I am thinking about doing my masters in electrical or computer engineering and want some suggestions before I make a decisiion. Which university is better, Northeastern University or Arizona State University considering all the parameters?
I had admits from both of these universities and chose to go to ASU because they had a better academic offerings and team of teachers for my program (industrial engineering). However, after joining ASU, I learned that half of those professors were on sabbatical and I could take the courses I wanted to.
Fortunately, it worked out in my favor because I pursued data analytics (which is all the rage right now) instead of operations research.
My suggestion would be to speak with students from those universities and that specific program (FB groups are still a good resource for that)
Another parameter is the availability of opportunities, jobs, and companies. Boston area is great in those terms. Tempe/Phoenix is rising but still far behind Boston.
Cost of living and education will also differ, with Boston being higher any day.
Lastly, I have also noticed that when you’re job hunting, unless you’re from the top 20 US universities, no one cares about your university tag. Focus more on your program, skills, and extracurriculars.
If the professors were on sabbatical , were there any replacement professors? I mean how didn’t it matter in the syllabus coverage or the projects?
I would say both are great choices. ASU has excellent faculty and great Oncampus opportunities and similarly NEU is a great private uni with Co-Op opportunities. If fees is not a problem then i would go with NEU. All the best !
The effect of professors on sabbatical was that they did not offer most of the Operations Research related courses for almost a year. I took courses related to data analytics and pursued that career.
For my program, there were 4 different types of courses that we could pursue viz. operations research, manufacturing and productions, data analytics, and quality assurance.