9/30    I am interested in a masters in cs, focusing on algorithms or
        cryptography, and at stanford in particular. what do they look
        for in applicants for a program like this? thanks.
        \_ about $40,000 for an A per semester, $35,000 for a B
           \_ Except the rest of the world doesn't know that and mostly thinks
              Farm >> Cal, if they've even heard of Cal.
        \_ why not do this at Cal? Cal > Furd. Also ask chialea, she's doing
           cryptography and complexity shit.
           \_ b/c from what I know, it seems getting into furd is
              easier than getting into cal. is this true?
              \_ Cal has no serious master's program -- the graduate program
                 in the CS division is geared toward Ph.D.'s, and they only
                 accept applicants interested in getting an M.S. under rather
                 exceptional circumstances.
              \_ Furd MS vs Cal MS?
                 \_ yeah. do you know if that's true or not?
              \_ I applied to both 10 years ago, and I got accepted by Furd but
                 reject by Cal.  I got a job instead because I couldn't afford
                 the tuition.
                 \_ what a lame excuse. Ever heard of SITN or a loan?
                    \_ Not everyone qualifies for enough loans or other money.
                       Walk a mile in his shoes, kid.
                    \_ I applied to regular MS, not SITN, and when I called
                       Furd they said I couldn't switch to part-time.  Plus
                       my then-employer didn't sponser SITN.  It wasn't easy
                       for a foreign student to find a job in the 1993 economy.
                       A loan wouldn't work since I had to actually make money
                       to pay for the out-of-state tuition for my sister who
                       was still in school.
        \_ From what I hear, though I haven't been to Stanford, Standford
           Masters students are there to fund the PhD's. Crypto-wise, most
           schools don't offer many classes. Berkeley has 2, maybe 3-4,
           UCSD has a few, and CMU has a bunh. Are you looking to work with
           prof? Dan Boneh's at Stanford, Doug Tygar and David Wagner are at
           Berkeley, Russel Impalliazo (yeah, misspelling) and Mihir Bellare
           and Daniele Miccancio are at UCSD, there are a bunch at CMU, and
           MIT's are either in Isreal or on sabbatical, mostly. Theory-
           wise, I'd say Berkeley's better. However, I don't know how the
           Masters program works at either school, except for disparaging
           comments from certain Stanford students regarding the masters
           students. Sorry for the long response. Upshot is that Stanford
           is probably not the place to go unless you want a "I paid for
           this" MS, and not to really do crypto. Email me if you have any
           questions I can help with. -chialea
           \_ I took a crypto class from Silvio Micali at MIT and it was
              amazing.  MIT also has some other big names like Goldwasser
              and Rivest.  I would highly recommend crypto at MIT when
              people return from sabbaticals, etc. -emin
              \_ Word around town is that some of em won't be at all. -chialea
           \_ you bring up a good point. when applying to a school
              that doesn't require research for a masters, does it
              do any good to mention in your personal statement that
              you're interested in the work of so-and-so at the school?
              incidentally, I'm very interested in Boneh's work. -op.
              \_ I took one of Boneh's cryto classes (he teaches 3)
                 and it was a killer. The homework assignments were
                 long and dense and worth only 25%. The projects were
                 reasonable provided you had 3 weeks to code, but he
                 only gave 1-1/2 weeks for the first and 2 weeks for
                 the second which made it extremely hard. The final
                 was pretty funny, it was do #1 or do #2-4. #1 was
                 given a specific RSA n (or maybe it was a theta),
                 write down p and q. This question was worth an A+
                 in the class.
        \_ just curious, does Cal even have a MS program? I have never met a
           MS CS grad student in the 5 years I was at Cal. MS EE yes, but not
           MS CS. Cal grad students, care to comment?
           \_ I met one. Just one. He was a fellow TA for 61A -bz
           \_ nweaver and other Cal grad students (don't know their names),
                care to comment?                -1988 alum
                \_ 1988?! When/how did you get a Soda account? Who are you,
                   anyway?
                   \_ Soda accounts were being given out years before '88.
                      Why is that so shocking?  Just because you were still
                      figuring out how to ride a bike when '88 graduated?  -91
                      \_ Soda mark I appeared in '89, did it not? What were
                         the accounts on before Soda? -op
                         \_ csua had machines before soda.  trying to figure
                            out who 1988 is.  -89
                      \_ that's RIDE BIKE!!!! to you, buddy.
           \_ I knew one. He got in because the prof he worked with as a ugrad
              wanted him. Had <3.5 GPA. And I know several that left the PhD
              program once they got their masters.
           \_ I got an MS in CS from Cal a few years ago.
        \_ Stanford's MS programs are terminal and not meant to lead to a
           PhD. They don't have theses nor a thesis option. This is different
           than other top graduate programs. They are great for finishing a
           MS in a year, but expensive; but lots of MS students are sent by
           companies anyway, so it's less of an issue. The EE MS program is
           slightly different in that through a qualifying exam you can move
           to the PhD program, but most Stanford MS programs are like the MS
           with two tiers of admission: one for the PhD, one for the MS, with
           no (easy) way between them.
           For MSCS at Stanford you won't do any research. If you want to do
           research it's possible, but you should probably contact the
           professor in which you're interested and make sure that it is
           possible. It takes 5 quarters to finish a MSCS taking 3 classes/
           quarter with a half-time assistantship, and it certainly helps if
           you have experience in the area in which the professor is
           interested.         -- Stanford PhD student