<p>I’ve been in and out of researching Brown this summer, but after finding out CMU was a tad (understatement) too expensive, I’ve shifted over to Brown.</p>
<p>Now before I get peppered with “why Brown” the reason I chose CMU was because their CS dept was similar to Brown’s Open Curriculum. You could mix and match Biology, robotics, EE, ME with little issues, except for the latter two. </p>
<p>I’m curious as to how CS is structured at Brown. The website is vague, but the “concentrations” blurb piqued my interest. I won’t ask you for a chance, since the naive junior in me has departed and the new naive senior is fitting in, but I would really appreciate it if any current, former, or parents of said students give any feedback as to the CS dept. From the research I’ve conducted, it’s already top 3 in my eyes, but I want know more so I can decide if I will make it my first choice and hopefully ED choice.</p>
<p>Where are you seeing much difference in COA between Brown and CMU? I see $55k for Brown and $57k for CMU per year.</p>
<p>Are you a full freight payer or have you determined if you qualify for any FA? You should not do ED unless you need to shop around for offers (including merit at some schools, which can be $10k + per year.) Are your parents ok with the level of cost for these colleges? Willing to pay? For CS there are great options, not always so ‘brand name’ but they will be known in the industry and get you where you need to go at less cost.</p>
<p>Having said so, my daughter was a CS major at Brown and is now PhD track, 3rd year at a top 10 program. She joined the Brown department after studying math and physics in sophmore year after taking the famous CS 17/18 sequence (iirc) which many at graduation also cited as the class that changed their major. She went on to be a peer advisor for freshman, most incoming at Brown and everywhere else know they want CS, but at Brown you will get people who didn’t know it, and it will diversify the cohort.</p>
<p>At Brown, majors are called Concentrations. Within a Major/Concentration, there can be sub-categories. Because she started a bit late for the straight up CS major, she did the math/cs major that was fufilled by some of the physics and math she had already taken. There is also applied math/cs, econ/cs, computational bio/cs and maybe others. I don’t yet know how the expanded School of Engineering fits in, check the website or email the dept. Although Brown has open ciric for most anything, the Concentration has requirements, some flexible. These are described for each CS concentration I mentioned on the CS dept website. You can also do a 5th year and get a Master’s, which is prob something to consider closely.</p>
<p>You can take or audit grad programs, if given permission. Access to profs is incredible. There is ability to get involved in research often and early.</p>
<p>Just last week I mentioned to a neighbor that my daughter had attended Brown and she asked if she was a writer. I was surpised and said “no, computer science”, she was surprised back. I guess the man on the street doesn’t know that Brown has that side, but CS is a very highly regarded program there and my daughter said it was so well run and respected. And they get peer respect too, as many of her friends were going on grad schools or right to MS, google etc.</p>
<p>I am eligible for quite a bit of financial aid. My estimated cost at CMU is 35k (they sent a letter with my COA), which is pretty generous considering how conservative they are with grants. However, my parents still cannot afford to pay that much because I have two younger brothers who will both be college aged or in within the decade. My Brown COA (according to their financial aid calculator) is 23k, much more manageable.</p>
<p>I hate to choose schools based on money, but I think Brown has a nice combination of curriculum and cost, for me at least. I live in California, so UCs are an option, but somehow the flagship school at UC Berkeley is now in the range of 25-30k for costs. In addition, cuts are looming, the class sizes are unstable, and professors are not always present. So I began to look at the east coast schools.</p>
<p>At the moment, I do not care much about what the average man on the street thinks, since thankfully they won’t be the ones interviewing me or reading my resume :). </p>
<p>Thanks for your input, very descriptive and helpful!</p>