Berkeley or UMD for Computer Science

College Search & Selection
1

I’m currently enrolled to attend University of Maryland for computer science next year but I’m also on the wait list for UC Berkeley (L&S CS). I live in Pennsylvania so I would be paying OOS tuition for both schools, however, I do have a presidential scholarship for UMD. Here’s what my total 4 year tuition would very roughly look like for both schools (UMD scholarship included):

Berkeley: $228,464
UMD: $169,760

Also, traveling to and from Berkeley would be a flight compared to a 2 and a half hour drive to UMD so that makes UCB even more expensive. UMD has recently increased their tuition, which I included in the totals, and it’s possible that it will continue to increase before I graduate.

So my question is IF I get accepted off the wait list (which I’m aware is not a very high percentage chance), do you think attending Berkeley is worth the extra $60K+ in the long run? I am currently planning on living out in the bay area after graduating regardless of which college I go to. My family is in the upper middle class financially but the cost of Berkeley is the reason why they are strongly arguing against me going if I get accepted. They have no idea how beneficial a UCB degree in computer science would be so I was wondering if I could get more input from someone who knows what they’re talking about.

2

Hmm for EECS I’d say it’s almost worth the +60k. Idk for l&s though, UMD is very good for CS .

3

Be aware that L&S CS will likely require you to get a 3.3 GPA in the prerequisites to enter the major (up from 3.0; was 2.0 a few years ago).

UMD is a perfectly good school for CS. So are a number of schools that would be cheaper for you, like Penn State, Minnesota, and Stony Brook. $59,000 could pay you to relocate to the Silicon Valley and some living expenses while you look for a job after graduation. But it is not like there will be no recruiters at UMD (though there will be lots of government and contractors – certain areas of CS may be most interesting to them).

Of course, waitlists are usually false hopes anyway.