Re: Masters in Information Security/Assurance

["Jon Gucinski" <gucinski () gmail com>]

I received my MSIA from Iowa State University in 2005...as a
disclaimer, I also did my undergrad there.

One of the unique things about their program is their roll-your-own
setup.  It's an interdisciplinary program, between the business,
political science, computer science, computer engineering, and
mathematics departments.  Since everyone has their own objectives, it
allowed students to choose their home department and course of study
to best suit them, while still getting a core curriculum of general IA
topics.  The faculty were mainly excellent.  I do know they offer an
online certificate (short of a full masters), if travel is an issue.

Before staying at ISU for my grad work, I was also accepted to the
MSIA program at Northeastern University in Boston.  Comparing the two
programs (at the time), I felt that ISU's had a more developed program
that I'd gain more from.

In terms of value...that's going to be largely a personal/subjective
decision.  For me, I felt that my undergrad work left me poorly
prepared for a career in InfoSec.  The in-depth work I did going
straight through to the MSIA definitely fixed that.  However, it did
put me in a bit of a quandary...my education significantly outstripped
my work experience when looking for a job and I feel that it may have
scared away some prospective employers.  However, it did intrigue a
few as well, and it landed me an excellent job, well in advance of
where I thought I'd be at my age.

Hope that at least begins to answer your question.  If you've got more
specific questions, fire away.

-Jon