1/12    I am thinking about purchasing a PhD in CS. I really like parallel
        programming and high-performance computing. What are some
        interesting research areas that take into account my interests
        that I might explore? I am researching grad schools and it's hard
        to know where I'd be a good fit. Also, what are the long-term
        prospects for CS PhDs? Also, does Cal have such a thing as
        "limited status" where alumni can take classes (grad or undergrad)
        without being in a degree-granting program? Say I want to take
        Italian or I want to take a grad class in Math.
        \_ Well, we have quite a few CS PhDs here at LLNL.  Sounds like you
           could go for scientific computing. -jrleek
           \_ Did they skip the scientists in the layoffs?
        \_ ANYONE can enroll in Cal courses through the concurrent enrollment
           program (subject to seat availability and instructor's permission).
           That will cost you about $1500 fror each 4 unit course though.
           \_ Awesome. I thought you could through Extension, but I forgot
              what it was called. I found the application now that I knew
              what to look for. By the way, fees seem to be about
              $150/unit which isn't bad. BTW, if you are a community
              college student you can enroll for $18/unit (up to two
              classes per year). I never knew that.
        \_ Lots of interesting problems in parallelism: hardware, compilers,
           programming models, tools. Check out ParLab at Berkeley. Check out
           the Supercomputing proceedings. GPGPU is a nifty field as well.