Why study MS in Syracuse University?

1) About the program 

– The 42 course credits that I will have to complete for graduation, how should I spread it across over the semesters?

Personally, I have taken 3 courses (10 credits) in my first semester. Currently, in my second semester I am taking 4 courses (12 credits).

This differs from person to person. All my friends took 3 courses (10 credits) in the first semester and 3 courses (9 credits) in second semester.

– What do students usually opt there? And in what duration do they normally complete it? (1.5/2/2.5 years). I understand this varies from person to person depending on the workload they sign up for. But generally what do students do there?

In our senior-batch people who got internships after 2nd semester in companies which sponsors H1B visas graduated in 1.5 years. However, there are seniors who didn’t graduate in 1.5 years. They want to enjoy their life before work, they are taking it slowly. I20 says that you need to graduate in 2 years. Graduating early will not make any difference on the fees. Fees are per credit basis.

2) Financials Syracuse University

– The first question: Living expenses 🙂 (Rent, Groceries. Water, Gas, Eating, Electricity, WiFI, Mobile Service, etc.)

Rent: $300-350 (depends). Mine is $300
Groceries + Food: $100-120
Gas + Electricity: Summer ($70). Winter ($200-250). You will pay 70/3 or 250/3 (assuming there are 3 roommates). The winter bill depends on the house. 250 is the highest limit. If the house has electric heater, then your winter bill may be $150. That means 150/3.

– What is the tuition that you are paying for the entire course? I obviously have a ball park figure from different sources. But exactly how much is it, so that I can start planning for things.

You have to complete 42 credits. For us per credit cost is $1388. Therefore, tuition fee would be $1388*42. Adding to this will be health insurance. Health insurance will cost around $2000-$2500 for 2 years.

– What was the i20 amount last year?

If I am not wrong it was $46,000

3) Class size Syracuse University

– What is the fall intake for this program?

150 approx

– What is the batch/class size?

150 approx

– Approx. number of Indians in your class?

80-100 approx

4) Assistantships and on-campus jobs 

– Are there any TA/GA/RA opportunities to fund our education?

Nope.

– Approximately how many people get TA/GA?

Hardly 10 out of 150

– Are GA/TA’s given to first year students? If not, do students enrolled in fall get GA/TA in their next term (i.e. Spring)?

People generally get in second semester. This also depends on luck and under whom you take courses in first semester.

– Does TA/GA come with a tuition waiver or its just stipend based?

TA/GA hourly pay should be $10.2 (I am not sure about this)

– How are the on-campus job opportunities? How many people get it? What is the hourly pay for the same?

On campus opportunities plenty. Most of people work in cafes, dining, stadium. Hourly pay is $10.2, international students can work for 20 hrs a week. Ideally people work for 12-15 hours.

5) Full time Job opportunities? 

– How are the career fairs?

Career fairs I personally find them useless because companies would only want to hire permanent citizens. Having said that one must attend career fairs to connect with potential employers and to know about openings. I haven’t seen or heard that anyone got an interview call because of attending the career fair. I am writing this not to scare you but to state the fact.

– Does SU have tie-ups with Big 4?

I don’t know about tie-ups but in the past EY, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte have hired people. However, this time KPMG is not hiring F1 students. They have stopped sponsoring H1B that’s the reason they had given. I have friends in other universities who have been placed into KPMG.

– Does having no prior work experience affect in any way?

– What is the average pay scale for IM graduates?

– Any idea on how many people get full time jobs after/within 3 months of graduation?

6) Internship opportunities?  

– How many students on an average get an internship? (The curriculum says it is compulsory for freshers, and I am a fresher too)

Eventually everyone gets an internship. People do “Jugaad” at desperate times. Getting an internship is not important. Getting into a company which will later sponsor H1B is important. I feel hardly 20 people from the senior batch would have got such internships.

– Do students get internships through career fairs or we must find it on our own?

The major companies which come in career fairs for F1 students are: PwC, EY, Deloitte, Bank of America (pwc,ey, deloitte prefer people with less than 2 years of experience and strong leadership skills on resume.) If you are lucky enough to get internship into one of these companies, then your life is sorted. This time out of 150 people 2 people got into big 4.

– Do students go for an internship after completing one year or wait for some more time?

– What type of internships do students generally land up with? How much is the average hourly pay rate?

Even I want answer for this one. If you get this answer, please let me know (I am in my internship hunting phase)

However, people last year had got internships in variety of fields: Consulting, Business Analyst, Risk Analyst, Data Analyst, Business Intelligence. Frankly speaking it is a struggle to get internships/jobs. Out of 150 people in Information Management hardly 10 would have got internships any batch.

– I also heard that internships can be done for a year (11 months to be precise – the CPT). Is SU flexible with that?

Su is very flexible in terms of internships. People have done 2 internships from SU.

7) Your experience 

– How is the faculty at the University and how is the quality of education in general?
Faculty at the university is very good. If you compare it with India, it is 100 times better. This I feel would be for all the universities (I know I am criticizing Indian system but it is the fact)

– Finally how has your overall experience at SU been? In terms of your student life and diversity?

So far the experience has been great. The winter this time is not as harsh as last year that is what the seniors have said.