Here is my dilemma. I am currently a high school senior. I live within NYC. I have applied to multiple colleges and have gotten all the acceptance/rejection from them. I narrowed my candidate colleges to just two: University at Buffalo (SUNY) and city college of New York(CUNY). The major i wish to pursue is computer science.
Which one has better reputation and overall, offer the best education for the dollars? My family is that of lower income and CCNY is very attractive because of the lower tuition and the fact I can live with my parents thus eliminating rent. The calculated expense for 4 years is a mere 28k which i can easily pay off working part time.
SUNY Buffalo on the other hand costs roughly 80k (tuition plus boarding) even with scholarship. That means I will likely be tens of thousands in debt by the time I graduated. It does seem to have bigger computer Science program however considering their facility and funding are many times greater than CCNY.
My main concern is the value per dollar. Will going to CCNY offer better value? or will attending it instead of university at buffalo limit my future career opportunities? By that, I mean the chance of internship and future job prospect after graduating.
To me this is a no brainer. I would do CCNY no question. It’s better regarded, cheaper, and in a much better location (unless you really like snow).
The only reason to go to SUNY Buffalo would be the size of its computer science program. I would look into which companies recruit at SUNY Buffalo vs. CCNY. One thing I would note is that job prospects in computer science are highly influenced by projects you complete outside of the classroom. Having personal projects on your resume is incredibly helpful when trying to get a job, and can usually overcome a marginally worse university degree.
I would also add that if you want to stay in NYC after graduation, CCNY is most likely the better option for recruiting.
CCNY is affordable for you. Go there. Do well. You will be so happy four years from now to be starting out in your career without one cent of student debt.
CCNY Computer Science Curriculum requires Calculus I, II, III and Elements of Linear Algebra, while UB only requires Calculus I & II (along with a Statistics course - EAS 305, MTH 411, STA 301). A possible Con for CCNY is commuting daily and depending on which borough you live in, the commute can be taxing if train and bus is involved. I would suggest you monitor your working hours if you plan on working while attending CCNY, especially during your freshman/sophomore year. You start the basic CS courses in your second semester of freshman year and increases progressively from there.
Did you do any form of calculus/physics/chemistry in high school?