Should I consider USC or UMN TC for a master's in computer science with a focus on Robotics/AI?

If your area of interest is Data Mining, Minnesota is definitely the place you should join. Here's why: 1. Microsoft academic search ranks UMN in the top 4 universities for data mining while USC doesn't figure in the top 20. The rankings are by the h-index for the total publications by the university in the area and hence more relevant if you are going for a masters degree. 2. I had been to Vipin Kumar's lab at UMN as an intern last year and the work there is pretty awesome. They have lots of funding and hence RA/TA/internship positions and good solid research work as well. For instance Vipin currently heads a 5-year, $10 Million project, "Understanding Climate Change - A Data Driven Approach", The award represents the single largest investments by the directorate in basic computer science research. 3. UMN has a big group of professors who work in DM/ML including Vipin Kumar, Shashi SHekar, Jaideep Shrivastava, Arindam Banerjee, George Karypis. Most of them are Indians :) In conclusion, the rankings place UMN much above USC for Data Mining and I know UMN is awesome because I have been to the place. So, I would advice that you choose UMN. Good Luck!

UMN is often called the top university for Data Mining. There are many professors working on varied topics of Data Mining. Prof. Vipin Kumar's group works on application of Data Mining techniques to understand climate changes. There are 2 professors (Rui Kuang, Chad Meyers) who work on biology and gene related data mining. Prof. Jaideep Srivastava works on data mining and gaming. Also, Prof. Sashi Sekhar works on Spatial Data Mining. In Machine Learning side, Prof. Arindam Benerjee is the foremost. On robotics side they are pretty good but I dont know much about it. http://www.cs.umn.edu/people/faculty/

There are multiple things you would want to look at. Let me talk about my experience at UMN in comparison with whatever others have to say. The university itself is quite good for Computer Science. It has really good professors the field of ML/DM. The coursework in this field is ok but will not match the level of Andrew Ng's (Stanford) courses though. There are some good Big Data/Distributed systems courses that go well in hand with the ML/DM stuff. Research wise this university might be a better pick compared to USC for Masters students but will be otherwise in case of jobs. The startup/ entrepreneurial atmosphere is not really good in Minnesota and most of the students end up getting jobs by applying online. Regarding weather, I dont really need to talk about it. You must have heard quite a bit, that being said all I can say that it wont be a problem after you get adjusted to it and work around it. Coming to tuition, many students from my batch ended up working with some professor/lab in CS/elsewhere by end of the first year. This helped most of them get an RA/TA. So this might be lesser of a burden.

+ Location Factor (Socal is next silicon valley) + Plenty of student jobs + Courses by some renowned professors like Horowitz, Neuman, Barry Bohem + Great trojan alumni network (i know it even though i have 2 weeks to join USC Alumni group) + Great football team. You will be way proud of you once you see a game (Don't see last year's USC v/s UCLA) + USC has one of the hottest cheerleaders. ;) - Rare TA-ship or RA-ship - MS is very expensive. MS CS general 40-50K USD

If you're looking for just applying for now, I would recommend apply to both. If you already have an admit from them and need to decide, personally I would be inclined towards USC. I haven't checked out UMN's robotics research in quite a while, and based on what I know of USC, from a research point of view I am more inclined towards USC. Also, considering USC's location is a huge advantage. Even if you don't stick to robotics/AI, being from CS, future job prospects, as per me, after USC will seem better than UMN. But this is entirely my view. Please take into consideration the location, what you're really interested in in terms of research and such, the cost of attending both schools etc. All the best!

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is amazing for its Data-Mining research on Climate Change. However, I would rather go to USC for Robotics/AI. A bit better program, far better location and lovely weather.

USC anytime. The most important factor for choosing USC is that its one of the top 15 Engineering Universities in US and "it is based in California". Its is very easy for USC graduates to get jobs in Silicon Valley because of the location factor. Location factor is very important while choosing a university.