If you are thinking of pursuing research-based MS, then you have to consider whether your choice of institute will have the professor or lab where you want to work on your research. You also need to ensure if they will provide you with funds so you don’t have the burden of paying the tuition for the degree. If you look at their rankings, both are ranked at 79th place in Best Undergraduate Engineering Programs rankings by US News and World Report. 

If you have completed your education as an undergraduate in the computer science or engineering department, then you will have only a few classes. You won’t get much value out of it as there will be very few classes teaching you advanced topics that you are keen to learn. In the other classes, you will be learning things you have studied or had a glance at earlier. The rankings of institutes are based on many factors that may or may not be important to you, so you should rather focus on aspects that are of significance to you.

The master's degree usually is 30 credits and you may complete the degree in 2 years or before too if you are not thinking of pursuing the Ph.D. The classes you take with this period may not have full effect if you consider entering the industry.Here are the program details of both the colleges for you to compare:

The tuition cost of the programs is also an important aspect you should consider while choosing your college.The University of Cincinnati being a public institute offers a lot of resources in placing you in the computer engineering industry. Illinois Institute of Technology may be very expensive for you if they do not have enough funds for your education. Whichever institute costs you less will reduce your burden of debt so that may be the best choice considering the financial aspect. The decision is yours to make keeping in mind the factors which are of utmost importance to you.

If you go by the brand name and ranking, University of Massachusetts clearly is our winner. But what about other factors? Let us consider three parameters to choose a better University for you shall we? 

1. Job opportunities after graduation
2. Research opportunities
3. Funding

Job opportunities:

When it comes to job opportunities, PSU has an edge because of its proximity to Intel. But UMass weighs equally if not less because of its brand name and connections it has. Upon that UMass is a huge University which offers you tons of connections globally. So there is a tie between both UMass and PSU.

Research:

Students at Massachusetts, Amherst usually team up with the University faculties in their ongoing research projects along with pursuing their degree. The department focuses majorly on Computer networking, embedded systems and Computer system security. 

PSU on the other hand is a great University if you are looking to pursue your career in front end VLSI. It's curriculum aligns perfectly with the technology which Intel is using. 

Funding:

UMass Amherst clearly beats PSU in both internal and external research funding. If your area of focus aligns with that of the university, then well you would just hit a jackpot! While PSU still offers internal research grants upto $5,000 UMass is on par with that.

With one tie and two leads, University of Massachusetts Amherst is a clear winner. So yes, the money you pay at UMass is clearly worth it and you can earn a lot more than your investment within a few years of graduation.

The institute offers honors programs for students who are keen to gain academic knowledge and are also ambitious towards their goals. The engineering college at the institute is said to be good. Many of the students have said to have a great career thanks to this place as compared to other schools. My own sister went here and got a better starting salary compared to some of her friends from other higher rated schools. Overall, some of their schools provide great career opportunities and ultimately depend on your interest as well as the faculty. Here is a salary estimate for their different programs:

The campus of the institute is very large and the students have had a great experience at the college. Also, these colleges at the institute are said to be the most prestigious:

• College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP)

The DAAP college of the university offers Bachelor's, Master's, Ph.D., UG Certificate, PG Certificate programs in the fields of design, architecture, art, and planning. The college also has a Co-op program that helps you gain practical experience in the field of your study. 

• Conservatory of Music (CCM)

The school is for students keen to learn performing and media arts. There are nearly 120 majors for you in the college to help you gain the necessary knowledge. 

• Business School
• Law School

Here are the most popular majors at the University of Cincinnati:

The University of Cincinnati is ranked at 143rd place in National Universities by US News. Different universities offer different faculty, academics, experience so you must consider them and choose the one which suits your needs best. Every university has its advantages and disadvantages so make sure you take into account both. Also, take into account fees, location, placement opportunities before choosing the college.

There is no such definite yardstick to decide what are the strongest academic programs at Florida State University. However, according to the enrollment rate, Psychology, Criminal Justice, Finance, Safety Studies, Marketing, Biological Sciences, English Language and Literature, Political Sciences, International Relations, Family Studies, Social Sciences, etc. are the most opted majors. 

For 2020 graduates, the ten most popular majors at FSU are as follows.

• Psychology, General - 8%
• Finance, General - 6%
• Safety Studies/Criminal Justice - 5%
• Marketing or Marketing Management, General - 4%
• English Language and Literature, General - 4%
• Political Science and Government, General - 4%
• Biology or Biological Science, General - 4%
• International Relations and Affairs - 4%
• Social Sciences, General - 3% 
• Human Development and Family Studies, General - 3%

While as per the salary statistics, Financial Services Professionals are the highest-paid alumni and graduates of FSU. They earn approximately $120,000 per annum. Sales and Business Development professionals are the lowest paid among FSU graduates. They usually earn around $42,000.  

If you just look at it’s rankings, you’ll be convinced about its quality and reputation. University of Massachusetts Amherst has been ranked 56th among best engineering colleges by QS global rankings 2021. It follows a semester based academic calendar and has an undergraduate enrollment over 33,246. You’ll love the huge campus which is spread across 1,463 acres. It also offers an amazing infrastructure, curriculum and food. Your job prospects will be pretty great since its graduate employment rate is 82%. If you are asking for a personal rating, let's consider a few parameters about the University.

Research and funding:

• Research opportunities are plenty in the University. Machine learning is one of the major interests at UMass. 'Center for intelligent information retrieval' led by Bruce Croft is housed in the University of Massachusetts which says a lot about their ongoing work.
• Both internal and external research fundings are amazing at UMass. 

Job opportunities and Entrepreneurial support:

• Given that UMass is a popular institute, its brand name is enough to fetch you amazing job opportunities. 
• Engineering department also offers co-op programs which help in fetching internships at top companies.
• Being a bit more industry oriented definitely will help its students in fetching jobs. 

Graduate curriculum is amazing. There are many world renowned scientists in their faculty and their curriculum is well designed and balanced between both thesis and practical work. Overall, UMass is a pretty good institute for Graduate Engineering.

If you take a look at the big accounting firms, you will see that they do not have Ph.D. holders in their. While there are some Ph.D in accounting, these are still rare scenarios even at such big firms. Hence, it's common that you may not even hear something like this at other places. If you are thinking of becoming a CPA, there is an advanced coursework you will have to do apart from a bachelor’s degree. Most CPAs generally have done a master's degree at max. The Ph.D. degree in your resume adds a research component that usually has limited uses which may be the case for many PhDs and research.

Coming back to UCincinnati, the institute sees more than 80% of its graduates getting placed within three months of completing their education. The median starting salary for accounting graduates is USD 53,526 which is pretty good. Aramark Corporation, Ashland Inc, Bestek Global LLC, Fifth Third Bank are some of the top recruiters at the institute.

When it comes to Academia, a Ph.D. in accounting is not something you see every day means it is quite rare. Many professors have done their Masters but have not done their Ph.D. You may find this usually in small schools where they don’t consider this aspect.

If you are keen to learn to conduct accounting research, you may as well go ahead and complete a Ph.D. in accounting. Usually, people who have done PhDs to enter academia leave because what is expected of them at the institute is high meanwhile the compensation is quite low. There is no doubt that a CPA who has experience will surely make more money than a college or university accounting professor. You can consider this if you are doing a Ph.D. with good salary expectations.

You can consider doing a Ph.D. depending on aspects that are important to you and whether or not the institute will be able to help you meet your objectives and goals.