For information on music minor at CMU see https://www.cmu.edu/cfa/music/programs/undergraduate-programs/undergrad-music-minors.html
Remember that a humanities minor is a degree requirement of all CS majors at CMU. Get the details.
I would also add that boys can be very different than girls. It may be that your brother is immature and/or have ADD/ADHD or something else going on. When it comes to parenting life is not fair as parents have to meet the needs of each child which can be wildly different while remaining within the resources available to them. If one kid needs100k in medical expenses the other kid does not necessarily get 100k in cash. You do what you have to do and if the situation were reversed you would hope all parties would do likewise for you.
@deadgirl - If I understand correctly, you are planning on a CS major because you think you can’t make a living from just music. What is your Plan B if you decide that you really don’t like CS enough to complete that major? Can your family afford an extra summer/semester/year at CMU for you to finish up in a different field of study? If you wake up one morning and want to have a Voice major and a CS minor, would it be better to be at UMD?
STOP. Just STOP comparing to what your brother has as a private middle schooler. STOP caring about how your parents spend money. STOP caring about public school vs private.
Look at what UMD will offer YOU personally vs CMU.
My oldest choose a great NMF at a lesser ranked public school. That school offered him research freshman year, better labs than some other choices, small Honors classes, opportunities to see D1 sports, co-op and fantastic freshman housing.
He would have not had the same opportunities at the higher ranked schools.
It was a huge relief to me as he was the oldest of 3 and I didn’t expect large scholarship for his siblings. I can’t even describe the stress it took off of me, but we never voiced this. We focused on what he personally could get out of the school in addition to no loans for any of us.
So, drill down to the class offerings and the opportunities at each school to make your decision.
“My point is that a wonderful t10 cs honors college with access to the wide spectrum of educational alternative pursuits within a flagship research uni, plus 200k for other things in the future, should be carefully weighed against the t5 or number one cs school full pay.”
top-10 is stretching it for UMD, there are a lot of good reasons to choose UMD but convincing yourself it’s a top-10 CS school and only 7 or 8 spots behind CMU, is not one of them. Despite the billionaires, they’re probably three or four tiers apart.
“Remember that a humanities minor is a degree requirement of all CS majors at CMU. Get the details.”
I checked on that since that sounded a little odd, and you do need a minor or additional CS concentration, so you can fulfill that by taking more courses within CS. And the minor can be in any program outside of SCS, not just humanities.
The differences between the two schools are too small to justify the cost. College provides enough job training to get an entry level job. Technology is a field based entirely on experience. There’s no special class of higher-salaried professionals that went to more “prestigious” universities. I think the decision is a no-brainer. Take the scholarship.
That’s wrong. There are very few engineers at prop shops/HFT and unicorns not from the top schools - and these are typically the highest paying opportunities for undergrads (with entry level hires getting $140k-200+k total comp before benefits - and that can be in mid COL places like Chicago, so that money goes really far). The unicorns and prop shops typically only recruit at a handful of schools. Even at your big elite tech companies, the top schools are very overrepresented (even though they are more open-minded about the background of their talent). This decision is not a “no-brainer”. Both choices have very compelling merits.
Yes, but, @yikesyikesyikes . Not every graduate of a top program lands that kind of gig. The student must have the drive and talent to get into position. The bottom CS student at CMU will not magically be ahead of the top or even middle UMD students.
I totally agree! But the fact that the OP secured an admission to CMU SCS and a BK scholarship @ UMD signals to me that potential and drive. It is very feasible for OP to end up with these choices, if they continue with great habits in college (which is a totally different game, to be fair).
Our D thought we were ruining her life by telling her she had to take the full ride on the table.
Her life has not been ruined. Nor has her parents life. We are now in a position to help her with grad school.
Although UMD is an excellent school, it does not compare to Carnegie Mellon, especially in CompSci. The CS program at Carnegie Mellon consistently ranks in the top three along with MIT and Stanford. The acceptance rate in to the CS program at Carnegie Mellon is around 3%, about as selective as you can get. Furthermore you can expect to earn considerably higher starting salary with a CS degree from Carnegie Mellon relative to Maryland. You will not be making a wrong decision what you chose. Also, please don’t take this as a knock on UMD. It is an excellent school, just not in the same league as Carnegie Mellon in CompSci. Attend where you think you will get the best combination of education, fit, and career opportunities.
@akin67 Do you plan on offering OP a job when they graduate and regardless of experience, skills, and grades? That’s the only way the OP is guaranteed or can expect to earn more than a UMD grad. CMU CS grads earn a pretty wide spread post-graduation. Plenty are earning less than UMD grads. That really shouldn’t be a factor, imo, when looking at two excellent schools. The OP’s efforts will determine salary.
1 Like
@deadgirl: basically, this whole thread demonstrates that NO, you are NOT stupid nor ridiculous for debating this!
There’s no wrong choice and it’s NOT a no-brainer! 
My take: you have the money for CMU, you didn’t get into such a highly selective program without impressive achievement and potential, use that college fund and prove what you’re capable of.
BUT if you choose UMD BK, you’re in an enviable position to combine CS and music, have more leeway generally speaking, and still come out on top.
Whatever you do, you win!
@itsgettingreal17 As with everything else in life there are variables of course. But there are some schools that have a particularly strong reputation in a specific major where they attract the most prestigious employers in that field, and Carnegie Mellon certainly has that for Computer Science. You don’t have to take my word for it. Look at the Payscale survey for computer science at each school for a BS degree. Carnegie Mellon is at $132,453 and UMD is $95,489. The Carnegie Mellon salary is almost $37,000/year higher (or about 39%). I would consider that to be significantly more. You can see for yourself at https://www.payscale.com/research/US/School=Carnegie_Mellon_University_(CMU)/Salary/by_Degree and https://www.payscale.com/research/US/School=University_of_Maryland_-_College_Park/Salary/by_Degree
Just find the BS in Computer Science and look at the salaries.
Nobody is stating that UMD is not a great school, but for Computer Science Carnegie Mellon is in a different league. According to US News and World Report, for graduate school Carnegie Mellon is ranked number one in the US, while Maryland is number 16. I was not able to find an undergraduate ranking for CS. the closest I found was computer engineering, which is a combination of computer science and electrical engineering, and again Carnegie Mellon was ranked number one while Maryland was not in the top 12.
Lastly when selecting a college, one of the key success factors is earnings and it absolutely should be a factor. Do you agree a college education is an investment? Then how can you not consider return on investment to be a factor in selecting what college to attend?
UMD IS an elite school. My spouse who gradated out of a big 10 CS program works side by side MIT grads among others on the same pay scale every single day. Both of us have worked in that industry for many years and some of the comments on this thread does not reflect our experiences working and hiring in cutting edge software engineering. I would be shocked if UMD did not have top notch recruiting opportunities. The difference between an ACT 33 CS kid at UMD and one at CMU might just be ability to afford and/or possibly the desire for a slightly more flexible program.
I will say my kid this year applied to a variety of music programs to double degree. First, know that varying music faculty has different feelings about double degree students. CMUs music program reads as extra demanding. You may have to work hard just to get in the program. The larger public universities with schools of music were much more welcoming and flexible to my academic kid interested in dual degree as an option and all seem to have multiple paths to a music degree (BA, BS, BM) and my ;high stat kid is happily choosing one as an option.
Anyway - if you were my kid and especially with the additional music interest, we’d be cheering on UMD all the way. Good luck with your final decision making.
@deadgirl - Any decision yet??
One thing that is often overlooked is that type OP may realize that she doesn’t like CS after getting more exposure. I have a good friend that it took into his MS program before he determined that he hated coding. He changed subjects and is now a professor in that subject.
For those parents and teenagers saying number one in the rankings is a different level than number 10. Or number 16.
At this level of excellence it’s such tiny subjective inputs.
As a better example of this do yourself a favor and google two names.
Ryan Leaf and Tom Brady.
Rankings and ratings are not absolute truths. They may not even be directionally accurate all the time.
1 Like
Wanting to go to grad school for music makes me wander about the CS major. To choose a school based on CS when the true love is music may be a mistake.
I believe OP talked about combining her passion for music with her CS aptitude. Sounds like she could accomplish great things, irrespective of the monetary prospects.