University of San Francisco
Computer Science
Graduate Programs
Professor Terence Parr
Graduate program director
Introduction
My background
USF
Programs
MS Computer Science
MS Web Science
Entrepreneurship option
Practicum, internships
Faculty
What are we looking for in students?
Cost and fellowship awards
Who am I?
Graduate program director in CS
Purdue University PhD, computer
engineering
Postdoctoral fellow at army supercomputing
center
10 years as entrepreneur in silicon valley
Professor USF 2003 - present
I review and decide on all applicants and
fellowship ($$) awards
Univ. of San Francisco
Oldest university in San Francisco
USF in US top rank (top 130 schools)
According to Forbes & Princeton Review
2004, USF is ranked among the Top 25 of
"America's Most Entrepreneurial
Campuses”
Very high faculty to student ratio
Small class sizes (in CS usually < 20 students)
Individual attention from professor
Students gateway to the Silicon Valley
Strongly endorsed
"I wish there had been an entrepreneurship emphasis like
USF's when I was in computer science graduate school;
my career has been a combination of just that: technology
and management. I hope USF's MS students,
particularly those taking the emphasis in entrepreneurship,
will consider Adobe upon graduation.”
Dr. Charles M. Geschke
co-founder and Chairman of the Board, Adobe Systems
"Today's business world demands both deep technical
skills and expansive business acumen. Excellent USF CS
graduates demonstrate both these traits and BEA looks
forward to hiring more outstanding talent."
Alfred S. Chuang, Former USF CS student
Chairman, co-founder, CEO BEA
USF at night
MS Computer Science
Goal: to produce top quality programmers
9 courses in these areas:
Software development
Concurrent computing
Software/hardware interface
Masters project
2 elective courses
2 years (4 semesters)
Students have 20 hours / week project work
for each course
2 courses / semester is full time
MS Web Science
Focused on developing internet applications
Students study algorithms and methods
behind internet applications and sites
(Google, amazon, ebay, …)
7 courses and has fewer reqt’s than MSCS
Topics: software engineering, distributed
computing, artificial intelligence, networking,
interface design, and Internet systems
2 semester sequence of masters project work
Normally 4 semesters (2 years), can be done
in 3 (12 months)
Entrepreneurship emphasis
Partnership with the Entrepreneurship MBA
program:
MBA661 Entrepreneurial Management
MBA662 Global Product Development
MBA664 Creativity and Innovation
Teaches how to form company around their
ideas and what product to build
Requires TOEFL iBT >99
Available with MSCS and MSWS
Practicum option
International students can work in Silicon
Valley while going to school (after first 9
months)
Income is between $12 and $35 per hour
20 hours / week during Fall/Spring, 40 hours /
week in summer
Must work as part of course (CPT not OPT)
Excellent way to secure job for after
graduation
Students work at Salesforce, BEA, SAP, …
OPT Sci/Tech Extension
OPT: optional practical
training
F-1 visa holders can work
12 months after graduation
New rule: USF MSCS, MSWS
graduates may be eligible for 17 MORE
months on OPT
More time to get work visa, green card
CS classroom ($2.5M)
Interactive courses, small classes
Practical courses
CS Faculty
Benson
Cruse
Brooks
Galles
Buckwalter
Pacheco
Parr
Rollins
Wells
Wolber
What we’re looking for
Excellent programming background
Average GRE Quant. 760/800
TOEFL >= 85 iBT preferred
Good undergraduate grades, good university
CS background essay; needs to say specifically
what student has done
We accept some non-BSCS students such as
engineers, biologists, mathematicians, and
even have had some very successful nonscience students
Students can take missing background at USF
Cost and Merit Fellowships
36 units for CS: $38700 ($1075 per unit)
27 units for WS: $30100
Cost is similar to UC Berkeley, …
Best students get tuition assistance
From $4000 to $12000 for first year
Some students get fellowship in second year
Expensive to live in San Francisco
Starting US programmer salaries in Silicon
Valley: $70,000/year to $110,000/year
Sending students to USF
You contact me directly with questions:
Gradadvisor@cs.usfca.edu
I can do a quick review of student by email to
see if student is a good fit for USF and if they
are likely to get accepted. Can save
application fee
Direct communication with me is convenient
and useful to you and your student clients