Comp Sci - which school?!

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>Hi! I'm a parent who will have to help her son decide which college to attend in the next month. He is seriously considering UT Austin (non-honors), University of Pittsburgh (honors) and Lehigh University. He is also set on majoring in computer science. </p>

<p>I believe UT would be at the top of his list because of it's ranking in CS, he likes the campus and Austin is very much his kind of city. However, it is very close to home. He is very independent and wants to return to Pennsylvania, where we lived for much of his life. </p>

<p>My son is a legacy at Lehigh and I've always been impressed with the school. The problem is I've read here on CC that computer science majors at Lehigh, although well-regarded, are not actively recruited. I'm concerned he would not have the same research/internship/employment opportunities he would have if he were to go to Austin. Other than that, I've always thought Lehigh would be the perfect school for him.</p>

<p>University of Pittsburgh is a great school. My husband and son visited there last month and they both liked it. The issue I see there is it's proximity to Carnegie Mellon. I know that the proximity to the best CS program in the country could be good in some ways, but it also means his competition for internships, jobs, etc would be the Carnegie Mellon students. </p>

<p>He was also accepted to a couple of other schools, but these are the three he is serious about - until he hears from UVA. He really, really likes UVA, but I know how difficult it is to get admitted, especially as an OOS. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any advice I can relay to him as he makes this very important decision?</p>

2

<p>If he’s considering Pennsylvania for CS he should go to Carnegie Mellon. Otherwise, UT Austin is the superior choice all around. “Being independent” may be something he gets out of his system the first few months of living OOS.</p>

3

<p>^Second that. For Computer science University of Texas at Austin is the obvious choice no doubt about it. It is much superior than both. If he lives in college dorms, he will be independent. The only reason to consider University of Pittsburgh or Lehigh University is if he wants to work in the Northeast especially PA after graduation.</p>

4

<p>Net price for each school? Amount of loans needed at each school?</p>

<p>Seems like UT Austin in-state is the bargain of the choices for both cost (unless there are some big scholarships or financial aid grants at the others) and reputation (recruiting attractiveness).</p>

5

<p>Thanks for the replys. We don’t know net price at any of the schools yet. He has a good scholarship at Pitt but we don’t know how that will affect other possible aid. At one of the schools he is no longer considering he had a comparable scholarship but it seemed like grant $ was very much reduced due to that scholarship. My husband is thinking the out of pocket & loan amounts are going to be pretty similar at all three schools.</p>