<p>I'm in the same dilemma as many others, prestigious school vs. cheap school. CMU costs $33K for my family. My parents can afford about $25k, and the rest would be my responsibility through loans and work-study. Maryland costs about $6K after a few scholarships. The additional cost of Carnegie Mellon is not a huge burden to my family, but I'm skeptical as to whether paying an additional $100k for an amazing computer science program over a good one is a wise move. Even though I would only end up with $20-30K of loans after undergrad, I don't want to feel guilty about making my parents paying so much money. </p>
<p>Either school's social environment is fine with me; I'm only concerned about the program strength. I visited Carnegie Mellon last week, and I was floored by the quality of professors, variety of research areas, and top-notch facilities and career services. I can't find any post-grad surveys for Maryland, and there seems to be much less of an emphasis on internship and undergrad research opportunities. But their ACM-ICPC team got 20th place in the world, so the program obviously has some brilliant students and professors. I've also heard good things about job placement from Maryland, I just can't find any concrete data online.</p>
<p>I'd appreciate any input about your experiences at CMU. Is the quality of education significantly better at Carnegie Mellon? Would you pay $100k more for a Carnegie Mellon degree? Is a Carnegie Mellon SCS experience worth $100k more, if that can even be quantified? Will not going to Carnegie Mellon permanently close any doors to me?</p>
<p>Only a week left to decide...Thank you very much for any input!</p>
<p>This might be coming late. But I was nearly the exact same situation (my parents also afforded around $25k) with me paying the rest in loans. I actually was awarded a full-ride scholarship to UMCP, but decided to come to Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>And honestly, I think I made the right choice. The educational quality is much higher here. I have had some friends in CS at UMCP, and have heard some complaints in Prof. quality. I know one of the intro to systems courses there uses the book developed by the profs at CMU (15-213), but the one here is still more rigorous and has more projects.</p>
<p>The educational environment is just more demanding here and that’s what stretches you and makes you attractive to employers. Finding jobs here is very easy and less a question of able to find a job vs. finding a job you really like. For me, all my internships and now my full-time employment were found at CMU job fairs. I worked for top tier companies both Sophomore, Junior summers and it has helped cover the cost of loans. Good internships are commonplace, and can pay around $5000 a month (well…don’t forget to subtract taxes). I do not think I would have the same opportunities at MD.</p>
<p>Of course, none of this is easy. CMU just forces you to work harder. I can remember myself saying, What if I went to UMCP, life would be so much easier…but I would not have been challenged as much. Friends from Montgomery Blair (you might be from MoCo) found it very easy, one mentioned overloading on classes and having a ton of free time. Haven’t heard the same at CMU.</p>
<p>Maybe to add more. Educational caliber might be higher because of the school size. Although CMU class sizes for the majority of CS courses aren’t tiny (largest lecture is like 120~), it does change the attitude of professors in terms of approachability. Most of the profs here are very approachable and glad to help. I have heard that at larger schools, profs care less about their students, and are more focused on their research.</p>
<p>I actually decided to enroll at Carnegie Mellon just a few hours before you posted that, after several days of researching the two programs. Even though it was a bit late, thanks a lot for your post! After reading that, I feel much more confident in my decision and less regretful about giving up a cheaper education at UMD.</p>