What Students Say
Likes
- My research interests aligned with professors and current project, and NCSU is well known for its Systems courses, which is my area of interest. Furthermore, they had a good reputation in the industry.
- NCSU is a research oriented university, with quite heavy focus on ML/AI and Computer Systems. This aligned very closely with my interests and goals. Also, every semester, along with generic courses, we get to choose from a list of advanced special topics which are based on today's cutting edge technology, allowing students to be ready to join the industry as soon as they graduate.
- Depending on your major, you can optionally take courses in other departments also allowing you to expand the breadth of your knowledge. Curriculum is also designed keeping industry in mind, so it prepares you well for what lies ahead. NCSU also exposes you to many diverse cultures allowing you to grow personally as well as professionally.
Dislikes
- Since it is not a very well ranked university, the perception in the industry is not great. A lot of companies do hire grads from NCSU but being here won't cause any harm nor will boost your profile a lot. Academically, many professors are on the top of their respective research fields, and contribute very heavily to the research, however, you can find some professors who might not be able to put across their points very effectively in the class, and thus would require extra effort from students.
- None of these points though appeared a deal breaker for me. Some majors are quite involving, so you might not get a lot of time to explore activities outside of academics.
Required Exams for Admission
Personally, the experience has been great. A lot of opportunities to explore new avenues, challenging but relevant curriculum, practical exposure through projects and assignments, and a good standing in the industry. Furthermore, direct interaction with industry leaders through e-partner program is a bonus. 2022-2023 market situation has been testing, but NCSU still appears a great choice if one is into AI/ML or Systems.
Course Curriculum
Courses are designed to keep the students abreast with latest cutting edge technology in the industry. Depending on the program one joins, NCSU exposes to a wide variety of technologies always pushing the students to explore new avenues.
Faculty
Faculty to student ratio is very subjective and depends on the courses and programs. In some courses one would literally have a total of 10 students in the course, while other may have 250+. In general, I'd say the faculty to student ratio is roughly 1:15.
Campus Life
There are clubs for almost any activity you can think of. Be it academics like competitive programming clubs, quantum computing clubs, clean coding clubs, or outside of classroom clubs like rafting, swimming, rowing, hiking, etc., you'll find them all. Libraries are very well maintained and have a good collection of general books you'd need. NCSU has a wellness and recreation center which has a lot of sports equipment along with specialized training available. Campus is lively in general, surrounded by greenery and calmness.
Placement
Within university, there are ample research opportunities for interested students. NCSU also has an e-partner program through which a lot of industry leaders visit the campus regularly. Career fairs see over 300 companies, but the problem is sponsorship. Out of these 300+ companies, around 10% come for CS grad international students. In 2022-2023, market situation is not suitable, so current numbers might not be very helpful. One can check the placements statistics on NCSU website.
Accommodation
There is quite a lot of private accommodation around the university. There are specific areas where only students live. I'd suggest to look for areas near the university, as they are generally the safer ones. NCSU is in Raleigh, which does not have a high population, so living in far away areas can be unsafe at times.
Exams
For MS in CS program, NCSU requires both GRE and TOEFL/IELTS. For some other programs, GRE may be optional. My scores: GRE: 323 (165 Quants 158 Verbal 4.5 AWA). TOEFL: 117 (30 Reading, 30 Listening, 29 Speaking, 28 Writing). From what I've heard, NCSU is Quant heavy and expects a score of 163+, though rest of the application material also matters a lot. They also weigh the undergrad GPA heavily. Mine was 9.0/10.0. SOP, 3 LORs and Resume are required. My SOP included details about my experiences and how the CS program at NCSU would aid me in achieving my career goals. LORs were a mix of professional and academic. No other interviews/tests were required. If you're applying to a PhD program, professors may have an interview with you. After coming here, if you apply for a TA/RA, then there would be separate interview.
Fees
There are many factors involved in the fees, and depending on whether you graduate in 3 semesters on 4, it'll change. As a non-resident, if you graduate in 3 semesters, the tuition fees would be around 59k USD. For 4 semesters, it'd be around 65.2k USD. This is only tuition fee, living expenses are on top of this. The fees gets updated every year, this is for 2023 academic year.
Scholarship
NCSU CS department does not generally provide scholarships to incoming masters students as they are generally reserved for PhD.
