I'm looking to get a Master's in GIS, and have it basically narrowed down to three schools.  I'm looking at USC and Pennsylvania State, both entirely on-line, and Cal-State Northridge, which is in-class.  Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in the field who can tell me which program is generally regarded as the "better" program. 

Thanks for any help!

Have you heard of ITC

check : www.itc.nl

What do you think you'd like to focus on for your Master's?  That might have a lot to do with where you go.

Michigan State Univ. and Univ. of Wisconsin both have very large Geography departments and extensive graduate degree options.

Both USC Geography Grad/PhD programs are good. Yet, I believe the So. Carolina program is stronger.  Dr. John Jensen will be retiring soon, so if you want to study under him, you will want to attend next year. Dr Michael Hodgson does a lot of research on LiDAR, both remote sensing and DEM extraction. Check out the faculity's degrees and wide range of research interest here: http://www.cas.sc.edu/geog/people/faculty.html.