Student (Anonymous)
Reviewed on May 17, 2025(Enrolled 2024)What Students Say
Likes
- I really liked the infrastructure of the college. Specially some classes of CS in fall semester will be held in NSC building, which is recently constructed with latest amenities and welcoming classrooms.
- Access to UB's own box and onedrive storage including microsoft 365 suite. Very easy to share work while working in teams. Recording demo and presentation using stream is also helpful and can be shared directly within organization.
- Very good research activities on campus where many professor has 50+ h-index for their publications. So, students can reach out to them directly if they are interested in such opportunity.
Dislikes
- Some class indirectly require attendance as a part of bonus inclass activities.
- Nearby areas will give countryside vibe, rather then city vibe. Buffalo winters are harsh and it gets frustrating some times to live in below 0 degree celcius from November to March
- Relatively less celebration of Indian festival unlike other universities, where Diwali, Holi, Navratri celebrated widely and on a large scale.
Course Curriculum
10
- Difficulty level of the curriculum is very high. It is not easy to complete assignments within the deadline if you don't start working on them early. But assignments are more focused on learning a concept or industry-orientated implementation for the majority of courses. Usually for CS from 9:30 am to 5:00pm. But classes will be either 50 mins or 80 mins. AVG 200 students, with the majority are indians in the MS course.
Admission Experience
-
I applied for the following universities:
- University at Buffalo - Admit MSCS (AI/ML track)
- Northeastern University, Boston – reject: MSCS admit: Software Engineering
- Texas A&M University, College Station – reject MSCS
- Arizona State University, Phoenix – reject: MSCS admit: Software Engineering
- Texas A&M was ambitious.
- Arizona State university care about undergrad college as well, although my GPA was excellent (9.41/10) and my friend was (7.5/10). He got an admit with a slightly better undergrad college but a similar profile. Also, early application matters at ASU.
- Northeastern cares about English proficiency, early application and GPA. My GPA was excellent but I was a bit late in applying. Additionally, my TOEFL was 92. My friend from the same undergrad college and course as mine got admitted with a very similar profile to me without the GRE. Because he applied early and his TOEFL was 102.
- I chose due to the excellent reputation of UB's CSE department, especially in AI/ML. Also, overall expenses will be less due to location. For the course track, a standout profile in some aspect with an excellent GPA will help but for the research track, you need at least one publication in a well-known journal; otherwise, they won't accept you in the research track. I am not sure about this year's process. But for Fall 2024 they required GRE for MS CS and TOEFL/IELTS. There are not official thresholds but GRE should be 310+ and TOEFL should be 90+. They care about the GRE more and the TOEFL is not that important if the profile is otherwise good.
- I applied to the Fall 2024 intake. I chose it because of the academic reputation of the CSE department, especially in the AI/ML branch. Overall ranking was good. Locality is not that good but still university itself is excellent, which makes it worth it for sure. Fees are affordable and UB has a very good alumni network, with many alumni working in top tech companies. So, I choose it. Admission for me only took 13 days to admit. generally from November to the end of February is the deadline.
Faculty
10
- 12:1 approx. I would say that yes, the methodology is definitely industry-orientated and can be seen from the assignments. For most subjects like MAchine Learning, Deep Learning, Operating System. Reinforcement learning – we need to code.
- Others like Algorithms, Computer Security, Data Models and Query Languages will require less code. But we need to take 4 courses in the first two semesters, and it will be an intense workload.
Campus Life
10
- 3 campuses. North, south, Downtown. North is the main campus and the largest one. All possible services are there like international students, sports, AI, entrepreneurship, library, career counselling, Entrepreneurship, writing help, language help, and mental help. AI club, UB blackstone launchpad, photography club. Student union with lots of fun activities on a regular basis. Oozefest is a popular event.
Part Time Jobs
- Lots of TA and RA opportunities but it will be after sem1. While in sem 1, there are not many opportunities. Generally, after semester 1, faculty know you if you are active in class and your work. So, there's a very good chance of getting a TA or RA job. Sometimes people choose campus dining jobs as well. Pay for TA RA is generally $16 per hour and in dining it will be $11. 20 hours max allowed per week.
- Some students do apply for part-time jobs and some don't but as I said, hourly it will be $16 and not more.
- There is an internal portal of handshake to look for part-time on-campus opportunities, as well as the university graduate coordinator who will send broadcast emails if there are any openings. I didn't apply for it but for projects, generally, a professor is required to interview a person.
Placement
10
- The Buffalo location has a bit less advantage over others. But still, there are lots of students getting jobs full-time. Market is not that good yet; people are getting above $100k for the full-time roles. Amazon was a mass recruiter in past but now, due to the recession in IT, amazon is not hiring actively from UB.
- I can say average salary is around $100k but I can't share more as I have still another sem to complete.
Accommodation
Off Campus
8
- Online communities are there on whatsapp and generally students find accommodation from those communities. Either choose subleasing, or you will also find contacts or landlords from those communities.
- There is also one online group, GISA, on facebook where students post rentals or any other household items for sale. Generally, Indian students stay near south campus and will take 20 mins by UB transportation to reach north campus for CS students. Living near north campus is expensive so students prefer south campus.
Exams
- During my term of Fall 2024. They require GRE, IELTS/TOEFL for the MSCS course. I am not sure about later terms if they waived the GRE requirement. But other courses just require TOEFL/IELTS.
- I had submitted a CV, LOR, and SOP. No interview as a part of the MSCS course. I think generally only CS courses have tough requirements, as other courses are not that competitive.
Fees
- Semester-wise, for Fall terms it will be around $15k, including everything. Insurance costs are $1k for Fall and $1.5k for spring terms. Consider tuition fees around $12.5k excluding insurance; the remainder is miscellaneous costs for other facilities of the university.
- I spend around $1.2K monthly, but generally others are spending $700-$800, including rent and groceries.
- Transportation is included in miscellaneous costs and will be provided by the university.
Scholarship
- There is a separate scholarship portal where we can apply for scholarships, but chances are very low as the fees themselves are very low. I don't receive any scholarship in my admit. I have applied for one while applying and also after the first semester.
- Generally, the option is to be a TA or RA with a professor for four hourly wages but Scholarship opportunities are not that many. As far as I know, none of the students in my batch received any scholarship, as it is very hard. From my end I don't know the AVG of how many students and how much amount.
