Reviewed on Jan 24, 2025(Enrolled 2022)
What Students Say
Likes
- Campus was pretty and easy to access via buses.
- Professors were very helpful and supportive
- Building architecture
Dislikes
- Dominance of Students from Andhra and Telangana
- Less Internship opportunities
- Less time for practicals
Course Curriculum
8
- The difficulty level was moderate for people with the technical background but was hard for people with no technical background. the course was available for people of all backgrounds and hence it was not mentioned earlier that the coding background is necessary. but we had almost 3 courses which were core courses that required coding in Python and Bash.
- According to me, this ambiguity regarding coding experience was a negative aspect.
Admission Experience
-
I applied to the following universities:
- San josé State University (Admitted )
- University of Florida ( Admitted )
- Auburn University ( Admitted )
- University of Georgia ( Admitted )
- State university of New York, University at Albany (Admitted and Confirmed)
- I selected this university as it's in the capital of the state. There was a chance to get an experience with the government offices.
- The admission experience was good everywhere.
- The international student advisors were supportive and used to reply to every email sent. They cleared all the confusion and were very clear about the rules regarding international students.
- I had applied for. Fall 2022 intake. I had submitted my application to the state university of New York at Albany in the month of December 2021. I had gotten an admission in February 2022. I got my I-20 after paying the security deposit and in the month of may I scheduled my visa interview. Upon completing and getting my visa I was all set to go. it took 3 months to get an admit.
Class Schedule
8
- I used to have one class on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
- The one on Thursday was online and synchronous. and some of the classes used to be asynchronous.
- There were 25 students in my class. and near about 15 students were Indians.
Faculty
10
- 1:15 was the teacher-student ratio. This ratio really helped us to understand each and every concept as teachers reached out to us every time they taught a new concept.
- Teaching was very impactful and a little bit practical-orientated.
- The professor just chose there teaching assistants or graduate assistants from the students who had gotten the dean's merit award.
- I admire my professor, Deb Snyder, who was a retired chief information security officer of New York State and had taught me a course, Information Security and Risk Assessment. She had introduced me to her colleagues from the state offices.
- It improved my network. She was very supportive and used to accommodate the students who were working or doing an internship.
Campus Life
10
- My university had 2 campuses. One was the uptown and the other was the downtown campus. Uptown campus was located at Collins Circle, and the other was on N Lake Avenue, Albany.
- Both the campuses had libraries, medical services, and sports facilities.
Part Time Jobs
- Around 2 students used to get teaching assistantship positions every semester. The pay range for all the positions was $15 per hour. We had dining and parking where students used to get the part-time job. We were allowed to work for a maximum of 20 hours per week. It is pretty difficult to get on-campus employment given the strength of Indian as well as international students who want to take care of their expenses.
- Overall, 60% of students work on campus and work on an hourly basis. It is, as I said, pretty difficult to get on-campus employment while studying. There are part-time on-campus job fairs where students can find on-campus employment. It is important to attend the job and internship fairs. Even if students don't get the job or internships, it helps to improve their network.
Placement
6
- Around 70% of people get full-time job opportunities within the 6 months after graduating. given the current economic downturn and recession due to COVID, it has become pretty difficult to secure a job.
average salary is $55,000 per year. To find jobs, students use platforms like LinkedIn and, indeed, Handshake. There are job fairs on campus as well. Major companies that hire from my universities are amazon, EY, etc.
Accommodation
Off Campus
10
- I was living off campus with my Indian classmates. We had met each other through a Facebook group. monthly rent was $350-$400. My place was 15 minutes away from the university.
- It was easily accessible by buses. My place had 2 bus stops near it.
- It was within 2 minutes walking distance. I would suggest students find a place with a bus stop nearby. As all apartments are almost the same with all the amenities, including washing machines, dryers, ovens, microwaves, AC, or radiators.
Exams
- I had appeared for both IELTS and TOEFL. Some universities required GRE too but it was waived off for me.
- A statement of purpose is the most valuable document of the process. Letters of recommendation play an integral role in the admissions process.
- There wasn’t any interview process for my admission except when I asked about i20 as I had to present a few proofs of finance
Events
10
- The orientation and convocation were two major events, along with the clubs like the Graduate Student Association and Indian Student Organisation.
- We used to have Diwali night with all faculties and students with Indian food.
Fees
- $1000 for every credit. We were allowed to enrol in 18 credits for a semester. The maximum limit of the fees was $12000 and the minimum was $9000, as the minimum credits for international students were 9.
- I personally found the campus housing pretty expensive; hence, I rented an apartment off campus.
- My rent was $350 and groceries and my utility bill were paid separately. Monthly, my expense was $500.
Scholarship
- I had received Dean's merit Award which was $2500 every year. I believe the criteria was our overall profile and our work experience. Around 25% students from my batch had gotten it.
- Teaching assistants and graduate assistants were chosen from those who had gotten the dean's merit award. The amount of the award was taken under counting before semester starts.
