Best Ranked List for "Best Grad Schools by Major/Field"?

[CKDragon]

Short Version:
What's a good resource for grad school rankings by major or field? Anything free would be great, but I saw usnews.com & Princetonreview.com each look promising, though they're pay-to-view. All recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Long Version:
OK, so about a month ago I decided that my budget would allow me to finally go to grad school. I graduated from Drexel U in Philadelphia as an Info Sys major (in June 2005) but took plenty of CS classes so I plan to go for my masters in CS. I currently live in Northern Virginia (just outside Fairfax) and I work full time so it would have to be a school that has a campus locally. Luckily, there are quite a few options because everyone wants to have a school right near Washington, DC.

I've already been in contact with Virginia Tech, who told me that, because of my specific undergrad classes, I wouldn't have to take any extra CS pre-reqs in order to start the CS Masters program (big sticking point for me). Unfortunately, they apparently require a 750 on the quantitative portion of the GRE. I used to be great at math, but I'm finding that I've lost a lot in the year and a half since I graduated. Darn education layoff. I haven't taken the GRE, yet, but I want to have backup options in case I can't meet the VTech requirements.

So now I'm trying to decide which other grad schools I should consider. What's a good resource for grad school rankings by major or field? Anything free would be great, but I saw usnews.com & Princetonreview.com each look promising, though they're pay-to-view. All recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot,
CK

 

[blustori]

University of Maryland owns Virginia Tech.

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: blustori
University of Maryland owns Virginia Tech.

Without having the numbers in front of me, I believe out of state tuition would be pretty rough.

EDIT: Thank you for the reply, though.

 

[CKDragon]

Anyone?

 

[slpaulson]

For grad schools you probably want to look more at what each school specializes in, rather than just a ranking.

 

[JS80]

Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: JS80
Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

Actually none of the Ivy Leagues are ranked in the top 10 for engineering, last time I checked the list. I believe a couple are in the top 20.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: CKDragon
Short Version:
What's a good resource for grad school rankings by major or field? Anything free would be great, but I saw usnews.com & Princetonreview.com each look promising, though they're pay-to-view. All recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Long Version:
OK, so about a month ago I decided that my budget would allow me to finally go to grad school. I graduated from Drexel U in Philadelphia as an Info Sys major (in June 2005) but took plenty of CS classes so I plan to go for my masters in CS. I currently live in Northern Virginia (just outside Fairfax) and I work full time so it would have to be a school that has a campus locally. Luckily, there are quite a few options because everyone wants to have a school right near Washington, DC.

I've already been in contact with Virginia Tech, who told me that, because of my specific undergrad classes, I wouldn't have to take any extra CS pre-reqs in order to start the CS Masters program (big sticking point for me). Unfortunately, they apparently require a 750 on the quantitative portion of the GRE. I used to be great at math, but I'm finding that I've lost a lot in the year and a half since I graduated. Darn education layoff. I haven't taken the GRE, yet, but I want to have backup options in case I can't meet the VTech requirements.

So now I'm trying to decide which other grad schools I should consider. What's a good resource for grad school rankings by major or field? Anything free would be great, but I saw usnews.com & Princetonreview.com each look promising, though they're pay-to-view. All recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot,
CK

Any public library should have the latest college guides at the reference desk. Your best bet would be to go there and print out the pages of what you are interested in, and go from there.

As others have said though, you shouldn't compare schools by ranking alone. See what the school is known for in the given field (such as CS, EE, etc.).

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80
Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

Actually none of the Ivy Leagues are ranked in the top 10 for engineering, last time I checked the list. I believe a couple are in the top 20.

i'll take a harvard grad over state anyday.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80
Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

Actually none of the Ivy Leagues are ranked in the top 10 for engineering, last time I checked the list. I believe a couple are in the top 20.

i'll take a harvard grad over state anyday.

The recruiters of large engineering companies who recruit at the top 10 but not the Ivy's would probably disagree with you.

 

[forfor]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80
Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

Actually none of the Ivy Leagues are ranked in the top 10 for engineering, last time I checked the list. I believe a couple are in the top 20.

i'll take a harvard grad over state anyday.

Sorry to say this but you'd be laughed at by the intelligence/defense industry when you apply for a technical job with a Harvard degree in CS (if they have one). Nobody is denying the strength/quality of Harvard in business, economics, etc., but MIT would kick the sh!t out of Harvard in pretty much any technical field.

 

[Deeko]

Drexel

 

[desteffy]

hurry up and take the GRE you can take it multiple times

And contrary to what people are saying up there, dont just try to go to an ivy league unless you know their program is good. Especially for a lot of engineering related things some of the ivy league schools have weak programs when compared to other schools. Mind you for undergrad they are probably a good choice for most programs, grad school is much different. US news and world report will have a partial guide you can look at for free.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80
Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

Actually none of the Ivy Leagues are ranked in the top 10 for engineering, last time I checked the list. I believe a couple are in the top 20.

i'll take a harvard grad over state anyday.

LOL

 

[forfor]

Originally posted by: desteffy
hurry up and take the GRE you can take it multiple times

And contrary to what people are saying up there, dont just try to go to an ivy league unless you know their program is good. Especially for a lot of engineering related things some of the ivy league schools have weak programs when compared to other schools. Mind you for undergrad they are probably a good choice for most programs, grad school is much different. US news and world report will have a partial guide you can look at for free.

Harvard undergrad is worthless. Yale is much better if you want an Ivy undergrad experience.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Deeko
Drexel

drexel ftw, baby!

there's so many great things - drexel shaft, quarter system, multiple buildings that are really one GIANT building....

deeko, you go to drexel i guess? (i do)

 

[CKDragon]

Darnit, I should have put this in the short version, but the grad school must have a campus local to Northern Virginia. I appreciate all the information, but I just could not afford to put my career on hold and leave the local area.

Thanks again,
CK

 

[CKDragon]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Deeko
Drexel

drexel ftw, baby!

there's so many great things - drexel shaft, quarter system, multiple buildings that are really one GIANT building....

deeko, you go to drexel i guess? (i do)

"Curtis Climb"

*shudder*

 

[2Xtreme21]

The US News & World Report posts a list of the top 100 universities in many different categories annually. You may want to see if you can pick up that issue of the magazine and see if it helps you out.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80
Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

Actually none of the Ivy Leagues are ranked in the top 10 for engineering, last time I checked the list. I believe a couple are in the top 20.

i'll take a harvard grad over state anyday.

The recruiters of large engineering companies who recruit at the top 10 but not the Ivy's would probably disagree with you.

exactly to prove my point. they hire at state bc they make good monkies (employees). ivy leaguers are innovators/future leaders.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: CKDragon

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Deeko
Drexel

drexel ftw, baby!

there's so many great things - drexel shaft, quarter system, multiple buildings that are really one GIANT building....

deeko, you go to drexel i guess? (i do)

"Curtis Climb"

*shudder*

yeah... 4th floor of curtis FTL man

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Deeko
Drexel

drexel ftw, baby!

there's so many great things - drexel shaft, quarter system, multiple buildings that are really one GIANT building....

deeko, you go to drexel i guess? (i do)

aye, senior year starts next week.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80
Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

Actually none of the Ivy Leagues are ranked in the top 10 for engineering, last time I checked the list. I believe a couple are in the top 20.

i'll take a harvard grad over state anyday.

The recruiters of large engineering companies who recruit at the top 10 but not the Ivy's would probably disagree with you.

exactly to prove my point. they hire at state bc they make good monkies (employees). ivy leaguers are innovators/future leaders.

Right, engineering companies don't want innovators. Technology invents itself

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: Deeko

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon

Originally posted by: Deeko
Drexel

drexel ftw, baby!

there's so many great things - drexel shaft, quarter system, multiple buildings that are really one GIANT building....

deeko, you go to drexel i guess? (i do)

aye, senior year starts next week.

ah.. im a sophomore. at least im out of drexel housing

 

[forfor]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Special K

Originally posted by: JS80
Harvard - [insert anything here]

/thread

Actually none of the Ivy Leagues are ranked in the top 10 for engineering, last time I checked the list. I believe a couple are in the top 20.

i'll take a harvard grad over state anyday.

The recruiters of large engineering companies who recruit at the top 10 but not the Ivy's would probably disagree with you.

exactly to prove my point. they hire at state bc they make good monkies (employees). ivy leaguers are innovators/future leaders.

You are an idiot. This guy wants a CS degree, not a business degree. How hard could that be to understand? More than once people have mentioned (me included) that Ivy League is the way to go for business schools, but not engineering. READ.