<p>any ideas?</p>
<p>What are you interested in?</p>
<p>Here is a breakdown of each of the schools</p>
<p>Tufts:
Pros: I can participate in my sport, good engineering, great city, I like how it has small class sizes, nice campus.<br>
Cons: It is cold, not too much school spirit, far from home.</p>
<p>Carnegie-Mellon:
Pros: Great engineering, can participate in my sport, small class sizes. Cons: It's cold, not so much school spirit, kind of a boring city, study too hard, no social life</p>
<p>USC:
Pros: OK engineering, medium class sizes, cool city, a lot of school spirit, nice campus, warmer weather, closer to home, social life.
Cons: I heard the city is semi-unsafe, maybe too big</p>
<p>I guess I have to prioritize which aspects I like best and maybe I have to sacrifice education for weather or other things. Thanks for your help.</p>
<p>I think you captured the pros and cons of each school pretty accurately. Now it's up to you to decide.</p>
<p>Where CMU is located, it is NOT boring.You are next to Pittsburgh. There are lots of things to do since it is a big college area. In addition, you have a big concert hall near there, activities at each college, and the Steelers. </p>
<p>Tufts might be in a better area,but Carnegie Mellon's area probably comes second.</p>
<p>USC's engineering is better than 'ok' -- it's top 10 or top 20, depending on the ranking you look at. USC also has an extremely strong alumni support group in SoCal for jobs.</p>
<p>I'll second taxguy; Pittsburgh may be boring if you're expecting Manhattan, but if you're willing to do a little bit of work to find entertainment, you won't have a problem. Within a free 20 minute bus ride of CMU there's downtown Pittsburgh (plays, music, professional sports), the Waterfront (lots of shopping, food, semi-trendy place), the Southside (lots of college bars) and the Strip District (unique area). Within a 5-10 minute bus ride there's Squirrel Hill (older Jewish neighborhood with a lot of non-chain shops and restaurants and an artsy theater if you like that crap) and Shadyside (like Squirrel Hill except a lot more trendy and more bars). Then, within easy walking distance there's Oakland, home to the University of Pittsburgh with plenty of great food and cheap bars due to their huge student population.</p>
<p>Also, some of us like cold and windy weather. :(</p>
<p>thanks for your input. I'll take it into consideration when making my final decision.</p>