MS in Computer Science, Statement of Purpose

[NYCquant]

Hello everybody,

I would like to apply for a master's degree in computer science at NYU (part-time) and I was wondering what the best statement of purpose should look like.

I don't have a bachelor's degree in CS and I'm not a programmer.
I have taken programming courses in high school and throughout my higher education but I have never developed the knowledge to become a developer.

Now, I would like to study CS while I work full-time and I would like to know what successful applicants write in their statement of purpose essays?

To be more specific, one of the goals of this essay is to know what you want to do after graduation. Will it be a mistake to say that you want to build your own company?

I'm very interested in courses that have to do with social networks, media, search engines and user interface, and I have an idea for a company I want to build.

So,
should I say that I want to create this company or should I say that I want to be a software developer at Google or Apple... I actually don't but wouldn't mind lying :)

Thanks

[naraku9333]

I would think it's extremely unlikely you would be accepted into a masters program without an under grad degree in CS. I would also expect the number of applicants that will be accepted is going to be limited, so those with a background in CS would probably get those spots.

[NYCquant]

How does it answer my question?

I already spoke with them and they said they accept people with no CS background if they take 2 consecutive courses to cover the basics.

But, that wasn't my question at all :)

[naraku9333]

Fair enough, I can't really answer your question, I'm not up to grad school yet. But there are some example essays in this search

http://www.google.com/search?q=statement+of+purpose+examples&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS436US488&aq=0&oq=statement+of+purpose&aqs=chrome.2.57j5j0l2j62l2.14720&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#hl=en&rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS436US488&sclient=psy-ab&q=CS+statement+of+purpose+examples&oq=CS+statement+of+purpose+examples&gs_l=serp.3..0i30.6274.7166.0.8437.3.3.0.0.0.0.103.292.2j1.3.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.5.psy-ab.U769ts5STEU&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43287494,d.aWc&fp=1ed6f335b982a40e&biw=1920&bih=947

Sorry for the extremely long link. I wasn't trying to shoot down your plans, I'm just surprised a school as well rated as NYU has such lax admissions policies. The CS program at the university I'm planning to transfer to has a stricter acceptance guidelines.

[BHX]

It's not possible to get a MS without a BS anyways. Someone at NYU lied to you. The BS is a requirement in order to be accepted for a MS degree. Any college that really doesn't require a BS first is questionable as they are designed to build on what you learned.

[naraku9333]

@BHXSpecter
That is what I thought, but looking at the NYU admissions page, they didn't lie http://cs.nyu.edu/webapps/content/academic/graduate/admissions/admission

[NYCquant]

Thanks for the link.

The admission policies are not lax at all, this is a very selective program.
Perhaps the fact that I have an engineering degree (Operations Research) from an Ivy League school makes it easier.

I will have to take 2 courses as prerequisites in order to even be considered for the MS in CS program at NYU.

Btw, Columbia University allows non CS people to apply for their MS but they require that you take 3 courses...


BHXSpecter, nobody lied to me.

[BHX]

They lied by omission, if you don't have a BS you have to do a year of preparatory course to make sure you are up to par for the MS degree. So you have to make sure you are good with this list:

The minimum prerequisite background for admission to the MS program consists of:

Languages: Deep working knowledge of C and familiarity with object-oriented concepts and work with some object-oriented language such as Java or C++.
Data structures and mathematics: Understanding and working knowledge of pointers, lists, stacks, queues, trees, arrays and recursion; induction, order of magnitude growth, probability and elementary combinatorics, set notation.
Working familiarity with windows and Unix.
Knowledge of assembly language (e.g. Intel or Motorola) sufficient to understand self-modifying code.
Promising students who do not have this background will be conditionally admitted with the provision that they complete the one year preparatory course (PAC). Students without adequate mathematical training should take Discrete Mathematics, which is offered in the summer only.

[naraku9333]

@BHXSpecter

NYCquant wrote:

I already spoke with them and they said they accept people with no CS background if they take 2 consecutive courses to cover the basics.

They clearly didn't omit it.

[BHX]

You are right they trivialized it instead of omitting it.

[naraku9333]

You're assuming they trivialized the prerequisites, perhaps NYCquant summarized the conversation.

Also, just out of curiosity I checked the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign's MS admissions requirements and they also allow non CS graduates.

Applicants who do not hold a bachelor's in computer science must have sufficient background in computer programming, algorithms and data structures, computer organization, and the theory of computation (comparable to CS 125, CS 225, CS 231/232, and CS 173/373 at Illinois) to be eligible for CS @ Illinois graduate programs.

from http://cs.illinois.edu/graduate/academics?quicktabs_5=3

Edit: U of I Urbana/Champaign has a top 5 ranked CS graduate program.

[BHX]

Maybe, but admission reps know nothing about the curriculum, not there job. They usually just read verbatim what the college gives them. Even your quote is trivialized. How do you know what all was covered in those courses without taking the courses. What happens if you fail the preparatory courses? Do they lock you into doing a BS before the MS or can you redo it? Every college is different and online it is covered even different so how do you prepare for the prep courses?

[NYCquant]

I really don't understand your argument.
My question was nothing about whether NYU will accept me or not.
Let me take my own risks.

[cire]

BHXSpecter wrote:

Maybe, but admission reps know nothing about the curriculum, not there job. They usually just read verbatim what the college gives them.

Yep. Better to trust random people on the internets.

[DeXecipher]

Hopefully I can skip some courses in the since I know 80% of that list (minus trees and deep assembly programming knowledge.

[BHX]

cire wrote:

Yep. Better to trust random people on the internets.

Yep, because you can google and find legit review sites that say the exact same thing. The admission reps only job is to get a person to pick them and sign them and doesn't have to be honest about their take. Did you miss the huge thing about colleges having issues with admission reps lying to get students to sign?

NYCquant wrote:

I really don't understand your argument.
My question was nothing about whether NYU will accept me or not.
Let me take my own risks.

By all means take your own risks, but my argument is to be cautious and weary. I would be cautious of any college that allows you to skip the four years required to get a BS in favor of a preparatory set of courses to get you into a MS. The MS is supposed to build on everything you do in the effort to get the BS.

Upon searching, the PAC course is basically taking everything you learn in the four year BS and accelerating it into a one year set of courses. That seems like a recipe for making the student burn out instead of getting into a MS degree.

The PAC Program is a two-course sequence designed to fulfill the minimum prerequisites for beginning a master's degree program in computer science or information systems. PAC I is offered in the fall semester and PAC II is offered in the spring semester. The courses should be taken in sequence, as PAC I is a prerequisite for PAC II.

Intensive Introduction to Graduate Study in Computer Science I, CSCI-GA 1133 (PAC I) is an accelerated introduction to the fundamental concepts of computer science for students who lack a formal background in the field. Topics include algorithm design and program development; data types; control structures; subroutines and parameter passing; recursion; data structures; searching and sorting; dynamic storage allocation; abstract data types, such as stacks, queues, lists, and tree structures; and an introduction to the principles of object-oriented programming. The primary programming language used in the course will be Java. Students should expect an average of 12-16 hours of programming and related course work per week.

Intensive Introduction to Graduate Study in Computer Science II, CSCI-GA 1144 (PAC II) builds directly on the foundation developed in PAC I, covering the essentials of computer organization through the study of assembly language programming and C, as well as introducing the students to the analysis of algorithms. Topics include:

1. Assembly language programming for the Intel chip family, emphasizing computer organization, the Intel x86 instruction set, the logic of machine addressing, registers and the system stack.

2. Programming in the C language, a general-purpose programming language which also has low-level features for systems programming.

3. An introduction to algorithms, including searching, sorting, graph algorithms and asymptotic complexity.

Examples and assignments reinforce and refine those first seen in PAC I and often connect directly to topics in the core computer science graduate courses, such as Programming Languages, Fundamental Algorithms, and Operating Systems.

Please note that the credits for PAC I and PAC II cannot be applied to a master’s of science in computer science (MSCS) or a master’s of science in information systems (MSIS).

_{What happened to taking pride in the time taken and effort put into earning a degree? Seems everyone has become more interested in getting the best degree/job/pay in the least amount of time.}

[NYCquant]

I know PAC is going to be very intensive and since this is my only choice (the campus is close to work, evening classes, they accept part time students, they have the classes I want and they will allow non CS people to apply), it works for me.

Anyway, if I see it doesn't work or it's too intensive, I can always quit (though I'm not a quitter).

And, it's not like I don't have any programming knowledge.
I first programmed when I was 15 in high school (C and Pascal).

I have taken C++ courses in College and used C++, VBA and MATLAB throughout my Eng program.
So, I can program, I just can't develop apps/systems...

[cire]

BHXSpecter wrote:

Yep, because you can google and find legit review sites that say the exact same thing. The admission reps only job is to get a person to pick them and sign them and doesn't have to be honest about their take. Did you miss the huge thing about colleges having issues with admission reps lying to get students to sign?

One assumes if you're at the point of applying for a master's program you've dealt with salespeople before. Even if you haven't, that doesn't make advice from random people valuable.

[BHX]

@NYCquant Well I truly hope it all works out for you. I've had too many friends get screwed by colleges (myself included) so I have become real weary of colleges so I stress being cautious to everyone. The no BS for MS was my biggest fear that get my worries up.

cire wrote:

doesn't make advice from random people valuable.

So this site isn't valuable then? This site's whole premise is advice from random people, but if advice from random people isn't valuable that makes this site useless :-/.

[cire]

So this site isn't valuable then?

As a place to ask questions about college admissions? No.