Hello everyone. Please help me out! I’ve accepted as an ECE student at these universities except UCLA where I’m EE. I love the ECE course but will probably specialise in CE.
I am an intl student and job opportunities are a priority for me. In addition to software jobs, I’m also interested in consulting/banking jobs. Where do you think intl students have the best opportunity? What are the pros and cons of each university? Please give details.
Also, is ECE at CMU worth the cost in comparison to the rest? It is very expensive but what are the pros?
And, how hard will it be for me to switch to CE at UCLA?
All answers are greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Congratulations on your offers! What a nice problem to have, choosing between so many good universities 
Here’s a few concrete questions that are of interest to many international students but rarely addressed in the admissions literature. I don’t know their answer for the universities on your list, but they are questions you may want to ask.
- Do the dorms stay open during breaks?
- Does the college authorize CPT for internships? (This would preserve your OPT eligibility for a first job after graduation, which can be enormously important if you need work visa sponsorship.)
- How many firms that recruit on campus are willing to interview international students? (hint: most are not)
Many colleges publish employment statistics about recent graduates by major. Some also publish internship and graduate school admission statistics. You may have already found these reports yourself, but here they are in case you haven’t.
http://www.cmu.edu/career/salaries_and_destinations/
https://webapps.gatech.edu/cfcampus/adors/commencement/salary_report.cfm
http://www.career.ucla.edu/Students/Resources-Reports-and-Media/First-Destination-Survey
https://career.engin.umich.edu/annualreport/
I want to add as a general word of caution that you may not be able to work in the US at all after graduation, unless you have a work permit independent of your job (e.g. through family). Work visas are already scarce and handed out through a lottery system. They may become even scarcer given how many members of the current US government seem to believe that foreign workers are taking jobs away from Americans. Please choose a university whose degree you’d be happy with if you had to leave the US after graduation.
Best of luck for your future endeavors!
Thank you very much for your response 