Job vs. Graduate school
I have finished my internship in NYC this Summer and got a return offer as a software engineer. I was told I can apply to teams that are open next year when I graduate. But I am really interested in the Computer Vision field (ex. Tesla, Uber, Lyft...) Those companies tend to set the minimum requirement of a M.S. degree or higher. So I am considering graduate school. My job offer lasts until mid Nov. when I didnt apply for schools yet. As an international student I have to consider visa status too. So trying to weigh my choices. Is it worth pursuing a higher degree while working(GRE)? Or better to go right out of school? Just hoping I don't get rejected from schools after rejecting my offer. I dont want to be a dick and reject the offer after I get into a good school early next year.
Another option, one I'm considering myself, is to work full-time and pursue an online masters program (I'm going for an MBA). It would be a challenge and I am not sure how it would effect visas. It would look good to recruiters that you're working so hard.
Ummmm online anything degree is NOT good. Don't do that. Will look like you couldn't get into a real accredited school. I know my firm would not even interview a candidate with any sort of online degree. 100% do not do this.
If you apply to an accredited, reputable university's online program there's no reason for any firm to not consider the candidate. Also, there's no reason to state this program was online for something such as an MBA on a resume. Once you're in a a certain caliber of school (I.e. Not the university of Phoenix or some shady for-profit school) it doesn't matter. For a firm to not consider a candidate because of their masters degree is pretty trivial. They have work experience, an undergrad degree, and are getting or already have an MBA. But what do I know.
Im in a similar boat. I chose to work for a few years before grad school. That way I made some money to help pay for it and I think it helped my application out.
How does recommendation letters work? (I doubt my profs still remembered me lol) Do the school require two recommendation letters from professors even for professional candidates?
Unless you are applying specifically to research-focused programs, most are okay with managers
@Archon, are you taking advantage of 2Sigmas fully paid grad school
What is 2sigmas. Couldn't find anything online about it.
2 sigma is a quantitative hedge fund and one @Archon probably works at
@Taco boy, yeah I'm thinking about getting a MS degree since 2 Sigma covers one course per quarter.
Which school? Columbia CVN or gt?
Still doing research actually. Want to do part time instead of online--prefer to sit in classrooms and meet professors. I'm looking at Columbia's math for finance program, CMU'a computational finance, and NyU's financial engineering. Any recommendations/suggestions?
Columbia dropped their evening class commitment for math of finance
So finding a relevant class may be hard
Good to know. Yeah mathematics methods for finance is probably the only part time option for me at Columbia.
I'm not in your field (I'm in finance), but I would suggest going straight into school for your MS. I went straight into work after undergrad and while it's been fine, I wish I hadn't. Now I'm interrupting my career to go back for my MBA. Whereas if I just went straight from undergrad it would have caused less disruption in my life. This is even more important for you given your non-citizen status and the political shit storm climate the states are in right now. I would say secure whatever student visa you can, enroll in school full time and run with it.