Question about MSCS
Hi all, I am a student at UCSD, double major in DS and Physics, graduating this month. Long story in short, I interned at Amazon last summer and got return offer, but start date got delayed from May 1st to Oct 30th. So while looking for new jobs, I applied for several MSCS program just want to learn more and add more cs education background, nonetheless I got consistently rejected, and made me realize that I might not be going to grad school this year, as the rest of schools are just not worth it. I’m kind of sad because going to a top prestigious school has always been my dream and I now have two questions, and it would be great if dear blinders could give me some advice. 1) Will it still be possible for me to get in high-tier MSCS programs (personally I love the MSCS program at Stanford) next year, and if so I assume it will definitely be harder due to the recommendation letter stuff, so what shall I start preparing for from now. 2) Given my background, do you think it’s possible for me to go farther in the SWE field, I mean like without a CS Master degree. And what knowledge should I focus on now besides looking for new jobs (cuz seriously I am eager to learn - currently learning and preparing to take AWS solutions architect exam after school this month). It will be great if you could provide any thoughts to the above questions. I would be sincerely grateful. And I wish you all the best! TC when interned: 9k/month Current TC: 0 Theoretical TC: 170k #mscs#tech#amazon
I was on the same situation as yours a few years back when I graduated. 1) If you really want to go to grad school because you want to learn more, not because of your current degrees, it would be good to do it sooner rather than later. 5 years into my SWE career and everyday is harder for me to go back to school. 2) don’t worry so much about your degree. I also didn’t have the magical CS letters on my degree and it used to torture me. And I can tell you now it was mostly all in my head. You already managed to get a full time offer from Amazon. The first offer is always the hardest. And you already did that. TL;DR Don’t worry so much about your degree, you already went to a good school and you have proven your skills. And if you are curious to learn more, the sooner the better. Once you start making money and building a career, it’s very hard to walk away.
Hi, I really appreciate that. I will think thoroughly.
Doing a masters isn’t worth it. You are much better off getting industry experience for those two years (if working in the industry is what you want in the long run). Personally, the things you learn in masters has a lot of overlap with the things you do in undergrad so I don’t think you learn anything new (I went to a T10 school for MSCS). However, my degree required me to do thesis, that’s the only thing where I learnt something new. A lot of my undergrad classmates got into the industry immediately and currently have 1,2 promotions under their belt. They seem to be much more knowledgeable than me even tho I did a masters.
Hi, thank you for sharing the experience. I really appreciate that. And I will definitely think through.
If you get into Stanford, it might be worth it for the brand. Otherwise, totally not worth it. I’m a CS major and when I see a physics major, I think physics > CS.
School is a waste of time for CS. Get out and get a job, start doing LC
No and no
Hi, thank you so much for the response. Would it be possible for you to expand a bit on the 2nd no? I understand that I might lack some certain traits needed to go farther in the field, but I am really hoping that I could improve. Thx!
Haven’t come across a single good engineer from party schools like UCSD who also got rejected from the cakewalk that is grad school admissions. You’re way behind, if your goals are even slightly ambitious.