Carnegie Mellon CS vs. UPenn CS

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

Carnegie Mellon Computer Science (and maybe something else like minor in Machine Learning)

Pros:

Of course, there’s the fact that it’s one of the best (if not the best) CS school in the country

Great CS curriculum that is futuristic and so good for AI, can focus on CS

Very chill more introverted culture (which might match me cuz I’m an introvert? But I usually get adapted by extroverts :0 so I’m not completely sure)

Guaranteed internships/research and high-paying job

Hella fast promotions too

Can do CS and art, CS and other cool things within School of Computer Science that is very well funded and takes great care of you

Collaborative

Connections in CS

Cons:

More work than any other school I have on my list

If I ever want to do anything other than CS then I’m ducked because the tuition is very expensive and there’s no other job I can get with any other CMU degree that pays as much as CS and could help me pay the tuition off (I imagine)

Because of tuition, I have to go straight into industry (which ain’t that bad) but my worry is that I might want to go to graduate school (but def not sure yet, and could always go back after a few years of work which would boost my chances of graduate admissions anyway and is a common path)

Weather

Food

University of Pennsylvania CS + ?

Pros:

Can also do CS and art and other cool things like business/management

Workload ain’t as bad

Recruiting is pretty good? Not sure how easy it is to snag internships though, I imagine not as good compared to CMU

Very diverse, vibrant city&campus

Lots of flexibility in courses and would be fine if I were to do another major possibly because (next bullet)

The finaid is better (but I would still have to do something CS, which I would like anyway) and many other majors are also good at Penn, mostly better than CMU, so if I chose to do something else the pay-off would be better

Food

Good liberal arts education as well

Less connections in CS but more in other things like finance (could work at Wall Street a bit)

Cons:

Not as good as CMU for CS (rankings aren’t entirely accurate but I imagine there’s some level of difference between #1–CMU and #19–UPenn)

Not sure how good the curriculum is–heard there’s a lot of physics stuff mixed in too, which I don’t like (at CMU, I could avoid physics)

Super pre-professional, preppy environment

I imagine it can get competitive in a toxic way (people not collaborating, cheating) more so than CMU

Income not as good

Speed of promotion not as good

No chill: student groups and clubs need interviews and such which I find strange and stressful

Could the job prospects of CMU for not only initial hiring but onward outweigh the well-rounded and less risky Penn education and experience?

2

Great choices, CMU if you are set on CS

3

Sorry that you are missing accepted students days. Both our Penn SEAS students chose the University City lifestyle and promise of One Penn and ignored the rankings. One, an extrovert, is graduating, has had internships since freshman year, two different campus research jobs outside of SEAS and just decided among top PHD programs. Second, an introvert learning to be more social, had a local internship freshman year, just accepted one top internship program among incredible choices, even I was amazed.

The best school for you is where you will be happy and thrive. Yes, the off campus food options are inexpensive and delectable. You do need to apply to clubs but that only prevents students from accumulating a list of activities without skills or participation. Clubs are where recruiting Often happens. Think Amazon, Google, SpaceEx, Tesla. Your coursework and grades check boxes. Your resume and interview are about what you have accomplished, coded, designed and learned from your failures.

Penn has one of the largest hackathons with lots of recruiters. They also appear at SAE competitions. Think outside of traditional job fairs.

Have you looked at the DMD collaboration? Art and Wharton classes are common for CS students.

Good luck deciding your best fit.

4

CS CMU.

If business or liberal arts Penn.
nursing penn.

theatre cmu.
Engineering. Toss up.

5

What’s the exact net cost difference here? How much in loans would you graduate with from each?

6

I’m hoping to leverage so that they’ll be the same but the net cost difference is significant (although I can’t reveal here due to privacy reasons, sorry!)