D has been fortunate to be admitted to both CMU into the school of CS as well as MIT. We received no FA at MIT (62k cost) and have been offered a Presidential Scholarship of 25k for CMU. Would love to hear opinions/feedback on ROI for both schools. She is really torn as she likes both schools!
If the 25k is per year then it might be worth it otherwise I think MIT, but that is just my opinion, only campus visits can solve this.
Congratulations to your daughter. She must be one smart cookie. I’d look at this way. Your daughter can get to anywhere she wants in the CS world as a CMU CS graduate–academics, private sector, or government sector. If she goes to CMU your family saves $100K. Unless you are so wealthy that $100K really doesn’t matter, then CMU should be the choice, right?
In my opinion and in long run, MIT is the choice… Good Luck and Congrats!
Bored1997 - I think you have to reapply for the scholarship each year. We are visiting MIT for their campus preview weekend and hopefully CMU next week. I think you are right about the visit making the decision. Right now she is leaning MIT but that’s because she’s not paying!
kaukauna - 100k definitely matters to us… We are not wealthy by any stretch and the MIT tuition is going to strap us. D is very thoughtful about these things and she is aware of the financial impact if she prefers one over the other. Good to know that you can go anywhere in the CS world with a CMU degree! We are from west coast and CMU was not on our radar till the fall when D started researching good CS schools. Thanks so much for your input.
certaindr - thanks so much!
@Toontown39 -CMU presidential scholarship is guaranteed for 4 years provided the student has a >2.0 GPA. This is a new scholarship which CMU gives out to top students starting this admission cycle. This is confirmed by CMU FA office.
MIT is a world top university which is very prestigious but is notorious hard. On the other hand, CMU has an excellent CS program which is well-recognized (ranked first in CS). Tough choice. After your D visits CMU, she can decide whether she likes CMU. Then, you would weight between prestige and $100K. CMU emphasizes a lot on job prospects of their graduates and how much money their graduates make after entering into job market. For CS major, the average salary is ~90K.
MIT is notoriously hard but it has recently been mentioned by CMU students as a school that better addresses the stresses imposed by both schools (http://www.quora.com/Does-it-feel-like-CMU-doesnt-care-for-its-students; https://thetartan.org/2012/12/3/forum/mentalhealth). Both schools are pressure cookers. Neither is a great choice for perfectionistic students who delight in getting straight A’s and who are driven to please parents/authorities rather than driven by interest in the material they are studying. They seem to tank because neither school rewards that approach to school. There aren’t many of those types at MIT-more at CMU-but I think admissions at both tries to weed those out.
My impression is that MIT has a more collaborative environment. Academics are hard but at least students don’t have to contend with competition amongst peers. It is the opposite. That is not to imply that students arent’ striving to do their best but working well together is rewarded.
The reason the SCS at CMU has such a low yield (sub 40%) is that almost no one in your shoes chooses CMU.
The ROI is heavily dependent on cost, and would favor CMU, but if money is not an object (and MIT meets full need so obviously you are of some means, at least, if you are full pay there), the ROI is probably not a good metric.
I would only go with CMU if I really preferred the campus, or money was truly a constraining factor. The exact same companies recruit at both schools after all.
I suggest you visit both MIT’s and CMU SCS’s websites to understand graduation requirements. MIT, in particular, has fairly unique requirements, including GIR, HAAS, and HAAS-D. Its CS track (in the EECS department) is also different from mainstream. Since your daughter will have to live with these requirements, where-ever she chooses to go, she should do due-diligence on that.
What a wonderful position to be in! Do you realize that CMU SCS has a lower acceptance rate than MIT (Class of 2018 was 6%). My D '16 and I visited both schools recently. I think CMU is “the place” for computer science (beautiful new bldg funded by Gates), and so I would choose CMU. But MIT is hard to say no to! I think both can be golden ticket degrees, but it’s really what your D gets out of the school – so as some of the earlier posters said, consider quality of life/student life/location. Where will she feel the most comfortable and free, to really excel and thrive? After you visit, does one school invigorate her more? Both schools are very intense; does one offer her a more supportive environment? Also have you seen CMU’s Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (YouTube)? It provides more insight on what CMU values, and the type of people/programs it supports. (And it is full of great life lessons!) Plus, CMU wants her – that is a huge confidence booster when your D will be in a big pond (at either school). Good luck, and do let us know what she decides!
I am biased here because my son went to MIT and I only know good things about MIT.
Here are some issues you may consider:
a) As a female student, which environment is a better fit? I am sure female and male students are collaborative and happy together at MIT.
b) If your D wants to change major later, which environment is better for the change? At MIT there are many top-notched programs to change to. And if your D wants to go medical school later then MIT is the best place.
The ROI is not very relevant because you don’t know the lower bound and the higher bound of the return.
Do let us know of her final decision 
MIT advantages: more variety of majors that are really top ranked including economics, urban planning as well as every engineering field, math, physics, chemistry, health sciences with Harvard University, more female professors and students, a better location, cross registration at Harvard and Wellesley College available to MIT students.
CMU advantages-- perhaps a better drama and dance program? Sorry to sound sarcastic, but I just cannot think of anything that would be better, including the CS department. The only reason CMU CS gets a better rank is that they limit the number of admits so severely. They do not allow perfectly brilliant and good scoring CMU students to transfer in, from say, electrical engineering, which is totally ridiculous to force CMU students to not study CS just to keep the rank of CMU CS high!
. MIT does not do that to a student who is admitted. All MIT students are welcome to study any subject .
There is no doubt that MIT will give your daughter an edge. CMU is good, MIT is better.
Is your daughter considering graduate school? If so, then I might lean in favor of MIT’s outstanding placement. CMU is strong, but MIT can provide an advantage that is hard to beat. If looking for employment directly out of college, as per above, they will have many of the same employers recruiting, so CMU may be fine. CMU has an outstanding reputation for CS.
I also like MIT’s position in Cambridge, and there is also the cross-registration with Harvard. If you can afford MIT, the premium may be worth it.
My son went to MIT for computer science and I can’t say enough great things about this school.
Like others have said not only is the CS amazing but they make it easy to explore other disciplines.
The students are very collaborative. The general institute requirements are challenging if you are not strong in math and science.
CMU is great for CS and would have definitely been his second choice. I think job placement would be similar for both schools. Don’t decide based on post-graduate opportunities because they will be similar.
If your daughter prefers the culture of MIT over CMU after her preview days I would pay the extra tuition.
We paid full price for MIT and have no regrets. If its a good fit and she takes advantage of all the opportunities they offer, the $62,000 is a bargain.