The main reason for finalizing University of Maryland was the course curriculum. I liked the selection of courses and electives they had. Another reason was that being a public university the tuition fees in comparison were less than others. Also the ranking of the university & the program was high. There were a lot alumni from my program who were currently working in big tech companies in Cybersecurity domain and the feedback about the university that I got from them was amazing too.
Course Curriculum :
I believe University of Maryland has the most updated curriculum for Cybersecurity with subjects like Cloud Security, Digital Forensics, Applied Cryptography covering different areas of Cybersecurity. Also this program is taught by professors who are industry professionals themselves, giving you a good chunk of time during the semester to network & build connections with them as this helps in the future when you start looking for internships & jobs and it gives you an idea of challenges in the industry currently.
Exams :
My scores: GRE 158 Quant 143 Verbal AWA 4; IELTS 7.5 (L=8 R=7.5 W=7.5 S=8) TOEFL Not given
Placement :
There's a lot of companies that visit campus for career fairs median salary for my program would be around 90,000$ . Networking is a must in the US and career fairs are a good opportunity for that. There are various companies that come to campus some of them are Apple, Bloomberg, Meta, Amazon, Paramount, Boeing, Yahoo, Target, CVS, Pepsico, TCS, P&G, GEICO, VOLVO, Dupont, EY, Accenture, JP Morgan Chase, Panda Express, Workday and so many more for different profiles including Security Engineer, DevsecOps, Digital Forensics, SOC Analyst, Software Engineer, Java developer and other non engineering profiles like Supply Chain Analyst, Marketing Associate.
Internship :
Yes I'm actively applying to internships and have received interview calls from few companies as well.
Fees :
The tuition fees for my program is 31,000 dollars approximately. 1086$ per credit and the Masters of Engineering Cybersecurity program is of 30 credits.
Scholarship :
My department doesn't give scholarships. But I managed to find an on campus job in my 2nd semester.
Faculty :
The faculty to student ratio for my program would be 1:30. All of my professors have been very approachable at all times. I'd definitely recommend that you take a class with Prof. Kevin Shivers & Prof. Robert Dean.
Campus Life :
Campus life at University of Maryland is fantastic. It's a huge campus covering about 1300 acres you will never get bored here & will always find something that you can do over the weekends. There's a lot of events that keep happening and we have around 300-400 clubs so you will find your home somewhere or you can just start your own club. There's free WiFi all around campus and we have 4 libraries which are spread out accross the campus. Research facilities at UMD are amazing and my PhD friends love it here. Being a part of Big10 conference sports doesn't go unnoticed.
Hostel :
On campus graduate housing is difficult to be allotted as the demand is more than availability. So the next best option is townhouse or an apartment. My share for monthly rent is 585$ for a 2 bed 2 bath semi furnished apartment sharing among 5 people. Utilities would be an extra of 25-40$ per person. On campus housing for grad students shoud cost you somewhere between 400-600$ depending on private room or sharing basis.
