During my two months travel, I visited several great universities, including CMU, the one I should be studying in given I made a different choice back in May. I never thought visiting the schools would be difficult for me, emotionally – but in fact it is. They are too cool and rewarding above my highest expectation. This shoots up the opportunity cost of choosing to work for BCG first. The level of tension reached a did-I-make-the-right-choice level.
I spent three days in CMU to get to know the school and faculties. I’ve been to several seminars and sit-In a couple of classes. I’ve met world-famous professors, and talked to brilliant, welcoming students. The stage is perfectly setup – perfect for anyone who is ready to leap in and have his/her skills polished, for anyone who wants to do pioneering researches, and have continuous stimulant from the environment. It is a place you know for sure you’ll get something back if you put all your heart in it. In addition to all that, just the sheer luxury of learning new and interesting things is enough to make any serious scholar (like me) “itchy”!
Besides the tempting environment CMU provides, the one-year program is actually very cost-efficient. You only have to pay like $50,000 a year, not two, to get a diploma that makes every CS student envy. You can be readily available within 12 months for huge company that offers good benefit – and they will definitely compete over a freshly trained CMU HCIer. You will have the privilege to become one of the alumni of the top university, and enjoy people wowing and win their respect when they see your resume and name card. You can get all that within one year and $50,000.
To exhaust the list, you can also say CMU provides a cushion to the English-speaking job market. One year in an English environment will definitely improve one’s English communication skills. You also learn how to interact and social with foreigners, which is really important in doing international business.
Nevertheless, at the end of the day, I’m still glad I made the right decision to go for Boston Consulting Group. Simply put it, I’m basically done with studying. I’ve been studying for more than 15 years, I think I’m ready to move on to another environment and learn something new. Of course the courses are great and the environment is way better than NTU, but for me, the excitement isn’t like 5 years ago when I first entered university – I need something fresh and challenging other than more courses and reading assignments.
Besides, I don’t think I’m that ready to dive in the HCI field. When I applied MS, what I really want is a general CS master. The CMU MHCI, although the best among its peers, is too narrow for me. During my visit to CMU I’ve sit in several HCI courses, and I’m glad I’m there only for a couple of days, because there are some parts of the course I know are not critical to me. I know I won’t be an engineer, so a heavy year in coding and projects doesn’t prepare me for future challenges. I could imagine if I spent a year there, I’ll be constantly asking myself “why am I doing this?”
My decision is final after my ISMIR (International Symposium on Music Information Retrieval) experience. The symposium offers a window for me to see another side of the academic life. Generally speaking, the people are nice there, and the researches they do are definitely cutting edge. But thank god I’m not in an academic career! It takes a certain personality to do academic researches; I just don’t think I’m the right guy. Although I seriously doubt MHCI will require their students to go to any conference, the projects in CMU are probably similar in a way I’m not really interested.
The BCG seems to know that I’m in a process of deciding something. They sent me an email informing my first regional training. It is going to be in Bangkok and last for five days. They are also kind enough to show off our accommodation in Bangkok. The hotel looks spectacular! Those on-line training modules, although being overwhelming in volume, are arousing the energy within me. Well, after listing all the pros and cons, doesn’t it sound like we have a winner over here?
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