Not Sure about non - CS background, but I can definitely answer about courses and job prospects.

I did an MS from CMU, from Information Networking Institute (a more specialized Masters with a focus on networking and security).

With respect to the courses:
Overall Course structure:
The overall course requirements were very flexible. You could design and chose your own courses and 2 people doing the same major could end up with wildly differently skill sets. So this was great because it really allowed people to branch out and tune their degrees to their liking.

Specific courses:
Graduate level courses tend to be more research oriented and are slightly simpler that undergraduate courses. Under graduate courses are very very hands on and highly technical.
A lot depends upon your professor, how long he has been teaching the course, how fine tuned the assignments/projects are. So you will have to do some research and ask about specific courses. But I can tell you this, the amount that I learned through my courses was IMMENSE. You have to be careful of choosing the right set of courses for you. Some courses are not as meaty and you can cruise through them without giving it a lot of time. Whereas others are so overwhelming that you will end up spending sleepless and still find it difficult to complete your projects in the most satisfactory way. These were the most fun and taught you the maximum.

Any university will have its set of strengths and weaknesses. If you are looking at CS, then C.M.U is definitely the place to be.

Job Prospects:
Having C.M.U on your resume will make it substantially more likely to land resumes. Ofcourse you have to still work very very hard, don't get me wrong. But I have definitely seen that applicants from some of the top colleges (CMU, MIT, Standford, Berkely) definitely get a lot more interview calls and very equipped in certain aspects.

This is not to say that other universities are not good. A C.M.U on your resume will likely only get you more interview calls. But that is all.. once you get an interview call the rest totally depends upon you. You will not be automatically offered jobs just because you graduate from any of the top universities.

Look at the percentage of C.M.U graduates employed by top Silicon Valley companies and you will get an idea of what I am talking about.

Hope this helps!

Edit:
Note about TOEFL/G.R.E scores.
I have found in my experience, that G.R.E/TOEFL scores are only "a" data point and not "the" data point that Universities look at. I gave GRE back in 2007, (not sure of the format now) when there were 800 points for math and 800 for verbal.

Back then, getting 1250-1300/1600 or so was usually enough. Please dont quote me on this, its just my personal experience. A high GRE score doesnt guarantee anything, and neither does a low GRE score spell doom for your chances. What matters most is your entire application packet, your commitment to academics/work experience if any and if you are able to show your passion in your application. Your S.O.P is probably alot more important than your GRE score. I remember my department career counselor at CMU even talking about my SOP with me when I started my course.. which tells me that they read and care about that.

Concentrate on what you are doing now, and do it well. Present your application in full earnest and hope for the best.

There is of course some luck involved, but you should on your behalf show a consistently strong performance and intent through your application and that counts for alot.

-Lokesh

Disclosure: I attended CMU for the MS in Software Engineering (full-time program) in 2008. I’ve not kept up with the evolution of the program or school since and things have likely changed (hopefully for the best).

I don't know much about USC's MS program, but I can tell you that CMU SV is *not* a CS program at all. CMU SV's MS in Software Engineering/Management is focused on soft skills and software development practices. If what you're after is to increase your technical skills, this program won't help you much. Having said that, I must admit that during my time there, I *did* learn some new technologies because some projects required it. For example: RoR, J2ME, Android, SunSPOTs, etc. The program will give you deep insight into Agile Development (XP, Scrum, Kanban) and project management. You'll also be exposed to software architecture through study cases, research, presentations, etc. You'll probably also participate in Research (mostly in the Mobility and Context Awareness field) and most likely write papers and try to get them published.

What I would like to mention that, IMO, made the experience at CMU SV a very positive one, is the fact that the program is run through a very "hands-on" approach. You won't come to class expecting to hear a lecture. You won't have typical homework. You'll do a lot of team work. You'll be expected to participate in group discussions where you'll share from your own experience or ask others about theirs. You'll do a lot of reading that will be directly applicable to the projects you'll be working on. Faculty are more like mentors, not teachers. Your assignments will be reviewed progressively and graded like so. It's not like in school where you are given an assignment, graded on it, and if you got it, great, if not, too bad because we're moving on to some other topic. Class projects are usually meant to last the whole duration of the class, and you'll have deliverables every X weeks. The following deliverable will need to include fixes to whatever you did wrong in the last one (on top of the new stuff). Please note that this teaching philosophy isn't for everyone! I can give you more concrete examples of what types of people would be disappointed if you want.

In terms of location, I strongly believe that staying in the Silicon Valley while doing your masters (not just returning after you're done), provides more advantages. The reason being that by being in this area, you'll still be able to attend networking events, career fairs, conventions, meetups, and simply stay in touch with whatever is going in the area. Having said that, it will be YOUR responsibility to make the best out of being physically here. Also, if your plan is to find a job here, recruiters will definitely find you more interesting if they don't have to fly you over for on-site interviews.

I can't say which program/school recruiters find more reputable, but my guess is that CMU would be considered to have more prestige because of all the fields fields CMU excels at, in addition to CS and SE (like Robotics). I do think that USC graduates are perhaps more attractive to recruiters, but that could simply be because they are already in California, while most CMU graduates are in Pittsburgh and most likely will stay in the East Coast. BUT if you are a CMU'er AND you are already in the Silicon Valley, they'll definitely want to talk to you. From there on, CMU or USC won't matter really. It's all up to you to prove you're the right person for the job.

It is definitely worth considering the CMU MSSM program if you are interested in pursuing a career in software product management. The program has many strengths that make it a great option for those looking to build their skills and knowledge in this field. Some of the key benefits of the program include:

1. CMU Silicon Valley campus: CMU is a highly respected school with a strong reputation in fields such as software engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence. The MSSM program is offered at the CMU Silicon Valley campus, which is located in the heart of the tech industry in the Bay Area. This means that you will benefit from the prestige of the CMU brand and the opportunity to connect with the tech community in Silicon Valley.
2. Course structure: The MSSM program offers a well-rounded curriculum that includes courses in engineering, business, design, and entrepreneurship. Some of the courses that are offered include Human Computer Interaction, Product Definition and Validation, Architecture Principles for Product Management, and Artificial Intelligence for Product Managers.
3. Industry Connect: The fact that the CMU MSSM program is offered at the Silicon Valley campus enables students with the opportunity to connect with some of the leading figures in the software industry. This includes industry leaders, venture capitalists, and product managers who are based in the Bay Area. Through classes like Innovation & Entrepreneurship, students have the chance to interact with these individuals and learn from their experiences and insights.
4. Class Diversity: The MSSM cohort is small but competitive, and includes students from diverse backgrounds such as software engineering, business development, UI/UX, consulting, and entrepreneurship. Students have the option to enroll in either a full-time or part-time track, and have an average of 4-6 years of experience.
5. Amazing Faculty: The MSSM program has both full-time and adjunct faculty members with a wealth of industry experience working for companies such as LinkedIn, Google, HP, and Bank of America. Many of the professors are also investors or venture capitalists, and have strong connections in the tech industry. They are focused on helping students develop practical skills that are relevant to the industry.
6. Practical Learning: The MSSM program focuses on hands-on, practical learning, with courses designed to help students solve real-world challenges and develop products from scratch. Most classes involve working in group projects, and there is a strong emphasis on practical experience.

Overall, the CMU MSSM program is a strong choice for anyone looking to pursue a career in software product management. The curriculum is practical and industry-focused, and the program has a number of strengths that make it a great option for those looking to build their skills and knowledge in this field. The program's location in Silicon Valley is a major advantage for students, providing them with the opportunity to connect with industry leaders, access a wealth of professional development opportunities, and stay up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies in the tech industry.

To directly answer your question, yes it is a respected degree. More indirectly however, as other people have alluded to, it won't "get you a job" more easily.

I'm about to graduate from the Sofware Management program. My previous experience is Computer Science and years of Software Engineering industry experience. My first-hand conclusion has been that the degree doesn't mean anything to anybody, yet my career has completely been transformed by having done this program.

This program doesn't change other people. It changes you. It changes how you view the world around you, how you evaluate opportunities, how you make decisions and whether or not you fall for hype vs. real value in your career. This is a little more true of the SM program but also true of SE.

As an engineer, you are an investor of time. Just like financial investors make their career by backing the right decisions and people, you can make or break your career at certain decision points. CMU SV degrees are designed to help you become a better decision maker. You back the right start-ups. If you're an entrepreneur, you'll be much more likely to have the right information at the end of the program to start you own.

But of course, I'll go back to my core statement. This program doesn't change other people. It changes you. And if you're the startup type, it basically doesn't matter what other people think anyway. Startups are not about "jobs". They're about proving the whole world wrong about what they should have bet on. That's the irony of your question: You're asking whether others would bet on this program. The question is: would you bet on it, like you'd bet on a lone startup?

Well I am a current CMU SV- MS in SM studentCMU is a good brand and the SV campus is in Mountain View.This program is good if you want to peruse a career in IT (technical/PM), even if you have an entrepreneurial aspirations, this program will help you. Also the faculty is very good and the program structure -Software Management & Entrepreneurship Graduate Programs-Silicon Valley Campus - Carnegie Mellon University (Software Management & Entrepreneurship Graduate Programs-Silicon Valley Campus - Carnegie Mellon University)I wish i knew your background and aspiration to give you more relevant information but my batch mates here come from diverse backgrounds (some are non engineers but with some programming/IT experience)Overall if you want to work in the Silicon valley, looking for a 1 year grad program and interested in PM related work, this is definitely worth considering

I had my CMU alumni interview last week so I'll talk about my experience.

We met at a local Peet's Coffee and the whole interview was pretty casual. I started with just talking about my extracurriculars (why I did them, when I started them, the most challenging part of them, my roles, etc). The whole interview was more of a conversation than just questions and answers. As I talked about my activities my interviewer started talking about her experiences at CMU, and this continued as we started to talk more about academics and my interests. My interviewer was really interested in what I did and I felt excited to be able to talk to someone who was so engaged (I recommend finding an interviewer who graduated with the major you're applying with). We ended up having a pretty long conversation about technology and women in tech. She did ask about my classes, GPA, SAT, and ACT but that was probably just for the evaluation form.

I asked my interviewer questions throughout the whole process and a ton at the end. It was interesting to get to know the activities, classes, internships, and college life of my interviewer. It made my perspective of CMU more "alive" since I had only read about CMU and looked at pictures of CMU. So besides having an interview to make sure I'm a "real person," it also made sure that CMU was a "real university." There's more to CMU than what it publishes on its pamphlets and websites. My interviewer ended up giving me some advice for college applications too.

All in all the interview was a pretty good experience. I got a bigger picture of what CMU is like, and I felt like I had someone on my side during the application process. Now I just got to wait 3 months for my CMU decision.

I finished my master's program at the language technologies institute within the school of computer science in December 2014. Without a doubt, it changes your perspective in ways you cannot imagine when coming in.

CMU is known for being a top tech school but you do not fully understand what all that encompasses until you actually start:

1. The courses will challenge you & the homework schedules can sometimes be outright crazy!
2. The faculty are some of the best researchers in their respective fields, some of them having made pioneering breakthroughs in computer science.
3. You will find some very smart people amongst your classmates, some will be outright geniuses (and some of them will become people you can always count on for help).
4. The sheer breadth of research initiatives will astound you, most universities have a department for CS, CMU has an entire school.
5. In terms of opportunities, CMU SCS has a fantastic reputation and everyone I know had more than one job offer from top tech firms or startups, some of my friends had offers from almost every top tier tech firm.
6. People here are competitive but also very friendly and thus you find a very driven but collaborative atmosphere.
7. You will find extraordinary people coming to give talks on different subjects.
8. You will often find companies giving presentations and handing out swag.
9. You will find robots navigating hallways, bots which act as receptionists, bots which swear at you while playing scrabble, lots of nerdy references, spoofy tech conferences and things like star wars movie marathons (with free food of course).

After my first semester here (which was tough), I learnt how to manage time better and have fun along the way.. There is no doubt that there is a profound difference between who I was before and who I became after.

(Going anonymous since I am currently pursuing this degree in 2016) It seems to be an old question but this answer might help someone actually looking for an answer to this question in 2016 or later.

CMU’s name on your resume might slightly increase the chances of your resume getting shortlisted by employers but they won’t hire you unless you prove yourself by clearing the multiple interview rounds that most tech companies have these days as their hiring criteria.

Now coming back to MS in Software Engineering from CMU. Actually most tech companies don’t give a damn about your software engineering degree because they will hire you to work as a programmer, tester or in some cases as a consultant too. They may call you a “software engineer” but your job will most probably fall in any one of these 3 categories when you join.

If getting a good job is your priority, get some degree as a computer science major and focus on courses that teach data structures, algorithms and some latest technologies (most startups and big tech companies hire you for these skills). As a matter of fact, if you do your MS in software engineering from CMU, forget about getting any time to practice the skills that can actually get you a job because the courses taught as part of this program surprisingly keep you busy day and night without actually adding anything to your learning or technical skills.

(Read below only if you want to know more about this course)

The worst part of doing this course according to me is that the evaluation for this course is very very very subjective and totally depends upon your mentor’s judgement of you and your project team (which is mostly wrong because how can a person judge you in a single weekly meeting that lasts for a maximum of 1 hour). Its frustrating but unavoidable if you are taking this course.

Most of the faculty members who “teach” this course are quite accomplished and quite arrogant. They never appreciate your efforts and keep on criticizing you without helping you even a bit. For most of us it looks like a waste of our precious time and a LOT of money when your professors simply don’t guide you at all and you feel helpless (Google also sucks when it comes to finding relevant materials on software engineering). So if you are taking this course just because someone told you that software engineering is a cool field or it will make you future proof etc etc etc.. then you are being misguided. You will soon realize that this course is actually useless. My project teammates feel the same and mind you they are not habitual whiners or under achievers as they come from reputed universities such as UC Berkley and Indian Institute of Technology.

CMU like many other universities has lately become a money making machine (Andrew Carnegie’s principles are long forgotten) and most employers know this. So it is better you take some course that can actually give you an opportunity to learn about the hot job skills and at the same time make you more valuable for your employer as well.

Trust me it’s a waste. You almost end up learning nothing new. The professors just cover topics using slides and most of them are adjunct professors. I dropped out of the program withing one month after I realized that Heinz was marketing itself as best analytics institute but did not even have proper faculty for statistics.

Let me share some valuable points-

1. When you invest $90K , You expect diversity, global experience however Heinz college offers none of it. Almost 95% of people are Indians and all they talk is grades, scores nothing else. No one talks about learning new things. I am myself an Indian but if I am investing $90K at CMU, come on I need some diversity.
2. The course is mostly for people who have worked earlier in software developer roles such as Java programmer . People having no background in developer roles suffer a lot. Also don’t expect that course will turn you into a data scientist or analyst as most of the data science courses are offered as mini electives. No wonder they teach data mining in one month. A $10 mooc course will teach you more.
3. Mism graduates don’t get opportunity to opt for courses from tepper or cs as their is a waiting list as soon as these courses open.
4. The professors are not at all approachable and helpful. Please don’t expect any practical learning. The curriculum is outdated and professors are like visiting faculty
5. The course is sponsored by TCS- India so please expect to find 80% people from TCS. CMU is setting up a complete new building using funds from TCS. Looks like a shady deal between TCS and CMU Heinz
6. The department is really small with not much facilities to use.
7. 90% of people get software developer roles post graduation. However, it all depends on your previous skill set and knowledge. CMU will just give you a brand advantage. But a lot of graduates struggle to find roles of their choice
8. Please do not fall into the trap of accepting this course and think of become a data scientist. The course is not suitable for analytics or data science. If you have a good profile try MSDS or MSCS program.
9. With huge loan and expectations most people end up struggling and opt for any job that comes along. No one will speak about this harsh truth but a simple search on linkedIn will give you a clear picture.
10. Lastly, this course doesn’t help you in transition. So, whatever profile you have, you will be same after one year. It is not a business course, not a pure technical one. In all it is shit.

If you get excellent grades in an accredited program, I would think that grad programs will not care much about which school.

However, they will definitely care about your ability to do research. Going to a university where you will have opportunity to do research at a decent level will be important for you. Most large public universities will have ample opportunity for research, although you will have to seek it out. Even smaller schools with engineering programs should be able to provide opportunities, and may be better at getting undergraduates involved. When you look at universities, check to see if students are involved in research, and where student’s are going after graduation.

One thing to realize is that almost everyone who goes to Harvard is an overachiever, and probably only a small fraction of Ohio State students are. So fewer OSU grads (as a percentage) may go on to a competitive grad school, but that is more a function of what those students want to do than the resources available to them.

My point being, if you work towards your goal, it won’t be the school that holds you back.

In terms of whether the program is worth the money and time, it is ultimately up to the individual student to decide. However, the MSSM program at CMU does offer a number of benefits that may make it a worthwhile investment for those who are committed to building a career in software product management. Here are a few things to consider when deciding if the program is right for you:

1. Career Goals: If you are interested in pursuing a career in software product management, the CMU MSSM program may be a good fit for you. The program is highly respected and offers a practical, industry-focused curriculum that can help you build the skills and knowledge you need to succeed in this field.
2. Return on Investment: The CMU MSSM program is a competitive program with a high-quality education, which means it may come with a higher price tag than other programs. However, the prestige of the CMU brand and the opportunity to connect with the tech community in Silicon Valley may make it a worthwhile investment. It's important to consider whether the program will provide a good return on investment for your career goals. Following is the CMU MSSM Career Outcome Report.
3. Time Commitment: The MSSM program is offered in both full-time (12 & 16 month) and part-time tracks, so you can choose the option that works best for you. However, it's important to consider whether you have the time and energy to commit to the program and whether it fits with your other responsibilities and commitments.

Overall, the CMU MSSM program is a strong choice for those interested in pursuing a career in software product management. It offers a high-quality education and the opportunity to build valuable industry connections in the Silicon Valley tech community. Ultimately, whether the CMU MSSM program is worth the money and time will depend on an individual student's goals, circumstances, and resources. It is important to carefully weigh the potential costs and benefits of the program before making a decision.

I graduated from RIT’s CS program about a year ago. When I applied to grad programs, I had admits from NEU and USC, USC deferred my admission to the spring term, since they fall class had filled up. I decided to go to RIT, since going on a spring term would make getting summer interns harder (international student, son I wouldn’t have cleared the 9 month requirement in the US, to be eligible for CPT), and NEU didn’t seem to have good coursework in my area.

Go to CMU, RIT is nothing compared to CMU when it comes to CS and SE.

1. You might be getting an SE degree in CMU, but CMU is pretty flexible and you can take some courses from the CS department too. The CMU course covers algorithms, distributed systems, Data-intensive and Scalable Systems, DevOps. RIT’s distributed systems course (and their faculty in that area, are a total joke in comparison), CMU is one of the best places on the planet for anything in computer systems.
2. You have 3 elective courses, you will get to pursue CS courses or coding intensive courses if you want to.
3. Compulsory internship semester. RIT “LOVES” to market that “we have a great co-op program”, but it is not mandatory for grad students, and most MS CS students there go on co-op to mediocre places. CMU you will have to go on a semester internship, plus another one in the summer after your 2nd semester.
4. The student crowd in MS CS at RIT is atrocious. In a distributed systems class, 90% of the students didn’t know that fork() is the system call for creating a process in a UNIX based system. In a pattern recognition course, a student didn’t know what normalization is (it’s basic statistics). There’s tons of plagiarism, every semester students are caught and punished, a lot of them are never caught. I know some students who lost their passion in CS because the quality of their peers got to them.
5. The faculty is meh, and compared to CMU it’s nothing. The machine learning, PL/compilers and CS theory faculties are good, the rest are meh to crap. EVen the good faculties pale in comparison to CMU, considering the fact that none of RIT’s CS faculties have published in tier-1 conferences and journals.
6. The CMU brand name, you just can’t beat that. The brand alone will get you a lot of interviews. RIT doesn’t have that brand, except for a few tech companies, and a lot of them know that RIT CS undergrads are the ones to go for, since the undergrad students are a lot, lot better than the MS CS students.
7. The MS CS program is basically a glorified undergrad program. You take some courses from your cluster, and none of them are true grad level courses, with the exception of some machine learning based courses. The courses cover almost the same content as their undergrad versions, with an extra assignment or projects. Ask an BS-MS student there, and they will agree.
8. You’ll be guaranteed to graduate out of CMU in 4 semesters, with a semester internship. RIT can take 5 semesters in coursework alone (since they’ll assign bridge courses too), do a semester co-op and that’s 3 years. Some students may be ok with it, a lot will not be.
9. You’ll pay a ton of tuition in RIT, which is not worth it considering the peer group, faculties, the courses, the brand name, the fact that you’ll be paying a lot of tuition for 5 semesters compared to 3 at CMU (Assuming no tuition in the internship semester) and the location (Rochester is a cold boring place). You can see that CMU is the clear winner by light years.
   
   Go to CMU, it’s an obvious choice.

I have an MSIT in software engineering from CMU West (now called CMU Silicon Valley) -- and no, I do not respect the degree. I think it was a complete waste of time. I felt that the West Coast offering was solely for CMU to cash in on their reputation as a good CS school.

There were no entrance requirements (GRE, GPA), no lectures, no tests, and mediocre expectations. Here's a question: does that bar attract the best students? Here's another: do you want to spend a year+ with those students on your project team? A third: will the network you develop be useful later in life?

The curriculum was project-based, which is supposed to mirror the real world, but we had to follow this ancient software process called the TSP. It was a variation of Waterfall Model (development) but with a ton of stifling tracking and metrics (see http://www.sei.cmu.edu/tsp/). Note the kind of places that get value out of this level of process: US Naval Air Systems Command, the 520th Software Maintenance Squadron, etc. This is no Dropbox.

Here's the general project outline: write proposal, get approval, design, calculate work units, narrow scope with approval, code, test, document, document, document, deliver. Repeat twice more. This might be great if you want to work at Boeing, where it's okay to deliver late with the wrong product, but not so useful for the Valley.

Two weeks after finishing the degree I left for a startup I heard about via a friend from undergrad. I'd suggest saving the time and flying direct.

If you work eight hours a day, you have 16 hours a day to prep for your FAANG interviews.

“Wait, “you’re saying. “I’ve got to sleep sometime. What about the rest of my life?” Well, this is the dilemma every software engineer has to face. Time to study and train either comes out of work time (if you’re lucky), or it comes out of free time. You will simply have to binge less Netflix, drink less beer with friends, and spend less time with your girlfriend.

It doesn’t say so on their job descriptions, but one of the things FAANG companies are looking for is the motivation to get the job done even when it interferes with your out-of-work life. That’s why they pay the big bucks. If you don’t have that degree of commitment, you won’t meet your bonus goals, and you will eventually be encouraged to find a less demanding job.

My brother and I were talking about law schools a few weeks ago when we had a visit. One aspect had to do with where one went for his/her undergrad study.

The bottom line, in his opinion, is that where one goes for the bachelor’s degree ultimately doesn’t matter. For law school, it probably doesn’t matter what degree you earn. This would be similar at CMU or MIT or Stanford, or any of a number of other schools with great reputations.

What matters is your grades and experience. If you have relevant work experience (relative to the program you’re applying for), and you have good undergrad grades, then CMU will be very happy to take you in.

Of course, this all depends on space available. CMU is not a huge school.

I definitely think so. Graduate programs love to take students who they think will find a lot of value by attending their university and become success in their ventures after graduation (possibly add to the school reputation and donations).

Coming from a bachelors in information management, it will be important to have an impactful story in your essays on why you want a masters in computer science and where that fits in your life goals. I have met many masters students in the computer science program that have very different backgrounds than you would expect — they also have very compelling, interesting reasons.

Since you are in the beginning of your bachelors degree (or so it seems based on your description), you can incorporate computer science courses into your program, teach yourself some programming languages, or even do a minor in CS (if UCL offers that?).

Pursue whatever interests you the most and it will all fall in place.

I hope this helps!! I am a masters student right now in mechanical engineering, but I am taking several courses from the CS department (programming abstraction and machine learning).

The same way you get into any other top school; I’m sure you can find several pre-existing threads on college admissions. There is, however, a couple things that make CMU admissions different.

I think it's important to note that CMU is VERY focused on merit rather than other "hooks" like race, first-gen, low-income, legacy, gender, sexual-orientation etc. This is one of the big reasons there is so many Asians, white people, rich/middle-income people, etc. People get in because they're hard workers, smart, and passionate. Not because their background can make the school look better on paper.

It's also important to note that some majors are harder than others— the acceptance rate to engineering is 17%, however, only 1/3 of students receive unrestricted admissions letters, allowing them to major in ECE. This means that although the engineering acceptance rate is 17%, the acceptance rate to the ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) major within engineering only has a 5.67%, which is lower than most Ivy League schools and MIT. This also means that getting into ECE is harder than getting into CS, which has a 7% acceptance rate.

That being said, good luck!

I had very similar qualifications as you do right now during my third year in ECE, BIT Mesra, minus the robotics project. Since I had no experience I had to work extra hard during my final year before the applications were due. For a more general answer to graduate application, feel free to check out my other answer.

Dipan Pal's answer to Higher Education: I am IInd year B. Tech. student of BIT Mesra, Ranchi and I want to carry my master course in foreign good universities then how should I prepare for GRE and what are the citeria for the selection including the scholarship?

However, since you are in a very similar situation, perhaps more details from my experience might help. First of all, its great that you have your interests sorted. Next is the step to actually get some work done towards those interests. Find a professor (more than one even, since you ll be needing three letters) who works in ML/AI in your college and work your a** off the next year. There is literally no other way. Your CGPA is fine, so focus more on research and let your professors see you're working hard. In my case, BIT at that time had no one I knew who worked explicitly in ML/AI/Vision. So I had to come up with what seemed at that time like a very difficult plan. I started working independently on an algorithm that interested me. Specifically, in 2008, a research company called Numenta came about (they have changed their name to Grok and are commercial now) whose founder had worked in neuroscience to come up with a cocktail of machine learning algorithms fused into one system called the HTM (Hierarchical Temporal Memory). I basically studied the system to the best of my abilities and applied them to some vision problems and proposed a bunch of application based systems based on the same. I was able to publish three papers in local "IEEE conferences" that are held every year in India. I put one of the projects as my Bachelor's project, which luckily won the TCS Best Student Project given annually at BIT. The reason I am being somewhat specific about my work is to just show that there isn't any "magic" to it. My work wasn't very great nor very novel. I guess it just went to show that I am passionate about my work, have worked hard plus I have gained some experience. This is pretty much what universities look for. Recommendation letters from India are pretty much ignored, unless they have something bad or neutral to say about you, in which case its going to hurt. So choose your letter writers wisely.

Research or industry experience is all what is needed for an MS application. The former being more important for a PhD application. In fact most of my MS classmates at CMU had 2 or more years of industry experience. This might be because MS ECE, CMU is a so-called "professional masters". However, given that you're in your third year in undergrad, research experience could be the more rewarding thing to pursue. The summer internship before the fall semester would definitely help, if its research based even better. Don't lose heart and keep working, independently if you have to. One thing I could've done is to look at the work of some CMU professors and contribute something of your own, even if its a small contribution. You can always publish at the local Indian conferences just to validate your work. Unsupervised unvalidated work is usually not taken very seriously. Another point I'd like to mention is that the graduate application process in the US is very subjective. It is true that due to limited number of seats many amazing researchers and students get left out. Even if things don't work out the way you planned the first time, don't give up trying.

Hope this helps a bit. All the best !

Obviously, you need to have excellent grades, standardized test scores (if available), and letters of recommendation. Ideally the letters of recommendation say something like " X has been my student in two classes at Y secondary school. Our school is known as the best high school in the region of Z [preferably a large region with millions of people]. I have been teaching at this school for 20 years. X is clearly one of the 10 top students I have seen since I have been teaching here.”

Now to the matter of standing out in extracurricular activities. This will be a measure of your creativity and drive. You will demonstrate that you are an extraordinary student, by having the time and energy to do something really interesting and unusual. For instance, you might write a successful app for cell phones. You might have taken some post secondary classes, or done research with a professor at a local university. Getting a letter of recommendation from a university professor is probably stronger than getting a letter of recommendation from a secondary school teacher.

But, if you're *really* creative, you'll come up with something different, something that no one has thought of. That's what will make you stand out.

Also, be sure your English is good. I've seen so many international students asking questions here on Quora about getting into college in the United States, who are not able to write grammatically correct English. If your application indicates that you are not able to write fluently in English, you likely will not get in.

I do alumni interviews for CMU in Shenzhen, China. Every year before the application season CMU sent out emails to registered alumni interviewers about interview policies, and we are given a form with a bunch of questions on it, but the CMAC interview guide states that the interview is not an evaluation of the applicants' ability or chance to get accepted. It's really not an evaluation of anything. We are supposed to provide you an insider's look on CMU, to help you decide whether CMU is a good fit for you. But nonetheless, we still have to fill out a form that has a bunch of questions that really look like an evaluation. So, I'm confused, too...

Update:
This year(2015) the interview report form is significantly shorter! It used to be 5(or 6?) questions with overlapping intents. This year it's only two and both are pretty general. Also the "non-evaluative" requirement is removed(or maybe I missed it, but either way it matters little). So besides collecting information so I have something to say regarding the report questions, I'm really just trying to help the applicants understand what he/she is getting into... And debunk urban legends as well since applicants routinely mention ridiculous CMU rumors heard on the Internet or passed down from their senior counterparts. While doing all that, I try to provide some personal experiences regarding adapting to CMU as an international student.

A2A. Yes, you can enroll in any graduate program if you have the prerequisites necessary for admission. To find them, you look at the universities MSCS admissions webpages to see what is required.

For example, if you were interested in Georgia Tech online MSCS program (OMSCS), you would need the courses you need found in What is needed to get into Georgia Tech OMSCS program, official answer.

As to your question, you are taking about a business degree, which would not be the ideal preparation for an MSCS. I don’t understand if your goals is an MSCS, why you are not enrolling in UCL - Computer Science BSc?

Seen from a scientific point of view, you are already very well qualified with an MS degree in Software Engineering.

That you want to get into project/product management honours you. What is most important right now is to gain experience and connections to decision makers, were you let people know that you are interested to work with project/product management. Who do you think is sitting in management positions deciding over your career? Other engineers, and they have a tendency to take care of each other.

Do you think they look at your track record and say "ooh, he is only an engineer but does not have a commercial degree and that is why we cannot promote him". Marketing needs engineers to help them sell the stuff and be the bridge between development and marketing.

What is always useful is if you get a project manager certification from Prince 2 or PMP approx 1500 USD+.

It's good to have additional qualifications and degrees, but you need to stop following the hype created by MBA schools and such, like get an MBA and go on a career path of your lifetime. These schools want to sell, but more degrees does not automatically equate more relevant and higher paid jobs. Experience and relationships to your bosses does.

An MBA is always nice, but try to get those educations paid (or partially paid) by the companies you work for and preferably do this part time.

Certifications, alt MBA or smaller leadership courses will also do the trick!

The thing is, when it comes to management since you already are an academic is that you don't need another university to tell you how to open books? If you absolutely want the credits, you can still enroll part time with an online university. But you don't necessarily want another whole degree, but only the knowledge necessary to do your job in management!University is not trade school.

Preferably, if you want to have more academic qualifications, study upwards and do your PHD. Or if you want to become a career consultant, then it will make sense to get another degree, because you will get more used to do independent studies.

For software engineers otherwise, there are lot of tech universities that offer an additional semester or 2 in innovation management in what is called an entrepreneurial school. You see, many universities know that engineers have the skills to create start-ups and a lot of universities offer a year being at an entrepreneurial school. So do that, get your certification in project management and you are all set to go for roughly 1/3 of the price.

I presume you are a “software developer” and you are interviewing for a “software development/support management “ role?

Before answering the question how should you interview, if I were your personal career advisor I would ask you this question.

Why as a software developer do you want to move into a Support Management role?

This is actually a very big question, and how you feel about that inside I would argue will largely dictate how the interview will most likely go.

Some developers see moving from software development to management as a natural career path, and I can certainly understand why someone with a software development background could move into a support management role where there is a large degree of software development knowledge required, so it does come down to your reasons for taking this career path.

I have seen a lot of developers move into management because they see it as a career path for them. Most people in my experience confuse (or hide behind) a career path with “getting paid more”. If your motivations are your career path (more money) driven then I would strongly suggest that it will be a bad move for you and for the company who employs you.

If however, you are genuinely wanting to move from a role where you create software to a role where you support software other people create then that right there is your reason. If you are genuinely enthused by that challenge then your passion and conviction will shine through and you will delight your interviewer.

So in answer to your question, you should interview by being yourself, knowing your subject and being able to articulate why they should consider you the perfect choice for the role. As a professional courtesy, you should research the company, research the interviewer(s) if you can and be relevant to them in your interview.

I am not a big fan of the “10 things you must to in an interview” type guides, always feels to me you are being told to fake it, its always better to be yourself and find your ideal job as yourself, and not as the person the company wanted you to be.