CMU vs HMC vs Chicago vs UPenn

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Majoring in CS, looking to study AI and cogsci. I know CMU offers the most prestigious CS degree, but I visited HMC and it's this awesome tiny campus and everyone rides unicycles. Aside from all that, I'm worried I won't be able to spread myself thin at a technical school like I could at UPenn or University of Chicago, where I could take classes in Aristophanes' work and "drugs in literature." </p>

<p>There's also the matter of financial aid. Does anyone know these schools' reputations on generosity?</p>

<p>I got into Brandeis and Rochester, but those are taking a bit of a backseat, understandably.</p>

<p>Anyone have advice to offer here?</p>

2

<p>what’s your career goal? it makes a huge difference</p>

3

<p>I want to pursue an academic career in NLP and machine learning.</p>

4

<p>How could I refuse giving advice to a fellow pig.
I highly highly recommend CMU.</p>

5

<p>I have no idea. I like HMC, and I’ve heard CMU is good for CS. I have friends at Chicago and UPenn, and the one at Chicago really likes its intellectual environment.</p>

6

<p>See PhD productivity rates to compare schools: HMC is #2 and chicago is #7; CMU is #27.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/nsf08311.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/nsf08311.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>But you should dig deeper into each college’s career counseling and CS departmental webpages to see what percentage, and where CS grads head to grad school–or call career counseling and/or the CS depts, to find out about CS majors specifically. CMU’s % may be higher for CS majors. Penn posts pretty detailed info about post graduation plans; my impression is that many seek employment.</p>

<p>Also, check into core curricular requirements in course bulletins, usually posted online (or you got one in the mail from Chicago and HMC); HMC is pretty rigid, and takes up the first year and a half, but you can fit in courses on the other 4 campuses (see their catalogues too) as long as core and major requirements are being met. Chicago has pretty extensive requirements too, but some creative course offerings. </p>

<p>You have some great options! Good luck with your choice.</p>

7

<p>Here’s the info for CS at CMU: <a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/career/employ/salary/scs.pdf[/url]”>http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/career/employ/salary/scs.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>CMU’s PhD productivity is lower than some of its peer schools due to it having a fairly strong slant towards people wanting to get real jobs in industry, large business school, and large arts program for its size. In some programs you’ll find really high PhD rates (in my year in Materials Science over 50% of us went to grad school).</p>

<p>CMU does have its fair share of quirky people, and its student body is definitely unique. I really liked it there, because you could make nerdy jokes and everyone would get them, but they weren’t the defining characteristics of people like you might find at some other schools.</p>

<p>CMU isn’t very generous on financial aid unless they really want you, though.</p>