<p>I'm trying to decide between Caltech and Carnegie Mellon (school of computer science). I plan to major in computer science and/or electrical engineering. CMU is offering me a $63,000 merit scholarship, and I'm not receiving need-based aid from either school.</p>
<p>I know that Carnegie Mellon's computer science and electrical/computer engineering programs are among the best, but Caltech is extremely strong in all areas of science and engineering, and the core foundation in science and math is really appealing to me. It's also more selective and more "prestigious." I've heard that at Caltech, "It is like being in the top 33% of the MIT class without the bottom 67%," (admittedly from a caltech representative ^^; ) and I would really like to be in a tightly knit group with the very best students in the country. On the other hand, I would probably get a bit of preferential treatment at CMU with my scholarship designation, and CMU students are also pretty awesome, especially in SCS. Location is another consideration...CMU is relatively close to home (~5 hour drive), but Caltech sounds really warm and nice (I'm not visiting the campus until next weekend, so I don't know yet). A less significant factor is that my best friend is going to Caltech.</p>
<p>My parents and my teachers say that CMU is the obvious choice because of the money and the high quality CS and ECE programs, but I'm not sure. My family can probably afford Caltech's full $160,000 with loans and budget cuts, but it seems really dumb to give up a year's salary for what might amount to an insignificant difference in results and future opportunities.</p>
<p>Is attending Caltech worth the additional money? Regardless of finances, is it a better decision at all considering CMU's superior CS program?</p>
<p>i.e.</p>
<p>Scholarship s = new Scholarship(63000, CMU);
System.out.println(s.compareTo(Caltech.value() - CMU.value()));</p>