My S was admitted to Computer Science at Cal Poly Pomona and University of Arizona (Honors college). He got about $23k scholarship from UofA so, the total cost would be around $32K/yr (for OOS from CA). CPP is around $28K/yr.
We hear that both schools are for high B students i.e. not very competitive. CompSci in CPP is not part of their college of Engineering and rather part of their college of Science. Also hear that it’s difficult to get classes at CPP, thus taking longer to graduate. On the other hand, it may be easier to get classes at UofA being part of the Honors college, but, since it’s only a moderately competitive school, we want to know how the future prospect for the student is.
Which college do you think is better for future internship and employment opportunities, especially, if he is to look for a job in silicon valley or in the greater Los Angeles tech area Will appreciate your inputs. We were expecting one of the UCs, but, it’s looking bleak (UCD reject, and UCSD waitlist).
3.6UW/3.92W, 1590 SAT (780/790), 6 APs, NMS finalist
Graduation rates may not be that high at either school, because admission selectivity is not that high at either school. However, stronger students will have a better chance of graduating in 8 semesters.
I would spring for one of the free-ride schools as NMS if CalPoly-Pomona or UA at roughly in-state prices are the only other options. Then at least you could save your money for a prestigious grad program if you really think you need an elite name.
But not sure if UT-Dallas is still taking applications. You’d probably should look at the FL publics as well. Pretty certain NCF still is and I like them.
Thank you both for your suggestions. @PurpleTitan: Yes, he did apply to Cal Poly SLO also…they did not reply yet, but, knowing how stringent their selection criteria is, we are expecting rejection. We’ll check UT Dallas. @ucbalumnus: his UofA letter did specify additional $3K if he becomes NM finalist (which happened after he applied to UofA), but, it required him to specify UofA as the NM school of choice (he chose another college in his NM choice) and that’s why we din’t factor it in. Do you have any input on internship or job potential for UofA compsci? Any input on how CA companies value graduates from UofA?
As far as job recruiting goes, Arizona may be a bit more out of the way than Arizona State for recruiting visits, but less out of the way than a tiny college in a remote area.
I don’t have specific knowledge about this but there are reasons to suppose it doesn’t apply to majors such as CS and engineering.
The reason I say this is that CS classes after the first year have prerequisites. So any random student can’t decide “gee, I want to take Data Structures” and enroll. The department has a roadmap at https://www.cpp.edu/sci/computer-science/docs/semesterroadmap.pdf for what to take, and a chart showing prerequisites at https://www.cpp.edu/sci/computer-science/docs/semesterflowchart.pdf that shows most classes require previous Math & CS classes. This makes it different from many majors such as History or whatever where majors who need upper-division classes are competing against other students just taking it to bag units. The CS department knows how many students it has, it knows how many seats it must offer to get them out in 4 years. Assuming they do this and the student chooses to enroll in the class when offered, they should finish in 4 years.
This is all a priori speculation. Your son should contact the department and ask about the percentage completing their degree in 4 years, and if they have programs guaranteeing 4 year graduation provided they agree to follow a plan.
As for job prospects, you are right this isn’t Cal or Stanford, but its a decent school located in a strong job market area. CS is a major in high demand and any student with a good gpa and that has held internships will have no problems landing a good-paying job.
When you mean UT-Dallas is free, do you mean with merit scholarship? My son get accepted to UoA with $35k/year scholarship for OOS (from CA) so the cost of attendant is around $20k.
His stats:
W: 4.54, UW:4.0
7 APs: 5(2), 4(5)
6 in progress APs and currently still maintaining A’s
ECs: 6 years science olympiad with many regional medals, cyber patriot, badminton club.
they are both good schools with solid reps among the tech titans. If he wants to live/work in so-cal after graduation, CPP is probably the better choice. Proximity means you have better/easier access to local internships.
I’d spend some time on both campuses, talk to some students - see if you can sit in on a class or 2 and see which one feels like a better fit.
I agree with this. U of Arizona offers much more of a traditional residential college experience if that’s something your student cares about. Isn’t CPP more of a commuter college? Also I don’t think you should measure how competitive/rigorous a CS major is based on the overall school admission and graduation rates. That goes for both schools.