The University of Oregon

Date: Dec 31 1969
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
The University of Oregon has a beautiful campus, and the city of Eugene is equally beautiful. The summers are especially great, as there is almost no humidity or rain for 3 months straight, and the weather does not get too hot either. However, there is nothing to do in the surrounding area. There are a few shopping malls and movie theaters, and maybe a few eccentric restaurants, but that's about it. If you're an urbanite like I am, you will find this place mind-numbingly boring. I guess that's why most of the locals are weed-smoking alcoholic hippies or outdoor sports freaks. There are also no job or internship opportunities in Eugene, or for that matter, most anywhere in Oregon. Oregon's economy has been in a slump for the last ten years or more.

Academically, many of the departments are just barely competitive, both in the sciences and liberal arts. If you take a look at UO's rankings in any graduate department, they will most likely tend towards 3rd tier (around or below 50th). As for the CIS department specifically, undergrad enrollment has been dropping very quickly in the past 3 years, and as such grad student funding has become more and more limited. The quality of instruction is also quite poor, as many professors are too absorbed in their personal research to take any amount of time to prepare for classes. Most junior faculty are foreign and have a weak grasp of the English language. Many professors are bad at communicating, and some are even outright rude (professors have been known to openly mock and shout at their research assistants).

Half the faculty are getting old and tending towards the latter part of their careers, and as a result they either do not do much research, or do so without funding to support graduate students. Also, many of the professors use students in furthering their own personal research or careers (getting tenure is more important than student satisfaction), sometimes to the exclusion of helping them complete their degrees.

There are several programs at UO that do not deserve this type of reputation. However, if you are looking for a strong graduate program, you will probably have better luck elsewhere. There just aren't that many distinguished universities on the West Coast (aside from UDub, UCal campuses, and a few private universities like Stanford, USC, and CalTech—all in California).