What Students Say
Likes
- It is very affordable in terms of tuition fees as well as living expenses. As Master Student studying Computer Science per semester your fees would be around 10k and living expenses per month would be around 450. If you are coming for Data Science or any other major that falls under College of Engineering you would easily get scholarship and your tuition fees would be halved.
- It is relatively easier to get an on-campus job. There are loads of opportunities available for international students. There are fair amount of assistantships as well which could be achieved with a bit more research and networking.
- The options in terms of subject selection are also vast and you could also see subjects that would be offered till next three semesters which makes planning selection a lot more easier.
Dislikes
- There are too many international students enrolled for courses like Computer Science, Data Science etc which is not that great to be honest.
- Although there are career fairs organized by the university, they are very rare, maybe 1 or 2 per semester so it gets a bit difficult to find a job.
- The location being Houston is not great for Technological students since there are very less companies due to which the advantage of local hiring is pretty much nonexistent.
Required Exams for Admission
Course Curriculum
8
- The difficulty level of courses are medium. A lot of focus is on practical learning and assignments and for the theoretical part generally you will be allowed a cheat sheet or you will have an open book exam so that there will be no need for mugging up.
- The course would be very helpful in developing skills to get job later the only negative aspect is that
Admission Experience
- Applied into:-
1. University of Houston - Admitted and Selected
2. University of Texas at Arlington - Admitted but not selected as heard that they are admitting even students with very low grades.
3. California State University, Long Beach - Rejected
4. California State University, Fullerton - Admitted but not selected as cost of living was way higher.
5. Northeastern University - Admitted but for Software Engineering instead of Computer Science so not selected.
6. Arizona State University - Admitted but again for Software Engineering instead of CS and was anyway too expensive. - Fees was the number one priority due to which I selected this university as the job market is not that good so I didn't want to invest a lot of money.
- First of all there is a common portal for all universities of Texas ( i think its applytexas.org but not too sure) where you will have to apply then after you will receive email and password for universities own portal there your previous education as well as all of your scores will be uploaded. After than just wait until you will receive a decision via email in later half of March.
For GRE there is no minimum score but anyone getting above 310 will be easily accepted. Mine were 7.5 and 312 respectively. - There weren’t any challenges as such but one thing that was not clear is when you would receive a decision was uncertain. For CSU LB I remember there was a way to monitor it but no such thing for any other universities except that one.
- I applied for Fall 2024 intake. Fees was the primary factor. Other factors were cost of living, ease of getting on-campus jobs, experience of professors teaching courses that I am particularly looking to take. The admission process might have taken 4 months. I started the application process on 23rd November 2023 might have completed it entirely till 30th November 2023 and then got admit finally on 25th March 2024.
Faculty
6
- Faculty to student ratio for subject is on average 1:30 which is not that bad as you get support of TA whenever needed and professor too during their office hours.
- The teaching methodology is similar to here in India, professors will come up with slides and try to cover them in depth. However, the mindset of professors is very different in terms of what value they are looking to give to a student by encouraging practical learning and industry ready skills.
- I admire Professor Chen for his sheer understanding of a very difficult to comprehend subject like Visualization and Professor Yan for his ability to make things easier to understand for students.
Campus Life
8
- University has 4 campus
University of Houston, Main Campus
University of Houston, Clear Lake Campus
University of Houston, Downtown
University of Houston, Sugar Land Campus. University of Houston. - University of Houston, Clear Lake Campus are two main where mostly international students will be studying. All the facilities that one can think of are readily available on the campus. More preference is given for Basketball and football teams when it comes to sports.
Part Time Jobs
- There are various part time on campus job opportunities available at university. The three main areas where international students tend to find jobs are firstly Center of Academic Support and Assessment (CASA) here you work as proctors, proctoring exams given by students, each semester around 30 students are employed here and they only hire international students so it is easier to get in if you know and apply here. Pay would be 12/hr. Second opportunity is working at Cougar woods here you will have to wash dishes and will be getting $15/hr, the same like previously here many students are hired so it’s easy to get job. Lastly, recreational centers here have many opportunities in different places so again you can definitely get job. Apart from this TA/RA/IA are given by professors but these all work on referrals mainly so need to find someone already working and get them refer you.
- Each job has it pros and cons like for CASA you will have to work 5 days/week so students living far away might not prefer it, for the recreational center shift gets over late at night at 11 so traveling alone via bus will not be that safe. However if you have friends too working there then maybe traveling together won’t be a problem.
Placement
6
- After completing CS you can find opportunities anywhere in the entire US. However with Houston you will get access to tons of oil companies that will prefer local candidates though they have very few openings but that can be a very good opportunity especially in this not so good market.
- There are cities like Dallas, Austin too where there are a lot of tech companies so there would be enough opportunities there too that said it’s nothing compared to companies in Silicon Valley, NYC and maybe Boston so you will have to be open to relocate.
Accommodation
Off Campus
6
- I found out about it through seniors via LinkedIn, who helped me with it. Monthly rent is around 350 for a 2b2b shared accommodation which most students prefer. It includes Central AC, Refrigerator, Oven and Dishwasher. Finding like minded roommates was the most difficult part.
- I think students similar to me should reach out to seniors to know about specific details, however joining what’s app groups would provide sufficient details. There are two main housing options where Indians live 1. Stratford Apartments where most North Indians live and Med Center where mostly South Indians live they are both around 45 mins away via Bus transport.
Exams
- IELTS and GRE are required
- For admission process - Statement of purpose (SOP), Letter of Recommendation LOR from 3 professors (you will have to provide university email address of each professor and they will be contacted through email where they will have to communicate via email to university), Transcript, each semester’s individual marksheet required
Fees
- For each semester it will be either 9500 or around 10,200 depending on semester. The difference is just because spring semester is bit longer so health insurance it bit higher than. This is assuming you are taking 9 credits per semester. However, if your course is management related you will have to pay around 13000.
- Fees has to be paid semester wise before starting of semester but you will have 2 more options, one is can pay in 4 installments with each installment in one month by paying additional 25 dollars and other option is deferment plan where you will pay entire fees at end of semester with extra 150 dollars.
Scholarship
- I personally haven’t received any scholarship because Computer Science comes under the Natural Sciences and Mathematics department and this department doesn’t have enough funding, however if your major falls under the College of Engineering you will receive a waiver in fees and will have to only pay in-state amounts.
- My friends have received in-state tuition fees halving their tuition fees(reduced by 4-5k each semester).
- You can also get in-state tuition if you get any assistantships either Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant or Instructional Assistant.
- Average number of scholarships depends on the major. For CS maybe just 3-5 out of 40. For Data Science almost 80% of students get in state fees, the same for engineering majors like Chemical Engineering, MIS etc.
