I'm intrested in getting an updated list of colleges/universities 
in the US with the highest placement rates (highest job offers rate) 
for it's graduates in an M.Sc. Computer Information Systems (CIS) field.
Appreciate your help,  Michael.

Greetings Sheffy11.  Choosing a university that claims high placement
in the industry you are pursuing seems to me a sound way toward
success in your chosen field.  Assuming the corporations that have
recruited previous graduates are pleased with their choices, you would
be in a better position for a job during recruitment and interview
time by choosing a school with high graduate placement in the
industry.  In addition to pursuing the schools with high placement, I
would also suggest that you contact companies for which you might want
to work and ask their recommendations for universities as well.  You
may get some alumnis from other universities that are interested in
programs from their alma mater.


On their web site, Missouri Southern State College states "The
effectiveness of the CIS curricula is measured by the success of our
graduates. Their average salaries are among the highest when compared
to other majors, and placement records indicate that they have enjoyed
an excellent placement rate. Many hold positions as middle and
upper-level managers for a wide range of organizations, and several
have earned graduate degrees."
http://www.mssc.edu/compsci/degrees.asp


The State University of New York, College at Oswego claims in their
Computer and Information Science Overview that "Our graduates have
gained admissions to quality graduate schools, recently including
programs at U. Mass, Amherst, Rutgers, RIT, RPI, Clemson, and the
University of Pittsburgh. Those seeking employment have also met with
success - the placement rate and starting salaries of our graduates
are among the highest of all SUNY programs."
http://www.cs.oswego.edu/overview.html


On the web site for the Simon School of Business at the University of
Rochester, there is the statement "The Simon School's CIS
concentration has yielded an impressive record of exceptional
placement opportunities.  Traditionally, CIS graduates pursue
rewarding careers in a variety of areas, including technology
consulting, corporate information systems management, business
processer engineering, systems analysis, and general consulting.  In
addition, the placement of CIS students in investment banking,
high-tech industries, software businesses, Fortune 500 manufacturers
and international consulting companies has been very strong. Recent
CIS graduates have obtained positions with prestigious companies such
as Federal Express Corporation, IBM, Intel, Pricewaterhouse, Coopers
LLP, U.S. Bancorp and Xerox Corporation."
http://www.ssb.rochester.edu/pdf/cis.pdf 


California Lutheran University states on their web site "CLU computer
science graduates often pursue careers that utilize their skills in
software and hardware development, programming, computer use in
businesses, computer engineering and education...Computer science
students are in demand and CLU's graduates enjoy a high rate of
placement in jobs or graduate schools."
http://public.clunet.edu/Computer_Science/info.html


James Madison University looks very promising for placement.  On their
web site under the heading "Evaluation of Job Placement Success" they
report "Ninety-four percent of the 2000 CIS graduates surveyed by
Career Services were employed, with about 6% seeking work. The average
salary for these graduates was $44,240, about a 3% increase over last
year. It is the second highest of any department or program at JMU
behind Computer Science. The minimum salary was $15,000, while the
maximum was $54,000. Two operations management graduates responded to
the survey. On average, students had nine job interviews and three job
offers. The top employers were Accenture, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
American Management Systems, Datatel, Sprint and MCI Worldcom. These
six firms accounted for 39% of the employers of survey respondents."
http://centennial.jmu.edu/portfolio/pdfs/CIS_OM00_01ar.PDF 


The College of Saint Rose also looks quite promising and they state on
their site "With such a heavy demand for computer programmers and
systems analysts in the labor market, most Saint Rose CIS graduates
are finding job placement immediately upon or even before graduation.
Some local companies at which Saint Rose CIS graduates are employed
include:
MapInfo 
Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory 
Key Services Corp. 

Following are just some of the occupations open to CIS graduates:

Computer Programmer: writes software applications in programming
languages such as Visual Basic, C++ and Java

Systems Analyst/Project Manager: designs software and works in a team
setting
 
Web Designer/Programmer: designs Web pages including the use of items
and response forms

Database Manager: designs databases, creates tables, forms, queries
and reports for a database management system

Network/Laboratory Manager: designs and maintains a network of
computers and related software"

http://www.strose.edu/Future_Students/Academics/School_of_Math_and_Science/cis_ug.asp


Kansas State University boasted on its site about placement and
salary:
"In past years, it was estimated there were nearly one million empty
information technology (IT) jobs, yet only 40,000 graduates in these
areas each year. This led to widespread hiring of international
workers and workers without university degrees in IT fields. With the
decline of the economy in 2001, hiring of international workers and
non-CS workers reversed dramatically, yet placement of CIS graduates
remained strong.

Enrollment in the computer science B.S. degree program has increased
dramatically (from 248 to 355 students) and the employer demand is
high with new graduates getting a starting salary of approximately
$50,000. Enrollment in the computer science M.S. degree program has
increased significantly (from 32 to 59 students) and the employer
demand is high with new graduates getting a starting salary of
approximately $65,000."
http://www.ksu.edu/apr/programreview/2001/Engin.htm


This link may also be of interest as it mentions high placement but
gave no figures per se:

Where are Kelley School of Business Graduates Taking Jobs and Why? by
David S. Gorelick
http://www.indiana.edu/~tst/Archives/volume2_issue3/where_as.html


I then searched for the main web site of each university name I
provided above so that you could check out the overall campus ambience
and see what else the schools had to offer:

Missouri Southern State College
http://www.mssc.edu/

The State University of New York (SUNY) Oswego
http://www.oswego.edu/ 

Simon School of Business, University of Rochester
http://www.simon.rochester.edu/main/default.asp

California Lutheran University
http://www.clunet.edu/

James Madison University
http://www.jmu.edu/

The College of Saint Rose
http://www.strose.edu/

Kansas State University
http://www.ksu.edu/

Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
http://www.bus.indiana.edu/


I hope one of these universities appeals to you as they were the ones
both frequently and prominently listed in my searches.  Should you
need further clarification before rating my answer, please request it
and I will be happy to conduct further research in this area.


SEARCH PHRASES:

highest placement rate CIS graduates
high CIS placement rate graduates
high placement rate "CIS graduates"
"CIS graduates" job placement best
Missouri Southern State College
The State University of New York Oswego
Simon School of Business, University of Rochester
California Lutheran University
James Madison University
The College of Saint Rose
Kansas State University
Kelley School of Business

---

Clarification of Answer by journalist-ga on 21 Nov 2002 18:54 PST

Dear Michael:

Thank you for your rating and comments.  Had I been aware you wanted
statistical data from independent studies, I would have researched for
that information as well.  Because your question didn't mention a
statistics study, I gathered the information related to the topic of
your query.

I hope you will utilize the services here again as well as the
clarification feature of the program so that you will recieve the
results you seek.  The Clarification feature is offered to assist the
customer in determing areas of further study.

Even though you decidied not to utilize the Clarification feature
before rating my answer, I will be happy to conduct further research
for you in this area.  Please advise how you wish me to proceed.

---

Request for Answer Clarification by sheffy11-ga on 23 Nov 2002 08:33 PST

Thanks, and sorry for the previous misunderstandings.
Yes, I would like to get (if it's available, of course) more statistical data
about my original question (Master degree - CIS).
I'm not sure, though: do I have to pay additional $50 or the first 50 already
covers this clarification?
Thanks a lot,
Michael.

---

Clarification of Answer by journalist-ga on 23 Nov 2002 09:01 PST

Dear Sheffy11:

You are required to pay no additional fees whatsoever and I'm
delighted you have requested clarification of my answer - I want to
assist you in all ways I am able.  I also hope your experience here
proves to be all you expected and more and, as I neglected before to
note your tip, allow me now to say thank you! :)  It was a most
gracious and generous gesture.

Now, forward on your quest!  I am resuming research on your question
clarification today and I hope to have information for you soon.

---

Clarification of Answer by journalist-ga on 23 Nov 2002 12:47 PST

Hi Michael:

I hope you can view this message as a positive clarification of sorts
even though I am sad to state that I could not locate an independent
study like you stipulated in your clarification request.  I have
searched the Internet for many hours reviewing links and I also asked
a few of my colleagues if they had search phrase suggestions because
nothing I attempted produced the results.  However, still no luck.

I did find two companies mentioning universities in general.  

From Sun:
"We have alumni from over 100 universities throughout the world."
http://www.sun.com/corp_emp/zone/mbas.html

From Milliken:
They featured IS employee mini-profiles from North Carolina State and
Furman University.
http://www.milliken.com/hr/wwwmlkn.nsf/WebAllDocs/36074FA46AFE73FF85256ACE00613ADC?OpenDocument

Using the search phrase (remove quotations) "CIS jobs -university -edu
-college" turned up a link to Jobvertise but that didn't produce what
you are looking for. The search results page for "computer information
systems" at  Jobvertise is located at
http://www.jobvertise.com/search?query=computer+information+systems&city=&radius=30&state=&button=Search+Jobs
just in case you want to check it out.

In another search for (remove quotations) "independent study CIS
graduate placement -university -edu -college", I did find related (but
not precise) information at
http://www.black-collegian.com/issues/1998-02/majors.shtml.  It was a
general issues site.  Their site listed under CS hirings (first figure
Bachelors and second figure masters):
Lockheed Martin Corporation 1395  74 
IBM Corporation 1050  130 
Andersen Consulting 450  35 
American Management Systems 350  50
Deloitte & Touche 150  100 
Bellcore 100  25 

and under CIS hirings:
Arthur Andersen, LLP 47  10

I wanted to return with at least one comprehensive independent study
for you but I could not locate even one.  I have listed most of my
search phrases below so that you will see how I attempted to locate
the information.  At least, you can see how I proceeded.

Again, I would suggest you contact companies for which you would like
to work and ask their HR departments if there are universities they
would feel comfortable in recommending, ones they think provide the
most informed graduates.  You may hit on similarities among your
queries and could then use those in future queries to companies.

Should you need futher clarification, please request it.


SEARCH PHRASES (many of these produced no results nor viable results):

independent study CIS job placement
independent study CIS graduate placement -university -edu -college
college comparison CIS gradute placement
college comparison CIS employment
"we hire CIS"
"we hire" CIS
"who we hire" CIS
CIS employment opportunities Masters -university -edu -college
CIS employment Masters -university -edu -college
CIS employment Masters alma mater -university -edu -college
CIS "we prefer graduates from"
CIS "we prefer graduates of"
information systems MBA "we hire"
masters science CIS "graduate placement"  
masters science CIS "graduate study"
CIS graduate placement study independent
CIS graduates masters job placement
CIS "graduate hire" survey
"CIS graduates" survey masters
"graduate placement" independent statistics CIS
"graduate placement study" independent
"graduate placement" independent study
"job placement study" MS CIS
"best college hires" CIS
"college placement study"
"college placement study" information systems
"graduate employment" masters computer information services 
graduate employment CIS masters US review

---

Clarification of Answer by journalist-ga on 23 Nov 2002 13:42 PST

P.S.  A researcher colleague, chance-ga, did provide a link to some
ratings of colleges - I received the message after I had posted the
clarification above.  Located at
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/rankings/usnews/blcontents.htm, I
perused the links but didn't locate a job placement study.  However,
the links located there may be of interest to you.

Chance also offered a link to a great general college prep site at
http://www.wiredscholar.com/global/sitemap/sitemap.jsp.  I wanted to
pass these links along to you in case you wanted to visit them.

Guys,
I'm aware of the fact that my question is not an easy one and the
researcher
has spent a lot of time looking for an answer. He submitted a clear
and a very well phrased answer. On the other hand - and I'll say it
again - he supplied an info that he has found in several random
colleges which decided to advertise their high placement percentage.  
Are you aware of the fact that this is not a statistic data, but just
a commercial statement, kind of advertisement? This is not a
comparison between colleges. There might be lots of other educational
institutes with a high placement rate that simply haven't mentioned
anything about that on their websites and in this case the researcher
wouldn't be able to find this data. What I was asking is an
independent statistics that might be somewhere on the Net, which
really compares between different colleges.
What you're basically saying in the email you sent me yesterday, is
that the researcher gave me a clear answer (BTW it was really nice and
friendly) and that he has spent a lot of time (and I fully understand
and appreciate that), but instead of being grateful I'm requesting a
refund...
I understand that the researcher made his best, and I'm aware that the
info I was looking for,  might not be available on the Net at all, but
in that case I would be expecting an answer like "the info you
requested can not be found".  The data I received was a random data -
not a statistical.
I think that the most important argument here should be how accurate
the answer is and not how much time was spend by the researcher.
Please read my question again and compare it to the answer. Frankly I
liked the answer and the way the researcher was communicating with me 
- I'm just saying that I was expecting to get a different kind of
info.
If I new from the very beginning that the things would turn out this
way,
I would probably rate my question differently. Maybe 20 or 30 dollars,
but not 50. If you still think that I'm completely wrong - I don't
want to argue with you,  just forget about everything  -
I'm not asking for any refund.
Thanks,
Michael.

This is jealously guarded inside information that is collected by
college career/placement centers. The National Association of Colleges
and Employers (NACE) regularly conducts surveys of its members to
gather these statistics and publishes the results for "members only."
Sometimes college placement offices will refer to these surveys if
their schools and programs are rated highly. NACE also conducts a
yearly Salary Survey that is usually highly publicized. It is
available from their Web page.

http://www.naceweb.org/press/display.asp?year=2002&prid=164
DATE: September 13, 2002 
SUBJECT: College Class of 2002 Saw Fierce Competition, Lower Starting
Salaries

http://www.naceweb.org/products/vts/National_Association_of_Colleges_and_Employers342.htm
This page reviews the research reports, surveys and other products
available from NACE.

Hi, 

Researchers can only answer what it is you are asking. Reading your
question, and then your comments in the rating area, you are asking
two separate things. I would have probably answered in the same
fashion as your researcher has. In the future you might consider this,
and add in a clearer idea of the level of information you are
requesting. Also, ask for clarification if the answer doesn't fulfill
your request instead of closing the question. Most of us will gladly
spend time on a bid of this amount clarifying and making sure that you
are satisfied.

Thanks, 

webadept-ga