<p>I am a high school junior in the Memphis area, and I'm 90% certain I want to study Computer Science in college and very likely go on to grad school. However I'm not sure where exactly I want to attend. I want somewhere at least 2 hours away but no farther than 5-6 hours away. Also, a big thing for me is that I want to pay as little as possible for a solid education that will get me into a good grad school. I have a 34 ACT and 218 PSAT, 4.0 unweighted GPA, around 4.7ish weighted (we haven't gotten GPAs for the most recent semester yet). Right now my top choice is Mississippi State, but I'm open to any suggestions anyone has.
Thanks!</p>
<p>some suggestions in the South:</p>
<p>Georgia Institute Of Technology
University Of Texas - Austin
Duke University
Rice University
University Of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
University Of Virginia
University Of Florida
Washington University In St. Louis
Texas A&M University - College Station
Virginia Tech
North Carolina State University
Vanderbilt University
University Of Tennessee - Knoxville (probably the cheapest option for you and best in-state)
George Mason University
University Of Texas - Dallas</p>
<p>*all of these schools above are better than Mississippi State for computer science so if the distance is right and the cost is affordable, go to one of the above instead of Mississippi State.</p>
<p>The five hour limit removes almost all of those schools from consideration.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt looks to be the best of the bunch within five hours.</p>
<p>Alright here are all the schools within 5-6 hours away (google maps time) that I listed above:</p>
<p>Georgia Institute Of Technology (6 hours 10 minutes)
Washington University In St. Louis (4 hours 31 minutes)
Vanderbilt University (3 hours 20 minutes)
University Of Tennessee - Knoxville (6 hours 4 minutes)
University Of Texas - Dallas (7 hours 1 minute)</p>
<p>– Edit –</p>
<p>Nice work Pierre. I’ve removed Indiana (#48 - 7 hours 40 mins) because of distance, removed UT-Dallas (#72 - 7 hours 1 minute) because of distance, and added UIUC (under 6 hours if you drive 5 mph over the speed limit). These are the only ranked schools for CS in the range provided:</p>
<h1>5 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (6 hours 20 minutes)</h1>
<h1>9 Georgia Institute of Technology (6 hours 10 minutes)</h1>
<h1>39 Washington University In St. Louis (4 hours 31 minutes)</h1>
<h1>58 Vanderbilt University (3 hours 20 minutes)</h1>
<h1>61 University Of Tennessee - Knoxville (6 hours 4 minutes)</h1>
<p>You can get into any of those colleges and will probably get some merit-based aid. You might want to apply to all and see who gives the most money (if you apply to Georgia Tech early, you have a decent probability to be in the running for a full scholarship).</p>
<p>The reasons that MSU is currently my top pick are that attendance would be free, while it’s not a top tier program, it is at least decent, it’s an SEC school/environment (I’m a big football fan), and some of my closest friends go to MSU and can’t stop raving about how much they love it.</p>
<p>since you are in-state for Tennessee, I’m sure they will pay for your tuition with your stats</p>
<p><a href=“About Financial Aid - One Stop Student Services”>http://finaid.utk.edu/aid/scholarships/chancellors.shtml</a></p>
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<p>Of the schools listed, GT, UIUC, UTK, and Vandy are all BCS-conference schools. The Big Ten and SEC are both very strong conferences year-after-year and have similar environments. The ACC doesn’t have the same atmosphere, but GT is one of the better teams in the conference (unlike MSU, UIUC, and Vandy which typically are at the bottom of their conferences), so you have a chance to root for a winner and possibly a national championship contender in the next few years.</p>
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<p>It sounds like MSU might be a good fit for you. At least we’ve thrown out some alternatives.</p>
<p>^The ACC is arguably the best basketball conference. Also, Tennessee seems to have a pretty good football program under Lane Kiffin (staying competitive with top SEC teams), and don’t forget the unstoppable women’s basketball team :)</p>
<p>PS: Still really bummed out that my Clemson Tigers couldn’t beat Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship game. So close…</p>
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<p>They’re just stuck in a conference with 3 historically great teams (Florida, Alabama, and LSU).</p>
<p>The ACC is a good conference with a lot of parity, unlike a few other conferences that just have a few powerhouse teams that win year-in and year-out. When you take the BCS average of all teams in the conference, the ACC is #2. (see: [Road</a> To The BCS: The Mountain West’s AQ quest - ESPN](<a href=“http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?page=roadtobcs/0910]Road”>Road To The BCS: The Mountain West's AQ quest - ESPN)). </p>
<p>The problem is that the ACC just doesn’t have the feel of the SEC or Big Ten (really, no other conference does). Both of those conferences have 90,000+ person stadiums, the schools are usually in small college towns that are completely taken over for game-day, and people live and breath football in those areas. The only ACC schools that are even close to that feel are VT and Clemson. </p>
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<p>At least both games were good games. It was nice of the Clemson fans to chant “A-C-C” at the end of their bowl game 
I think it would be good for both schools if this turned into a serious rivalry.</p>
<p>If you care about football and don’t mind switching conferences, I’d suggested UT-Austin. The best footballl + CS combination. You should apply and see if you can get a scholarship or at least OOS fee waiver (pay in-state tuition).</p>
<p>UT-Austin is 10+ hours from Memphis.</p>
<p>How far away is Atlanta? GaTech is choice.</p>
<p>What would be cool is to program a University overlay onto Google Earth.</p>
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<p>It’s 6 hours and 10 minutes if he drives the speed limit, but it’s a very different atmosphere than MSU. His better choice might be UIUC (college town, excellent program, big school, Big Ten athletics). Of course, he can look at both schools, apply to both (+MSU and some of the others on the list above), and see who offers the best financial aid package before making a deal.</p>
<p>GIT, UIUC, and UTK are all just over 6 hours, and I’ll definitely check into them.</p>