CompSci: Yale vs. UC Berkeley vs. Carnegie Mellon

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm having trouble deciding on what school to settle with now that college decisions have all come out. My choices are:</p>

<p>Top Choices:
UC Berkeley for EECS with Regent's
Yale for CS
Carnegie Mellon for School of Computer Science
UT Austin with Honors Program for CS</p>

<p>Neutral Feelings:
UCLA, UCSD with Regent's for CS
USC for CS
Tufts for CS
Northeastern
Case Western Reserve
San Jose State
Santa Clara University</p>

<p>I'm also waitlisted at Rice (CS) and MIT (EECS), so those choices <em>may</em> pop up despite the very very, slim chances.</p>

<p>Right now, the pros and cons for my top considerations are...</p>

<p>UC Berkeley
Pros:
-Regent's gives me priority enrollment (I choose classes before everyone else; basically priority choice).
-In the Bay Area where lots of tech companies are.
-Ranked around #4 for CS.
-Locally close to home (less travel expenses).</p>

<p>Cons:
-Expected to pay ~12k, with 7k of loans for parents and 5.5k of loans for me.
-The surrounding environment doesn't really appeal to me.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon
Pros:
-School of Computer Science is ranked about #2 in the nation.</p>

<p>Cons:
-Unsure of financial aid package as of now, but it seems like CMU doesn't provide excellent FA.</p>

<p>Yale
Pros:
-Prestige.
-Amazing, amazing financial aid (my family's entire contribution is ~2.5k).
-Lots of endowment money for undergraduate research.</p>

<p>Cons:
-Unsure about the decency of Yale CS.
-Safety. I've read a LOT about the dangers of the surrounding city of New Haven. Not to keen on going to an unsafe area.
-Have no clue about Yale's connections to tech companies for internships.</p>

<p>Austin
Pros:
-Ranked in top 10 for CS.
-Honors program gives me access to research in my junior and senior year.
-Chance at paying Texas instate tuition due to honors program.</p>

<p>Cons:
-Not sure.</p>

<p>I was hoping knowledgeable people in the CC community could weigh in their opinions and perhaps provide me more insight into experiences at these schools, the environment, the CS education, etc. Safety is definitely a big concern for me. Thank you ahead of time!</p>

2

<p>Wait until you get all of the financial aid offers before making your final decision.</p>

<p>If you want to work in CS, Berkeley has both the national prominence and the location near Silicon Valley to attract a lot of recruiters. CMU and UT Austin also have national prominence, plus local recruiting in Pittsburgh and Austin respectively.</p>

<p>Yale may be more advantageous for investment banking recruiting, but perhaps less so for CS recruiting, as the number of CS majors is relatively small and there may be more competition from the investment banking companies.</p>

<p>You may want to ask each school’s career center about what companies come to recruit. Some of them have career surveys on the web:</p>

<p><a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/Major.stm&lt;/a&gt;
[Post-Graduation</a> Survey: Salaries & Destinations-Career and Professional Development Center - Carnegie Mellon University](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/Career/Students/gps1/explore/survey/]Post-Graduation”>http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/Career/Students/gps1/explore/survey/)
<a href=“http://oir.yale.edu/node/511/attachment[/url]”>http://oir.yale.edu/node/511/attachment&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Thanks for the input! I’ve heard that CMU allows us to bargain financial aid packages with rival schools, so that’s a consideration for me. I’m not too sure if I should/would go to graduate school afterwards.</p>

4

<p>I’ve gotten my finaid packages from all the schools now.</p>

<p>Yale is offering me 56k yearly scholarship so that our EFC is 2k.
Berkeley is offering me 19k yearly scholarship so that our EFC is 12k.
Carnegie Mellon is offering me 30k financial aid so that our EFC is 27k.</p>

<p>Waiting on Austin. At this point, realistically, which schools should I be considering? I know I can’t afford to pay 27k, but I’m going to appeal with my finaid packages at Berkeley and Yale.</p>

5

<p>This looks like a Yale decision</p>

<p>there is some recent discussion on CC on the Yale CS department - you might want to review the thread</p>

6

<p>As much as I love Berkeley, you should sieze the opportunity and go to Yale.</p>

7

<p>^ OP, that’s quite the endorsement, as I’ve seen UCBChemEGrad adamantly defend his/her school on many a CC thread.</p>

<p>I think you should go to Yale as well.</p>

8

<p>^ At least the OP will correctly learn to spell seize. :p</p>

9

<p>With what reasons do you two think I should go to Yale? Solely because of the financial aid? I just want to consider the reasons. I’m worried that Yale might not provide the EECS education I would get at Berkeley. How big of a difference would it make to get an undergrad EECS education at Yale as compared to the highly ranked Berkeley?</p>

<p>@UCB I thought I spelled seize incorrectly for a second… :P</p>

10

<p>I say Yale for a few reasons. You say you live in Northern California. Yale is an extrodinary opportunity to see another part of the country. It has fantastic resources and you’ll meet lots of bright minds from all over the country. Yale is also cheapest…even with travel expenses. If you change your mind about CS, Yale is an easier place to change majors, etc.</p>

<p>That said, if you’re certain on EECS, Berkeley Regents is tough to beat.</p>

11

<p>I’m very close to being certain that I want to pursue an EECS major because I want to head into software engineering in the future. That said, I am wondering how easy it is for undergraduates to get into research and internships at Berkeley for EECS (leaning toward CS side), and how much research and how readily available tech internships will be at Yale, which is not known for CS/engineering.</p>

12

<p>For Berkeley research opportunities you have to be a self-starter. The opportunities are there, you just have to seek them out. A smart kid like you who is Regents and got into Yale shouldn’t have a problem.</p>

13

<p>This is Yale we’re talking about and it costs 40K less per year than Berkeley? Why are we discussing this…go to New Haven and don’t look back.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>Yale costs $10,000 less per year than Berkeley, according to post #4 ($2,000 per year versus $12,000 per year), not $40,000 less per year.</p>

<p>For EECS specifically, Berkeley has a stronger reputation and proximity to Silicon Valley. Whether it is worth $40,000 more total (especially if a lot of loans are needed) than Yale is something only the OP can decide.</p>

15

<p>In the 12k financial aid statement Berkeley put out for me, it posted ~7k loans for my parents and ~5k loans for me to cover the remaining 12k. Yale only posted one ginormous “Yale scholarship” for 54k and a 2k work study + 2k EFC. I know that UCB’s proximity to Silicon Valley is a definite plus for me, but I think what I really want to ask is: what difference will it make if I choose Yale over Berkeley in terms of career prospective or opportunities? Will a Yale degree in EECS or CS be looked as less valuable?</p>

16

<p>Well, it will come as little surprise to some, but I am going to suggest you look more closely at USC. Their CS is well respected, their FinAid is usually excellent, and they have an exceptional record in job placement and contacts in Comp Sci firms in Silicon Valley and all around the world. While I agree that Berkeley has an extraordinary CS major, it may cost more than USC when FinAid is factored. It will certainly be less expensive for OP to travel down to L.A. than to Conn. </p>

<p>Just sayin’. OP, you have many amazing opportunities.</p>

17

<p>I’ve looked at USC as an option and am still waiting on their finaid offer. I’m not too sure if I’m going to go there though, with Berkeley as an option. As for the flight fees to Connecticut, Yale has my travel expenses covered as well. The thing I’m worried about is how a EECS/CS degree at Yale is viewed by companies and universities, and the availability of tech internships at Yale.</p>

18

<p>

</p>

<p>In my opinion, YES. Please notice that it is a big yes. </p>

<p>Yale is an excellent school. There’s no doubt about that. But it is excellent except for engineering, and to some extent, MBA (Master’s in Business Administration). It’s engineering school is not even widely considered a top 15 school in the US. That and the fact that Berkeley’s EECS is one of the very best in the whole world makes the comparison favorable to Berkeley. </p>

<p>Berkeley EECS fresh grads make $80,774, more or less, and those who pursue further studies in the field were able to get into top EECS grad schools such us MIT, Stanford, and its very own, UC Berkeley COE. That figure is one of the highest - in terms of average - amongst all schools that offer EECS. I’m quite certain Yale EECS could hardly beat that. <a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/Major/EECS.stm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

19

<p>If you’re set on EECS and want to become a software engineer, I would choose Berkeley. Being a top CS program with proximity to Silicon Valley helps immensely with on-campus recruiting by tech firms. Here is a list of companies that were represented at last year’s EECS career fair:<br>
<a href=“https://career.berkeley.edu/fairs/EECS.pdf[/url]”>https://career.berkeley.edu/fairs/EECS.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I don’t know how this compares to Yale.</p>

20

<p>^ Though not a popular destination amongst Berkeley EECS folks, Berkeley CS/EECS grads do end up working in banking, consulting and financial world. Amongst the top banks/professional/management consulting firms that hire Berkeley CS/EECS grads are: Goldman Sachs, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Accenture, Citi and McKinsey and Company.</p>