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Uchicago MPCS

Program Overview

MPCS is a career-change-to-CS program that does not have the best reputation on forums. High overall ranking, low CS-specific ranking. Course quality is quite basic — discrete math, databases, Java, Python, C++, and other foundational courses. However, you can take undergrad courses such as Parallel Programming, which are more rigorous and have heavier workloads. For job-hunting purposes, taking easier courses is fine — the lighter the load, the more time for LeetCode grinding. Tuition is very expensive at $90K. Based on estimates from the applicant group chat, total cost is around $90K.

Career outcomes: The placement data from the first couple of years was decent, with companies like Google, Facebook, etc.

Some people on forums have used this to argue that UChicago's career outcomes are amazing. Personally, I think this is because 2021 was a golden era for tech hiring. There is the legendary story of "solving 4 problems and landing Amazon." For PhD pathways, MPCS has a pre-doc option — I know someone who found a suitable advisor through this option and got half their tuition waived (achieving the feat of getting a UChicago education at GT prices!).

Tracks are divided into 9-month and 15-month options, which can be flexibly switched. If you land a full-time SWE offer, you can switch to the 9-month track and leave early. Reportedly, fall internships (similar to co-op) were available in previous years — confirm with the school when the time comes.

Admission can be unpredictable. The day before admission decisions are released, if the top-right corner of your portal shows "attention international student," that means you have been admitted.

Pros

High school ranking — the top university in the Midwest. Light program workload, convenient for LeetCode grinding. Is a fintech target school, providing more landing opportunities. Chicago is a top US city — you can have a great time.

Cons

Expensive — as mentioned, tuition is $90K. Dangerous — many people have heard about how unsafe UChicago's location is, so think carefully before going. Basic course quality that may not help much with filling out your resume. Quarter system — semester pressure can be intense.

Course Structure

  • Choose one track from Data Analytics, High Performance Computing, Mobile Computing, Software Engineering, and Security, and complete four courses within that track.
  • Three unrestricted electives — you can take courses from CSMC, TTIC, and CS-PhD offerings.

Admission Preferences

Prefers STEM career changers.

High stats from prestigious schools (high proportion from Tsinghua, Peking U, Fudan, SJTU, Zhejiang U). GRE scores are valued — aim high. The website states that Verbal 50th percentile and Quant 90th percentile is a safe range.

In recent years, as awareness has grown and more career changers apply, the admission threshold has been rising year over year.

Data points:

  1. Emory CS + Math undergrad, with PingCAP internship
  2. USTC CS undergrad, GPA 85
  3. UMich Economics undergrad, Economy Dean's List
  4. CUHK Math undergrad, GPA 3.83
  5. McGill University Bio/CS undergrad, GPA 3.41
  6. UMich CS undergrad, GPA 3.9, with small-company intern
  7. Peking University Urban Construction undergrad, GPA 3.85; UPenn Urban Construction GPA 3.7; UChicago MPCS is her second master's

Job Outcomes & Data Points

UChicago does not have an EE department, so peer pressure is very low. At the same time, MPCS class size is not very large. Many classmates are people who have been working for years and will not compete with you for intern/new grad positions — they may even give you referrals directly in person. (MPCS and most CMU programs are essentially opposite in terms of data points.) In the earlier years (around 2022), Meta hired heavily from UChicago MPCS, including many non-CS undergrads. From my personal sampling, the UChicago name does not cause you to lose opportunities — friends with strong backgrounds basically all had many interviews.

  1. Zhejiang University CS, ByteDance internship -> Bloomberg full-time
  2. CUHK Shenzhen CS -> TikTok (US) summer intern -> TikTok (US) full-time
  3. Tongji Civil Engineering, Alibaba backend internship -> Google summer intern -> Google full-time
  4. CUHK Finance undergrad, three-month small-company internship, landed Amazon intern
  5. Indian student, three years full-time work experience, landed Meta intern, then Google new grad
  6. UChicago CS undergrad, small-company internship, landed new grad at a small company
  7. National Taiwan University Finance undergrad, one year full-time, landed new grad at a small company
  8. Indian undergrad, three years full-time at Samsung, landed Meta SWE intern, went to Meta for new grad
  9. Peking University Urban Construction undergrad, no internship, landed AWS SDE intern, then Meta new grad
  10. Carleton College Math undergrad, two small-company internships, landed Google
  11. Indian undergrad, three years full-time at Samsung, landed NVIDIA SWE intern and converted to full-time
  12. US undergrad career changer, had AWS intern during undergrad, did two more Amazon SWE internships at UChicago and converted to full-time
  13. Peking University Political Science undergrad, Microsoft internship in China, landed Google SWE intern and converted to full-time
  14. National Taiwan University undergrad, one year full-time, landed new grad at a small NYC company
  15. Indian undergrad, two internships during undergrad, landed San Jose small-company intern and converted to full-time
  16. Northeastern Illinois University CS undergrad, no internship, landed Grammarly SDE intern
  17. Vanderbilt University Urban Construction undergrad, previously worked as a project manager, landed SpaceX