<p>My son got admitted to CMUs SCS, Columbias SEAS, and Cornells School of Engineering. He wants to study computer science and possibly to minor in business. We cant decide between CMU as one of the top computer science schools vs Ivy League prestige, name recognition, and future opportunities. Would you give up on Columbia/Cornell selectivity to attend CMU?</p>
<p>very tough choice.</p>
<p>i will say if he wants to do computer science as a career, and career matters most, then going to either cmu or cornell are great choices, especially cmu.</p>
<p>the reason to attend columbia would be because he wants the culture that comes with attending a school like columbia, including just the incredible amount of diversity and excellence across the board you would find there. cmu is great for some things, and it is solid at others. columbia is great. even its computer science, which is not necessarily at cmu level, is very very good with some big professors.</p>
<p>i think it is hard to really grasp how important the folks you go to school with impacts your life. if he goes to cmu he will have a very strong niche of people and careers. if he goes to columbia he will have a network that is vast and varied. i think it gives someone like me, who went to columbia, a great deal of confidence knowing that i can pick up the phone and call a friend and he/she can help me break into a new field. it means that i can be a lot more flexible as i seek to figure out my future. </p>
<p>that being said, i think students in your son’s situation probably 50% end up choosing columbia, 50% end up choosing the school that is particularly strong in that one aspect (like a musician choosing oberlin, or a biomedical engineering choosing jhu). so he will be in good company regardless.</p>
<p>If your son plans to get work in CS out of college or obtain a PhD in CS, then CMU would be hard to beat. The CS curriculum at CMU is at the MIT/Stanford-level. If he’s undecided about CS, then Cornell or Columbia is probably the better choice.</p>
<p>Doesn’t CMU have the best CS program in the country? If you really love CS, you should go to CMU. Columbia is an Ivy League liberal arts university that has great prestige and programs in all disciplines, including but not limited to CS. As adgeek says, it gives you a wealth of opportunities and flexibility. But if you’re certain you never want to leave your CS niche, then I’d say CMU. Cornell has a decent engineering school, but I’m not sure how strong they are in CS; certainly they’re not better than CMU. Of course, if you really love the very stereotypical college environment that Cornell offers (frats, etc.) then choose Cornell.</p>