.edu/online/programs/graduatedegree/computer-information-systems/index.html

10 courses (40 credits)

Harvard University Extension School http://www.extension.harvard.edu/

Master of Information Technology http://www.extension.harvard.edu/degreescertificates/information-technology

$1,950 per course $24,000

Institute

Course Master of Science in Computer Science http://gapp.usc.edu/graduateprograms/masters/computer-science/computer-science Master of Science in Computer Science with Specialization in Computer Security http://gapp.usc.edu/graduateprograms/masters/computer-science/computer-sciencecomputer-security Master of Science in Computer Science with Specialization in Software Engineering http://gapp.usc.edu/graduateprograms/masters/computer-science/computer-sciencesoftware-engineering Master of Science in Computer Engineering http://gapp.usc.edu/graduateprograms/masters/electrical-engineering/computerengineering Master of Software Engineering http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-andcertificates/software-engineering-masters/overview

Courses / Units / Credits

Duration

Exam / Test

Fees

Email

Deadline

27 units

28 units 15-18 units $21,081.00 Unit basis 1,420.00

University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Distance Education Network http://gapp.usc.edu/graduate-programs/den

GRE test scores 27 units

Sudha Kumar Director <india@mapp.usc.edu>

January 15 September 15

27 units

36 Credits 12 courses 2 Years 33 Credits GRE or GMAT are waived

Tuition per Credit $930

Penn State World Campus http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/

gvadmiss@psu.edu wdadmissions@outreach.psu.ed u mps@ist.psu.edu wdadmissions@outreach.psu.ed u

5-Nov-12

Master in Information Sciences http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/degrees-andcertificates/information-sciences-masters/overview

Tuition per Credit $825

10

California State University, Fullerton http://distanceed.fullerton.edu/online_programs.asp

Masters of Science in Software Engineering http://mse.ecs.fullerton.edu/

10 courses (30 units)

22-month

GRE or GMAT are not required

$17,000

MSE Program <mse@ecs.fullerton.edu> Dr. Ning Chen, Program Adviser <nchen@fullerton.edu> Ms. Sandra Boulanger, Administrative Support <sboulanger@fullerton.edu> msit@fullerton.edu

Master of Science in Information Technology http://business.fullerton.edu/isds/msit/

11 courses (30 units)

20-month

GRE or GMAT

Institute

Course Master of Computer Science with specialization in Software Engineering http://www.iit.edu/csl/cs/programs/grad/mcs_se.shtml

Courses / Units / Credits

Duration

Exam / Test

Fees

Email

Deadline

30 credit hours India - US $11,040 SPRING (January GRE @ US $1,104 per May) 15th D. Rajagopalan, Operations http://www.iitchi course of 3 credits Director <rajagopaland@iit.edu> October cagoinindia.com/ US - US $34,200 FALL (August A. R. Bhujang, Director admission.html#g @ US $3,420 per December) 1st <bhujangar@iit.edu> re course of 3 credits May 30 credit hours

11

Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago http://www.iit.edu/international_affairs India Campus http://www.iitchicagoinindia.com

Master of Information Technology and Management http://www.iit.edu/cpd/itm/programs/graduate/ITM_G raduate_Program_Specilizations.shtml Master of Telecommunications and Software Engineering http://www.iit.edu/engineering/ece/programs/grad/ms _tse.shtml Master of Science in Human-Computer Interaction Master of Science in Networking and System Administration Master of Science in Imaging Science

12

Rochester Institute of Technology http://www.rit.edu

60 quarter credit hour

GRE or GMAT are $999/credit hour not required $11,992/quarter

gradinfo@rit.edu

Columbus State University Master of Science in Computer Science 13 http://academics.columbusstate.edu/catalogs/curre http://gradschool.columbusstate.edu/cobcs/computers nt/degrees_online.php cience/appliedcomputerscience_ms.php Master of Computer Science http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/academics/graduate/degrees /mcsdl.php North Carolina State University Master of Science in Computer Networking 14 http://engineeringonline.ncsu.edu/PS/grad_degrees http://www.ece.ncsu.edu/graduate/cne .html Master of Science in Computer Engineering http://www.ece.ncsu.edu/graduate/ms Colorado State University 15 http://www.cs.colostate.edu/cstop/csacademics/cs distancelearning.php Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.) http://www.online.colostate.edu/degrees/computerscience/

36 credit hours

minimum 290 of $280 per credit hour GRE

31 credit hours 31 credit hours 30 credit Hours GRE $750.00 / credit hour Dr. Linda Krute Director <linda_krute@ncsu.edu>

35 credits

GRE scores are not required

$649 per credit

Mike Macklin <michael.macklin@colostate.edu >

July 1 November 1

Institute BITS Pilani http://discovery.bits16 pilani.ac.in/WILP/aboutdlp/aboutdlp.html http://www.bitspilani.ac.in/university/wilp/WILPProgrammes

Course

Courses / Units / Credits

Duration

Exam / Test

Fees

Email

Deadline

M.S. Software Systems 4 x 3 = 12 Courses in 3 http://www.bitsSemesters pilani.ac.in/uploads/WILP_Programmes/MS%20Softwar 4th Semester is Dissertation e%20Systems%20chart.pdf

Four Semesters

GRE or GMAT are not required

Rs. 15,000 + Rs. 32,700 x 4

wilpd@bits-pilani.ac.in

Sep-12

17

Manipal University http://www.executiveprograms.manipal.edu

Master of Science in Computer Science Master of Science in Automotive Embedded System Master of Science in Embedded System Design Master of Science in Software Design & Engineering Master of Science in Embedded & Control System Design

12 Courses in 1st Year Project in 2nd Year

Four Semesters GRE or GMAT are 2 years class room not required teaching for 2 semesters

Rs. 1,70,000

executive.edu@manipalglobal.co m

18

MSRSAS Coventry University, UK http://www.msrsas.org

M.Sc.[Engg.] Computer Science and Networking http://www.msrsas.org/postgraduate/Computerscience .php M.Sc.[Engg.] Real Time Embedded Systems http://www.msrsas.org/postgraduate/Embeddedsyste m.php

11 Courses & Project

36 months part time

GRE or GMAT are not required

Rs 2,75,000

Prof. N. D. Gangadhar <gangadhar@msrsas.org>

31st March 2013

All data as on August 2012