What Students Say
Likes
- The first reason was the course that explores both Digital Forensics and Cyber Security. And the university will allow us to complete masters degree in a year If I'm willing to. And the professors here in Cyber Security has greater experience and knowledge in the topics I'm interested in. Few topics like Incident Response, Penetration Testing, Risk Analysis, Computer Forensics etc.
- This university is known for its excellence in research facilities. The location was very well suited to find great opportunities. Major cities like New York city, Boston,
- Buffalo are within 3 hours distance so finding a good company to get an internship and job was much easier. The university also has great infrastructure and facilities that anything I wanted to learn or create, the required help is already present in terms of faculty, staff and labs.
Required Exams for Admission
I would say that this university is good in terms of supporting students in achieving their goals and dreams. The university's campus features modern facilities, research centers, and a diverse student body. It is committed to providing students with a well-rounded education, fostering critical thinking, and preparing them for successful careers and contributions to society. The University at Albany is recognized for its research initiatives and contributions to various academic fields.
Course Curriculum
The course and curriculum was relevant to current market standards and Academics were satisfactory. As majority of the professors mind their class work, it's students job to get what they want. I have observed majority of the students just go with the flow and never be vocal about what they want. So, professors just go with their way and students just follow them. As for the industrial exposure and research experience, the university has tied up with an organization who provides internships with companies like NSA, IBM and deloitte etc. But these are unpaid internships but are valuable enough to give industrial exposure.
Faculty
For spring semester, the student intake is low. Generally the class has 20-25 students depending on the course they enrolled. There are certain classes where the student count will be as low as 8. For fall semester, the intake was very high. Last semester there were almost 60 students in most of my classes. Faculty are well versed and approachable. They are all ears and mostly helping students in best possible way. In my very first semester I wanted to challenge myself, so I asked my academic advisor if I can take 6 subjects and they accepted it. There was a professor who taught the subject Risk Analysis and her name was Deborah Snyder. Her way of teaching and grading assignments were completely different. She used to award 100/100 to all the students in the class and then deduct marks based on our mistakes and absence in the class. I used to work hard to not to make any mistakes and attend all the classes and ended up scoring 127/100. She made us to read a entire book, write a research paper out of it and make a presentation and explain why I choose that book, highlights and how that could make an impact in cyber security domain. I wouldn't say other professor are bad, they are conventional. Deborah Snyder's way of approach, communicating with students, her updates about her activities past week and suggesting us places to visit. I liked her teaching very much.
Campus Life
Campus life and infrastructure are really good. Being an international student, I always had something going on in campus that I wanted to stay there for most of the time. Not only events, the research facilities, labs and people around are very friendly. There are few times the facilities were out of order such as free printouts for graduate students then we have to pay for the printouts. Apart from that I haven't found anything concerning. We will be having free food somewhere or the other places in the campus. For spring, the sport events are limited but I used to involve in other activities which used to substitute them.
Placement
There were many job fairs happened at our university. I have attended all of them and I was very disappointed to say that many organizations are not preferring international students in Cyber security field as we need the clearance and only US citizens are qualified for them. Our campus helps in finding opportunities but in past 2 semesters finding job was bit hard for international students. But there are people who found good jobs in other companies. Their median salary was around $80k.
Accommodation
Finding accommodation was bit hard. Here in Albany, majority of the houses has only 1 bathroom even though the house has 7 bedrooms. This make people to have smaller houses like 3-4 bedroom. I used to pay $375 as my share, my property was unfurnished 4 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. The property costed us $1500 per month. But the prices have gone up since spring 2023. Now, a 4 bedroom and 1 bathroom costs $1900 a month with very basic facilities.
Exams
GRE has been waived off till Fall 2024 TOEFL internet exam: 79 TOEFL paper exam: 550 IELTS: 6.5 Duolingo English exam: 110 PTE Academic: 53 I have submitted my SOP with key points about my passion, interest and relevant internships during my undergrad. Also relating my work experience why I wanted to do Masters even after working for 3 years in cyber security domain. I have also submitted 3 LOR's as part of application. 2 LOR's from my Associate Director and Team Manager and 1 LOR from my undergrad professor. I always had my resume prepared, whenever I had achievement I used to update my resume accordingly.
Fees
I have paid $27000 for my program. I have done my masters in an year starting from spring 2023 to fall 2023.
Scholarship
Yes, generally university offers $2500 per semester. This will be applied by default by the university. And I would suggest to check university website and go through the eligibility for different scholarships and apply for them if they are eligible.
