After taking quite a bit of time considering schools and departments, I’ve come up with a list of schools I’ll be applying to. I suppose they’re still subject to change, but here’s what I’ve got (in no particular order):

Georgia Tech

Degree: MS in Human-Computer Interaction

Deadline: February 1, 2007.

Notes: Georgia Tech seems to be one of the more, if not the most progressive schools in the nation when it comes to computer science. Their MS program in HCI has a bunch of interesting courses like Design of Online Communities and Collaborative Computing. In addition to the MS in HCI, the MS in CS also allows students to specialize in a field. The fields include intelligent systems, networking and communications, and HCI.

Virginia Tech

Degree: MS in Computer Science

Deadline: January 15, 2007.

Notes: Virginia Tech is one of the few schools that i found that has an HCI group. Virginia Tech is fairly well ranked in terms of Engineering schools. Another plus is that they seem to offer good funding to their MS thesis students.

UC Irvine

Degree: MS in Interactive and Collaborative Technology

Deadline: January 15, 2007.

Notes: UC Irvine is one of the schools I wrote about earlier with a specialized degree program. In this case, the field is referred to as “Informatics.” They have their own ICT group which is a huge plus in terms of research capability. “Interactive and Collaborative Technology” is exactly what I’d like to do research in, and I’m hopeful that I’ll be accepted into the program. Apparently, their MS students have a chance to get financial assistance through teaching assistantships and whatnot, so I’ll apply for the MS.

Lehigh University

Degree: MS in Computer Science

Deadline: January 15, 2007.

Notes: I had never heard of Lehigh University until I saw the name on multiple top engineering school lists. After doing some research, it seems like Lehigh is a good fit for me, since it includes a Web Understanding, Modeling, and Evaluation Lab. It appears that Lehigh is preparing to branch its Computer Engineering program into an Intelligent Information Systems Engineering and Software Systems Engineering as well, so it might be a good time for me to apply to their program.

UC Berkeley

Degree: MS in Information Sciences

Deadline: January 5, 2007.

Notes: The iSchool at Berkeley is relatively new: the school was created in 1994. The school is also very small. Only 40 of 200 master’s students are accepted each year. I have a feeling that the projects that I’ve done might make me interesting to the school, though.

I’ll try using the iSchool as my “long shot” school and just apply to see if I can make it. The courses all seem very cool, with names like “XML Foundations” and “The Quality of Information.” I would really love to get into this school, as it seems like they’re on the forefront of this field.