MSITM.com Research Update Log

MSITM.com Research Update Log

This log records material changes to the comparison database, methodology and decision tools. It is intended to make major updates visible rather than silently replacing old research.

September 30, 2026

• Completed the April 2026 U.S. News graduate-business Information Systems crosswalk across all 50 current program profiles: 28 aligned specialty signals, 9 different-unit cases and 13 with no listing identified.
• Added Utah Eccles MSIS as an aligned U.S. News Information Systems signal at #34 overall / #21 public.
• Added Arkansas Walton MIS as an aligned Information Systems specialty signal using Walton’s official #21 public-business-school ranking; no overall rank was inferred because the official announcement does not publish one.
• Added UC Berkeley MIMS as a different-unit U.S. News case because Haas is #11 in Information Systems while MIMS is housed in the School of Information.
• Reviewed Alabama Manderson and UGA Terry against the April 2026 graduate-business specialty release; no matching graduate Information Systems specialty listing was identified.
• Completed the five-profile Eduniversal expansion review. UC Berkeley MIMS is a direct program match at #3, increasing direct Eduniversal matches from 11 to 12; Utah, Arkansas, Alabama and UGA were not identified as direct matches in the 2026 U.S. Information Systems Management list.
• Updated the aligned-program comparison page to 28 programs and refreshed STEM/OPT labels there for Texas A&M, NJIT, Oklahoma State, Baruch and Florida Atlantic.

September 29, 2026

• Resolved five additional immigration-relevant STEM/OPT statuses from current official university sources: Arizona State MS IT, Texas A&M MS MIS, Penn State MS Information Science and Baruch MSIS are now verified STEM/OPT-eligible; Florida Atlantic MSITM is now explicitly classified as not STEM-OPT eligible because FAU states the degree does not qualify for the federal STEM OPT extension.
• Updated the database-wide STEM/OPT distribution to 44 verified yes / 4 verify / 2 not STEM-OPT eligible.
• Propagated the five status changes through the interactive comparison tool, three-program shortlist, STEM guide, homepage status summary and Program Data Coverage page.
• Added Arizona State and Penn State to the Online + STEM guide and added an explicit Florida Atlantic STEM-OPT caution.
• Updated the international-student guide with the current 50-program STEM/OPT snapshot and clarified that exact degree/CIP and delivery mode matter for immigration planning.
• Added explicit STEM/OPT evidence notes to the Baruch and Florida Atlantic profiles for future maintenance.
• The remaining four programs still marked Verify are Auburn MSIS, Northeastern MSIS, Virginia Tech Master of IT and UGA MS Business & Artificial Intelligence; no exact-program official source found in this review justified changing those statuses.

September 28, 2026

• Reverified STEM status using current official university sources for Oklahoma State MS MIS, Nebraska Omaha MS MIS, George Mason MSIS and NJIT MS Business & Information Systems.
• Updated the site-wide STEM distribution to 40 verified yes / 9 verify / 1 confirmed no.
• Updated the interactive comparison tool and shortlist so those four programs now filter correctly as verified STEM; Oklahoma State and Nebraska Omaha also now show their current online delivery options.
• Updated Oklahoma State admissions information to reflect the current Fall-only schedule, March 1 international / July 1 domestic deadlines, and GRE requirement with limited exception paths.
• Standardized STEM summary rows across the eight older profiles that had not yet used the current profile-table structure.

September 25, 2026

• Ran a fresh mobile site-health audit: homepage scored 93 accessibility / 96 best practices / 92 SEO, with performance identified as the main technical weakness.
• Removed the obsolete Universal Analytics UA-23194231-42 tag from Frontier theme head code; Site Kit was already configured not to emit that legacy snippet.
• Removed two redundant AdSense library loads from sidebar widgets while preserving both ad slots; the homepage now loads the AdSense library once instead of three times.
• Confirmed WordPress search indexing is enabled, permalinks use clean post-name URLs and the core XML sitemap is live.
• Expanded regional discovery with new West Coast, Mountain West/Southwest and Southeast program guides and connected them from the main Programs, Resources and Compare-by-Priority hubs.
• Refreshed the two legacy MSITM acronym articles and updated them to the current 50-program database.
• Added a homepage “New in the 50-program database” section linking the five newest profiles and regional guides.
• Confirmed 50 published program profiles, zero missing excerpts and no unintended current-state “45-program” language outside deliberately scoped ranking/history pages.

September 24, 2026

• Expanded the standardized program database from 45 to 50 profiles by adding Utah Eccles MSIS, Arkansas Walton MIS, Alabama Manderson MS MIS, UC Berkeley MIMS and UGA Terry MS Business & Artificial Intelligence.
• Updated the interactive comparison tool and three-program shortlist to include all 50 programs, including a distinct confirmed non-STEM filter state rather than combining “No” with “Verify.”
• Restored 50-of-50 head-to-head coverage by adding five new school-pair comparisons; the site now publishes 32 head-to-head comparison pages.
• Updated current AI Exposure distribution to 11 Very High, 33 High, 5 Moderate and 1 Limited/Specialized.
• Updated STEM tracking to 36 verified yes / 13 verify / 1 confirmed no.
• Maintained 50-of-50 core data coverage for tuition/cost, application timing, preparation/prerequisites and career evidence/context.
• Integrated the new profiles into deadline, testing-policy, online/flexible, working-professional, career-changer, cost-conscious and AI/no-test guides.
• Kept the April 2026 U.S. News and 2026 Eduniversal crosswalk counts scoped to the original 45-profile cohort; the five September 24 expansion profiles are explicitly marked pending ranking-crosswalk review rather than being inferred.

September 22, 2026

• Expanded the school-to-school comparison layer to 27 head-to-head pages, giving all 45 of 45 program profiles at least one direct comparison pathway.
• Created a central Head-to-Head Program Comparisons hub and added it under Compare Programs in the main navigation.
• Connected comparison pages back to their participating school profiles and added comparison links to Texas, Florida, New York/New Jersey, DC/Maryland/Virginia and Midwest regional hubs.
• Standardized all 45 program profiles with one “Continue comparing” workflow linking to the full comparison tool, shortlist, AI, career-outcome and cost-conscious views.
• Aligned the Curriculum & AI hub with the current AI Exposure methodology and corrected older labels that no longer matched the 45-program classification set.
• Updated methodology language from the older “Limited / Not Verified” AI tier to the current Limited / Specialized classification.
• Removed a duplicated comparison-navigation block from the Nebraska Omaha profile during quality control.

September 18, 2026

• Core data coverage reached 45 of 45 profiles for cost/tuition, application deadline/timing, preparation/prerequisites and career evidence/context.
• AI Exposure coverage standardized across all 45 profiles: 9 Very High, 31 High, 4 Moderate, 1 Limited/Specialized.
• STEM tracking clarified as 33 verified yes / 12 requiring exact-program verification.
• Program directory rebuilt as a clean 45-profile hub; outdated legacy comparison tables removed.
• Resources hub reorganized around applicant fit, admissions/cost, careers, AI/STEM, rankings and regions.
• Created/expanded decision pages for career changers, cost-conscious programs, published career outcomes, DC/Maryland/Virginia programs and Midwest programs.
• Rankings hub simplified so U.S. News, Eduniversal and adjacent ranking categories remain separate.
• Main comparison tool gained sorting plus shareable filter-state code; shortlist gained shareable URL-state code.
• Fall 2027 deadline guidance updated with approaching October/November priority rounds.
• Decision tools connected into a single workflow: Find Your Fit → shortlist → deadlines/timeline → prerequisites → ROI → career-evidence review.
• All 45 program profiles received explicit search/meta excerpts; all 95 published pages now have an explicit excerpt.
• Interactive shortlist and ROI tools received accessibility improvements for labeled controls and announced results.
• Two legacy MSITM-definition posts were refreshed and differentiated to reduce stale/duplicative content.

September 17, 2026

• Cost/admissions fields substantially normalized across the 45-profile database.
• Career evidence standardized so cohort reports, alumni-market data, graduate earnings, employer examples and external labor-market statistics are not treated as equivalent.
• Career Outcomes & Reporting Transparency page added.
• Technical-prerequisite coverage expanded and categorized into required preparation, bridge/foundation pathways and broad-background entry.
• Program Data Coverage, About MSITM.com and Editorial & Advertising Standards pages added.
• 2027 deadline hub expanded with additional official term/priority dates.

September 16–17, 2026: external ranking crosswalks

• All 45 profiles checked against the April 2026 U.S. News graduate-business Information Systems specialty ranking.
• 26 aligned profiles received a direct external-ranking signal; 8 different-unit cases were kept separate; 11 had no identified listing.
• Eduniversal 2026 Information Systems Management crosswalk added with 11 direct program matches.
• A separate page identifies programs appearing in both ranking systems without averaging unlike rankings into a composite score.

September 15–16, 2026: database expansion

• Database expanded to 45 program profiles.
• Fordham MS IT, UT Arlington MSIS, USF MS AI in Business, UConn MSBAPM and Temple IT Auditing & Cyber Security added.
• Program-type methodology formalized: General IT/IS, AI-native, Analytics-focused and Cyber/governance.
• Interactive comparison, shortlist, ROI calculator and supporting applicant guides expanded.

How updates are handled

Small copy edits are not individually logged. This page records material changes to data coverage, methodology, program inclusion, ranking interpretation, major decision tools or site-wide research standards.

When an official university source changes, MSITM.com updates the current profile rather than preserving an outdated figure merely for consistency. Historical statistics may remain when useful, but the cohort/year should remain visible.

Program Data Coverage → | Research Methodology → | Editorial Standards →

Log started September 18, 2026.