Answering Questions About Stony Brook

Answering Questions About MS-CS @ SBU

Lately, I have received (a lot of) new connections on LinkedIn - from people considering pursuing their MS in Computer Science at Stony Brook. They asked quite a few questions. One of them asked so many that they had to number them, and I could answer each specifically. It felt more like an interrogation than a conversation, lol. Anyway, similar questions were asked again by others as well. I found myself repeating the same things which nudged me into writing this post.

Before we start looking at the questions, I should point out the disclaimer:

1. The below answers are from a somewhat average (maybe slightly above average?) student. I am not from tier 1 or 2 undergrad college or even tier 3 maybe (I don’t know which tier the University of Mumbai affiliated colleges belong to). The answers I give out here are candid responses you might have in a normal conversation - so I am not perfecting these.

2. Also, things change over time - your situations might differ, the courses offered and the professors taking those courses might change, SBU might change rules/guidelines - so bear that in mind.

So here we go with the questions:

What is your per semester credit break-up?

Fall 2019 - I did 14 credits worth of work. 3 credits each for courses CSE-519, CSE-527, CSE-538, CSE-548, and 2 credits worth of TA for an undergraduate course (CSE-216). You can see more about my review about this here.

Spring 2020 - 12 credits: 3 credits each for courses CSE-544, CSE-532, and CSE-545 and an advanced project CSE-523 worth 3 credits. I was a grader as well for an undergraduate course (CSE-416) - does not count towards credits but you are paid for it. Read more about these courses and my experience here

Summer 2020 - 1 credit for my internship - You can read about my internship experience here.

Fall 2020 - 3 credits for CSE-524 - the second part of the advanced project. Again, I was a grader for the same undergraduate course (CSE-416).

Housing situation - Off-campus or On-Campus?

I stayed at Chapin, the on-campus housing apartment for graduate students. It is much easier - a lot of stuff like Wi-FI, weekly cleaning, etc. is taken care of for you. Also, most international graduate students do end up living at Chapin, so it is easier to interact with peers for collaborating on group assignments, projects and being aware of what is going on in general.

TA and RA scenario?

TAs are of two types: One is simple TA, and another is Grader. The former is where you get course credits for your work, and in the latter, you are paid $ (no credits awarded). In your first sem, you can only do the first kind. In your second and third sem, you can do the first and/or second kind. You can apply to become a grader if your GPA from previous semesters is above a certain threshold (was 3.5/4.0 during my time). The grad school dean will send out emails regarding this when the semester starts.

For RA: There are limited opportunities to become an RA. You need to get on the good books of a professor for this. Especially difficult in the first sem since no one knows you. It can be easier in subsequent semesters if you’ve taken the professor’s courses for whom you want to become an RA. Be in constant touch with the prof, ask doubts during lectures, and most importantly ace their courses with an A grade.

** On-campus jobs?**

I generally recommend not do on-campus jobs. You won’t have much time, especially in the first and second semesters. Prefer being a grader over the on-campus jobs. This is a personal opinion and others might feel differently.

Internships and jobs?

These aspects have very little to do with SBU. Although SBU has a placement cell - you have to do all the heavy-lifting here. If you plan to do internships in the summer - prepare before you land here, build a solid resume (resume tips and tricks are in abundance on the internet. I am no expert so I will skip it here), and apply early. Constantly network on LinkedIn, reach out to recruiters, and talk with friends to understand which companies have started hiring and what these companies might be looking for.

Check levels.fyi if you want to look at average salaries given by companies. Please do not ask your, relatively new, LinkedIn connections how much they make. It is not cool. My parents don’t know how much I make a year. Do you think I’ll tell you?

Does university location (being in NY, close to NYC) have any significance with internships/jobs?

No. Your profile, resume, network are key aspects for you landing an internship or job. With the CS markets so saturated these days, luck too plays a big part in where you end up.

One major thing you liked about SBU?

It is a good school with affordable tuition and some really good faculty in the CS department.

One major thing you dislike about SBU?

Too many students. You are constantly competing for attention from professors, and some professors end up developing class policy based on class strength over what is good for the course/students.

An estimate for total expenditure for MS?

For 12 credits in the first and second sem, 3 credits in the third I ended up spending close to 30,000 USD on tuition.

For rent, an average shared apartment in Chapin will cost close to 650-700 USD per month. Check the campus housing website for more details on housing plans and pricing.

Add on top of that your regular expenses like food, groceries, cellular, etc. for around 200-300 USD per month. Your bandwidth on expenditure might be different so you can tune rent and other monthly expenses accordingly.

Also, there might be some other expenses you might incur like paying for employment authorization paperwork, etc. The above numbers are for 2019-2020.

Thesis, Basic Project or Advance Project?

See the graduate handbook for what each of these 3 options entails, how many credits you are awarded for each and what are the graduation requirements for the option you wish to pursue.

A basic project, in a nutshell, is where you take a course and are willing to do a significant project on top of the minimum course requirements.

An advanced project is something that you pursue across two semesters (it needs to be with the same professors in both semesters).

A thesis is probably the hardest option among the three - it requires convincing a professor who will be willing to guide you through a significant research project which ideally results in a publication at some conference or workshop. You also need to defend your thesis in front of a committee. If you plan to pursue this option, it will be difficult to wrap your MS in 3 semesters and it is recommended you plan for this early into your studies to spread out your workload across 4 semesters.

I hope these questions answer some queries. If you feel you need more details into any aspect, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn and I will be happy to clarify and hopefully refine this post to better it.