I have a dilemma and wanted input from others on this forum. I have been accepted to the University of Washington Seattle for Fall 2018, but I am not DA to CSE so I will have to apply via standard admission after completing the prereqs. I also received a full ride scholarship to study CS and participate in the honors program at Western Washington University.
Should I take the risk and enter the UW pre-CSE rat race to potentially graduate with a top 10 CS degree, or should I go with the certain degree at WWU?
Also, money is a concern for me. My parents cut me off financially after I graduated high school, so I will have to work and support myself through college. If I go to WWU, I will pay nothing for tuition and my living expenses will be minimal, so I won’t have to work much at all and I will graduate with a CS degree debt-free. At UW, however, tuition is over 10k and rent in Seattle is very high, so I will have to work full time (at least) to support myself without taking on a lot of debt.
UW is a brand name CS school and is obviously much better than WWU in terms of reputation/recruitment, but from what I hear WWU has a decent program and some of their better students get jobs at big tech companies in the Seattle area.
Full ride at WWU is the obvious choice in this situation. If you have to work full time while attending UW, you will have less time to study, which makes it even less likely that you will be among those who can gain non-direct admission to CS there. So the most likely result of attending UW is not getting into CS while accumulating debt.
Take the full ride!!! Admission to your major + honors + FREE?? You can always do a CS masters at UDub with the money you’ll save. WWU is indeed a decent program and if you put the time you would have had to spend making money into projects, research, internships, etc. you will come out far ahead.
TBH it sounds like you already know the right thing to do and just need some validation. Especially for someone flying without a net at such a young age… take the full ride and set yourself up for success. It is 1000% the right thing to do. (And congrats!)
If you need to support yourself in Seattle while you are studying, it is almost certain that you will find that you need to work full-time and study part-time so that you can focus and get good grades. You will end up needing more than four years to finish. So take that scholarship. Study full-time. Finish in four years and get on with your life,
Thanks for the comments. As aquapt correctly guessed, I’m already 99% certain I’ll go to WWU based on cost alone. I also love the campus and the location (Bellingham is an awesome town). I’m pretty much just seeking validation that I shouldn’t go to UW before I decide to skip my UW orientation session.
The fact that I won’t have to worry about work/debt or swinging a 4.0 in the prereqs for CSE means that my undergrad experience will be significantly more enjoyable at WWU. Also, the time I would spend working if I went to UW could instead be used to work on projects and build my resume.
I have a few friends with kids at WWU and without exception, they absolutely love the school. I think you’ll be very happy there and you won’t have the financial stress hanging over your head.
Agreed that wwu is your best option all around. Congrats on getting a full ride there! Just confirming what others have said about working and studying not being an optimal route, especially at a fiercely competitive program like UW. Many of my students struggle academically to keep up because of time constraints from work rather than their abilities.
For CS, working on independent projects or learning new topics on your own is important. Wwu will give you that opportunity.
You should also not miss your youth and miss the wonder of making friends and doing fun things. You will graduate and get a great job. And then do it or something in your field for the next 40 years. No rush to full on adulthood. Stop and smell the roses. Have fun and work hard. It’s a great time of your life.
If you’re going into computers, prestige really makes little to no difference. Getting a full ride scholarship only puts you ahead, especially when you decide to get married and start a family. Trust me, you’re better off taking the scholarship! Tech is a hot market right now. You’ll be fine.
WWU full ride 100% and rock it!
(Note: odds of working full time and attending college while getting good enough grades For cse are almost non existent so you’d give up a full ride for… Something else than CSE).
WWU’s CS program is actually very good. Because of the shortage of people with CS skills needed in the tech industry, I know that a lot of our local western Washington businesses (Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) invest resources into WWU in an effort to develop the tech pipeline we need to do our job. For example, just visiting the CS department’s site, in October they have tech talks scheduled with Amazon Web Services and Accenture.
So if you want validation - you’ve got it. It’s a great program; you’ve got a full ride and are in the major you want with honors!
