Hi,
I am an international student and have received acceptances from Cornell, UCLA, UIUC and Georgia Tech for Fall 2015. I plan to major in Computer Science and I am having difficulty in choosing one of them. Cornell has the reputation, UCLA has the location, UIUC has the ranking and Georgia Tech has a little bit of everything. As a result, I am very confused. The most important factors to me are: Employment (job placements including internships), College life, Focus on Entrepreneurship and opportunities regarding the same in Comp Sci, Living conditions. Any help in making the decision would be greatly appreciated. Also, any general opinions about individual universities that might aid in making the decision are also highly encouraged. Thank you for your time.
BUMP!!
I go to Georgia Tech, but have friends in the other schools so I kinda know what I’m talking about. I will only speak about Tech though.
Entrepreneurship: GT has a great Startup/entrepreneurship culture with lots of organizations/funding methods to help get you started. The Student Alumni Association there also has a LOT of career prep things available and a great alumni mentorship program that really helped me learn a lot about business and entrepreneurship in my years here. If that wasn’t enough, GT also has the Inventure Prize, “the nation’s largest undergraduate invention competition” that gives money to innovative ideas and is televised. As for Comp Sci, there are “hack-a-thons” all the time which are basically events where people compete to produce a software/product over a weekend, and plenty of my CS friends go to these events across the nation so there is definitely a community to support you.
College Life: GT gets some flak for having a poor social life, but personally I find it great. Interesting people with plenty of clubs/bars off campus and a lot of ways to get involved/have fun on campus. Being in the southeast also gives a massive football/Greek culture that is smaller than other Southern schools but still larger than the other schools you listed (aside from UCLA potentially). This is one of the most polarizing things on campus: half of the students don’t get involved on campus, do not socialize, and thus have a bad time in college and complain a lot about it. However, the other half that does get involved and have fun tend to also be the ones that do better in classes, have better career opportunities, and ultimately enjoy their experience more (yes i know this is true of all colleges, but to me it is a VERY VERY VERY evident schism at Tech).
Living Conditions: The dorms are decent, nothing to write home to mom about, but still good enough to keep you alive and fed well (Though the gap between the most recently renovated and the oldest living spaces is pretty apparent). If you do choose to live off campus, there are a lot of cheap and good places with great locations as well.
GT also has a very large international community and an emphasis on preparing people for a globalized culture, with strong language programs (though weaker other liberal arts programs if that matters to you), a student body where 40% study abroad, and a very large array of international clubs and organizations designed to make you feel at home (Personally I know the India Club has events CONSTANTLY throughout the year and even gives tiffin service to interested students)