Is a Computer Science Master's (at UCSD) worth it?
Disclaimer: This post is based on my experience as an international computer science master’s student at UC San Diego from Sep 2022 to March 2024. Please note that tuition, living costs, and all other monetary assumptions made in this post are subject to change in the future.
Introduction
With the increasing number of computer science master’s graduating each year, some argue that it is no longer worth having a master’s in computer science. In this post I aim to give my opinion on this subject as an international student who recently graduated from UC San Diego(UCSD) with a master’s of science in computer science. As so, this post will focus on whether it worth to do a computer science master’s specifically at UCSD.
Before making any decision in life, one of the most important things is to weigh the costs and benefits associated with it, which is exactly where we will start in this discussion. Let’s first look at the costs.
Costs of Pursuing a Master’s (at UCSD)
There are two main costs associated to pursuing a master’s degree in the U.S.: time and money. In the case of UCSD, a quarter system school, it would take you 15~21 months to graduate with a diploma, depending on your circumstances (how fast you meet the course breadth requirements, finish comprehensive exams, whether you have done any TA/RAships).
To simplify our discussion let’s say you graduate in 15 months, which is the fastest you can get. Even better, let’s say that you are able to apply for RCL(Reduced Course Load) for your last quarter, which shrinks your last quarter’s tuition into half. Here’s the breakup of the costs for your higher education for international students:
- Tuition: $40,586
- Living costs: $1000/month * 15 = $15,000
- Rent: $1000/month+ * 15 = $15,000+
- Total: approximately $72,000
(In case you happen do be a domestic, California resident—congratulations! You get to halve the amount of your tuition.)
Rent is likely to be more expensive than $1000/mo depending on where you live. The cheapest options are on-campus grad housing, which you should apply for ASAP. Likely the cheapest option is around $1000 per month, where you will share your apartment (but not room!) with other students.
Living costs are probably also at the lower band here – in case you have extra family, drive a car, or pursue some extra activities this cost will only get higher.
So is there any way to reduce this cost? International students on F-1 visas are prohibited to work outside of campus. Thus said, for most folks the only realistic option would be to work as a TA, or RA. TAships are typically easier to get than RAships, but are more demanding (the workload will likely vary widely depending on the class). There are two types of appointments for TAs: 50% (20hrs/week) and 25% (10hrs/week).
Another added bonus of being a TA is that your tuition is actually reduced into half, and you also get some extra wages! For the official info from the UCSD homepage, look at https://cse.ucsd.edu/graduate/financial-opportunities/teaching-assistantships. However keep in mind doing many TAships can delay your graduation, as you will be forced to take 1~2 less classes each quarter.
RAships are more coveted, but also more difficult to get. You will likely need to contact professors, share your CV, and see if they are looking for RAs and will give you a salary. Usually paid master RAs are pretty rare, and a fair share of students do it without pay in exchange for research experience and possible authorship on papers. If possible, an paid RA position is superior to a TA position – both get money, but you can only gain research experience from the first one.
But that’s enough talk about numbers — if it is so darn expensive to get a master’s degree in the U.S., why would anyone do it? Let’s look at what you can expect for your 1.5~2 years of graduate student life, and the benefits of having an extra diploma in hand.
Life as a UCSD Master’s Student
Classes
Normally all full-time master’s students are required to take at least 12 units of courses each quarter. This usually equates to three courses per quarter. The amount of coursework, of course, widely varies depending on which classes you take each. Three courses each quarter is no breeze — do your research and try to spread out work-heavy courses.
Research Experience
The computer science program at UCSD is primarily coursework-oriented. It is possible to do a research as a master’s, but positions are quite limited and you will have to be proactive with professors to participate in meaningful research. Take a class with a professor, show up to office hours, build up rapport, and ask them if you could work at their lab.
In this light, if you are really serious about research or are eventually looking to do a PhD, I would not necessarily recommend going for a master’s at UCSD. As mentioned above, it is not even a research-oriented program in the first place, so there are probably other more research-oriented master’s out there (e.g. Cornell) that would be a better fit for you. And even if you feel a PhD is too much, you could always start pursuing a PhD and graduate early with a master’s.
San Diego
Obviously everyone is at grad school to be academic, but you can’t always be academic—what would be the fun in life without some nice distractions? San Diego is an excellent place that has been numerously quoted to be the best city in the U.S. I still remember how the consular interviewing me congratulated me for going to San Diego. San Diego is safe, has great beaches for surfing, has great weather, and also good Mexican and Asian food. Unfortunately the living costs are higher than average, so you will need to consider that.
Benefits
By and large, I believe there are mainly two reasons why someone would pursue a computer science master’s degree:
Research experience
For folks solely interested in gaining research experience from a UCSD CS master’s—take my advice with a grain of salt, but as I mentioned above I don’t necessarily believe UCSD would be the best choice for you. In case you are determined to pursue research here, I would advise you to pack up your arsenal—polish your CV, brush up on your Python or machine learning framework proficiency, or whichever skills that would help you be a more attractive research assistant.
Job Opportunities
Let’s get to the elephant in the room: the biggest reason why anyone would want to spend $80,000 and study for an extra 1.5 years – better job prospects.
For domestic students:
If you are a domestic student only interested in a normal software engineer position, I would not really recommend pursuing a master’s. Some companies (like FAANG) will give you some extra base salary if you are a master’s or PhD student, but that amount is tiny compared to the raise you would probably get from being promoted from L3 (new grad; entry level position) to L4. In my opinion it makes more sense to spend that time building up your experience and getting a promotion.
But let’s think from the perspective of an international student—yes my friend, for many international students the most realistic way you can get a job in the U.S. is by obtaining a STEM master’s degree and getting the chance to enter the H1-B visa lottery three times, which should hopefully be enough for you to get that coveted visa. M.S. graduates typically earn salaries starting at $100,000 (a six-figure salary!), and I can also attest that I am currently getting a significantly higher salary than the one I got at my home country as a software engineer.
But even apart from monetary compensation, I believe there is significant potential career growth you can expect just by working in the U.S., especially in Silicon Valley. This is where the creme of the crop engineers gather from around the world to offer their crafts to interested parties – could there possibly be a better place to quickly become a better engineer? Maybe there is. But I’m sure there are a very few, and none are easy to get into and offer the same level of monetary compensation.
So how to make the best out of it?
Let’s say after weighing the costs and benefits – you’re sold! You want to pursue a master’s degree in the U.S., and perhaps at UCSD. So how to make the best of your investment of one and a half years and $72,000? As someone who’s a few months out of grad school, I have a few tips for you:
Prepare early for interviews/jobs
I cannot stress this enough, especially for folks coming to grad school for better jobs. Don’t think that just getting into school automatically wins you a desk in FAANG. Before the quarter/semester starts, do your homework. Polish your resume, prepare for interviews, and do your Leetcode. After school starts, you will be juggling interview prep and coursework at the same time. Chances are, if you have been negligent in getting yourself interview ready, you will fail at either getting a good job or your courses, or both. Once you get accepted, give yourself a pat on the back, and celebrate for a week or so. Then get back to work, and make yourself into that irresistible job candidate. I guarantee you, you will be immensely grateful towards your past self. Also don’t forget to apply early for summer internships, which typically start opening around August (which is even before school starts).
Do your research on labs/professors
For those who want to do research at grad school, you also have some pre-work to do. Ideally this should be done before you get accpeted, while you are looking up schools you want to apply to. Research what labs and professors are at the school, and if there are any research topics that interest you. Some professors may not like being contacted by prospective master’s students – if so, kindly refrain from spamming them with emails. Instead, you can take a shot at reaching out to master’s or PhD students currently at the lab. Ask them about the lab culture, what the research is like, and so on. After that is pretty much the same advice I gave above. Build up rapport with the professor and try to get some research experience there.
And that’s a wrap
I hope this has made a bit clear what you should expect from a master’s in the U.S., especially from UCSD. Regardless of the opinions listed here, I really wish you will carefully go through what you will gain by pursuing a master’s, and whether it is worth your time and money (And please also consider the additional money you would be giving up on by otherwise working straight out of a bachelor’s.). Feel free to reach out for any additional questions you have about doing a master’s, or UCSD itself. With that, I wish the best in your future academic and professional endeavors – good luck!🍀