What Students Say
Likes
- Location - It is located in the heart of silicon valley. There are multiple networking events and opportunities and moreover I have heard from seniors that location has an added benefit while looking for full time job opportunities
- Food Pantry - The university has an active program under which the students can get free groceries (the type and quantity depends on the availability) once a week. This enables me to have basic items such as milk, onions, potatoes, canned food for free.
- Library - I quite like the library and it’s collection. It has 8 floors and first 4 floors are public library while the other floors have quieter seating space for studies and also have dedicated meeting rooms.
Dislikes
- Campus size & part time job availability - The size of campus is quite small in comparison to other universities. This also reduces the available on campus part time job opportunities. The opportunities are too less and the competition is too high with majority students being Indians.
- Curriculum- Talking about my curriculum, it is pretty rigid with no subjects to choose from. Subjects are already chosen for me unlike the education system here in the USA.
- Less student clubs - I think there are lesser student clubs here.
Course Curriculum
10
- I think MSDA course is a bit difficult and tech oriented. The course is pretty rigid. It is more of a practical course curriculum with tons of assignments to complete each week.
- For positive aspect, I think the course does teaches us a lot of things which are required in this vast field of data. For negative aspect, I think there are a lot of assignments due to which majority of our time of the week goes in solving them. Average number of students in my class are 35-40 and about 90% are Indians.
Admission Experience
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1. San Jose State University - Admitted
2. San Francisco State University- Admitted
3. University of Texas at Dallas - Admitted
4. University of Maryland at College Park - Admitted
5. University of Illinois Urbana champagne - Rejected - too ambitious for me. I just applied there hoping maybe I would get in but I knew it was too ambitious for my score. - The fee of SJSU is less than other universities I got accepted to. I heard at the end, university doesn’t matter.
- SJSU requires WES evaluation which is a tedious process so need to start the application process early.
- Accepted exams depend on the course selection. Mine only required IELTS.
- No challenges as such while applying. Though the results are rolled out very late and the decision depend on the type of applications received for the particular intake.
- I applied for Fall 2024 intake. The admission process took a while. I applied during November and received result in last week of march/first week of April. They don’t communicate through email, need to continuously check the website for admission status which was irritating. They give out results quite late which could be a problem as other universities give them earlier and also have a deadline to pay the deposit to confirm the seat. This is the problem. Moreover, for my course there was no deposit required to confirm my seat.
Faculty
10
- There is one faculty per class and for a subject I think there are about 2 classes for regular students. The teaching methodology pf most of the faculties is quite nice which makes us interested in the course and they do try to keep the curriculum inclusive of all the new age trending technologies there is to be learned.
- I have yet not witnessed any faculty helping students to find full time jobs. But I have just completed first semester so maybe I don’t know much yet.
Campus Life
8
- My university has only one campus. There is library, recreational center, wellness center in the university. There are a lot of festivals happening here and there and many of the Indian festivals are celebrated here.
- There are many clubs including a few of Indian clubs which regularly held events for the students. There are also a lot of student organizations that help students throughout the semester which is also a big help.
Part Time Jobs
- Very less TA, RA, DA opportunities are available in the university. And since there is a less availability, there is a lot of competition for the same. The pay range is similar to any other part time job available on campus mostly. Some professors might give a bit more depending on the funding they receive. Maximum number of hours allowed per week are 20 during semester and 40 during breaks. Other on campus jobs are also difficult to secure and generally offer minimum base pay range of 17.55 dollars.
- Typically, students get 17.5 to 20 dollars per hour wage for on campus jobs. It is difficult to secure one, with interviews having a list of about 40 students for one position. The opening s also are less as the market in too bad right now which is why the seniors have delayed their graduation and still haven’t left their part time jobs. I think here the easiest way to get a part time job on campus is to apply by referral. Even if people give interviews and all, people who gave in a referral have higher chance of getting employed.
Placement
6
- I am not aware about the full time job situation. Right now the market is bad and there are lesser job opportunities available.
- Though I have heard people are eventually getting jobs since it is Silicon Valley, I don’t know about it. I am still in my second semester and none of my Bach mates have received or applied for full time opportunities.
Accommodation
Off Campus
8
- I opted for off-campus housing. I asked around a few seniors for housing recommendations and then looked for availabilities on the property’s official website.
- The challenge was new rented apartment options were posted at night time in India so we were sometimes awake till 3 in order to book an apartment.
- There was a lot of competition there as well. Our apartment is for 3909 for 2b2b which is quite high but apartments are super pricey during fall intake in compared to spring intake.
- My apartment is around 20 minutes by bus on a busy day and 30 minutes by walk from the university.
Exams
- It depends on course. For my course only IELTS was required. GRE was not asked, however I did give GRE as other universities do require them. However, SJSU does require WES evaluation.
- They require Statement Of Purpose, 3 Letter Of Recommendations and resume. No interview was a part of my application process. I am not sure about other courses but I don’t think interview is a part of admission process at SJSU. Maybe if the application materials are weak, they might require it.
Fees
- Fee is charged semester wise. The tuition fee is 8749 for one semester. Other than that there is cost for insurance which is quite high.
- Rent really depends on the property one lives in. But it is around 570-800 dollars per month. For transportation the university provides a clipper card for 3 dollars which lets us travel in bus and light rail for free.
Scholarship
- Very less scholarships available.No one gets scholarship in the first semester generally. Thereafter it is too competitive. Also the funding with the university is too low to give multiple scholarships.
- No one in my batch have received any form of scholarship till now. I do not have much idea about the scholarship amount. But since the tuition fee is less, the scholarship amount is also less.
