Getting‌ ‌placed‌ ‌as‌ ‌software‌ ‌developer‌ ‌along‌ ‌with‌ ‌clearing‌ ‌GRE‌ ‌and‌ ‌TOFL‌ ‌exams‌.

I grew up in a small family with my younger brother; my father serves in Department of Telecommunications at a senior position. We got transferred around a lot and so I studied in 10 different schools, but finally graduated from Delhi Public School, Mathura Road, New Delhi in non-medical stream with Computer Science as elective. I did Bachelor’s in Computers Applications from Punjab University. I gave entrance exams for MCA programs across the nation, got selected in JNU, NITs, Pune University. I chose to do Master’s in Computer Science from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli due to its best ranking and exceptional placement record. I got placed on-campus as a Software Developer in Ivy Comptech, a game development company in Hyderabad. I worked at Ivy for a year before relocating to US. I gave GRE and TOEFL exams to study further. I did not aim for all the Ivy league universities across USA but chose to aim solely for University of Washington. I aimed for this university because I was living in the area with my family and it offered one of the best programs with latest industry driven courses and compelling on-campus projects. Immediately after graduating from college, I started working for Caradigm, a healthcare solutions development startup based in Bellevue, WA. I now work at Microsoft as a Software Developer.

About‌ ‌MS‌ ‌program‌ ‌at‌ ‌University‌ ‌of‌ ‌Washington.‌

I got in touch with the Student Advisor at University of Washington’s Bothell campus to know more about the structure of the course, when was the next course starting and if it required any pre-requisites, what GRE/TOEFL scores were generally chosen as cut-off scores by the University for this program in the past.

After clearing GRE and TOEFL, I applied for the Computer Science and Software Engineer program at UW which required a Statement of Purpose in essay format, as well as recommendation letters from my previous workplace and college.

My MS program at UW

1. I was accepted for the full time MS program, Computer Science and Software Engineering, at University of Washington, Bothell campus in 2013 and graduated in 2015.
2. It was a quarter system and required 45 credits. Some subjects were necessary whereas others were based on choice. I completed my study in 5 quarters, each quarter being about 3 months.
3. Besides these, I did a capstone project which was a necessary requirement. I took an independent study course during summer quarter to be able to deliver more in capstone project.

Cost

1. I paid $33,000 as tuition fees. For this program, students on visa are not considered residents of WA state and cannot get advantage of discounted tuition fees.
2. Scholarships are available. I had applied for one but didn’t make it.
3. If you are already an employee, many employers fund your master’s program.

Classes

1. Classes were more hands on than theoretical.
2. Lectures mostly given through PPTs.
3. Class material was shared by professors through college website.
4. Books were available in the library. Had to buy only a couple. If you are an employee, some employers have their own library and you can lend books from there.
5. Professors also shared other material besides books like, photostats of a couple of chapters, lecture PPTs, papers, links, videos.
6. Lectures could be recorded on voice recorders too. A couple students did that in my class.
7. Professors are available before or after hours too for clearing doubts and answering your questions.
8. Class size was not very big at my time and in my campus. It was around 20 students at the most.
9. It was evening classes to accommodate part time students as well. Sometimes a class ran as late as 8 to 10 pm.
10. They were held two days in week, for 4 hours, a class per 2 hours.

Faculty

1. This campus is blessed to have a learned faculty in the courses that are sought after in current industrial environment.
2. Faculty information is available in detail on the college website. Would advise a prospect student to go through the bio of professors of the college they are planning to join. Remember, faculty sell themselves. It’s not difficult to find more information about them.
3. Faculty information is available in detail on the college website. Would advise a prospect student to go through the bio of professors of the college they are planning to join. Remember, faculty sell themselves. It’s not difficult to find more information about them.
4. Not every faculty member is an American by birth. Some faculty members had heavy accent from their home country. It may become difficult to understand them despite their seniority or deep knowledge in that area.
5. Some third-party websites do a faculty review. If you can find a review through a website or a previous student, great, else feel free to change your faculty (if the course has multiple faculty) during the early weeks of the course too. I had one such Japanese professor, I did not change my course because I was bent on doing my capstone in the course he was teaching. However, a batch mate did drop out of the course.